Resolved Video quality on a legacy system

Hello, I am working with an older computer. It is home-built. Running Windows XP Pro, ECS mobo 755-A2 w updated BIOS, AMD 64 Athlon 3000+ CPU, Gainward video board w/ nVidia GeForce 5200fx chips, Sound Blaster Audigy 2 zs. One of the things I want to do with the computer is watch videos from the web esp. Netflix. The picture on my monitor looks good except when things, people cars etc. are moving fast. Then I get alot of big pixels. The progress bar on my screen shows that the download is staying ahead of what is on screen so I guess it is my computer that is causing the poor picture quality. Do I simply need bigger better faster hardware or are there settings I can change to get a better picture. What part of my computer is the limiting factor here, CPU, mobo, graphics card? Can I still buy a better AGP 8X graphics card, or are these obsolete? Thanks for any information, Eric.

 

Its more than capable machine for viewing videos. If you are very sure that its the machine & not your internet connection which is causing problems, you can follow the following steps :

1. Download & install CCleaner. Run ONLY the cleaner part. Run ccleaner in all your accounts.
2. Run chkdsk /f on all your drives.
3. Update WinXP, drivers.
4. Check the free space on your drives.
5. Check that your pagefile is set to Custom & both min & max sizes are the same.
6. Check startups. If you don't need an app, disable it.
7 Defragment your hard disk.

 

Hi Eric

Netflix uses Microsoft Silverlight.
Most Internet videos will be in Adobe Flash.

For Flash wait till app is running and right click on the screen "“ make sure use hardware acceleration is checked. I’m assuming your graphics board has at least 64MB of ram (minimum to use hardware acceleration) "“ it probably has at least 128MB.

BUT "“ you can get into trouble if trying to stream HD at too high a resolution.
Flash 10 requirements

Silverlight is vague about resolutions and requirements "“ so try changing to a lower res and see what happens.
Both Flash and Silverlight require XP to be SP2 or higher.


By the way "“ how did the SATA drive go?

 

Hi Eric, you did not mention how much ram you have installed, your CPU would be OK the video card you could upgrade a bit there are plenty of reasonable prized used 512mb AGP cards available on ebay.
hawk22

 

Hi, the SATA drive went well I think. I took a different approach though. I went into the Start menu and right clicked on Computer and clicked on manage then I think on storage and the HDD manager showed the drive as 320GB but with a 128GB partition on it. So I created another 128GB partition. Now I have to figure out how to make good use of two partitions. I have never used computer with two HDD's or multiple partitions. Thanks for your advice though, I am thinking that I should have tried your way first!

 

HI, 2GB ddr400 ram on mobo and a 120mb graphics card. Thanks for your reply.

 

Having extra disk space shouldn't have any impact on running video from the internet. Making sure your Windows system is free of unnecessary files and defragmented will though. The extra partition probably won't help, unless you maybe move (uninstall and reinstall) programs involved with the streaming onto that partition.

I suppose the video is "lagging" through the system somewhere. Have you checked what resolution is recommended for playback/streaming? Are you running it in full-screen? For example, if the stream is in a square screen resolution and you are running a wide-screen monitor, the system or graphics might not be able make it compatible.You might need to fit the playback to a different shape.

A 5200fx with 128Mb RAM might be not be "fantastic" to run the video, but I would try changing the resolution (shape) before running out buy a new graphics adapter. It might not improve the problem.

Try making it easier for the system to run the video by reducing the settings and see if you can spot where there is a difference.

Matt

 

Thank you, I will try these things. Video must come from the internet in different resolutions and quality. IS there a way I can find this info about the vidoe I am watching? Thanks, Eric.

 

If you are running "full screen" the playback can be getting distorted to fit your screen (as I said). What is the video player that is running it? You should be able to go to the video player controls (maybe right-clicking) and de-select fullscreen, that might put it into the best playback resolution of the player.

Have you tried another video player? Are you using Windows Media Player? Try VideoLAN VLC player.

As I said, the video might be in the square shape and you are trying to force it into a wide-screen shape. It might be in a wider screen shape than your monitor.

Look at the Help or Troubleshooting information at the Netflix website.

Matt

 

Hi, I am getting better video now. I think part of the problem was I was watching old Doctor Who episodes on Netflix. I tried some other video and it looks a lot better. Thanks for your help. I will try the LAN VLC player. Should I expect a TV like picture on my computer monitor or will there always be a little blurr when things are moving? Things look great when the picture is mostly still.

 

Thank you, I will try it.

 

COOL!!

If you find settings that are easier for the graphics, things could be dramatically better.

Has anyone mentioned that you need quite fast internet speed to stream video? Otherwise the playback can be jerky, stop intermittently or maybe cause the problems you describe. Check Netflix for their System Requirements.

Does the playback have a scroll bar and pause button. If so, try pausing the playback for 10 or 15 minutes, start it and see if it is good then. That will mean the internet speed is not high enough.

See if you can make it easier for the player/graphics adapter.

Matt