HDTV on my computer seems slow. Help!

Status
Not open for further replies.

cutter

Distinguished
Sep 14, 2004
8
0
18,510
I was watching movie trailers on apple.com on my girlfiriends DEll 9200 laptop or something. We were able to watch the HD trailers on 720p and they ran perfectly.

Then, when I tried to watch them on my computer which I built the 720p definitely looked slow. The framerate seemed to be hurting whereas on that 9200 it was fine. I can't imagine that her Dell outperformed my desktop. I have more RAM and probably a better video card.

I am very lost when it comes to HD on a computer. Can someone tell me based on my specs below what may be the problem?

If this is the wrong forum I would gladly repost it somewhere else.
 

KevinAr18

Distinguished
Dec 31, 2007
13
0
18,560
I thought that the quicktime files rely heavily on CPU useage, which would mean that either your CPU is slower than hers or you have some other process consuming the CPU. The CPU that you mentioned sounds like it should be able to run 720p, but it may not be able to do 1080p at full speed. BTW, does her computer have a HT P4 processor or a dual core?
 

cutter

Distinguished
Sep 14, 2004
8
0
18,510
I think its a HT P4.

I didnt even attempt 1080. But I'm really confused as to why 720p is very choppy.
 

KevinAr18

Distinguished
Dec 31, 2007
13
0
18,560
It could theoretically be the XP processor. It's not as good as the P4 in some areas. System requirements are here: http://www.apple.com/quicktime/guide/hd/recommendations.html

Other areas to check for might include OS or software setup:
Stuff messed up on the OS
Drivers that are wrong or causing problems (need to get an update)
Bad quicktime install
Other programs/processes running in the background, from legitimate items, to items that you don't know about, to just plain old malware and spyware.
 

cutter

Distinguished
Sep 14, 2004
8
0
18,510
Kevin,

Yeah, could be but I keep my system pretty tight. No spyware and most of my software and drivers are up to date. So this is really bothering me. I'm pretty sure with the processor and vidcard I'm using that everything should run fine. So frustrating.
 

KevinAr18

Distinguished
Dec 31, 2007
13
0
18,560
It might be the processor.

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=25057

I can't even play it decently on my Athlon 3200+ XP
http://www.digg.com/apple/QuickTime_7_for_Windows_Public_Preview_3 (look for "athlon" comment)

The bad news is that even on my overcloked... Athlon, running almost equivalent to a 3 GHz P4, it's still not fast enough to keep up. The 1080p stuff hits about 4 fps, and the 720p stuff can do about 12 fps, half of what you really need.
Quote from: http://weblogs.asp.net/jeff/archive/2005/06/30/417006.aspx

Or it could be a software issue:
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=112045
 
Status
Not open for further replies.