[SOLVED] 1.5GHz CPU Not Strong Enough to Play DVD Video?

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vintager
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Joined: Tue Sep 18, 2012 3:52 pm

[SOLVED] 1.5GHz CPU Not Strong Enough to Play DVD Video?

Post by vintager » Tue Sep 18, 2012 4:00 pm

I inherited an EX15000LG motherboard from a friend, which I thought I could use to build a media center based on Windows XP Home. The system seems to work fine (with the latest VIA/S3G UnChrome Pro II IGP driver installed) and can play music fine (with 20% CPU utilization!) but when I try to play a YouTube video or a DVD video (SD, not even HD or Blue Ray!), it is extremely choppy.

I find this odd, given that the CPU is 1.5GHz, the system has 1GB RAM and it uses full hardware acceleration for the video.

More precisely, here is the system info report:

Code: Select all

Item	Value	
OS Name	Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition	
Version	5.1.2600 Service Pack 3 Build 2600	
OS Manufacturer	Microsoft Corporation	
System Name	MC	
System Manufacturer	VIA Technologies, Inc.	
System Model	CX700	
System Type	X86-based PC	
Processor	x86 Family 6 Model 10 Stepping 9 CentaurHauls ~1500 Mhz	
BIOS Version/Date	Phoenix Technologies, LTD 6.00 PG, 5/28/2008	
SMBIOS Version	2.3	
Windows Directory	C:\WINDOWS	
System Directory	C:\WINDOWS\system32	
Boot Device	\Device\HarddiskVolume1	
Locale	United States	
Hardware Abstraction Layer	Version = "5.1.2600.5512 (xpsp.080413-2111)"	
Time Zone	Eastern Daylight Time	
Total Physical Memory	1,024.00 MB	
Available Physical Memory	420.82 MB	
Total Virtual Memory	2.00 GB	
Available Virtual Memory	1.96 GB	
Page File Space	2.26 GB	
Page File	C:\pagefile.sys
And the video related components:

Code: Select all

[Video Codecs]

CODEC	Manufacturer	Description	Status	File	Version	Size	Creation Date	
c:\windows\system32\tsbyuv.dll	Microsoft Corporation		OK	C:\WINDOWS\system32\TSBYUV.DLL	5.1.2600.5908 (xpsp_sp3_gdr.091127-0541)	8.50 KB (8,704 bytes)	8/17/2001 6:36 PM	
c:\windows\system32\iccvid.dll	Radius Inc.		OK	C:\WINDOWS\system32\ICCVID.DLL	1.10.0.11	78.50 KB (80,384 bytes)	4/14/2008 8:00 AM	
c:\windows\system32\msh261.drv	Microsoft Corporation		OK	C:\WINDOWS\system32\MSH261.DRV	5.1.2600.5512	184.00 KB (188,416 bytes)	9/5/2012 8:59 PM	
c:\windows\system32\iyuv_32.dll	Microsoft Corporation		OK	C:\WINDOWS\system32\IYUV_32.DLL	5.1.2600.5908 (xpsp_sp3_gdr.091127-0541)	47.00 KB (48,128 bytes)	4/14/2008 1:41 AM	
c:\windows\system32\msrle32.dll	Microsoft Corporation		OK	C:\WINDOWS\system32\MSRLE32.DLL	5.1.2600.5908 (xpsp_sp3_gdr.091127-0541)	11.00 KB (11,264 bytes)	4/14/2008 8:00 AM	
c:\windows\system32\msyuv.dll	Microsoft Corporation		OK	C:\WINDOWS\system32\MSYUV.DLL	5.3.2600.5908 (xpsp_sp3_gdr.091127-0541)	17.50 KB (17,920 bytes)	4/14/2008 1:42 AM	
c:\windows\system32\msh263.drv	Microsoft Corporation		OK	C:\WINDOWS\system32\MSH263.DRV	5.1.2600.5512	288.00 KB (294,912 bytes)	4/14/2008 1:42 AM	
c:\windows\system32\ir41_32.ax	Intel Corporation		OK	C:\WINDOWS\system32\IR41_32.AX	4.51.16.03	828.50 KB (848,384 bytes)	4/14/2008 8:00 AM	
c:\windows\system32\ir50_32.dll	Intel Corporation	Indeo® video 5.10	OK	C:\WINDOWS\system32\IR50_32.DLL	R.5.10.15.2.55	737.50 KB (755,200 bytes)	4/14/2008 8:00 AM	
c:\windows\system32\msvidc32.dll	Microsoft Corporation		OK	C:\WINDOWS\system32\MSVIDC32.DLL	5.1.2600.5908 (xpsp_sp3_gdr.091127-0541)	28.00 KB (28,672 bytes)	4/14/2008 8:00 AM	
c:\windows\system32\ir32_32.dll	Intel(R) Corporation		OK	C:\WINDOWS\system32\IR32_32.DLL	Not Available	194.50 KB (199,168 bytes)	4/14/2008 8:00 AM

[Display]

