question about ability of netbook to process video

[jimdagys]

I see there are a lot of netbooks. Many say "atom" processor. I am wondering if these netbooks can process video very well (for example, like using Virtual dubmod to compress video). I don't need lighting speed. In the past, I had a desktop with a 1.5GHz processor and that worked OK for me.

[redwudz]

Sure they can process video, though they might be a bit slow compared to a desktop or most newer laptops. Playback is a bigger problem as the video chip is usually not too advanced. For high definition or highly compressed video like H.264 they struggle. But Xvid at standard definition works fine.

There is also the problem of only having one HDD as everything needs to pass through that. Although you could use a second external HDD. But encoding is a slower operation than playback, so having just one drive may not be that big of problem.

Actually the specs of most netbooks are similar to laptops from a few years ago. Probably the main difference is the KB and screen size and the lack of a optical drive.

[jimdagys]

Thanks for the reply. I see that Microcenter has external DVD USB burners for about $30. I figure I could connect the burner to a netbook and watch DVDs/avi's, make avi's from DVDs, make DVDs from avi's, compress avi's, etc. I have no need for HD video.