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Topic: Format for Best Video Performance on Old Laptop?, What format uses less processor power?

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demo.bau

Group: Members
Posts: 8
Joined: Jan. 2006

Posted: Jan. 23 2006,11:20

Hi,
I finished my picture frame project with an old laptop and have decided to try to make a "video frame"... I have dedicated an old laptop for it (Compaq 1260) - an AMD, on 333MHz, 98MB RAM, 800x600x16M TFT screen.
The video will be max 15 min and will be repeating itself... thinking of "fireplace" or "aquarium" type of video. I have dvds with both types of videos, but when trying to play them on that machine (even after remastering to lower bit rate) I get skipping frames. When I try playing smaller MPEG videos I get smooth playback though.
I can remaster the dvds to Divx, MPEG or any other format, in any resolution and bitrate. But before trying to do so, I was hoping someone can tell me what would be the format (bitrates, codec specifics, resolution) that consumes least processing power...
I am not concerned with storage - I will be running the installation from HD, so if the format produces huge files, that is ok too.
Anyone?
Any comments and/or suggestions on the video content and dsl packages I could use are also appreciated!!
Thanks!

cbagger01

Group: Members
Posts: 4264
Joined: Oct. 2003

Posted: Jan. 23 2006,17:15

MPEG1 is a low CPU resource codec. You will probably need to play with the bitrate in order to find a good compromise between quality and performance.

For resolution, you should lower your laptop's video resolution as much as possible and if possible use either the XVesa server or the native video driver from the XFree86 MyDSL extension.

For example, 640x480x16bit with video acceleration and MPEG1 codec with a decent bitrate, say 1000, is a good starting point.

In general, older codecs like MPEG1 or early RealVideo/WinMedia versions are preferred because while they are not high quality and they do not have extreme compression ratios, they were designed to function on older hardware so they will work with a lower-end CPU.

starcannon Offline

Group: Members
Posts: 100
Joined: Oct. 2005

Posted: Jan. 26 2006,08:48

Cool ideas for using up some old hardware man :cool:

Some other things to try if you don't mind diggin around and spending a small amount of money would be to max out your ram, its relatively inexpensive on our old laptops and can cause incredible performance boost. Ebay and Pricewatch are both great places to hunt for bargains.

Rob

--------------
Damn Small Linux... Because size DOES matter...
Viva Le' Revolution!

2 replies since Jan. 23 2006,11:20

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Damn Small Linux Board » Damn Small Linux » Multimedia » Format for Best Video Performance on Old Laptop?