Loading Movie Files

[Monoriu]

I have some large anime movie files, like over 10GB each.  They are in 1080p.  My computer loads them fine, if I start from the beginning.  The problem is, when I try to see a specific segment in the middle, the computer takes ages to load it. 

My question is, if I want a faster response from the computer, what sort of hardware should I upgrade?  More RAM (currently 8GB)?  Better video card (GeForce 570)?  CPU? (i7 2600 3.4Hz)  Or what?

Thanks.

[viper37]

Neither. Well, upgrading the video card might not hurt, but I doubt it's your problem.
Maybe a faster hard drive, or a Solid State drive would do it.

What software are you using?  Try using VLC at www.videolan.org.  It usually works pretty well.

And I'd start by defragmenting your hard drive with this: http://download.cnet.com/Smart-Defrag-2/3000-2094_4-10759533.html
It's free, you'll like it
Start with this, and see if it helps at all.

[Monoriu]

Already using the VLC player. 

So maybe I need to buy a bigger SSD.  That's why my laptop with lower specs is much better at this.

Will try defragmentation.

[DontSayBanana]

Already using the VLC player. 

So maybe I need to buy a bigger SSD.  That's why my laptop with lower specs is much better at this.

Will try defragmentation.

One of the biggest problems you've got is I'd be willing to put money on your system having 8GB of RAM.  It's choking because opening a file usually involves moving the contents of the file into RAM- unless you've dropped some extra dough on extra memory in your computer, you're probably pulling more data than you have RAM.  There's a backup, called a swap file, which uses some of your hard drive space to act as overflow RAM, but it's nowhere near as fast as physical memory.

Another thing to keep in mind is that defrag will only help if you have a *mechanical* hard drive.  If you upped it to a solid state drive, defragmentation won't actually do anything, since it only deals with a downside to the read-write method employed by a mechanical drive.

Your safest bet, though, is to stop trying to pull 1080p rips of everything (especially anime- animators almost never render at full 1080p because it would still take weeks, if not months, to put together episodes rendering with current computers in render farms).  A 720p feature-length movie will probably clock in around 7.5GB instead of about 10.  For animation, you might actually want to drop down to DVD-quality (480p) rips.

[Monoriu]

Already using the VLC player. 

So maybe I need to buy a bigger SSD.  That's why my laptop with lower specs is much better at this.

Will try defragmentation.

One of the biggest problems you've got is I'd be willing to put money on your system having 8GB of RAM.  It's choking because opening a file usually involves moving the contents of the file into RAM- unless you've dropped some extra dough on extra memory in your computer, you're probably pulling more data than you have RAM.  There's a backup, called a swap file, which uses some of your hard drive space to act as overflow RAM, but it's nowhere near as fast as physical memory.

Another thing to keep in mind is that defrag will only help if you have a *mechanical* hard drive.  If you upped it to a solid state drive, defragmentation won't actually do anything, since it only deals with a downside to the read-write method employed by a mechanical drive.

Your safest bet, though, is to stop trying to pull 1080p rips of everything (especially anime- animators almost never render at full 1080p because it would still take weeks, if not months, to put together episodes rendering with current computers in render farms).  A 720p feature-length movie will probably clock in around 7.5GB instead of about 10.  For animation, you might actually want to drop down to DVD-quality (480p) rips.

Ok, more RAM.  I suspected that it would be a problem.  I'll do it.

Agree that there is not much difference between 1080p and 720p, especially on a small screen.  But there is a big difference between 480p and 720p.  Anybody can tell the difference from a glance.  There is no way I'll watch 480p if I can help it.  Agree that 720 is enough for most situations.  But I just can't stop myself from getting the 1080p version if one is available.  That's...just me. 

How much RAM do I need?  16?  24?  36?

[Vricklund]

Like Viper said it's probably neither. So before you run off to buy stuff at least try with other/updated video software, no virusscanner running, reinstalled codecs first. :-)

[Monoriu]

Like Viper said it's probably neither. So before you run off to buy stuff at least try with other/updated video software, no virusscanner running, reinstalled codecs first. :-)

I honestly have no idea.  That's why I'm asking people here before I spend any money. 

[viper37]

16gb of ram is only useful if you have Windows 7/8 64bit, btw.  Make sure you have that first, otherwise, it's wasted money.

Did you try smaller files, see if you have similar problems?

[Monoriu]

16gb of ram is only useful if you have Windows 7/8 64bit, btw.  Make sure you have that first, otherwise, it's wasted money.

Did you try smaller files, see if you have similar problems?

I only have Windows 7 Home Premium.  Not sure if that is 64 bit.

Most of the smaller files run fine.  Even some of the bigger ones are ok.  I only have problems for some of the big 1080p files. 

[Vricklund]

What if you use another player? What if you turn off your anti virus software? Is there a difference if you turn off subtitles?

[Monoriu]

What if you use another player? What if you turn off your anti virus software? Is there a difference if you turn off subtitles?

I mainly use mkv files.  The only player (that I know of) that opens them is VLC player.  I've just tried windows media player and itunes.  They don't work.  Any other suggestions for opening mkv files? 

Not really comfortable turning off anti-virus.  My computer is constantly...doing things in the background 

No way I will turn off subtitles.  It isn't like I can understand spoken Japanese 

[Monoriu]

One more question.  Do I need to replace the motherboard and power supply?

I bought everything 2 years ago.  The mother board model is -

P8Z68-V LE ASUS
ASUS INTEL 68 (S-ATA+USB3 0)ATX
M/B

The power supply model is

XFX PRO850W CORE Edition 850W 80+B

[DontSayBanana]

One more question.  Do I need to replace the motherboard and power supply?

I bought everything 2 years ago.  The mother board model is -

P8Z68-V LE ASUS
ASUS INTEL 68 (S-ATA+USB3 0)ATX
M/B

The power supply model is

XFX PRO850W CORE Edition 850W 80+B

Your power supply is massive overkill, so you're good on that front (I only used a 525W in my gaming rig, FYI).  As to the processor, that motherboard takes an Intel Core i3/i5/i7, so you've definitely got a 64-bit processor in there.

[Monoriu]

Your power supply is massive overkill, so you're good on that front (I only used a 525W in my gaming rig, FYI).  As to the processor, that motherboard takes an Intel Core i3/i5/i7, so you've definitely got a 64-bit processor in there.

Is 24GB RAM good enough?

[Monoriu]

A more fundamental question: is it cheaper to just buy a new computer, or should I bother with small scale tinkering like adding more RAM, getting a bigger SSD drive etc? 

And should I bother with Windows 8?