Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with laptop and video

Do I need an upgraded video card to watch HD video?

markblasco — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 12:13:59 -0800

Do I need an upgraded video card to watch HD video? We're buying a new laptop, and with all of the sales going on right now, it will probably be sooner rather than later.

We don't game on the computer (that's what the Xbox is for). I am not concerned with doing any graphics design (we have another computer for that), so I am wondering if going with the integrated Intel 4500M card is going to work fine for us (not the 4500MHD). We want to be able to watch HD video both on the computer and on the TV through HDMI.

Do I need an upgraded video card to watch HD video, or will having a computer with a Core 2 Duo and 3 gigs of memory work fine with the integrated video card?

ATI Mobility Radeon 4530 driver for XP?

MattScully — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 12:33:18 -0800

Down (up) grading a new HP DV7T-2000 to XP. The video card is an ATI Mobility Radeon 4530. I have had no luck in finding an XP driver. Does anyone have any experience with this card and have any ideas about a possible driver or workaround?

Windows Vista Doesn't Work with VGA to HDMI Converter Box

ao4047 — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 11:46:02 -0800

We have an HP Slimline machine running video with an Nvidia Geforce 6150 SE graphics card. We are wanting to use a VGA->HDMI box to convert the video output of the desktop and connect it to our television: 1) We know the VGA->HDMI box works correctly.

We tested with an Asus EEE Laptop running Windows XP and the video successfully outputs to the TV.

We tested with a Macbook Pro laptop and the video successfully outputs to the TV.

2) We know the HP Slimline desktop works sometimes.

When we boot up the desktop the 'HP INVENT' splash screen shows on the tv.

Then, the green status bar with 'Microsoft Corporation' displays.

Then, something happens to the video and the signal stops. I'm guessing that once the boot begins and then Vista settles in something is interfering with the signal being sent to the the VGA->HDMI box.

Any ideas? Thanks!

I found this previous thread but I think we're a bit further along in our testing.

Video causes my HP dv6000 (dv6810us) to restart after watching fro 30-45 minutes, motherboard or video card dying?

unclezeb — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 23:26:19 -0800

HP laptop video card issues filter: Video problem with my HP dv6000 (dv6810us) - artifacts appear then increase while watching Hulu, after 30-45 minutes the computer freezes then restarts. Pausing the video then letting the computer sleep for a couple minutes resolves the issue for another 20 minutes of video watching, then it repeats ... bad integrated video? Bad VRAM? Evil monkey? I got my HP dv6810us on ebay about 5 weeks ago, no problems, in great condition ... until yesterday. While watching a video on Hulu (using Firefox with IE tab extension, but same problem with using Internet explorer independently) the video slowly beings to show artifacts, eventually becoming fuzzy and with bizarre patterns on the screen. If I keep the video playing the computer freezes then restarts and reports a hardware error in the error log.

I have tried using k-lite mega codec, Vista Codec Package.

I have tried using IE rather than Firefox with the IE Tab extension.

I have tried replacing the video drivers with old HP versions, generic nvidia 7150 drivers, the laptop2go.com drivers (current), and rolling back to those originally installed.

I have tried watching while observing the GPU temperature ... it gets quite hot (55 degrees C).

Is it possible to expose the thermal compound / gell / grease /paste to replace it with a more efficient type/brand (i.e., Artic Silver, etc)?

If so, would I need a grease/compound or paste?

Any other suggestions beyond "replace the motherboard because the integrated video card is dying"?

Finally, any ideas on where to call or look on-line to determine if my computer is still covered by the warranty? (~5 months old, I have the original receipt though I'm not the original purchaser)

Laptop running Windows Vista with all updates, 3gb ram, not overclocked. Google desktop running in background, AVG anti-virus (cleansed of Norton), essentially all OEM specs and parts.

Thanks again mefites!

How to show computer desktop and video on LCD TV

atm — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 05:40:53 -0800

Hi, I'm looking for a way to show my computer's desktop on my large LCD TV so my wife and I can both see it. I have a used an s-video cable (along with an audio cable) from my laptop to the TV, but there are three problems with this method. 1) requires a reboot of my laptop to make it recognize the TV and play to it 2) text is blurry on the TV due to TV's unsuitability for acting as a computer monitor 3) requires the s-video cable to be plugged into the otherwise wirelessly connected laptop So I'm looking for a solution that will eliminate these problems. Like maybe something that will just play my desktop as a video signal to the TV and not try to make the TV into another monitor of my computer. Also, I'm not looking for HDTV quality, just watchable video (internet quality would be fine.) Thanks!

