How should I improve my HD Home Theatre PC?

Question

I was hoping someone can give me some advice as to what I should do to improve my HD HTPC, in order to play 1080p movies better. Some 1080p videos work great, some go shaky, others get all blotchy, and others just stop. I realize that it may have to do with the 1080p file itself, but I am looking for the best, or the cheapest way to improve my performance.

What I am using:
-WinXP MCE SP3
-Intel Pentium 4 CPU 3.4GHz
-ABIT AA8 DuraMAX mobo
-4x 512MB DDR2 SDRAM
-ATI RADEON X800 XL 400MHz 256MB Vid Card
-Seagate Barracuda SATA1.5GB/s 120GB 7200RPM 8MB Cache (HDD I boot off of and has programs/codecs)
-Seagate Barracuda SATA 3Gb/s 1.5TB 5900RPM 32MB Cache (HDD I store/play Media on)

-Media Player Classic
-CoreAVC
-AC3Filter

-DVI to HDMI (PC to VIZIO 37" 1080p LCD HDTV)
-S/PDIF Optical Audio (to Philips HTS3371D HTS)

So what should I do to make the 1080p work better?

Answer 1

Actually, the graphics card has very little to do with playback of movie files such as .mkv...Most of bluray 1080/720p rips are mkv files.



I had a similar problem with my htpc and found out that my higher end nvidia 512mb card was not doing anything during playback of mkv files. The graphics card is relied only for video rendering and and gaming.



I'd suggest getting a different codec pack: I use "klite codec pack" google this and download from second link.

Get the full or mega version and try it out. This is one of the most complete codecs available and will play everything. You can alter it's settings to work with your computer steup best. Klite piggy-backs on windows media player and wmp classic...you can try both. Also, you should uninstall your current codecs.



For mkv playback... The codecs solely rely on the CPU to do all work. If anything, upgrade your processor.



If you decide on a new computer- even the integrated intel video cards will do the job. It's not because the integrated vidcards are that good...but it's cuz it has hdmi out only.

If the klite codec pack is too difficult and complex, just use the latest version of "VLC player" or "KM player"... This player has all codecs integrated into it's programming.

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

You should definitely upgrade the graphics card, that's holding you back a fair bit.



Your current graphics card has no built-in decoding for High Definition content; that means the decoding has to be done by your main system processor which will slow everything down and decrease performance (and also likely lead to dropped frames / stutter on playback).



Newer graphics have specialized hardware to decode various HD video formats. When you play one of these video formats back in Windows, the Operating System off-loads the decoding task to the graphics processing unit (GPU) so it doesn't tie up your CPU. As a result, the format decoding can be done smoothly and much more efficiently without taking up critical system resources.



Also, your graphics card is not HDCP compliant. That means you will not be able to playback encrypted/protected High Definition content like Blu-Ray movies in full High Definition (either they won't playback at all, or they will be downgraded to a lower standard definition resolution).



You may also want to consider purchasing a Blu-Ray drive to watch High Definition BR movies, and lastly you may want to consider upgrading the PC to Windows 7 which includes a more up to date Media Center application (note: you may need to upgrade the graphics card before you can migrate to Windows 7).









@R, that is not entirely correct. Firstly, MKV is not a video format or codec, it is a multimedia container. A container can hold all sorts of different video formats that are encoded with any number of codecs such as H.264, DivX, xVid or Theora.



Lets assume the MKV you are trying to playback contains H.264 video (since H.264 is becoming a popular video format). If your graphics card has built-in H.264 accelerated decoding support and you use a software media player that will utilize the GPU for playback, then you can take full advantage of the graphics hardware to play your movie. Note that you might also need Windows 7 to utilize GPU acceleration in this case.

Answer 3

The previous answer gave you a fair amount of specifics. I would add before you make any changes increase your awareness of how a higher performing graphics card will impact everything else. Their is a performance range, or a spec range relative to performance already baked into your computer. If you exceed either specs or performance of parts that work in relation to each other, you run the risk of solving one issue, but creating a new one. What is best is to have all vital parts upgraded together within performance range. I am by no means as well versed as you or Ben on computers, but I am well versed on change. Change whether a car's engine with added performance parts, the human body or computer is best when done incrementally and in steps. I would suggest you keep reading as much as possible and see the best fit based on existing performance, then you will be a happy man.



Good luck.

Answer 4

Assuming your video card is being handed the different deciphering paintings, you ought to replace it with something armed with extra RAM. which you ought to to enhance 2 of your RAM spots to 1GB for fifty% extra device memory to paintings with besides.