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can websurfer play divx/mpeg movies ? (modified 0 times) yellow1 Profile | Email got access to one of these bad boys and was wondering if it's worth my time hacking it to connect it to a tv set and play divx or mpeg movies. tia 04-23-2001 17:12:49

RE:can websurfer play divx/mpeg movies ? (modified 0 times) ttn1 Profile | Email It plays mpeg1 reasonably well. I'm pretty sure descent quality Divx movies would be out of the question though. Even overclocked to the max. DVD playback is only possible with the aid of a hardware decoder card. The processor just doesn't have the juice. ttn2 04-23-2001 17:30:13

Don't waste your time (modified 0 times) NormConquest Profile | Email Small, crappy screen. Correspondingly lame vid chip with no video memory. You're gonna tap the VGA out. Run it thru a VGA-to-video converter. Display it on a TV ten times the size of your actual screen. With the corresponding magnified pixelation. Smeary, streaky, ghosty images. Dropped frames, freezeups, shadows. The audio and video falling in and out of sync. All of this ON TOP of the fact that most downloaded divx suck to start with. 04-30-2001 19:06:35

RE:can websurfer play divx/mpeg movies ? (modified 0 times) ttn1 Profile | Email NormConquest, I think your confusing the websurfer with the IO. The Websurfer has a tv output. DVD's with a hardware decoder actually looked very good on a standard TV set. ttn2 05-01-2001 02:55:10

Well, Hit me with a DUH stick! (modified 0 times) NormConquest Profile | Email Thought I was reading in the WebPLAYER area instead of WebSURFER area. I am stupider than a retarded clam. How much vidcard memory is on a WebSurfer? 05-02-2001 09:06:28

RE:can websurfer play divx/mpeg movies ? (modified 0 times) ttn1 Profile | Email I believe the video memory is 2 MB, but the TV output looks fairly decent on my low quality tv. Don't need much memory when it is only running at 800x600 max. I actually gave up on the websurfer because it was too underpowered for most movie playback. Swithed to a book PC. ttn2 05-02-2001 15:34:52

RE:can websurfer play divx/mpeg movies ? (modified 0 times) yellow1 Profile | Email Had you tried overclocking it ? What's good about the Websurfer is it's TV out. Not easy to get one of these unless you buy an extra video card. 05-29-2001 15:59:34

RE:can websurfer play divx/mpeg movies ? (modified 0 times) ttn1 Profile | Email I added a large heatsink and fan and overclocked it to the max. the chip will do. Still no dice with software decoding of divx or dvds. The processor is just too old. I did find some newer faster processors that would work, but they are around $80. I ended up using one for a gateway for my cable modem and one for my webserver. They work great and are very quiet. I fought with the movie playback for about 2 months and finally gave up. ttn1 05-30-2001 04:14:57

RE:can websurfer play divx/mpeg movies ? (modified 0 times) yellow1 Profile | Email Thanks for the info. So it's probably not worth my time then. Pardon my ignorance, but I understand from your post that the CPU is not soldered to the board then ? What CPUs did you have in mind for $80 ? 05-30-2001 19:25:09

RE:can websurfer play divx/mpeg movies ? (modified 0 times) ttn1 Profile | Email The processor for the Websurfer is a MediaGX processor. It is a socket 7 processor and is not soldered to the motherboard. The problem is that the motherboard is not compatible with standard socket 7 processors. Only Media GX processors will work. The only processor that I know of that is still being made is the Geode made by National Semiconductor. They are hard to find though. The one place I know about that has at least one kind is http://www.ied.pios.com/onestop/partdetail.asp?mfg_code=NSC&part_number=GL-266P-70-2.9&sSearchID=3545124&rnd=949 ttn1 05-31-2001 03:06:13

RE:can websurfer play divx/mpeg movies ? (modified 0 times) yellow1 Profile | Email Thanks for the link, so it's 266mhz vs the 180mhz that comes with the WS. You think that would make a big difference ? I thought some people had been able to overclock up to 300mhz. Maybe this one can go up to 350/400 although it might well be an "factory overclocked" 180mhz ! I'll have to search the forums, because I think some people were able to get K6's installed in their iOpener which I "think" is based on the Geode platform too, could be wrong though ! 06-01-2001 12:59:36

RE:can websurfer play divx/mpeg movies ? (modified 0 times) ttn1 Profile | Email Definitely wrong about the iopener being based on Geode. The iopener is a winchip which is a "standard socket 7 chip. The mediaGX in the websurfer is a completely different animal. You would need a different motherboard to support k6, pentium, winchip or any "standard" socket 7 chip. National semiconductor does make a .18 micron version of the geode. This one would overclock great and reduce heat output. The only problem is that I haven't found anywhere to get them in small quantities. ttn1 06-04-2001 02:13:26

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