Thinkpads Forum

I have a 770x w/13.7" screen. Anyone have an informed opinion on whether or not the DEVA board would improve DVD playback at all? Just wondering...

mdbrown wrote:I have a 770x w/13.7" screen. Anyone have an informed opinion on whether or not the DEVA board would improve DVD playback at all? Just wondering...

Yes, the DEVA card most definitely will improve DVD playback.

Regards,

James

Even in WindowsXP? I cannot seem to find drivers anywhere for the DEVA card and winxp. I'm sure this topic has been beaten to death but I can't find much on it anywhere so.... winxp and the deva board - do they work together and if so, how? Thanks.

Yes it works together with XP.....Install the 2000 MPEG drivers,click continue anyway when the warning comes up....then just use windows media player....it should even put a DVD Player link in the Start>Entertainment Menu....I can't remember if you have to go in and put a check beside DVD in the options of media player or if it does it automatically....But I do think you have to put a check beside Mpeg...

Any Probs,report back....

Greg St.L

Hi Greg,

I added the win2k mpeg IV driver. It looks good in the hardware wizard and everything. Unfortunately, when I go to play a DVD the media player loads up the directory then goes away. Same for the updated version of dvd express. This is on a clean install on a 770x with 192Mb of Ram.

Any suggestions?

i remember not being able to goto youtube on XP ona 500mhz machine but when i downgrade to 98 i could (it freed up system resources) have you considered XP lite? its a stripped down version used in developing countries but still has the important features of XP, and you could use Windows mediaplayer classic maybe. just a thought

My 770ED has a DEVA card, 224mb RAM, Windows 2000 Pro and with all the IBM supplied drivers installed, this computer plays DVDs flawlessly. I remember only having to install one or two drivers because some of the hardware already had drivers that came with Win2k.

For playback, I use Media Player Classic (interface resembles Windows Media Player 6) and all goes well. Considering with the same OS, software, amount of RAM as well as a faster CPU and AGP graphics, I was unable to get DVDs to play decently on the 400mhz 600E I used to own. System resources aren't going to significantly affect or hold back DVD playback significantly on a DEVA-equipped 770 if the drivers are installed and functioning.

The dvdplay.exe application in Windows XP is just a kind of link which opens the media player to play the DVD. In windows 2000, it is a standalone player. I copied the dvdplay.exe file from a Windows 2000 installation to the Windows XP installation on my 770X so i do not have to use windows media player any more. I can upload the file somewhere if you want to try it.

Please remember to change the DVD-drive from PIO-mode to DMA.
This is done in the device manager:
[Control Panel - System - Hardware - Device Manager - Primary IDE Channel - Advanced]

This is on the must-do list, since it eliminates any judder or jaggerish behavior that you otherwise will experience.

Also, for anyone using the ol' ThinkPads along with Windows NT 4.0, 2000 or XP:
Please learn how to tweak the registry database for optimal performance.
This will ensure a long lifespan.

Playing other videofiles can be a disaster on old ThinkPads, but the BS Player seems to do the job, much less CPU intensive.
FLV, AVI, WMV, DivX, Xvid.