H.264 on a Mobile Pentium 1.73GHz???

sulusulu · May 23rd, 2006, 02:47 AM

I'm looking at a couple of different laptops and I would like to know if one of them can play xvid and H.264 encoded files properly. One of them runs a single core mobile pentium 1.73 GHz cpu and the other runs a dual core 2.0 GHz, so it shouldn't be a problem. Does anyone know if the 1.73 can play a 720x405 or higher resolution video encoded in h.264 or xvid? Here is an example http://orange.blender.org/

Thank you!

**RobRich** · May 23rd, 2006, 03:06 AM

I assume you are comparing the Pentium M and the Core Duo. Video playback decoding is generally not multithreaded, but the dual core chip will still win out due to the higher core frequency.

Either chip will likely handle standard 720x405 encodes with the ffdshow or CoreAVC decoder. If you start getting into more advanced encoding, for example with B-frames enabled, then you could run into some performance concerns, especially with the slower P-M chip.

Anyway, if high-def video is your goal, then you want to have the highest performance processor you can afford. However, also remember youf video card selection can play a huge role in your decision as well, as a poorly performing graphics accelerator is certainly not going to help you reach your goal. At minimum, I suggest looking for a graphics option with its own dedicated memory instead of relying solely on a shared memory architecture.

sulusulu · May 23rd, 2006, 03:18 AM

Both of the laptops have integrated video with sharred memory.

I'm mostly just concerned about being able to play the video. I don't care to much about being able to use any postprocessing. How much do you think that integrated video will affect playback? I will have 1-2GB of memory, if that makes any difference.

**RobRich** · May 23rd, 2006, 03:35 AM

Considering the shared video, if you have the funds, then go for the Core Duo. Even though most decoders are single threaded, the dual core feature allows for a single core to be dedicated to video processing, while the typical system overhead (OS, background apps, etc.) is shifted to the other core.

BTW, I have not had a reason to experiment with H.264 on a P-M system (my last two notebooks have been AMD64 systems), but I know Whir just picked up a P-M notebook. Drop him a line via PM to ask how is working out, as I suspect he has already tried playing a few H.264 encodes.

Also drop by the forums at http://www.doom9.org/ for a quick search regarding H.264 performance on various platforms using different decoders.

**Whir** · May 23rd, 2006, 12:26 PM

I've got the 735, which is a 1.6GHz chip, with the Intel 900 series and a GB of RAM. It plays 1280x720 h.264 with ffdshow decoder no problem. Average CPU use is around 70% with this particular file. CoreAVC would likely drop it by 3 to 5.

I would go with the Core Duo as well, if the funding permits. Having to fall back to a PM chip won't kill you though, so long as it's about as fast as mine.

Hope that helps.

**RobRich** · May 23rd, 2006, 12:41 PM

Quote:

Average CPU use is around 70% with this particular file. CoreAVC would likely drop it by 3 to 5.

That is not bad with ffdshow. Are you using the overlay mixer or VMR7/9 for display output?

sulusulu · May 23rd, 2006, 02:24 PM

Thanks Whir! That really takes a load off my mind. The real difference between the laptops is that the lower end one is a tablet and the other one is not. The thing is that the tablet has a great deal of potential to help with my school work. But I won't know how much potential until I can really try it. :/ The other laptop is very nice and including the extra software that I would have to get for the tablet and upgrading the memory the tablet will actually cost more. Decisions.

Also, I was playing with the 1920x1080 Elephants Dream last night and I had to set it to use the overlay mixer to get smoth playback on an XP3000+

**Whir** · May 23rd, 2006, 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobRich

That is not bad with ffdshow. Are you using the overlay mixer or VMR7/9 for display output?

I use overlay mixer unless I am working on files and need screenshot. Overlay is the only sure-fire output for rendering anamorphic correctly.

**RobRich** · May 23rd, 2006, 03:25 PM

Quote:

Overlay is the only sure-fire output for rendering anamorphic correctly.

AFAIK, with CoreAVC, you can now force the anamorphic flag on VMR9 output. Might be worth looking into if you want to compare with ffdshow.

H.264 aside, when are you are going to actually try VP7? ;p