Player for older laptops?

[zapster]

Any suggestions on software that can do a decent job of playing video on a PIII 500mhz laptop (currently running Win2K but I could switch to Linux). Ideally it could handle most formats although I understand that some of the highdef stuff will need more horsepower.

[redwudz]

VLC Media Player

[festmaster]

Media Player Classic, MPlayer and KMplayer all do well on my PIII 500 laptop for standard definition WMV, DIVX, MP4 and standard definition MPEG. High def just won't work, though.

[erik1958]

On my 500MHz laptop ffmpeg works best

[dcsos]

Power DVD 4.0 if you need mpeg2 codec because with any of the choices posted will not allow playback of DVD material. (this is because until you install a dvd player program, Windows lacks an MPEG2 codec)
or VLC 5.0

[festmaster]

Power DVD 4.0 if you need mpeg2 codec because with any of the choices posted will not allow playback of DVD material. (this is because until you install a dvd player program, Windows lacks an MPEG2 codec)
or VLC 5.0

Good point about a DVD player. However, for that I would recommend downloading the stripped down version of WinDVD or PowerDVD that the laptop manufacturer originally offered for the machine. I know Compaq/HP still have downloadable versions of WinDVD that can be installed on PII machines. The reduced feature set helps its performance on old equipment.

[dcsos]

stripped down version of WinDVD or PowerDVD that the laptop manufacturer originally offered for the machine

if that ain't power dvd 4.0 I'll eat my hat :-)

[festmaster]

stripped down version of WinDVD or PowerDVD that the laptop manufacturer originally offered for the machine

if that ain't power dvd 4.0 I'll eat my hat

Get your ketchup. Here is the link for the Compaq Armada M300 PIII 500MH support page. It will send you WinDVD version 1.00E.

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us...SG_I9579-29440

[dcsos]

2 can play that game
The HP OMNI book 500 came with PowerDVD 3.0
thats where I'm coming from!
I'm chewing on the feather now!

here's their link
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us...swItem=ob953en