Vista is not good for multimedia…..

To check capability of GMA X3100 graphics core, I downloaded trailer of 10000 B.C..
The resolution of the video is 1920×800.

and I tried to play it on Vista (Vista Home Basic 32-bit),
Result: flickering playback, video was running in frames

I thought, I should have bought nVidia 8400GS card, which was an option with Dell 1420.

Googling told me that the card is much capable in doing this.
Then what went wrong???

I tried the video on Ubuntu 7.10 (I keep dualboot) and it was playing beautifully…
that means card and hardware was not the problem…

XP never had such problems, it was great for multimedia point of view.

I still could not believe that vista is unable to play a video.
so I reinstalled the vista and driver from intel website (latest).
but the result was same.

MediaPlayers I tried were VLC 0.8.6, The KMPlayer and QuickTime 7.

May be it was the problem of driver but i tried two versions of intel graphics driver.

What I concluded with all this was Vista is really lacking in the field where windows was strong.

All I say is – Best of luck, Microsoft !!!

Update:

After updation of recent INTEL graphics driver (last week of sep’08),

It seems to be working better.

Playback is smooth but _CPU_usage_ is still around double (than it’s on kubuntu 8.04 KDE4 remix).

My first laptop: Dell 1420

so i got my first laptop at 16th January 2008,
almost after one month when i called Dell first time.

Dell Inspiron 1420,
ruby red colour – Microsatin finish,
2GHz Intel Core2Duo T7250 800MHz FSB,
x3100 Intel graphics core,
2GB of 667MHz RAM,
160GB harddisk,
14.1″ – 1440×900 glossy screen,
2MP webcam,
8 in 1 cardReader.
bluetooth,
DVD writer,
WiFi,
100Mbit ethernet,
ExpressCard slot,
6 cell battery,
Windows Vista Home basic 32bit,
and other common stuff.

An average configuration…
cost was arround Rs. 44,000

I chosen Dell, because if you go for HP, Sony VAIO or Lenovo, the configuration I took would cost you more than Rs. 50,000 and I needed a machine as a replacement of desktop.
Not for business or for carrying around…

As first impression I found it a little heavy….
i didn’t check its weight but it seems heavier than it should have been..
but the body seems solid…since it’s made of magnesium alloy not any kind of plastic…
whatsoever, it’s pretty..

Vista Performance score I got was 3.5
CPU                             4.9
Memory                        4.8
Graphics                       3.5
Graphics productivity  3.5
HDD                             5.1

not that bad……isn’t it..
better then my friend’s VIAO.
He got 2.7 with almost same configuration (harddisk is 250GB)…

It has got pretty comfortable keyboard…

but, screen is not that good…..
it seems faded…
well, I knew it already…
still at WSXGA resolution it doesn’t affect that much….

As a opened the box, I played some default music present in vista.
Speakers are fine….good enough for a loptop computer…

…..rest in Part 2