Does VLC media player play in HD?

My computer monitor's max screen resolution is 1440 by 900. I don't even think that qualifies as HD. I have PowerDVD 8 standard version which I found out doesn't play HD. I have to get the Ultra version of 8 or 9 which is another $70. But does VLC play HD? What about InterActual player? Does that play in HD?

CompMovieGuy said:

And dont use InterActual Player, period

And why is that?

Why does PowerDVD cost $69-$100, while VLC player is free and has more and better features?

Because that's the way the world of software works.  99% of the time, you can find a free, open-source program that works many times better than its proprietary, expensive counterpart.

The only feature that PowerDVD has that VLC doesn't, is the ability to move one frame at a time. I'm sure there is a way to do that with VLC player, but I haven't found it yet.

Do you guys recommend this? Cliprex DVD Player Professional

I can't get VLC player to play DVDs. It will play video files on my hard drive, but everytime I try to open a DVD with VLC player it just keeps scanning my DVD player and doesn't do anything.

Here's how it's done on a Mac, anyway - I can't imagine it will be too terribly different on a PC:

File - Open Disc

Then you get the options of VIDEO_TS Directory or DVD - if you choose DVD, it will read your disc drive.  If you choose VIDEO_TS directory, you can point it to said directory (the VIDEO_TS folder of the DVD files on your hard drive).

I got this error when trying to open the DVD VIDEO_TS file. It still works, but it is a little finiky.   

Wait, you're trying to open a text file in VLC?  I don't understand.

Occasionally while I am watching Terminator 2 in 720p, I get this effect:

What does this mean?

Since this is a technical question and I know the answer, I'll respond to this one (I have the option whether or not to see your posts):

If you're doing something else while watching it, then it means that you shouldn't be.

If it happens in the exact same spot every time and looks exactly the same every time, then it's a problem with the video encode.

If it happens randomly, and you can go back and watch the same section that it happened to later on and it looks fine, and you have no other programs running while you're watching it, it means your computer isn't fast enough (either you don't have enough RAM, or your processor isn't fast enough - probably RAM.)

Thanks ChainsawAsh, I'm glad you're still willing to answer my technical questions. Right now my PC is an AMD Althon 64 2.2GHz processor with 2GB of ram. My video card is an XFX 7800GT 256MB of RAM. Pretty modest by todays standards, but it was considered pretty good back in late '05. It happens randomly, it doesn't keep happening at the same spot. I tried turning off my antivirus software and having no applications running in the backround, but it still does it. I think I will get a quad core processor with 16GB of ram, maybe even 32 in my new build.

You don't need that much.  Besides, some operating systems won't recognize more than 4GB of RAM (I have a dual-core 2.6 GHz processor with 4GB of RAM, and my Windows XP partition won't recognize more than 3GB of RAM).  I wouldn't go more than 6 or 8GB - any more than that and you're just wasting money on something you can never use (at least right now).

I have this problem occasionally, but it usually happens when I'm watching very high-bitrate 1080p stuff.  My solution is to re-encode at a lower bitrate, but not low enough that it degrades the quality too much.  My Planet Earth 1080p H.264 mp4 files are all encoded at 10,000 Kbps (average bitrate), which brings them to around 4GB apiece.  This doesn't stutter my system if I'm watching them on my computer with nothing else running, and they're all slightly less than 4GB which lets me throw them on my FAT32 hard drive to watch on my PS3.  I don't have any 720p files to give you a bitrate estimate for that.

Just play around with the encoding.  Pick a 5-10 minute section that exhibits this problem a lot (usually action-heavy scenes), and play around with re-encoding that section at lower bitrates until you find a bitrate that plays smoothly on your setup and isn't too heavily compressed.

I beleive Windows XP only recognizes up to 3 GB of RAM but Vista recognizes a lot more I'm sure. I'm thinking of building a new computer like a year down the road so by then 8GB might be the standard when 2-4 GB is right now. As for re-encoding at a lower bitrate, that is beyond me. I don't know how to do that. I don't expect you to tell me either if you don't want to, I can look that up on google.

Handbrake (at least on Mac) will now convert MKV files, and it's fairly easy to figure out how to use.

Does VLC player have a feature to move one frame at a time? Terminator 2 HD will only work on VLC player for some reason. ChainsawAsh, could you at least temporarily unignore me? I have some things I want to hear your opinions on in the ESB revisited thread.

I suppose having you on my ignore list is kinda pointless, since I look at and read all of your posts anyway.  You're off.

ChainsawAsh said:

I suppose having you on my ignore list is kinda pointless, since I look at and read all of your posts anyway.  You're off.

I had a feeling you were reading them.

it is a 32bit limitation. you are using ALL of your memory (kinda) but depending on your hardware the OS (any) reserves memory based on your hardware requirements.

the short answer is you are using all of your memory at 4GB, but the OS (windows) might be using less.