T60 video playback stutter/freeze problems

[SatDoug]

Good day Everyone:
I'm the proud owner of a T60, that has 1.5MB RAM & 64MB ATI video. I have the resolution set to 1400x1050 ,32 bit color. Whenever I play video (either from a DVD, or from a Quick Time file, or a DVD iso image on the hard drive, etc.), regardless of the size I choose (full screen, half screen, etc.), the video jumps/stutters every 10-15 seconds. The audio always keeps up, just the video pauses. This happens in any playback software (Windows Media Player, Quick Time, InterVideo Win DVD). I know 64MB for video isn't ideal, but I would think I shouldn't have a problem playing back half-screen DVD iso files that are playing off the hard drive. Is there an optimum setting I should be defaulting to when playing back video? I have tried changing the resolution & color quality, but still have the problem. As everything else works great, I'd like to not mess around with anything else too in-depth. Any support is appreciated!

[ahe]

I would attempt to monitor the resource usage, on XP using the task manager and DiskMon, on Vista using the Resource Monitor. Might be some background service that springs to life and hogs the disk or CPU.

Link to DiskMon: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysint ... skmon.mspx

[gator]

This problem was reported previously here a while back.Right Click on your desktop-->go to ATI catalyst control center-->powerplay-->UNCHECK "allow refresh rate reduction".

[FRiC]

Also, make sure you're actually using the video overlay buffer instead of software emulation. I don't know about Media Player or WinDVD, but others such Media Player Classic has an option to set DirectShow Video, and PowerDVD also needs to have the System Diagnostics ran otherwise it chooses the most compatible (software) output option.

[goldman60]

another thing that may be causing it is the Hard Drive Active Protection System. It pauses the hard drive read/write capabilities when the system is moved which probably would cause the video to stutter if it is playing off the hard drive.[/quote]