Best codec for an older laptop?

[nojay]

I've got an old K6-550 laptop running W2k I'd like to use as a video player on-the-road (if it gets stolen, not much loss). It has an external DVD-ROM drive and PowerDVD which (just) keeps up with playing DVDs as the video hardware isn't up to much (shared memory etc.) but it glitches occasionally. It has 256Mb of RAM maxed out.

I've got plenty of HD space after an upgrade so storing bigger video files isn't a real factor. What older codec would be the best choice to recode existing .AVIs encoded in modern formats like .MP4 and H264 so they'd play OK on this machine? I'd be using VirtualDubMod to do the recoding. I'd like to keep the existing quality if poss. but almost all of the stuff I'd be watching would be either 640x480 or 700x400 -- no HD. Would it help the replay if I recoded MPEG-2 from the DVD VOBs and stored them on hard disk?

My normal tool for replay on my desktops is CCCP with Media Player Classic which has, I think, older codecs in its armoury.

[MOVIEGEEK]

You're limited by hardware...not codecs,running a video(no matter what format) in fullscreen requires alot of CPU/GPU resources.
Running the video in a small window is your only choice.

[nojay]

I was reckoning an older codec was designed to work with slower CPUs of the time and no video acceleration as is common on newer kit. The tradeoff was in increased file size and less compression of data.

Older fansubbed anime I downloaded a few years ago ran to about 350Mb for a 25-minute episode (I think the idea was to fit two episodes onto a CD-R). Nowadays I get the same 25 minutes in H264 or MP4 xVid in about 175Mb with no perceptible loss of quality. It might be the fansub encoders are better at their trade than they used to be but I thought the smaller file sizes were mostly because the new codecs compressed the data harder but it required more CPU muscle than before to decode and replay.

[redwudz]

For just the software player, I use VLC, as I don't need to add any codecs and it plays most anything. For codecs, I use Xvid or Divx. They both take a bit of computing power, though. You can try them out and see how they perform on the laptop. For a codec that takes less CPU power, maybe MPEG-1 as in the VCD format may be a good choice.

EDIT: I suspect Power DVD may take a bit more 'power' than some other players. If your video card is the weak link, then you may have a problem, but you have nothing to lose by trying a different approach.

[kschang]

It can work, but you MAY run into audio desync problems.

I run PowerDVD, MPC, VLC, etc. on a Celeron 400 for a long time and I watched DVD's and anime with it, usually with no problems, but in some cases the CPU ain't up to the task and I get a TON of dropped frames.

[BJ_M]

the old ON2 DUck codec as well as many mjpeg codecs work fine on P400's - in fact at full D1 resolution --- so i think they should work ok on yours ...

[olyteddy]

Try older versions of player programs too. I had an AMD K6-2 that could run video full screen, using BS Player ver .6? I believe.

[festmaster]

On my PIII-500 laptop , I have no problem playing Xvid or Dvix on Media Player Classic. You said that your system can keep up (barely) with a DVD in the DVD drive. Try ripping the DVD to the hard drive and playing from there. I would bet that you will see a acceptable performance, assuming you have a 5400 RPM drive. Also, try to find the stripped down OEM version of PowerDVD or WinDVD that your computer manufacturer included with the machine (Compaq keeps it available for download for their machines). The lower feature set seems to make it a little quicker for basic playing.

[celtic_druid]

mplayer is about the lowest resource player, especially under linux. MPEG-4 would be ok as long as it isn't too high a res, doesn't use GMC, qpel or possible bframes. DivX 3 (MS MPEG-4 V3) should be ok to.