[begentle]

Hi guys,

I have realised that to a buy a PS3 purely to play HD files is a bit silly really, so i am exploring the possibility of upgrading my computer to ;

1Ghz cpu
2.5gB RAM
intel 945 gm express 224mb graphics card
loads of hard disk space available

Will this be enough to play .MTS files from my camcorder properly ?

thanking you in advance

[begentle]

they are sometimes called AVCHD files if that helps anyone ?

[senu]

We know what mts files are. Sometimes they are also m2ts...
Not to be confused with M2t

To answer your question:
Probably not
My "old" P4 3.0Ghz with 2.0Gb of RAM and a Nvidia Geforce FX 6900XT with 128Mb RAM play them with great difficulty. Only the Newer Dual and quad core jobbies do it well and even then it is software dependent.

I think most Core Duo ( or AMD Dual core ) PCs will with 1 Gb RAm and a half decent graphics card

If you can afford a PS3 , it also plays Blu Ray discs, AVCHD discs created on the PC from your Hi def files and can be used to stream media from your PC ( Properly set up over a network) to the TV: it is a media streamer and can play most types of SD and HD media files.
I wouldn't regard it as money wasted TBH
Besides unless you only want to watch your high def files on the PC.. How does upgrading it help?
If you must stick with a PC I would really just consider buying a new one rather than upgrade

[Ikki]

I had an Athlon 64 3200+ system and that really struggled with AVCHD. My newly upgraded system, based around a 3GHz Intel quad core, handles AVCHD with ease and transcodes it in real time or better. Make sure that the apps you do your video work with can use multiple cores or a dual or quad core processor will be wasted.

[rhubarbe]

Are you sure that you mean a 1GHz CPU? If so you haven't a hope.

Why not buy a Popcornhour. Mine plays .MTS fine. In fcat it plays everything I have ever thrown at it.

[senu]

The PS3 also plays games in glorious 1080p!

Seriously..1Ghz has to be a typo.. but even if it is you still need to be thinking of a core duo at the very minimum

[slowpoke]

my core duo plays them just fine

[begentle]

thank you all for your advice - these file names are confusing to people like me.

it looks like im destined for PS3 then - just wish they would come down in price sometime soon !!!!!!!

cheers

[begentle]

quick questions about popcorn hour

1. can you get them now ?
2. where and how much
3. are they easy for a technophobe to set up ?
4. will they definately play these files straight from memory stick ?

cheers

[owizard]

I have just upgraded a friend's system for playing back m2ts files. The system used to play the files fine with a 3.6GHz Pentium 4 with 2GB DDR 400 RAM and onboard intel shared graphics at 100% CPU utilization. I have upgraded the graphics to a Radeon HD3650 512MB DDR3 PCI-E card which can offload HD decoding to the GPU.

I have tested the system with Power DVD 7 and ATI AVIVO acceleration. The CPU utlization is barely 1-2% while playing m2ts files now. I beleive the same result can be achieved even with a 3GHz/2.8GHz Pentium 4 PC, if you can upgrade the system with a Radeon HD3650 PCI-E card and use Power DVD for playback.

The Sapphire HD3650 costs only £56 and is the cheapest way of upgrading to play m2ts files, if you have a PCI-E slot. The card comes with Power DVD 7 and you need to upgrade it to the ultra version to enable AVIVO acceleration.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/140585

[rhubarbe]

Popcorn cost me £135 inc delivery and import duty and VAT bought from PH in HK.

Easy to set up.
Plays everything.
If you want one you have to join the waiting list or buy from one of the resellers (though they want £200 and I wouldn't if it were me).
They are easy to set up.
They won't accept a memory stick. You ftp the files from your pc to the HDD in your PCH, or on a NAS, as I do.

I can feel I am putitng you off now, but it really is easy.

[owizard]

Originally Posted by begentle

intel 945 gm express 224mb graphics card

If you have a 945gm chipset, I think you might have a PCI-E x16 slot required for Radeon HD3650. The PC I upgraded is actually a Shuttle SB81P with an Intel 915G chipset. You can play your files from any media including DVD and flash cards. My friend's PC can play the m2ts files generated by HDC-SD5 directly from the SD-HC card.

[rhubarbe]

My mobo has just onboard graphics and with Showtime 4 it plays back at full framerate. You don't need a fancy graphics card - its the CPU that does the decoding of the h.264 codec compressed file.

