[MPlayer-users] minimal CPU requirement to play high bitrate 1080p video in software?

[Carl Eugen Hoyos]

Marc MERLIN <marc_mplayer <at> merlins.org> writes:

> The CPU is a dual core duo 3Ghz (E8400) and playing 7MB/s 
> 1080p 20MB/s encoded H264 mkv just isn't fast enough.

This is fast enough for nearly everything real-world.
(I use the same CPU passively cooled for some time and 
I don't remember many videos that did not play real-time, 
especially not at 24fps.)

What Reimar said (use -vo gl) will probably make all the 
difference, but please note that the MPlayer version you 
have on the dual core (desktop) looks to me as if it was 
intentionally broken by the packager.
Compiling yourself has the advantage that without 
runtime-CPU-detection (that is needed for packaged binaries) 
MPlayer runs a tiny bit faster.

Carl Eugen