Hey all - even with my new E6600 and 4GB of RAM, I can't seem to play 1080p video without it being choppy. Is my CPU still too slow to be able to play this HD resolution seamlessly? If so, what kind of setup would be needed? I downloaded a bunch of HD movie trailers from Apple - only to find out that the 720p's are the only ones that work well. Would a 512MB video card be the answer?

Try a new video card.

Also, high amounts of RAM on low performing graphic cores is just a marketing stunt. For example; it's better to have 256MB 7900GS than a 512MB 7600GS.

Try the X1650 XT for starters.

Is that true? I always thought it was like Windows, where the quantity of RAM was more important than its speed. I have a 256MB GeForce 6200 GT, which is just a temp card until affordable DX 10 GPU's hit the market later this year. Do you have any idea what will be a decent midrange DX 10 chipset? I know the 8800 is the current monster, but I don't need anything like that. Thanks in advance.

No CPU will play 1080p unassisted. You have to have HD ssuport in the GPU. I tried 720p and my dual core was at 80%. 720p is I believe 1024 whereas 1080p is 1920.

I beleive Anand did a BluRay test with C2Q and QFX and BluRay basically won. Only those two systems could play BluRay while doing aything else and I believe decoding is threaded.

Is that true? I always thought it was like Windows, where the quantity of RAM was more important than its speed. I have a 256MB GeForce 6200 GT, which is just a temp card until affordable DX 10 GPU's hit the market later this year. Do you have any idea what will be a decent midrange DX 10 chipset? I know the 8800 is the current monster, but I don't need anything like that. Thanks in advance.

The most affordable DX10 card at the moment is the 8800 GTS 320 for around $300, Nvidia's mid range DX10 cards are due out in April when you should be able to get one for under $200. AMD/ATI and its top of the line R600 series have been delayed to May, when they are supposed to come out mid-range cards I'm not sure.

Yeah, I noticed a 75-80% CPU usage playing a 720p QuickTime last night. The video was smooth, but the system was undeniably taxed. Will most of the decent DX 10 GPU's coming out be able to effectively output 1080p, or just the really high-end ones?

It's not the DX part of the GPU, it's the video part. The newer ATi/nVidia GPUs have support but your player has to take advantage of it. Ati's is called Avivo and I can't remember what nVidia's is called.

But truthfully watching BluRay, etc will be a pain on the PC cause you have to have an HDMI monitor and Vista. XP doesn't have the DRM stuff. You can play nonDRM, non BluRay/HDDVD content but I'd rather watch on a 32"+ monitor.

It's not the DX part of the GPU, it's the video part. The newer ATi/nVidia GPUs have support but your player has to take advantage of it. Ati's is called Avivo and I can't remember what nVidia's is called.

But truthfully watching BluRay, etc will be a pain on the PC cause you have to have an HDMI monitor and Vista. XP doesn't have the DRM stuff. You can play nonDRM, non BluRay/HDDVD content but I'd rather watch on a 32"+ monitor.

Yeah, I agree - Blu-Ray is best for TVs, not PCs. It's just that I'lll be getting a new widescreen monitor and figured I'd might as well get a video card fully capable of outputting all HD resolutions. The 640MB 8880's are a little pricey, but considering what you're getting and the expected usability (several years), it's not such a bad deal.

i thought all you needed was a HTCP cert player and HTCP cert video card to run HD-DVD or blue ray?

and there is dvi to hdmi converters for HTCP cert video cards that only have dvi. AND hdmi is coming very soon to the pc. one example is the ati(its still canadian in my heart) 690G chipset.

but ive seen without video card support even an E6800 is taxed to 90%+ CPU useage during HD-dvd playback at 1080p

It's not the DX part of the GPU, it's the video part. The newer ATi/nVidia GPUs have support but your player has to take advantage of it. Ati's is called Avivo and I can't remember what nVidia's is called.

But truthfully watching BluRay, etc will be a pain on the PC cause you have to have an HDMI monitor and Vista. XP doesn't have the DRM stuff. You can play nonDRM, non BluRay/HDDVD content but I'd rather watch on a 32"+ monitor.

Yeah, I agree - Blu-Ray is best for TVs, not PCs. It's just that I'lll be getting a new widescreen monitor and figured I'd might as well get a video card fully capable of outputting all HD resolutions. The 640MB 8880's are a little pricey, but considering what you're getting and the expected usability (several years), it's not such a bad deal.


Just make sure that you get it with an HDMI conection or Vista will downgrade it (what a pain). That 640MB will definitely handle the task. It outputs 2560x2048.
If you stick with XP there may be some nonDRM stuff available. I found a few and it was WOWWWWW! and that was at 720p.

i have a much weaker processor X2 3800+ (939), 2gb of DDR400, but i have a X1900 pushing a 24" widescreen at 1920x1200 (1080p = 1920x1080) flawlessly, even the HD videos from windows run flawless.

I play 1080i and 720p out of my media center box to my 61" LCD RP on a A64 3000+ and a nvidia 6600 using VLC. My CPU utilization is around 25-30% and I get no stuttering and/or audio drop outs. I'll see if I can get my hands on a 1080p clip but I can't see where that would put it much past 35-40% tops....just depends on how you're watching the clips...I'm going component into the TV....

Here is a link to a thread on the AV Science forums the discusses/lists the hardware (cpu, memory, motherboards, and graphics cards) necessary for watching HDTV. I don' t know anything about the reputation of those forums, but the article made sense and the recommendations look good to me. It's worth a read.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=710828

Thanks for the link - I'm an AVS member myself, but never came across this thread. It's also a great resource for technical info, though the response times are considerably slower than you all.

there are alot problems in this area, with it being new tech, but to play HD vids you need a HD compatible GPU and a HD compatible moniter, if it doesnt say it is, you can assume it isnt, even if it meets the resolution.

Right off the bat, that article confirms what a previous poster said - the speed of the card is more important than the capacity. Still, in this day and age, I wouldn't want to go with anything less than 512MB. Vista welcomes it, and you can be sure Vienna (its successor) will almost need it.