t20 and movies

[czukuczuku]

hi there,

i have mentioned t20 with 700mhz cpu, and i have problems with movies (xvid, rmvb, x264) at windows xp (wich is rather normal) but its the same at geexbox (linux lightweight multimedia livecd) wich is strange, couse i was watching xvids at cel 500mhz without a single slowdown (but there was better graphic cart (ati rage 32mb) though. i know rmvb and x264 needs more to play right, but xvid? strange...

and so i have few questions;

1. do u think that 900mhz cpu will affor to play those movie formats right at geexbox/xp? (at standard resoulution of course)
2. is there option to add some memory to gpu? <now it has only 8mb, so this might be a problem> (i know some computers have this option in bios <agp aperture size> but at t20 i didnt notice it, but maybe i have old bios...
3. does all t23 has cpu with 512kb l2?

[RealBlackStuff]

Welcome to the forum.

answers to:
1) your mobo may not be capable of handling a 900MHz CPU.
Don't know either if that would make that much difference.

2) You can not add memory to the GPU in any way.

3)(FSB 133) T23 CPUs will not work in a (FSB 100) T20/T21/T22.
For cache sizes see this: http://processorfinder.intel.com/List.a ... SearchKey=

Also check the Hardware Maintenance Manual here:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... IGR-4UYM3F

[nikki605]

I have a T21 (basically the same MB as yours) and some time ago upgraded the CPU from 800MHz to 1Ghz (with T22 cooler) and maxed out the memory at 512MB. I also installed a fast 7200RPM HDD. I am on a fast Verizon FiOS broadband connection (10Mbps d/l) and I cannot get most videos to play smoothly. The S3 video chip on these old MBs are just not up to the task.

Another example is Google Earth. While it basically works, it really stresses the S3 video and I see some shadow images of the navigation controls in the lower right portion of the screen.

As RBS said, there really isn't anything more that can be done. I have given up trying to watch videos/movies on my T21. It just doesn't work well.

[czukuczuku]

thanks for answers, so it looks like the best way to play movies smooth is to get t23 wich has better gpu and cpu...

[RealBlackStuff]

Just don't get a T23 with SXGA+, these have problems with video also.
See this thread: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=73288
The standard T23 with XGA is the best for video.

[czukuczuku]

thanks for advice:>

[czukuczuku]

very good news guys; almost all movies i have now (except few x264 where there's about 1s of out of sync) works without a glitch on xp! i just needed to use cccp + bestplayer, yupiiiiii!

[RealBlackStuff]

For other T20/21/22 users, could you please be more specific about what programs you now use?
CCCP sounds like the Russian name for the old USSR...

[czukuczuku]

first in google; http://www.cccp-project.net/ and http://www.bestplayer.com.pl/

[retired]

I just got a t20 with 384 mb mem. and I installed Pclinuxos - a very user friendly linux. It runs faster than xp and it's available free. All my hardware works with not hunting for drivers. You can download it at pclinuxos.com and it doesn't get viruses. I can play dvd's and watch online videos. The online videos sometimes have a catchup lag but they are reasonably clear.

[czukuczuku]

one more question;

will cpu's mentioned in this topic; http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... t=2647+t20 work with my t20 (2647-41g)? and will the differents in running xp be visible? (between 700 and 900/1000mhz)

[nikki605]

I know the SL53S will because that's what I put in my T21. Just be sure to also upgrade to the T22 heatsink/fan assembly to keep it cool. Maxing out the memory at 512MB and going to a faster 5400 or 7200RPM HDD will also help. These 3 upgrades really helped speed up my aging T21.

[RealBlackStuff]

Not all T20/21 can be updated with a larger CPU as mentioned in that other post. (900/1000MHz)
If you can get one cheap enough, it will be worth the try, you will not damage anything if it does not work.
You should see some improvement, especially with the 1GHz CPU, but it won't be spectacular.
Look also around for a T23 with 1.13 or 1.20 CPU, these are sometimes quite cheap.
They have a newer, faster CPU type (Intel PIII mobile), and can take up to 2x512MB RAM (CPU and RAM from T20/21/22 will not work in a T23).

[doctor bloomquist]

Out of interest what are you using to play movies? I have had good performance using media player classic home cinema, and smplayer on my t23, and dvds play fine on my dads 733mhz t21, 256mb ram using mpc home cinema.

Im resintalling xp on a 700mhz T20 whose hard drive died at the moment, I will let you know how it plays movies when its up & running.

[doctor bloomquist]

Ok T20, 700mhz 256mb ram, s3 8mb graphics at 1024x768 32bit colour depth, fresh install of xp corporate sp3. Using mpc home cinema from http://mpc-hc.sourceforge.net

Using a DVD of Superfly with an xvid avi of the same film also on the disc.

XVID avi 576x320, 24 fps, 968kbps 0.219Qf - no problems windowed or fullscreen

DVD 720x480 60hz, mp2 audio, CQ100 made with TMPGENC - no problems windowed or fullscreen

caveat - this is with no other software running, system restore switched off and indexing service disabled.