Can SVCDs be played on this pc?

[spankey]

I ripped monsters inc for a friend of mine's kids. Thier PC is as follows..

Compaq preserio 5360
AMD K6/2 450mhz.
256 megs of ram
Windows 89 SE
3d now on the chip itself.NO VIDEO CARD?

I installed powerdvd for them as the regular windows media player would not run at all?

It played the svcd fine but the video was somewhat slow??? Can they not play them? Would a video card help? What player is compadable with windows 98? Could it be that issue?

Thanks for your time on this subject...

Spankey

[Prospero424]

It sounds like what you mean is that the video chip is built into the motherboard, which is very common on budget PCs and all laptops. Having worked on alot of Compaq machines with integrated AMD K6-2 chipsets, I believe your conclusion to be correct: you need a new video card OR a DVD decoder card, which can also decode SVCDs (which use the MPEG2 standard along wih DVDs)

If the motherboard in your Compaq has an AGP slot, then I would go ahead and get a new video card. However, figuring out how to disable your current onboard video might be a bit of a chore. If there is no AGP slot, (which I suspect may be the case) then I would suggest getting a DVD decoder card, as these are all PCI cards. Although this will not improve 3d performance like a new video card would.


Good luck!!
Prospero

[MITSUI_1]

My brother has almost that exact same setup, only his has the cheap ATI RAGE IIC chipset for video. He's also using just a 400 mhz K6-2 processor.

He can play SVCDs just fine using Windvd.

Do you have anything weird running that would eat CPU cycles?

What vidcard DO you have?

[BJ_M]

ATI RAGE IIC plays back mpeg just fine -- i have one in a server ... it will play back dvd and mpeg2 at full frame rate .. but the audio on ac3 cant keep up but the audio on mpeg1 audio and such is fine

[spankey]

Guys-

Thanks for your replies... One I figured that the video chip can't cycle the video at the rate it should although it tries? So that I have to figure out?

I sold them the computer, and it played a harry potter VCD just fine using the normal windows media player? I tried to play the svcd with the media player but it just sits there and does not play? That is another thing I have to figure out? I should upgrade it as it is still the old media player that came with windows 98


Second PowerDVD seems to be for XP? At least the one I installed on it is powerdvd XP? Could that be an issue there as well not compadable???

I will try WINDVD and see how that works for them?? It plays 3d games fine so I can't see why it would not play any other video?????

Thanks for more help??

Spankey

ALso as the first post stated there is NO VIDEO card? Just using the onboard 3D NOW video on the AMD K6/2 450 chipset......

There is NOTHING eating cpu cycles at all?

[BJ_M]

vcd is mpeg1 and will play on most anything ...

svcd is mpeg2 and needs a codec (which does not come with windows) .. installing powerdvd or windvd is best method ...

after that you can play in media player (i think version 6.4 is better anyway) ... though you might as well use windvd or powerdvd (which also can play avi's and most other files)

[MITSUI_1]

Spanky,

Right click on "my computer" and go to "DEVICE MANAGER" and tell us what it says under the "Display Adaptor" thing.

There HAS to be a video chip beyond the AMD chip. 3d-NOW is just a set of computer instructions that help the CPU do the kind of math used in 3d games faster.

You still have to have a video chip separate from the processor. Trust me on that.

[spankey]

Misui,

I will do that tomorrow... I will be at thier house tomorrow and I will check on it... I, in the mean time will download the newer version of media player or see If I still have a download of windvd...


Thanks...

[Nelson37]

I have found STHSVCD to be the least CPU-intensive MPEG-2 player available. I can play SVCD on a Pentium 233, although it does have an ATI card. Most ATI cards have some MPG acceleration features.

You do have a video card, its just one-piece with the motherboard. Presarios often used built-in ATI chips.

WMP plays MPEG-1 (VCD) just fine, but MPEG-2 capability is not built-in because of licensing issues. This capability can be added by installing a 3rd-party codec.

Playing a Video Game is totally unrelated to playing movies, other than more horsepower is better. The optimizations involved are completely different.

Disable ALL running software other than Explorer and Systray when running video. CTRL-ALT-DEL to bring up Task Manager, highlight and press End Task. You probably have a bunch of Compaq and other crap running in the backround.

BTW, I find Compaq to be the worst warranty support company in the business, with the possible exception of E-machine. Hopefully HP will straighten them out.

[gadget]

I have Cel 500mhz and running win 98se. I have an ATI tv wonder ve card for my captures and able to playback svcd using powerdvd for xp.