Windows® 98 Unleashed

Tips for Top Video Performance

Of all the mainstream applications you use, digital video probably puts the most strain on your system's resources. The constant stream of pixels and sounds, and the need to decompress both types of media simultaneously and on-the-fly, can bring even the most powerful system to its knees. To help, here are a few tips that enable your machine to achieve peak video performance:

• Except for MPEG, the codecs used by most video clips don't require a killer machine. However, most codecs do have a minimum system requirement, usually a 33MHz 486. Obviously, anything over this minimum system will improve playback quality.

• Local bus graphics make a huge difference when displaying individual bitmaps, so you can imagine that ...