[meansizzler]

at bare miniumum 3GHZ P4 single core with Nvidia 7100GS or 8400GS and above with Power DVD 7, I have played HD-DVD's on that with 90% CPU Usage, otherwise a 2GHZ Core2Duo and let the cpu do all the decoding...

[senu]

Depends ( in a sense) on the source of the HD DVDs though. HDV ( M2T) files play without any of the CPU and GPU overheads that AVCHD files seem to need

[owizard]

The pc I upgraded used to play the files fine even with onboard graphics. However, the cpu utilization was constant 100%. It was resulting in overheating of pc and noisy fans.. We managed to achieve only 1-2% cpu utilization by simply upgrading the graphics card.

[senu]

Obviously though a card whose GPU was able to do what a CPU could do.

Couple such a card with a decent Core duo System and playing and editing AVCHD files might become a piece of cake
However such a card and a 1Ghz CPU..

[owizard]

Originally Posted by begentle

1Ghz cpu
2.5gB RAM
intel 945 gm express 224mb graphics card
loads of hard disk space available

If the chipset he mentioned is correct, he has a skt775 motherboard. I don't think Intel has ever released 1ghz skt 775 processor. His processor must be at least a 2.6ghz+ pentium4/celeron.

[Ikki]

Something like one of these Radeon HD cards with built in decoding is a good idea. I get about 10% cpu utilisation on my quad core system when playing raw MTS AVCHD files from the Canon HG10 . The system has a rather basic Nvidia 7300GT card fitted.

I may give the graphics a bit of thought now although I mainly run Linux and ATI cards don't have a good track record with driver releases (but there is a new Radeon HD driver for Linux).

[rhubarbe]

I still think that we are also losing sight of the software. My Pentium M 760 laptop wouldn't play AVCHD at all with Showtime 3 but with Showtime 4 it's just about able to.

You can't easily upgrade a laptop with a new GPU so don't discount the software solution.

[Ikki]

Just reading up on Nvidia's site and all 8400, 8500, 8600 & 8800 cards have hardware HD decoding too. However all but the 8800 series lack support in drivers for XP at present though it is present in the Vista drivers (if you really want to run that). So I guess Linux lacks support at present too.

Yes it's true that you also need the software to run avchd as well.

[meansizzler]

Originally Posted by senu

Depends ( in a sense) on the source of the HD DVDs though. HDV ( M2T) files play without any of the CPU and GPU overheads that AVCHD files seem to need

Any, VC1/HD-DVD/H264, also would you please not refer to the sony fanboy name AVC, as H264/AVC/Mpeg 4 Part 10, same thing, Sony just like to use stupid acronyms, well because their sony, like Full HD or I link, BS Really, shouldn't pick up on what they say... next you'll be speaking of Xtreme HD which dell came up with.., Dell/Sony both BS companies that have the consumer eating out of their hands, even speaking like them...

[senu]

Originally Posted by meansizzler

Any, VC1/HD-DVD/H264, also would you please not refer to the sony fanboy name AVC, as H264/AVC/Mpeg 4 Part 10, same thing,

AVC is Advanced Video Codec .. not Sony derived AFAIK and if it ever was, it isnt anymore. Sony may have spearheaded BD ( which also supports all the files you quote) but it is a consortium name and for now and the foreseeable future the only Hi def domestic playback format in existence ..

Not all AVC is AVCHD and HD-DVD ( for clarity) as opposed to BD is a Toshiba thing

Sony just like to use stupid acronyms, well because their sony, like Full HD or I link,

Sony problem, not mine.
The term "Full HD" is also used by Samsung, Panasonic , Canon , Phillips, and indeed anyone who is trying to make the point of 1080p
Firewire, i-link, are also Apple and Sonys names and sound more palatable than IEEE 1394...
Sony call it I-link because the interface was being developed simultaneously as Apple was developing it and calling it firewire.. Why dont you think Firewire is proprietary?

BS Really, shouldn't pick up on what they say... next you'll be speaking of Xtreme HD which dell came up with.., Dell/Sony both BS companies that have the consumer eating out of their hands, even speaking like them...

...
Lighten up man.. You must dislike them a lot ..
Although I reserve any right to be a Sony fanboy.. which I most definitely am not, you appear to have missed the point of my post and gone off at an Anti-Sony tangent
HDV derived files ( m2t.. and not a Sony exclusive) play without the same overheads that AVCHD ( h.264. Mpeg4 .. what ever ..) do. Personal experience which Im sure is not unique to me
My point is that a PC which may play HD-DVD discs with ease may not play mts files as easily
This may be GPU related and is open to discussion but nothing to do with Sony and thier acronyms