minimum CPU to play .mkv files?

terrybear wrote: ↑nice work, BUT are these clocks done by multiplier or by combination of multiplier + fsb & are they using the maxium memory bandwidth of the ram ??

Changed the multiplier only. FSB stays the same, don't know about memory. Both system only had 1GB in single channel.

I have a AMD 2500+ Barton When playing 720p/1080p content, it would be impossible. Once I switched out my old video card to a Radeon 2400 HD, the movies played flawlessly

Amourek wrote: ↑Changed the multiplier only. FSB stays the same, don't know about memory. Both system only had 1GB in single channel.

hmmm ..... would be interesting to see your results then with a multiplier + fsb speed change & also running 1:1 with your ram.

ex 10 x 230 fsb = 2.3 ghz clock, 230 mhz fsb x 4 ram multi = DDR2 920 mhz

If you understand what I am saying & meaning

shadow_cruiser wrote: ↑I have a AMD 2500+ Barton When playing 720p/1080p content, it would be impossible. Once I switched out my old video card to a Radeon 2400 HD, the movies played flawlessly

gpu acceleration is also very important in the encoding decoding aspect of thing as well too. Like I said in this thread processing bandwidth from wherever it can come from is key.

great data. i'm gonna have to install coreavc!

I have a dualcore 3.4ghz processor with an ati 1950pro video card (256mb memory on it).

I can do 720p just fine with ffshow or coreavc. 1080p is a little different. I couldn't ffshow to run it very smooth (albeit this was a year ago.. maybe they've improved the codec since), but coreavc was able to do 1080p just fine (except for a backup i played once about rome and gladiators, in a panoramic scene it stuttered in 1080p, but i haven't seen any another other 1080p's stutter).

I think when your dealing with mkv's that use x264, I don't think video cards offload any/much of the load. Most of it goes on the cpu. From what I read coreavc utilized multiple cpu's better than ffshow?

Amourek wrote: ↑I decided to do some MKV testing with two systems - an AMD X2 4000+ 2.1.Ghz (dual core) and a AMD K8 Sempron 2600+ 1.6Ghz (single core). I used Media Player Classic with Haali Splitter and AC3 filter installed. I tested both ffdshow and CoreAVC Pro.

The 720p file had a video bitrate of about 3mbps. The 1080p had a video bitrate of about 6mpbs. Keep in mind I've seen 1080p files with bitrates as high as 15mbps. Both were encoded with x264/AAC.

[IMG]http://i37.tinypic.com/z204h.jpg[/IMG]

So you can get 720p going on a decent single core machine with CoreAVC. For 1080p you'll need at least a dual core. I assume that Intel Core chips don't need as high a clock speed as AMD X2's.

Great work. Sets the bar for my next computer. I want to be able to watch Blu-Ray on my next computer. The one I have right now can't...

720p h264 MKV file: "CANAAN"

all using windows XP, windows media player 11, with ffdshow decoder from klite


CPU: 1.0GHz Athlon
GPU: Radeon VE 7000 (circa 2001)
***720p VERY SLOW framerate. UNWATCHABLE***

CPU: 2.6GHz P4 based Celeron (2.6GHz Northwood core)
GPU: intel integrated 845G
***720p kinda choppy, video way too slow for audio, and audio is choppy***

CPU: 2.8GHz P4 (Northwood core)
GPU: intel integrated 865G (one generation newer than the above GPU)
***720p minor slow down in places, some sections are in sync, ALMOST watchable***

CPU: 2.0GHz Athlon64 3200+ (single Venice core, socket 939, 2.0GHz)
GPU: integrated GeForce 6100
***720p plays fine, very watchable***


did not have time or money to pay for coreAVC to put on all my systems or my friends systems, so just used klite codec pack and WMP....


glenM

jfjfjf wrote: ↑ did not have time or money to pay for coreAVC to put on all my systems or my friends systems, so just used klite codec pack and WMP....

You can get CoreAVC for free by installing Quicktime Alternative 1.81. It should make playback smooth on those P4's, maybe even the Celeron.

ahem..what year is it?

CameraBill wrote: ↑ahem..what year is it?

