On Wed, Sep 2, 2009 at 6:47 PM, Herbert Graf <hkgraf@gmail.com> wrote:

>
> > Is it possible to upgrade either of my computers and if so, which
> > component should I start with?
>
> You're laptop very unlikely, assuming it's not software.
>
> For the desktop, the easiest upgrade is a new video hard with HARDWARE
> support for the codec you are trying to view, again, assuming it's not
> software.
>

I do not know what laptop is that -- OP was talking about an 18 month old
Dell one, so I assume that is a Core Duo or Core 2 Duo or maybe an AMD. That
should perfectly do with software codecs -- I have a Dell laptop (Core 2
Duo) and have no problem even with the Matroska (MKV) codec, which
compresses the HD movie to a very high density (a HD Ready movie fits into a
single layer DVD). However, MKV needs a huge CPU power to uncompress and
play the content -- unlike the H.264 which as far as I know was designed to
be able to play on a less powerful embedded machine.

Tamas





>
> TTYL
>
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