Laptop games

LSK — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 12:30:21 -0800

Free/cheap video games for a laptop? I'm running an old Toshiba laptop with Windows XP and under a gig of RAM. I've been taking notes in-class lately on it, and I was wondering if anyone knew any lightweight video games I could download to play during downtime (between classes, obviously). Solitaire just isn't cutting it.

Yes, I've played Cave Story.

Looking for Fun Camera or Computer Projects during a Cross Country Drive

hworth — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 11:55:38 -0800

I'm looking for instructions, guides, or suggestions of something fun to do with my camera or laptop during an upcoming cross-country drive. In a week and a half I'll be driving from St. Louis to Southern California. I have a MacBook with OS X Tiger and a Canon Powershot SD 750. I have 5 2gb memory cards for the camera.

I wanted to do something fun with the camera or isight while on the road. Rigging up the laptop on my front seat to shoot a time-lapse video from the isight seems like the easiest option, but I'm wondering if anyone has any more interesting/complicated suggestions.

I would be happy to invest the time to learn any sort of program or skills with the camera or computer, but not looking to spend more than 50 bucks for any additional supplies. If anyone has any links to cool projects online, I'd be happy to copy someone's cool idea with my own trip as opposed to doing something original.

Also, does anyone have any suggestions on the best way to set up my laptop on my passenger seat to keep it safe and secure? I'd hate to slam on the brakes and have it smash into the dashboard.

If I were to sneak a third question in the title, it'd be about where to hide a fourth one...

history is a weapon — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 09:05:35 -0800

[computerpurchasefilter] Okay, I'm going to buy not one, but two computers in early February and I need some advice. I know this question has been asked before, but the market has changed a bit recently and I need to know for now. I want a cheap laptop that can run text edit and surf the internet and a macpro for under a 3k. The Laptop) I'm tempted to get an Asus; I want to be able to do whatever I want on go the internet, surf wirelessly, ftp to a website, and use text edit. I'd love to spend 300, but I want to know if I should just get the cheapest dell, hunt for a used ibook, or go asus.

The Macpro) I render video and 3d stuff for my work and projects (c4d, final cut, After Effects), and I want to get a mac pro. Ideally, I'd like to spend less than 3k. What's the correct juggle between processor speed, the total number of processors (4 versus 8), and RAM? For the kind of work I do, does it make sense to get more slower processors and buy a bunch of install-myself ram or should I get minimal Ram, and the fastest processors, or what?

If you can relate to your own experience (as opposed to manufacturer's specs and ad copy), I would certainly appreciate it. Thanks yall.

webcam 2007 - how does that work?

Sparx — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 15:24:49 -0800

My Laptop has a camera with it atop the screen. It came with no software itself (I have hunted through the OED disks and the OS), but just works with things like Skype automagically in terms of detection - which would be great if I wanted a videophone, but I wish for more. It's a bisoncam by trade name. Is there any third party software that I could use to get the most out of it (in particular, to record still shots, or video diatribes for use later?).

Did my new RAM kill my video adapter?

YoungAmerican — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 17:31:06 -0800

BSODFilter: I tried to install a RAM upgrade in my girlfriend's Dell Inspiron 1100 laptop, and got nothing on screen after powerup. So I replaced the old DIMM, and got the BSOD -- the file that was missing was a driver for the Intel video adapter. Long story short, it's still not working. I wiped the HD, reinstalled windows, reinstalled the drivers, and after some installing and re-installing, finally have the computer starting up in XP. But it's giving me the BSOD seemingly randomly every hour or two. This is with everything as it was BEFORE the troubles started.

I spent a number of hours on the line with tech support, they seem completely baffled. In typical tech support fashion, all they want to do is install and reinstall drivers. I've googled my rear off, but to no avail.

Could I somehow have zapped my video adapter when I installed the DIMM? Could they conflict somehow? Would replacing the video adapter fix the problem? Could I replace it myself, as someone who's never done anything more than replace drives and RAM?

