Why is video so demanding on PCs?

To many ads? Support ODJT and see no ads!
Dan The Man

Dan The Man

Administrator
Staff member
ODJT Supporter
Jul 20, 2006
15,208
7,547
42
New York
dantheman.me
My brain here is a thinkin'..why does video seem to take so much power to run smoothly on a PC?

Think about it, a little $50 DVD player runs video with no hiccups.

Is it because the DVD player is purpose built where as a PC is like using an entire toolbox to hammer a nail?

Just a curiosity really.
 
Well, I've been lucky running video with no problems in VDJ to a 50" screen with my laptops running Nvidia, AMD and the HD4500 card. Maybe since they're my gig machines and have nothing else running is a key factor with them.
 
DJ SVO said:
Well, I've been lucky running video with no problems in VDJ to a 50" screen with my laptops running Nvidia, AMD and the HD4500 card. Maybe since they're my gig machines and have nothing else running is a key factor with them.
Click to expand...


svo... what are the specs on your laptop?
 
I run at home to a Epson 8350 projector to a 98" diagonal screen with a dual-core pentium machine with Win7 1 tb HD, 4G memory. In HD 60p refresh, vids, netflix in HD no problem.

I run photo montages at gigs with a Epson 7210 to a 120" diagonal screen out of a Dell Win 7 lappie with 8G memory using Cyberlink Power DVD 12 no problem.

Best,

Paul
 
The Dells I use right now and will be replaced by the end of the year with new more powerful machines to take advantage of VDJ 8 but for the time being they've been flawless. Again they're only used with VDJ, no internet,, Anti Virus, etc.
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit
Core 2 Duo [email protected] GHz
4GB RAM
320 GB HDD (I use several external HD's with music and video)
Intel GMA4500
I use the HDMI out and have run video for more than 12 hours without a glitch.

The HP's I don'tremember the specs but oneis an AMD Turion 64 and the other one is intel Core 2 Duo both with NVidia cards
A Sony Vaio also Core 2 Duo but a much smaller processor and Nvidia cards
All the old ones go to backup or run my DMX software.
 
DJ SVO said:
The Dells I use right now and will be replaced by the end of the year with new more powerful machines to take advantage of VDJ 8 but for the time being they've been flawless. Again they're only used with VDJ, no internet,, Anti Virus, etc.
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit
Core 2 Duo [email protected] GHz
4GB RAM
320 GB HDD (I use several external HD's with music and video)
Intel GMA4500
I use the HDMI out and have run video for more than 12 hours without a glitch.

The HP's I don'tremember the specs but oneis an AMD Turion 64 and the other one is intel Core 2 Duo both with NVidia cards
A Sony Vaio also Core 2 Duo but a much smaller processor and Nvidia cards
All the old ones go to backup or run my DMX software.
Click to expand...



wow i have as of now a dell inspiron 1525 with dual core..4 gig of ram and
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
 
I think if you remove all the stuff you don't need they run great. Like I said I run VDJ 7.05b and also run Gamebooster to shut off anything that doesn't need to be running.
 
The 3000 series cards seem to do that they had a thread running on the VDJ forum (You need t make adjustments with the Registry Tool). I mapped a button on the HC4500 to trigger the crossfade as I am using analog mixers, no problems at all.
 
Dan Hutter said:
My brain here is a thinkin'..why does video seem to take so much power to run smoothly on a PC?

Think about it, a little $50 DVD player runs video with no hiccups.

Is it because the DVD player is purpose built where as a PC is like using an entire toolbox to hammer a nail?

Just a curiosity really.
Click to expand...


Yeah, you answered your own question.

Windows is a message based OS, meaning it has to process each message that comes into it (some having higher priority than others). So, a lot depends on what other processes are running, the Codecs you are using, and the types of files you are playing. But it's not nearly as efficient as dedicated hardware/firmware, even in the best case scenario.
 
Most all PC issues in digital DJ world are due either to the user's computer operational ignorance or self-inflicted pilot error, further decomposed by equally ignorant advice given on forums by equally ill-informed yet well intentioned wannabee wiz-kids.

Using an off-the-shelf Vista 64bit HP dv7-1468 purchased a few years back, first step was to replace the internal 5400 rpm drive with a 7200 rpm drive, bought my own new Win 7 Home Premium program install (not an update, not an upgrade, not a recovery...a brand new bare bones operating system install). No programs were left out. Photoshop 12, Sony Vegas 11, Office 2007, Audition 3.0, ImToo DVD, ImToo Video, 1ClickDVD Copy, just about everything that's on my office computer is installed and used on his laptop. Any and all updates to the operating system are always allowed (but not automatically installed). A system image is made before installing anything new. If it's not as expected, the previous image is restored. Control Panel based-uninstalls are avoided to eliminate orphaned conflicting dll files and other left-behind crapola. Regular routine housekeeping is performed, including weekly defrags of all internal and external drives, wiping empty mft file space, emptying cache files, etc.

Extra work? Yes. Extra expense? Yes. (and that's why most hacks fail, extra work and money)

How about the results of this work and expense? Tuesday, at an outdoor show, I was mixing video from that laptop to a 60" Sharp l.e.d. connected by the HDMI out port, from video files sourced on an external usb 2.0 2tb hard drive, the audio driven by an external usb 2.0 GigaPort AG sound card using ASIO drivers, while also being connected to the internet via a smart phone tether, while running ESET anti-virus and file protection, while defragging the second internal drive, and while downloading a song from Amazon I did not have.

No stuttering, no audio issues, no problems. It's not a result of luck.
 
I have no problem doing video on a PC but all my rigs including my laptop has dedicated video cards.
 
I run Windows Media Player, Sax n Dotty Karaoke Program, Traktor with Gigaport all at the same time with no problems. I have been doing this even with my 2006 Custom Laptop. The new Custom Laptop is even better.
 
I have an old P4 3.0Gig system here and that runs on mine ok!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back