Pentium II and Xvid

[ProjectN]

Really didn't know where to put it, so please do so and change this topic the to the place that belongs.

My friend dig up some old Pentium II @ 266Mhz with 64MB ram and Geforce 2 MX.
Can this PC play Xvid movies?
Because I tried playing them through WMP, but it had a lot of squares in different colours (pink, green, blue....etc).

Thnx.

[Dark Eiri]

Try using VLC Player.
I'm almost sure it will play almost anything low-res.

[ProjectN]

Well I've tried that, and it has troubles with starting VLC.
I think it eats up too much resources.
The only thing that starts movie in a very short time is WMP.
Tried BSplayer, tried CrystalPlayer.......but they all eat up memory.

[setarip_old]

@ProjectN

Hi!

Two things to do: Set the DESKTOP to a lower colordepth (such as 256 colors) and set the resolution to 640x480.

Try using good ol' MS Windows Media Player v.6.4.

Despite doing all the above, the major hurdle may prove to be insufficient RAM. If I remember correctly, a system such as the one you've described needs a minimum 128Megs of RAM to decently process videos...

[scharfis_brain]

Set the DESKTOP to a lower colordepth (such as 256 colors) and set the resolution to 840x480.
Not needed. The GF2 card is able to do 32bits without problems.
Besides that the Video Overlay is (mostly) independant from the Destop bitdepth.

If I remember correctly, a system such as the one you've described needs a minimum 128Megs of RAM to decently process videos...
This isn't true. I played lowres XViD Files on a Pentium-MMX 200 MHz with 32 MB of RAM. I used Media Player 6.4 back then.
But VLC should also be fine.

If there are major issues starting these programs there moste likely is a configuration prblem with the system like drivers or Hardware failure (which is not uncommon for PC of that age).

[Manao]

Imho, VLC is too RAM hungry to do the job here (it takes 40 MB to read a 640x352 video on my computer). I'd use mplayer, since your are both CPU and RAM limited (it takes "only" 15 MB on the same video)

If mplayer somehow doesn't work, then MPC or WMP 6.4 + ffdshow (27 MB)

[clsid]

I used to own a PC with the exact same CPU and graphics card. I had more RAM, 192 MB. Such a PC is simply too slow to smoothly play Xvid videos.

[CWR03]

I used to own a PC with the exact same CPU and graphics card. I had more RAM, 192 MB. Such a PC is simply too slow to smoothly play Xvid videos.
Same here, mine had 512 RAM and a really high end (for its time) motherboard, and couldn't play an Xvid file if it was over 320 x 240, and even that wouldn't play smooth. Since Xvid is decoded via processor and yours is so slow, it's not likely to happen.

[Furiousflea]

That machine should EASILY be able to decode xvid.

I had a Pentium 200 with 48mb of ram that was adequate on a windows 98 system. (Could decode without dropping frames up to around 640x480)

[Furiousflea]

This was using windows media player, not sure which version but it wasn't 6.4 it was the first tarted up version that everyone hated.

On the res it was actually 640x272 not 640x480 and it had MMX but then a P2 is far more powerful than a pentium with mmx etc.

I think its a memory issue and you prolly got loads of crap services that can be safely disabled, defo dont use a modern player.

[DJ Bobo]

The decoder is vital in such situations.
Even a Pentium 3 will have problems decoding 640x480, especially if the video has B-frames and you enable postprocessing.

I can only suggest mplayer, like the others, with a bare Windows 98 SE installation... or may be a light linux distribution, like DSL (Damn Small Linux). DSL runs even on 486 machines!

[Blue_MiSfit]

Mplayer FTW.

It should handle things no problem.

Try Geexbox - it's a VERY light linux distro that can run off a bootable CD, and play media across the network or from inserted media.

Maybe you can find a cheap 128mb stick of PC100 (or whatever your motherboard wants). With that extra RAM, a minimal win2k install should be just fine. Media Player Classic + overlay mixer + ffdshow.

~MiSfit