MKV playback requirements?

[SticKx911]

Anyone have a guess as to what the minimum I should be looking for to put in a media center PC to improve MKV playback? All the computer I've got set up for the task has is PCI slots, I found a 64mb PCI ATI 9000 series in the FS section here. do you think that'd be enough?

the computer is an older p4 system. it is a junker, but I was hoping using it as a playback computer it would be sufficient as long as I don't bog it down with useless software.

right now it only has 512 of ddr, but I'm also tripling that to 1.5 gb later this week. so I hope that will cover that base.

 

[desmopilot]

Highly doubt a 9000 could push HD. From what I understand, the minimum to push HD content (not bluray, just MKVs like you're interested in) is something like a HD5450 or a GT220.

 

[GotNoRice]

Highly doubt a 9000 could push HD. From what I understand, the minimum to push HD content (not bluray, just MKVs like you're interested in) is something like a HD5450 or a GT220.

That doesn't even make sense. Unless you were counting on the videocard to do GPU hardware decoding or something it really hardly matters at all what videocard you have. The decoding will be done on the CPU and it won't put any more strain on your GPU displaying that video than it would displaying any other video.

I used a 2.8Ghz Pentium4 (northwood) w/ onboard Intel graphics for a while as an HTPC and using CoreAVC (more lenient than VLC when it comes to CPU usage) it was fine for 720p but not for 1080p.

My laptop is a 7-year-old Compaq X1000 with a Pentium-M 1.7Ghz, 1.5gb ram, and a radeon mobility 9200. It also plays 720p fine, and is able to play *some* 1080p content though that is straddling the edge of the system's capabilities and occasionally results in A/V sync problems.

 

[dajet24]

I play MKV's in GOM player on a Sempron 2ghz and a 9600 AGP radeon.

 

[vazel]

My Athlon XP 2800+(equivalent to a P4 2.8GHz) could play 720p fine but not 1080p. If you want the best performance you can get out of h.264 decoding be sure to use CoreAVC.

 

[Whatsisname]

MKV doesn't matter.

MKV is a container format, it can hold video encoded with many kinds of codecs. What codecs are being played is more important than what container format is being used.

 

[vazel]

MKV doesn't matter.

MKV is a container format, it can hold video encoded with many kinds of codecs. What codecs are being played is more important than what container format is being used.

It is true that it's just a container. But I think we know what he means considering virtually all mkv files on the internet are used for h.264 encoded video.

 

[WBurchnall]

It is true that it's just a container. But I think we know what he means considering virtually all mkv files on the internet are used for h.264 encoded video.

This. MKVs can hold both standard definition and high definition and lots of standards inbetween the two. Then there's the profile such as 5Mbps 720p versus 10Mbps 720p which varies the video and audio quality in terms of the amount of compression that was done on the source file and how much decompression is needed to display. It's more important what your playing to determine whether a 9600 would be any good for you.

Unless that video card is super cheap, I'd look at a better card personally. Newer cards have additional filters like UMD or what not designed to improve contrast, reduce noise levels, etc.

 

[vazel]

The GPU does not matter as no PCI GPU can accelerate h.264. Definitely do not go below 64MB VRAM though. For decoding it all comes down to the CPU. A typical 720p mkv file on the internet has a bitrate of 5-7Mbps which a P4 2.8GHz can decode just fine. I do not remember any 720p files giving me trouble on my Athlon XP 2800+. And as I mentioned CoreAVC is designed to use less resources so he may want to use that as his decoder. Although I was able to use the more CPU intensive ffdshow for 720p too.