Aspire AOD250 netbook; playing MKV / MP4 video files?

[roosta]

Hey everyone.

Sorry if this is in the wrong forum - but would appreciate any help i can get.

I have the above model Acer aspire netbook - not the typical laptop you would buy for movie-watching, but i'm hoping to get around the problem I am having of LAGGING AUDIO (or delayed video), It seems this laptop; which has max 2GB of DDR2 ram, running off a 1.6GHz Atom processor (533 fsb) - and is currently running app's like

- newest codec for Windows media player / quicktime
- VLC media oplayer
- Media Player Classic
- Total Video Player (TVP)
- DivX player 7

The files I am wanting to watch are 1-3GB in size and in 720p higher definition video...obviusly ny laptop has nothing fancy in terms of specs with onboard video/audio, but i'd think this would manage MP4/NKV files...

It seems the best I cab get is in DivX or Nedia Player Classic, but video slows and audio is way ahead. Now, I had this kind of problems specifically with MKV files only on a HP laptop - i shouldn't have to stuff around with the players outout/video settings. It was actually a quick fix; install DivX player and just use that player exclusively for MKV and typical MP4 video for WIN media player / media player classic players.

Can anyone help with my problem, or is this an issue with slow processor and hence a limitation i cannot overcome?

RoOSTA

[ssrattus]

Firstly I would remove those extra players Total Video Player (TVP) and DivX player 7 as they often install their own codecs that may interfere with other codecs and players. Then uninstall any codec packs you have installed. Remember with codecs "less is best".

Download and install Shark007's codec pack

See how you go playing the mkv in Media player.

If you still have problems use graphedit to check that you are decoding the file using your selected codecs.

If you are still having problems with mkv files the CoreAVC codec is meant to be the fastest, but it is a commercial product, ie costs $ or google search "CoreAVC rapidshare"

[roosta]

Firstly I would remove those extra players Total Video Player (TVP) and DivX player 7 as they often install their own codecs that may interfere with other codecs and players. Then uninstall any codec packs you have installed. Remember with codecs "less is best".

Download and install Shark007's codec pack

See how you go playing the mkv in Media player.

If you still have problems use graphedit to check that you are decoding the file using your selected codecs.

If you are still having problems with mkv files the CoreAVC codec is meant to be the fastest, but it is a commercial product, ie costs $ or google search "CoreAVC rapidshare"

Thanks very much for the help ssrattus, it seems after downloading and installing the Shark007 codec, windows media player now plays MP4 files with ease.

I have no idea how to install or even use the ZIP files for graphedit, can you provide any assistance there? Or some kind of tutorial for setup?

What other palyers would you recommend that don't use their own codec?

Also, after googling CoreAVC, it looks like every description I have read shows that its quality MP4 codec with no mentioning of MKV, should I try and download abyway just for the MKV?

Thanks again...

adding a reply that was made via PM, completes the thread...ssrattus

A little theory....

A mkv file is a container file. Inside it can be video, audio and subtitle type files.

A avi file is another container for video and audio files.

A codec is used for decoding video and audio files that are within the container.

What has happened is that people have been using the mkv container to hold video files that are encoded as AVC (advanced video coding) which is the same as MP4 Part 10 or H-264.

For avi type files the video is most often encoded with MP4 part 2 which is Xvid/Divx.

Just to confuse you you can do the opposite! ie an mkv file that has the video encoded with Xvid, or you can have an avi file that is encoded with H264!

Anyway, Shark's codec pack normally works just fine. You should be able to right click and "Open with" and select Windows Media Player and it should run OK.

Re other players... I don't use them, they often cause more problems than they cure. One player worth looking at is the free Windows Media Player Classic.... it is an enhanced version of the original Microsoft Media Player from years ago

Re CoreAVC... yes it decodes mkvs... the mkv is "split" ie the container is split open and the MP4 inside is played by coreAVC. If you still have stuttering problems with the Shark codecs consider it.

Re graphedit... just extract to a folder, no install needed. Run GraphEdt.exe, and from the File menu select "Render Media File" and Graphedit will look at your setup and select the filters (another name for codecs and a lot more things) that can play the file. If your setup is stuffed up it will come back with a message saying it can't be rendered. Graphedit is an advanced tool that you can use to analyse your system.

[roosta]

Have installed graphedit and these are the results for the individual P4 and MKV files:




Also downloaded and installed cracked version of CoreAVC, after trying the MKV in both Win Media player and also the Classic media player, i cannot figure out why the lagging has not improved and still lags as much as it did before. Can anyone offer any further assistance, or is the 1.6ghz atom processor to be blamed here?

Thanks!

[ssrattus]

Did you do the graph after installing coreavc? If so then it isn't being used. Open "Settings Application" in your Codecs folder in the start menu and click on FFDShow Video config and select the Codecs menu on the left and look for H264/AVC in the centre and select disabled. This will disable ffdshow and allow coreavc to be used. Redo the graph to confirm.

[ssrattus]

Actually.... before making coreavc the codec for H264/AVC check OSD is FFDShow and check CPU load, it should be displayed on the screen now. Run the lagging mkvs and see if your CPU is maxing out, if it isn't then your lagging is probably elsewhere. Have you tried more than one mkv? Maybe the test mkv is coded with an audio lag?

Also what do you mean by lagging? Is it consistent?

[roosta]

Actually.... before making coreavc the codec for H264/AVC check OSD is FFDShow and check CPU load, it should be displayed on the screen now. Run the lagging mkvs and see if your CPU is maxing out, if it isn't then your lagging is probably elsewhere. Have you tried more than one mkv? Maybe the test mkv is coded with an audio lag?

Also what do you mean by lagging? Is it consistent?

Checked OSD and CPU load and like you guessed, as the file progresses, the CPU usage fluctuates between 90-98% usage up abd down by the second.

Rearding the test mkv, I have successfully used it on my desktop PC which is 4x faster, more memory and a decent video card, so its definately not the file. By 'lagging' i mean the audio is constantly always ahead of the video, if you skip a little into the file, for a second (or 3) its fine...video slows, audio jumps ahead at normal speed...BUT WAIT!

Your initial post has helped tremendously - disabling ffDshadow's H264/AVC and allowing the more prominant and apparently higher quality CoreAVC to do the decoding has STOPPED MY LAGGING! Horray! ssrattus you are an absolute legend and deserve many thanks for your time and effort seeing this through...

Now I am suddenly a lot happier with my little AOD250 netbook!

RoOSTA

[ssrattus]

Good that it works now! If you run graphedit now you should see coreavc is used for mkvs now.

Coreavc CLAIMS to be the fastest and uses the least resources decoder for AVC. Wouldn't be certain that it has the absolute best quality though, I suspect there are trade-offs for speed.