On your command prompt, enter:

"date /T" on Windows
"date" on Linux

It says 2009 for me

Its still a very valid question since many consumer grade CPU's will not easily run 1080p (i.e. netbooks are a prime example). Heck, even fairly beefy CPU's can have problems with the wrong codec.

My codecs got messed up two weeks ago for no apparent reason, and all of my videos were choppy. I'm running a dual-dual Xeon (4 cores @ 2.66Ghz) and a 8800gt. Re-installing coreAVC got things running smooth again.

Depends on the video codec you are using also

I recently tried watching a 1080p download and the audio was severely out of sync. I would have to pause/play over and over to make it resync for a few seconds.

My system is very capable is playing 1080p content so after getting frustrated i removed all codecs on my system and reinstalled 1-2 of them.

Tried the 1080p mkv again and it played perfectly

For those who has motherboard capable...TD has the Intel E5200 (i think) or the AMD AM3 Athlon II X2 240 for $45, I think it is posted at hot deals forum.

When playing 1080p mkv, the video card helps too...ati 2xxx and above helps since those has .264 hardware.

Intel dual cores at 2.0 + are fine. Yes, video cards can assist, but only with files that are compatible. I think you should have a CPU you can fall back on, because not everything you play will be compliant.

akbar_k wrote: ↑720p mkv doesn't need much. Not even dual-core (why the hell would anyone say to use a dual-core for a single-threaded process?)

I run it day-to-day very fast and enjoyable with haali media splitter and ffdshow-tryout on a simple Athlon 3500+ outputting to a big lcd.

I gave away my A64 3200+ 2GHz with Nvidia 8400GS to my folks. With the right codec/video player, 720p MKV plays fine. Your can't do anything else when a single core is playing. The rig was pretty useless before the 8400GS was installed.

Am I ever glad I got rid of that computer

EDIT : sorry this is replying to a year old post, certainly hope you're not stuck with the 3500+ still

ppl4golf wrote: ↑I gave away my A64 3200+ 2GHz with Nvidia 8400GS to my folks. With the right codec/video player, 720p MKV plays fine. Your can't do anything else when a single core is playing.

the single core, AMD Athlon A64 3200+ 2.0GHz, IS the minimum requirement to play 720p mkv, using ffdshow.

On a really old Pentium 4 2.8C Ghz (Single-Core, No Hyper Threading) , my friend was able to play 720p with CoreAVC but couldn't run 1080p at all, which was expected.

The Core 2 Duo E6300 (1.86Ghz Dual Core), same story, 720p, but no 1080p unless I bump up the speed to 2.14Ghz.

ppl4golf wrote: ↑I gave away my A64 3200+ 2GHz with Nvidia 8400GS to my folks. With the right codec/video player, 720p MKV plays fine. Your can't do anything else when a single core is playing. The rig was pretty useless before the 8400GS was installed.

Am I ever glad I got rid of that computer

EDIT : sorry this is replying to a year old post, certainly hope you're not stuck with the 3500+ still

Did you try watching 1080p movies with the CoreAVC 1.9.5 codec on the A64 3200+ with the 8400GS rig? I would like to know how well the CUDA technology works.

Chocolinx wrote: ↑On a really old Pentium 4 2.8C Ghz (Single-Core, No Hyper Threading) , my friend was able to play 720p with CoreAVC but couldn't run 1080p at all, which was expected.

The Core 2 Duo E6300 (1.86Ghz Dual Core), same story, 720p, but no 1080p unless I bump up the speed to 2.14Ghz.

Same question... Have you tried using a CUDA supported video card with CoreAVC to watch 1080p movies?

~V79~

Single core Atom 1.6ghz + ION + CoreAVC/CUDA = 50% CPU utilization during 1080p playback, completely smooth.

Viz79 wrote: ↑Same question... Have you tried using a CUDA supported video card with CoreAVC to watch 1080p movies?
~V79~

Neither system has a video card that supports CUDA. CUDA's cheating too, it's hardware acceleration. But, I'm sure if the systems did have an Nvidia card that supported hardware acceleration it would play fine. But, that's more money. A little bump in CPU Ghz isn't too hard. But, the P4 2.8 Socket 478 needs a overhaul in upgrades.