pentax optio s5z video clip playback problem

cant play the video clips on my laptop.

i have direct x 9, media player 10, xp pro.
the only thing that i think could be stopping them from playing is
the fact that its an old enough laptop.
its a compaq armada, with a 700 MHz Pentium III and 64 MB RAM.

is it the processor speed thats stopping me from viewing the clips?

I don't know for sure, but it does seem a realtively low spec for today's programs. You don't have enough RAM really for most applications.

If you have Windows 98 or 98SE that might be the problem. The new pentaxes will, I think, need Windows xp.

I use Macs for everything, but I work with PCs when I have to or to keep up with the "dark side".

Anyway, last year I developed an application for an embedded system that would go aboard buses (UMTS real-time flight information and publicity movies). It used WinXP Embedded (that's what the Japanese bundled it with) and it was a Pentium III 700Mhz with 64MB RAM. I struggled to get movies playing decently on the damn thing and I was doing it programatically and had full control on movie size and compression! Remember, WinXP Embedded is much lighter (they strip out a lot of stuff you end up needing, oh well...) than XP PRO, and I had the same 64MB RAM, so no wonder you can't play them.

P.S.: You could squeeze more juice out of that machine if you instaled a nice, light version of Linux. Try one of those bootable CD's and see what you can make of it.

i really didnt see why the low ram is stopping me from playing a video.
turns out its the codecs that i need.

the codec that i need is the m4s2 codec.
any suggestions?

Google. What else?

The low RAM will play a significant part, if it's not possible to increase it, disable all unnecessary processes and see if that helps.
If you use the laptop on the internet, disconnect and shutdown your anti-virus - esp. if it's Norton (bit of a resource hog!).

still no go,

made a bit of a mistake, my processor is only 366mhz and the memory is actually 192mb ram.

i got the video to play in vlc, but its crap tho.
the video jumps and the sound plays as normal.

also i've already installed the m4s2 codec, its bundled with WM9 codecs.
but alas it still doesnt work.
since when is it so hard to get a video clip to work on a computer?

annoying to say the least, any more suggestions?

Hi,
To be honest, your computer is not up to the job and it is very difficult to turn a sow's ear into a silk purse. I would get a cheap desktop if you want to do video. It uses nearly as many resources as games. You should be able to get a good 2 Ghz machine for around £150-200.

Regards
Kim

I agree Kim, that laptop really wasn't designed to run XP pro.
Win98 or possibly 2000 would be better but it must be struggling just to 'tick-over' with XP!

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/upgrading/sysreqs.mspx

As you can see from the link, you're pretty close to the minimum specs., add anti-virus and video applications etc. and it's not hard to see why you're having problems.

TBH, those Microsoft specs. sound a little optimistic to me

im wasnt trying to do anything too demanding with the video clips, just play them.

anyway, got it working.
its a bit of hassle but i installed the gordian knot codecs pack and that got the video going a bit better.

then i can convert the clips using the cameras ACDsee software. woohoo.