If I start up with the new RAM only, I can get it going in safe mode, but with weird purple lines up and down the screen.

I was about to buy a new computer to replace this one, but part of the plan involved getting a few hundred bucks for the oldie-but-goodie, which won't work if it's an oldie-but-baddie. Help me mefites, you're my only hope.

Linux newb here!....

stevyb — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 14:25:13 -0800

AVI,MPG,WMV video files will only play sound but no video (with the exception of Web based Flash videos like YouTube....they play fine!!??) on my Dell latitude D620 running Feisty Fawn 7.04 when playing to external 1708FP Dell LCD monitor....why?? (see explanation) Whether I'm using VLC or the built in Movie Player same result but when I play to the default screen on my laptop they play fine. Can't seem to find any drivers for Dell LCD monitor or screen settings other than resolution that might affect video playback....weird.

Any help would be appreciated....wow, I haven't posted here in a long time...but I'm glad it's here when I need it...

How can I play my Xbox 360 on my laptop?

Apo11o — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 21:48:57 -0800

Is there a way to hook up and display an Xbox 360 on a new laptop screen via, well, anything? I am going to college in a few months and my dorm has less than ideal living space. I want my laptop to be able to everything, I've already got it streaming media from orb on a computer at home, I am getting a slingbox, and the final piece to my puzzle, I would like to be able to play the 360 on my laptop in the best possible quality (I would some me some 720p). What solutions are there for such a thing?

Anywhere.TV?

pzarquon — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 12:55:00 -0800

I've recently become obsessed with truly mobile streaming video (a la Justin.TV), and would love some hardware and software input. For hardware, I just want a basic, small laptop. For software, I'm looking for something that does live GPS mapping on the web. Okay, so Justin Kan's life isn't that exciting, but what he's doing has entranced me. I even started a blog about it, and the blog ended up getting adopted by them. But the next logical step was to try doing the same thing (with the full knowledge that I'm not particularly interesting either), and I've already started experimenting with my MacBook, an EVDO USB modem, and sites like Ustream.TV and Stickam and YouCams and Kyte and...

Anyway. Having done some live streaming from the beach and the park and my car and the like, I'm having enough fun to want to streamline things a bit. Simply put, a MacBook is already overkill for what I really need, and I think what I'm doing is a little rough on the little dear anyway. I also want to take the next logical step, and mashup some GPS and maps. So, my question has two parts.

1. What's a good laptop for this? Priorities are size, ports (I need at least three USB ports for my setup), and battery life. This machine will basically run, lid closed, in a moderately ventilated backpack. I won't need to power a screen, but the EVDO modem does suck juice. I'll buy extra batteries or a third-party battery pack to help on the power side.

I looked at some UMPCs, but they're overpriced, often lack keyboards, and have few ports. So I think I want the next step up. I see there are a number of decent laptops with small screens (7-12"), from off-brands (Everex) to overpriced Vaios, the latter having way too many features. I really want only a barebone hardware configuration. Anyone out there using a ultralight/slim/small laptop that they love?

2. Anyone sharing location information on the web? The other reason for moving to Windows is for the more widespread availability of GPS tools. The EVDO modem already has built-in GPS, and can work with things like MS Streets & Maps and Google Earth. But obviously the emhpasis is on utilities to help you know where you are. I know where I am. want to tell others where I am.

I've read that the Google Maps/Earth TOU has restrictions on doing this (I suspect they're developing a commercial application), so a home-built solution with their API may not be the best option. If it is, I'm not smart enough to code it just yet. The Mologogo service is the closest thing to an out-of-the-box solution I've found, but it requires GPS data from a phone, not a standard GPS device (a la a Garmin or something else hooked up via a serial port). Almost every other location-based social network-esque tool or widget (Dodgeball, Loopt, etc.) requires Windows Mobile or uses things like geolocating WiFi networks, rather than true GPS.

With geocachers crawling all over the place, and social networking all but overdone, I feel as if there must be some web-based tool to take basic GPS data and update an embedded map on the web, live. Is there?

Video killed the radio star?

philsi — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 11:45:29 -0800

I've got (what I think is) an original idea for a video podcast, however I have a few quick questions. Inevitably, there's I'm a poor student, and have the facilities to capture decent digital video, but not to edit it. I have a reasonably high spec laptop (2gig of memory, 120 gig hdd, Intel T2300 1.66ghz etc), but am totally clueless in the video editing stakes.

