Videos on PC skipping

[Martini]

I have a 6 year old computer (new monitor) and when watching some online videos and even DVDs, the video skips. I was wondering if a new video card or more memory would help, rather than buying a whole new computer which I can't afford right now. Thanks.

These are some of my system specs that Belarc Advisor listed:

950 megahertz AMD Athlon
32 kilobyte primary memory cache
256 kilobyte secondary memory cache

20.41 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
5.34 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

QUANTUM FIREBALLlct20 20 [Hard drive] (20.42 GB) -- drive 0, s/n 352033825134, rev APL.0900, SMART Status: Healthy

Board: MicroStar MS-6330 2.1
Bus Clock: 100 megahertz
BIOS: American Megatrends Inc. 0AAVWP05 09/12/2000

512 Megabytes Installed Memory
Slot 'DIM 1' has 256 MB
Slot 'DIMM 2' has 128 MB
Slot 'DIMM 3' has 128 MB

NVIDIA GeForce2 MX/MX 400 [Display adapter]
Samsung SyncMaster [Monitor] (20.0"vis, s/n H9NLC01339, December 2006)

[Martini]

Anyone? x

[Whyzman]

Operating System?

[Whyzman]

Oops, also are you using something other than dial-up for your internet access?

[Martini]

Windows XP.

I have Verizon DSL (the slower speed) but even watching DVDs is a little jumpy as if it's not playing every frame.

[pentachris]

I don't think a new video card is going to help you with this particular issue.

More memory very well might help, as well as cleaning up the OS (stopping unneeded processes from starting every time Windows starts).

Since my second suggestion is free, I'd start there. :)

[saphalline]

Are these movies being streamed over the internet a la multicast? Or are you downloading them to your hard drive and watching them locally? You say only some of the movies/DVD's are choppy? What's the difference between them?

It could be something as simple as defragging your hard drive, or something more complex like wiping and reinstalling using the latest drivers. If you've never reinstalled Windows, 6 years is a looooong time. Windows gunk builds up, you know. ;)

On the hardware side of things, you really shouldn't have too much trouble. It's not the latest & greatest, but it should be more than capable of watching movies. Don't throw any money into new hardware just yet.

[Martini]

More memory very well might help, as well as cleaning up the OS (stopping unneeded processes from starting every time Windows starts).



Since my second suggestion is free, I'd start there. :)
I already stopped just about all processes from starting at startup. When you say more memory might help, are you talking about buying more RAM? I'm guessing no, since you mentioned that your suggestions are free.



Are these movies being streamed over the internet a la multicast? Or are you downloading them to your hard drive and watching them locally?
I'm watching streamed videos. When I watch Borat on [url=movinflicks.com/]this/url] site, it's not fluid at all. It's as if it's only showing every third frame (even when buffered). I get the same result when I watch a DVD inserted directly into the CD drive.



It could be something as simple as defragging your hard drive, or something more complex like wiping and reinstalling using the latest drivers. If you've never reinstalled Windows, 6 years is a looooong time. Windows gunk builds up, you know.
I tried a defrag. I upgraded to Windows XP from ME about four years ago. If you think a reinstall might help, I'll give it a shot. What drivers do I have to get?

[Whyzman]

When you upgraded to XP did you actually overlay the upgrade on top of ME, or did you do a fresh install?

[saphalline]

it's not fluid at all. It's as if it's only showing every third frame (even when buffered). I get the same result when I watch a DVD inserted directly into the CD drive.Ok, yeah. If you can't even watch a DVD movie on your computer, then there's a serious software problem. Even a PIII 500 should run a software DVD player just fine, and you're way over that with an Athlon 950! Likewise, even your old GF2 MX should play DVD's just fine.

If you didn't do a fresh install of WinXP using the WinME CD (as Whyzman mentioned) then it's about time you did. The software is bogged down beyond repair at this point. And in fact I personally recommend people reinstall Windows every 2-3 years (I do it every 9-18 months) in order to keep their systems lean & mean. Plan a day soon to back-up, wipe, and reinstall your system. I don't doubt that your computer will seem like new when you do that!

[Martini]

When you upgraded to XP did you actually overlay the upgrade on top of ME, or did you do a fresh install?
I don't remember. :D




Ok, yeah. If you can't even watch a DVD movie on your computer, then there's a serious software problem. Even a PIII 500 should run a software DVD player just fine, and you're way over that with an Athlon 950! Likewise, even your old GF2 MX should play DVD's just fine.

If you didn't do a fresh install of WinXP using the WinME CD (as Whyzman mentioned) then it's about time you did. The software is bogged down beyond repair at this point. And in fact I personally recommend people reinstall Windows every 2-3 years (I do it every 9-18 months) in order to keep their systems lean & mean. Plan a day soon to back-up, wipe, and reinstall your system. I don't doubt that your computer will seem like new when you do that!
Okay, I'll give it a shot.

Before I do that, is it possible that just upgrading drivers might fix the problem? Which drivers besides video card drivers should I upgrade?

[Martini]

Can someone do me a favor? Will you please watch at least the first few minutes of Borat on the link I provided in my third post and tell me if it's nice and fluid like a regular motion picture should be? When I watch it, it's more like a series of still shots. Thanks.

[Budfred]

Can someone do me a favor? Will you please watch at least the first few minutes of Borat on the link I provided in my third post and tell me if it's nice and fluid like a regular motion picture should be? When I watch it, it's more like a series of still shots. Thanks.

How about I do this instead... I will disable that link since it apparently leads to bootleg films and we don't allow that kind of thing here... Please don't post similar links again or you will no longer be welcome at this forum...