DVDs skip when playing to Matrox G400's TV out?

[antdude]

Is it normal to see my DVD movies skip a few frames on the TV? I noticed normal video files (i.e. MPEG) do not skip that much. The fullscreen on my monitor (wide screen too) doesn't skip that bad either. Is it because of my computer hardware, software player (WinDVD 2000), or what?

Award Modular BIOS (v4.51PG; Updated: 10/26/1999), Intel Pentium II 300 Mhz (DFI P2XBL motherboard revision A -- 440BX 100 Mhz bus tower, 128 MB of SDRAM (PC100), ATX Full Tower Case, 300W power supply, 2 ISA, 3 PCI, 1 AGP, 1 Shared PCI/ISA Slot, 2 USB ports, 512K L2 cache, IBM P72 17" monitor (6556), Matrox Millenium G400 32 MB DualHead, Creative Labs 3D Blaster (PCI, Voodoo 2, 3Dfx, 12 MB, using 3Dfx's lastest reference drivers), Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live! Platinum (not using LiveDrive), Toshiba DVD-ROM SD-M1212 6X/32X ATAPI/IDE CD-ROM drive, Plextor PleXWriter 4/2/20 CD-R/CD-RW PX-W4220T (SCSI), Diamond Fireport 40 PCI (SCSI-3), external USR 33600 Sportster Faxmodem (Model: 0413; Product Code: 000839-03), 6.4 GB Quantum Fireball EIDE (6.4EX-A) hard drive, 3.1 GB Western Digital Caviar EIDE hard drive, a 2-buttons Logitech mouse, 3Com Fast EtherLink XL 10/100 Mb TX Ethernet NIC (3C905B-TX), Microsoft Windows 98 (disabled Active Desktop), RedHat Linux v5.1, two regular computer fans (CPU and normal) a and 1 custom fan for 3Dfx card, and a HP DeskJet 560c printer. Running DirectX 7a and Yamaha Sondius XG SoftSynthesizer v1.0 for better MIDI in Windows 98.

[Thundrchez]

Yup, a few skipped frames usu. means that you do not have quite enough horsepower. With DVDs, the processing power required is not fixed, but it varies. Some movies are more processor hungry than others, and even individual frames on a dvd vary with the computation that they need.

[Fleabus]

antdude:

Glitch free software DVD movie play starts at about a P2-400Mhz CPU. Until you upgrade, look around for a Dxr2 MPEG2 decoder. They work very well with TVs and so-so with monitors. Audio is great. They should be very inexpensive right now as those who want this type of card are starting with a Dxr3 or are trading up to one.
The two negatives are: 1) You may be bothered by fuzziness at higher resolutions (over 1024x768) in normal monitor use if you leave the Dxr2's pass-through cable attached.
2)It needs an IRQ.

Happy trails,


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P2-450;256MB PC100;Asus P2B (bios 1011);16MB G200 Mystique 5.52,2.6; 12MB CL Voodoo2;CL SB Live Full(LW3.0); ViewSonic 17PS-2; 10GB Maxtor 7200RPM UDMA2;3.2GB Quantum FB ST UDMA2;CL 2X Encore DVD-ROM kit;USR 5686 External Sportster V.90;Win98 SP1;DirectX 7.0a;IE5.01 etc.

[antdude]

So it is normal for the TV output to be choppier than the monitor. Correct? DVDs on the monitor is not that bad.

[DukeP]

Hello AntDude!

Read my line in: <a href="http://forums.murc.ws/ubb/Forum5/HTML/007997.html">DvD stutter...</a>

Its not necessarily the "HorsePower" thats the problem...

[antdude]

DukeP:

Exactly! I have the same exact problem with my P2 300 system. TV is choppier than monitor. Argh! I guess my Sharp 20"(?) TV isn't good enough =(.

[jms]

antdude,
you should really give Cinemaster98 a try.
Jan.

[DuRaNgO[MU]]

Antdude,
that P-II 300 has a lot of power waiting to be unleased especially with that setup you have
goto to: www.overclockers.com for some great info on how to do it
jim


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Abit BE6 with P3 500 @ 5*124=620
14.6 gb Maxtor ata66 and 128mb ram
G400 vanilla 32mb @ 168/210
Sblive with Altec Lansing speaker combo
384k DSL and Realtek nic
Windows 98se with DX7a
3dMark2000 = 2956
Worn out reset button :O)

[antdude]

Durango: I actually did that. I have like three friggin fans in my mid-tower case, and it kept locking up when I overclocked (even a small overclock). Bah! I said screw it!

[Maggi]

I fear it's your olden P2-300 ...

It runs fine on my OCed Cel333A@500.

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Cheers,
Maggi

Despite my nickname causing confusion, I am not female ...