Q

Overview

High definition videos are defined as any video with higher resolution than standard definition video. This is only the tip of the iceberg, however, as the actual bitrate dictates the CPU and RAM usage required for accurate playback.

Very few people have the same exact system setup. Different graphics cards, processors and ram react and output video in very different ways. To complicate matters further, there are multiple video formats available. But don't worry about that. Just worry about Divx/Xvid, MP4 and MKV.

Divx sorts shades and colours in a pattern converted to fancy math in order to reduce filesize. It's lossy, but the majority of people don't care (this is beginning to change though).

MP4 is the prodigal child of Sony. It is the current pinnacle of video encodes. It uses more power than xvid to playback, but compared to the source (bluray/dvd), it's nearly a perfect copy. It CANNOT CONTAIN SUBTITLES (yet).

HI-10: Hi-10 is a mathematical revolution that makes the mp4 encode even more cost effective (smaller file sizes and higher video quality). But this increase means computers will need more power to unpack them and play them. This trend is going to continue into the future.

MKV is a container file which holds a bunch of different video formats. The big benefit though is it can also hold multiple language tracks and subtitle tracks. MKV has its share of drawbacks though: it is more hardware-sappy than any other and it is unrecognized or poorly supported by the vast majority of media players. Having to render subtitles and audio in real time is probably responsible for this.

What to do?

Get Media Player Classic Home Cinema (or VLC if you're lazy)

Choose a codec pack

CCCP can play ~720p video just fine on a weaker* system

If you're a quality maniac who needs an uber powered setup that sacrifices all else for power, use this guide:

http://coalgirls.wakku.to/?page_id=4611

Remember, if you have problems with playback, in most cases they can be solved by visiting the FAQ page of the person(s) responsible for encoding it.

*approximately 2Ghz*