Item	Value	
Name	VIA/S3G UniChrome Pro II IGP	
PNP Device ID	PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_3157&SUBSYS_31571106&REV_03\4&17F55CA6&0&0008	
Adapter Type	VIA/S3G UniChrome Pro II IGP, VIA/S3G compatible	
Adapter Description	VIA/S3G UniChrome Pro II IGP	
Adapter RAM	64.00 MB (67,108,864 bytes)	
Installed Drivers	vtdisp.dll	
Driver Version	Not Available	
INF File	oem7.inf (viagfx_3324 section)	
Color Planes	1	
Color Table Entries	4294967296	
Resolution	1280 x 1024 x 60 hertz	
Bits/Pixel	32	
Memory Address	0xA0000000-0xBFFFFFFF	
Memory Address	0xDD000000-0xDEFFFFFF	
IRQ Channel	IRQ 16	
Memory Address	0xA0000-0xBFFFF	
I/O Port	0x000003B0-0x000003BB	
I/O Port	0x000003C0-0x000003DF	
Driver	c:\windows\system32\drivers\vtminiwr.sys (, 6.00 KB (6,144 bytes), 10/16/2008 2:19 AM)
Any idea what could be the problem and how to fix it?

(if you need more information about the system, let me know and I will try to fetch it)
Last edited by vintager on Sat Sep 22, 2012 6:26 pm, edited 3 times in total.

andyb
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Re: 1.5GHz CPU Not Strong Enough to Play DVD Video?

Post by andyb » Tue Sep 18, 2012 4:57 pm

VIA/S3G UniChrome Pro II IGP
That graphics chip is old, and as far as I can remember only had "hardware" playback for a few old codec's, MPEG or MPEG 2 probably.

According to this it supports MPEG 4, and WMP9 as well, but I would not be certain about that as it may be a refreshed version of the one you have.

http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/chips ... es/cx700m/

However even if it supports those codec's does it support them at the quality level that you are trying to play.? Does the media player even use the hardware acceleration.?

It would be nice if you could get it to be an effective media player, but I dont hold out a lot of hope for you.

Perhaps try Linux, Via are renowned for having good driver support, otherwise use it as a torrent box or some other menial talk.

As far as the raw CPU power is concerned, I seem to remember that 1.5GHz CPU was on=par with 800Mhz AMD and Intel CPU's, so anything that does not use hardware (video) acceleration is going to be painfully slow.

PS: WELCOME TO SPCR


Andy

washu
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Re: 1.5GHz CPU Not Strong Enough to Play DVD Video?

Post by washu » Tue Sep 18, 2012 5:22 pm

Are you trying to play an actual DVD, ie MPEG2 or something transcoded from DVD? Just because it is SD doesn't mean it's MPEG2. It could be H264 which would be much harder to decode. Even SD youtube videos are at least H263, still much harder to decode then MPEG2. Plus you likely have the overhead of Flash which is unlikely to be using much if any hardware acceleration on such an old video card.

Also, while andyb pointed out that a 1.5 GHz Via C7 is about equivalent to an 800 MHz P3, that is only in integer. In floating point it is much worse, closer to a 200-300 MHz P3.

CA_Steve
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Re: 1.5GHz CPU Not Strong Enough to Play DVD Video?

Post by CA_Steve » Tue Sep 18, 2012 6:58 pm

Try running task manager's performance tab while playing the DVD/video and see what the CPU % is.

vintager
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Re: 1.5GHz CPU Not Strong Enough to Play DVD Video?

Post by vintager » Thu Sep 20, 2012 4:40 pm

andyb wrote:PS: WELCOME TO SPCR
Thank you and sorry for posting my question in the wrong forum (it was labeled "troubleshooting" so I thought that might be the best place for it).
andyb wrote:However even if it supports those codec's does it support them at the quality level that you are trying to play.?
I believe so, because my expectations are very modest. I am not looking to play Blue Ray discs. I just want to play legacy DVDs (still available on some rental stores) like this one.
andyb wrote:Does the media player even use the hardware acceleration.?
The adapter's driver itself is set to full hardware acceleration:

Image

But I don't know whether the media player (XBMC ver. 11.0 AKA "Eden") uses it.

vintager
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Re: 1.5GHz CPU Not Strong Enough to Play DVD Video?

Post by vintager » Thu Sep 20, 2012 4:51 pm

washu wrote:Are you trying to play an actual DVD?
Yes, I am trying to play an actual DVD ("Contact" from 1997). Nothing transcoded or copied.
washu wrote:Even SD youtube videos are at least H263, still much harder to decode then MPEG2. Plus you likely have the overhead of Flash which is unlikely to be using much if any hardware acceleration on such an old video card.
I understand it is old, but this motherboard has component video outputs which tells me that it was designed to serve as a media center for playing at least legacy DVDs. Am I mistaken?

washu wrote:Also, while andyb pointed out that a 1.5 GHz Via C7 is about equivalent to an 800 MHz P3, that is only in integer. In floating point it is much worse, closer to a 200-300 MHz P3.
This is a good reference point. I recall playing that same DVD on an old IBM ThinkPad running at 350MHz. Maybe there is hope?

