How to get these files to play smoothly?

[Lurkin]

I have a bunch of tv shows in HD that are of this description, and I have a dual core PC with Dual ATI x1900's so there should be no issue in the hardware department>

The files are 720p.hdtv.x264.mkv and the audio plays along smoothly, the time counter moves smooth but the video just can't keep up, it runs at like low fps or stalls then jumps ahead to try and catch up.

This seems to be a popular new format for High Def tv shows for download yet I can't see how anyone manages to play them. I have tried VLC, Core Player, ZPlayer and everything else I can find.

Any suggestions?

[jman98]

You might be able to get better results from Windows Media Player if you are sure to configure it to use hardware acceleration. This will force your PC to use the GPU on your video cards to decode the files instead of your system CPU and it can make a big difference in playback.

I have never used Core Player or ZPlayer, but I can tell you that while VLC is a fine player and I do use it, it has no option at all for hardware acceleration, which means that it uses 100% of your CPU to decode video. Maybe you have some other things going on that are taking up CPU (are you by any chance connected to the internet while you are watching?) and are causing your playback stutters. In theory, with a dual core CPU you SHOULD be OK. I have a 2 year old single core AMD system and with hardware acceleration, most things play back OK.

Finally, my experience is that software DVD players like Power DVD can use hardware acceleration too if you configure them and this can help, but Power DVD doesn't understand the MKV containter at all.

[celtic_druid]

Don't know about VLC, but my X2 4200+ can playback 720p AVC fine in mplayer. Not sure of how much help X1900's are for AVC decoding, you might be better off checking out CoreAVC.

[Digiface]

Yes you should try CoreAVC.