1) What software (preferably free) is best to use to edit and mix footage together?

2) I was also thinking of inserting youtube videos, would this be possible? (I already know how to download them to my hdd, but would it be possible to edit these into my main podcast?)

3) Some audio podcasts have "chapters" on them. Is it possible for me to do this on a video podcast, on a windows machine? The only software I've found for audio chapters is mac only, and I'm using XP.

Thanks for your help guys!

Nvidia laptop hardware problems

DoctorFedora — Sat, 09 Sep 2006 13:15:52 -0800

My laptop's NVidia video hardware doesn't work right anymore for certain display modes, and I have no idea why. I'm running XP on a Compaq Presario R3000 laptop with an NVidia GeForce4 420 Go 32M built in, and when it goes to certain video modes, I simply get untextured squares instead of, for example, anything else. I'm not TOO up on my video modes knowledge, but I can say that the games "Mono" and "Every Extend" both display this problem, and given that one appears to be running in 2D mode and the other in 3D mode, I don't know if it's a rendering issue or what.

Furthermore, I seem to be unable to upgrade my drivers, as no matter what I download from NVidia's site, it tells me that it didn't find compatible hardware installed to install drivers for. I've tried using the HP/Compaq pre-installed system diagnostic doowacky, but all that did was show me a link to an old set of video drivers that accomplished nothing.

Display problems with a Sony Vaio PCG-C1VE

tomcosgrave — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 05:58:47 -0800

My girlfriend has acquired a second-hand Sony Vaio PCG-C1VE laptop. The OS is Windows XP. Her problem is that she can't get the display out of 640x480. She's looking for display drivers, specifically video drivers and monitor drivers if such things exist - she can't find them anywhere. Has anyone got any ideas?

Can I "stream" video files from a WinXP desktop to a Linux laptop?

skryche — Sat, 15 Apr 2006 09:44:12 -0800

Can I "stream" video files from a WinXP desktop to a Linux laptop? My computer has many video files. I don't really like to sit in my office chair to watch them. I'm thinking of buying a wireless router and a laptop and watching the files over a wireless connection in another room in the house.
1. Is this feasible?
2. What's the general range of WiFi(g)? Do I need direct line-of-sight to the router?
3. What router should I get? It is a router that I need, right?
4. How much more difficult would this project be if I decided to put Linux on the laptop? I really want to play with Ubuntu.

What else do I need to consider?

Vid problems on LCD projector

RockyChrysler — Wed, 11 May 2005 14:20:07 -0800

The school where I teach recently purchased a LCD projector and I'm having some trouble getting it to play video... [mi] It's a Hitachi cp-x328 and it seems to be working fine, until i try to play a video file (ie: avi, .mpg, vts type files) in windows media player or powerdvd. quicktime converts/plays the aforementioned files fine (vts, of course being the exception). but wmp and powerdvd just show a blank screen on the projector image, despite the fact that the laptop dispaly is showing the playback fine. all the other desktop features are still visible on the projector's display, but the video window is just black. the children will not accept this.

both the laptop and the projector are set to 60hz. the projector's set to auto select the video input type, but even when i manually switch to ntsc i still get no video playback. however, the projector's picking up the audio signal fine. what am i missing? the problem seems like it should be simple enough to solve, but i'm stumped.

TV on a lap through router?

PigAlien — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 11:05:46 -0800

I want to watch TV on my laptop via wifi. Does anyone know how I can do this? For example, Toshiba's new Qosmio laptops come with a 'Wifi TV Router'. Does anyone else make a WiFi TV router? Or, alternatively, I have another computer with a TV card in it. What software could I install to stream the live TV signal from my server? I know there are streaming video products, but I don't know if any of them can also handle changing channels on a live TV stream. Any helpful suggestions appreciated. Thanks! I have been doing research, and I see some of the software, such as shoutcast's server, will accept live video feeds, but they won't let you change the channel. The same is true of Microsoft's Media Encoder. I am thinking perhaps of using something like PCAnywhere to change the channel and using the server to stream the video. Also, most of the streaming software is not free. Are there any free or OSS streaming alternatives?