CA_Steve wrote:Try running task manager's performance tab while playing the DVD/video and see what the CPU % is.
I ran it, and I ran Process Explorer from Sysinternals, too. All 3 tools (Windows Task Manager, Process Explorer and XBMC) show 100% CPU utilization as soon as I fire up XBMC, even before I place a DVD in the player's tray!

I somehow suspect my motherboard's drivers are not setup properly (even though Windows shows perfect operation), but how do I find out when this is a discontinued motherboard from a company whose support forum seems to be even more discontinued? :)

washu
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Re: 1.5GHz CPU Not Strong Enough to Play DVD Video?

Post by washu » Thu Sep 20, 2012 6:39 pm

The hardware acceleration settings in display properties has really nothing to do with video acceleration as we are discussing it. It's referring to 2D GUI acceleration in Windows, the mouse pointer and other really basic operations that have been around since at least the Windows 95 days.

Physical outputs really have no bearing on what a video card can do. I have an old ATI all in wonder card that can barely accelerate MPEG2 which has component outs. Doesn't make it a better card for video playback then a newer card with full H264/VC1 offloading that only has VGA.

I'm not trying to be offensive, but you have a slow computer with a crappy video card. It is what it is and you can't expect magic from it. That old Thinkpad probably had better FPU performance (very important for video decoding) and a better video card that helped more.

XBMC using 100% CPU before it even loads the video is a bit weird. I'd suggest trying some other video players. VLC is a good one to try as it doesn't depend on any other codecs.

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Re: 1.5GHz CPU Not Strong Enough to Play DVD Video?

Post by xan_user » Fri Sep 21, 2012 6:11 am

seconded trying VLC.

have you thought about dropping windows (and all its bloat and overhead)and trying a linux distro?

washu
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Re: 1.5GHz CPU Not Strong Enough to Play DVD Video?

Post by washu » Fri Sep 21, 2012 7:04 am

xan_user wrote: have you thought about dropping windows (and all its bloat and overhead)and trying a linux distro?
Not trying to start a Linux vs Windows flame war, but in this case Windows is likely the better solution. While in most cases the low overhead that Linux can bring can help in certain tasks, video output is not one of them. The overhead of X and all the associated parts (WM, etc) is quite a bit more than the overhead of the Windows display system. Especially given that he is using XP, much of the graphics operations will be in kernel mode VS user mode on Linux. Also, if video acceleration isn't working properly in the official Windows driver, the chances that the Linux driver will do better is very unlikely.

If you have the time and inclination, go ahead and try Linux. I could be wrong and you might get lucky. If you have that time you should also try a clean install of XP just to make sure there is no codec issues or other junk.
Last edited by washu on Fri Sep 21, 2012 7:08 am, edited 1 time in total.

vintager
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Re: 1.5GHz CPU Not Strong Enough to Play DVD Video?

Post by vintager » Fri Sep 21, 2012 7:08 am

Problem solved: DVDs plays smoothly, utilizing less than 30% CPU, using Windows Media Player 9.

All I did to accomplish that was to install the free K-Lite Mega Codec Pack (ver. 9.2, downloaded from CNET).

Amazing, isn't it?

So, I guess the bottom line answer is: Yes, a VIA 1.5GHz CPU is more than enough to play a DVD, if it's part of a motherboard that includes CX700 chipset, like the ancient (and no longer available) EX15000LG.


Thank you all who guided me through this troubleshooting process.

andyb
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Re: [SOLVED] 1.5GHz CPU Not Strong Enough to Play DVD Video?

Post by andyb » Fri Sep 21, 2012 10:20 am

The "K-Lite Codec Pack" is the only media player/codec pack that I will touch.

You might want to go to "add/remove programs" and look for any "shitware" that has been installed when you installed it, the last time I did that is installed a "shit toolbar and search engine add-in" called "Klit", which unfortunately isn't poor spelling just a bit of "shitware".

Glad that you have your problem solved.


Andy

vintager
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Re: [SOLVED] 1.5GHz CPU Not Strong Enough to Play DVD Video?

Post by vintager » Sat Sep 22, 2012 10:59 am

andyb wrote:You might want to go to "add/remove programs" and look for any "shitware" that has been installed when you installed it, the last time I did that is installed a "shit toolbar and search engine add-in" called "Klit", which unfortunately isn't poor spelling just a bit of "shitware".
Thanks for this tip. Indeed, this amazing package comes with lots of "shitware" but fortunately for me I noticed that during installation and unchecked all the extra "goodies" that were somehow checked by default.

BTW, XBMC is a hog. It didn't seem to benefit at all from this solution and still takes 100% CPU while stuttering the video. Fortunately for me WMP9 does the job very well (I can upgrade to WMP11 but will it really improve my experience without any tradeoffs?)

andyb
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Re: [SOLVED] 1.5GHz CPU Not Strong Enough to Play DVD Video?

Post by andyb » Sun Sep 23, 2012 7:02 am

Fortunately for me WMP9 does the job very well (I can upgrade to WMP11 but will it really improve my experience without any tradeoffs?)
I have no idea, I have not used WMP since about version 6. You might want to check that you can uninstall it before going ahead, I imagine that you can remove it and go back to version 9 if you need/want to.


Andy

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