Thinkpads Forum

I have been able to get xvid to play on my thinkpad 240 only if I encode it using pocketdivxencoder in a small PDA size window. Full size video will not play on my 240 - it's jerky, slow and gets confused. DVDs won't play either (though a cardbus dvdrom player). Is this because I don't have enough memory (XP with 192K), because of the slow 300mz celeron processor, or because of the limited video card support of the computer?

My second question: Is there a way to speed up booting. The bios seems really slow because it starts booting. Will it get faster by disabling the "F1 for setup" message? Any other ideas?

As for xvid, keep in mind that it IS a Celeron 300A, and while I have no problems playing back most videos using Media Player Classic + ffdshow, the encoding used will make a big difference 100% of the time. Some general tips to make the video playback as best as possible:

a) Consider using Media Player Classic instead of the CPU hungry Windows Media Player 8.

b) Keep in mind that the 240s only have a 2MB PCI video chip (Neomagic 2160/128XD), a decent one, but quite aged. It only accelerates videos at 16 bit color. ONLY. Make sure your screen is running at 16bpp, and you must make sure you have "overlay" enabled, which means that the video engine is turned on. If overlay insn't activated the poor Celeron in the Thinkpad will have to manually expand each frame in the video to cover the screen, and trust me, at 25fps and 800x600, that is ALOT of math for the Celery-A to do. As for the DVD, I believe that the Neomagic 128XDs have iDCT video compensation hardware to reduce CPU usage during video playback, so if you ARE using a Cardbus DVD drive, check to see if it has DMA/Bus mastering enabled. Oh yeah, turn off the eye candy features in XP!

c) Consider installing a 256MB memory chip into the unit to boost the total to 320MB. Ask for "16 unit" memory from your vendor, or look for it on ebay. They are $70 and are worth every penny.

d) The optimal value for watching videos on the Celery-A TP240 is really 320x240 res, xvid, 96kbit/sec MP3 audio. While you're playing videos you should optimally see only around 50 to 70% CPU utilization, even with the video engine driving the image at full screen.

And no, there is nothing you can do about the slow boots. That's just a trait in the 240s.

Is this issues available also for the "faster" brother of the 240 , the 240X with Intel Pentium III 500mhz ?

Have Someone a 240X and tried to watch DVD or DVIX movies ?

Thanks for feedback

sloomy

ragefury32 wrote:
c) Consider installing a 256MB memory chip into the unit to boost the total to 320MB. Ask for "16 unit" memory from your vendor, or look for it on ebay. They are $70 and are worth every penny.

What does that "16 unit" means ?

There's only 16 chips in the memory unit. Can't be any denser, can't be any more loose. The memory must have 16 chips on it for it to work.

How do you enable video overlay? I'll try media player classic and 16bit to see if that helps. Thanks for the tips.