why cant i play 1080p mkvs? (but 720p mkvs are fine..)

[skanky]

im having problems playing any 1080p mkvs i have, but 720p mkvs seem unaffected.

its not a case of my machine too slow to handle 1080p media (its a c2d 2.2ghz, 2gb ram, ati 2400pro), rather i find that when i try and open a 1080p file, it just hangs at a black screen, no sound or video.

i'm using a combination of the latest versions/builds of MPC HC, haali, ffdshow-tryouts and powerdvd's h264 decoder. any video renderer seems to not work as well as the next, EVR, WMR9, they all do the same!

however, in MPC HC, i mistakenly made ffdshow the preferred decoder and it managed to open the 1080p mkv properly, i didnt watch all the way through so couldnt tell how good/bad it was.

anyone know why this is? i'd like to use the powerdvd decoder as i'd like to be able to use the hardware acceleration on my ati 2400pro.

i also tried MPC HC's internal decoders, same problem of the file not opening/playing.

thanks.

[jshumate]

Playing H.264 content (which is probably what your MKVs are) is problematic for a lot of people. You may think your PC is powerful enough but in reality it probably isn't. And by the way, I'm not aware of any way you can possibly get PowerDVD to send H.264 video to your ATI 2400Pro, which might be able to play it successfully. What inevitably happens is that because H.264 playback on GPUs is still more theoretical than practical (none of the video card manufacturers tell you this, but it's true), the CPU on your system has to do 100% of the decoding. The only thing I have that can even attempt to play H.264 HD files is to use VLC Media Player. You might try that. I think trying to find a way to make your video card decode the video is something you won't be able to do right now, but perhaps now that I have said so maybe someone who knows how to do it will post here and prove me wrong and we can all learn something from it.

[Dark Shikari]

The GPU likely cannot handle 1080p with the encoding settings used.

Therefore, you'll have to use your CPU, and probably a fast payware decoder like CoreAVC.

[skanky]

The GPU likely cannot handle 1080p with the encoding settings used.

Therefore, you'll have to use your CPU, and probably a fast payware decoder like CoreAVC.

but its not like its stuttering, its not even loading the file..

[Dark Shikari]

but its not like its stuttering, its not even loading the file..The GPU playback is extremely finicky--it rarely stutters, it simply chooses to not work.