VLC is the favorite media player of many users but it seems to hate Intel Atom based netbooks and HD videos really stutter and skip frames while running VLC on such devices. Netbooks are primarily meant for lightweight tasks so they come with only basic hardware that can hardly handle any type of intensive tasks including HD video playback. A netbook running Windows 7 Starter with a 1.66GHz Intel Atom processor and 1GB of RAM will be very slow for multitasking and web browsing with multiple tabs. If you want to do some multitasking then there is no other option than to upgrade the RAM of your netbook but if you just want to be able to play HD 1080p or 720p video files (mkv, mp4 etc) without lag, choppiness or skipping, then there are a few tricks you can apply. There are other alternatives to VLC that will actually resolve this issue in an instance but if you are bent on using VLC then apply the following tricks on your beloved Netbook:
How to speed up HD Video playback on VLC Player on a Netbook
- Go to Preferences >> On the button
- Under Input codecs expand “video codecs” and select “FFmpeg”
- Now on the right a bunch of options will appear
- Check “Allow speed tricks” option
- For Skip loop filter for H.264 select “All” from the drop down menu
- For Hardware Decoding select “Disable”
- Now Save your changes
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| VLC Player Preferences |
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| Tweaking VLC video codec settings |
In most cases the videos should now run smoothly but in some really old devices you may still experience some lag. If you are still unable to play your MKV files properly, then install Media Player Classic on your Netbook. MPC-HC is a very lightweight media player and it supports most of the video formats just like VLC and plays 720p & 1080p videos easily
If the video is choppy even on MPC-HC player, I am guessing you have only 1GB or less of RAM in your netbook or mini PC. Upgrade to 2GB memory and you will notice improvement in video performance. Your netbook might also be slow because your operating system have been corrupted or affected by malware or viruses. So install an antivirus software and run a full scan. If you’re running Windows 7 Starter then I suggest installing the full Windows 7 Home or Ultimate and then switch to classic Windows theme.
On my old Samsung NP-102S netbook I’ve installed a lightweight Ubuntu OS called Lubuntu. While it doesn’t support windows applications or advanced features of Windows 7, Lubuntu runs really fast even on an underpowered netbook. I suggest installing Lubuntu or Xubuntu if your primary use involves watching YouTube videos, web browsing and document editing.
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