Slow playback of HD home movie-Vista to blame??

[tmac2644]

I have a HP Pavilion dv5t custom built on HP.com in August of 2008.  When I play HD home video, .m2ts file-type, on my laptop it uses 100% of CPU and thus is choppy.  My wife has Lenovo with less processor speed, 2GB vs. my 3GB RAM, and less powerful video card; yet has no problem playing the same file with the same ImageMixer software that came with our HD Camcorder (Although it is between 90-100% CPU usage).  The only thing I can think of is she runs XP and I'm running Vista.  Do you think this is an OS issue?  If so, should I downgrade back to XP?  If not, what should I do?  I've read on this forum that its difficult to downgrade due to lack of driver support.  I was hoping that my 2 year service plan I purchased with help with this process.  Is that true?  Here's my specs...Thanks

- HP Pavilion dv5t Entertainment Notebook
- Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1 (32-bit)
- Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo Processor P8400 (2.26 GHz)
- 15.4" diagonal WSXGA+ High-Definition HP BrightView Infinity Display (1680 x 1050)
- 3GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
- 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 9200M GS
- FREE Upgrade to 250GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection

[tcsenter]

More likely its the ImageMixer application.  I checked the ImageMixer website and it appears this application has not been updated since 2004.  Did you check the website for updates?

[tmac2644]

Its ImageMixer 3 SE for Canon which is updated as of April of 2008.  I'm running the latest Version 3.1.2.  I don't think that's the problem since it runs alright on my wifes laptop.

[ificaniwillhelp]

ok from what I can tell it may be as easy as how you are playing the video.

1. Plug the AC adapter into an external power source while viewing HD DVD content. CPU power is dedicated to supporting the HD DVD playback functions; all other applications must be closed before launching HD DVD playback.
2. Use QuickPlay to view your HD DVD content. HD DVD movies will only play through HP Quickplay software.
3. Clear the hard drive of clutter. Lack of hard drive space can cause performance problems with most applications. Approximately 2,048 MB of the hard drive is dedicated to HP QuickPlay and is not accessible to you.

hope this helps

[tcsenter]

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tmac2644 wrote:

Its ImageMixer 3 SE for Canon which is updated as of April of 2008.  I'm running the latest Version 3.1.2.  I don't think that's the problem since it runs alright on my wifes laptop.

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An application can be coded well for one OS and poorly coded for another.  What is the make and model of your wife's laptop?  Her graphics hardware may not be inferior to 9200M GS.  HP posted an updated graphics driver for this model dated the same month that you purchased it:

NVIDIA GeForce 9200M GS Graphics Driver 

Have you checked that driver version against your current one and/or applied the update?  There is also a BIOS update that is relevant to the NVIDIA graphics:

Latest BIOS for dv5t series

The ImageMixer 3SE user guide from Canon also states that Apple QuickTime 7.1 or later is required, which is probably supplying the codec ImageMixer is using for playback.  If you already have the latest version of QuickTime installed, it is possible that QuickTime may be the problem.  QuickTime for Vista has been very glitchy, or at least was for many months (after Apple finally released a version that supported Vista).  QuickTime for XP/2000 is much more stable/refined.

As the other poster mentioned, power management settings could also be influencing playback if you are running on battery.  Vista provides more control over the power settings of hardware, and the NVIDIA graphics driver also has power saving features for notebook parts that will reduce the operating frequency of the GPU during light loading or when on battery power.  Glitches in these power saving schemes (CPU, GPU, link state, et. al.) whether due to a BIOS, OS, or driver bug, or just configured to give up too much performance in favor of efficiency, are not uncommon.

Message Edited by tcsenter on 11-25-2008 02:09 AM

[tmac2644]

Thanks for the help.  I'm gonna try all those things.