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[Mark Greaves (PCNetSpec)]

What are the codecs for the mvk files ?

open one in VLC, and hit Ctrl+J

[Melissa]

What are the codecs for the mvk files ?

open one in VLC, and hit Ctrl+J

They were the codecs I already gave you Mark.

[Mark Greaves (PCNetSpec)]

Well that was H264 .. so unless the problem lies with AC3 (which I doubt) .. the problem's either -

a) How the files are encoded .. do they play in Windows ?

b) the transfer rate from the external HDD

c) the fact they're being buffered to your local HDD and there's not enough room.

d) you're running low on system resources (RAM/CPU)

Here's a mkv for you to test .. it's 21mb and also H264 with AAC audio .. how does this one play in VLC ?
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/11876059/test2.mkv

[EDIT]

Have you tried playing your mkv files in gnome-mplayer ?

--

[Melissa]

Well that was H264 .. so unless the problem lies with AC3 (which I doubt) .. the problem's either -

a) How the files are encoded .. do they play in Windows ?

b) the transfer rate from the external HDD

c) the fact they're being buffered to your local HDD and there's not enough room.

d) you're running low on system resources (RAM/CPU)

Here's a mkv for you to test .. it's 21mb and also H264 with AAC audio .. how does this one play in VLC ?
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/11876059/test2.mkv

Your file plays crystal clear Mark! Answers below:



a)My bro made them on his Mac.
b) I am afraid my computer understanding doesn't stretch to that..unless that means my netbook is slow?
c)you mean disk space?
d)most likely!

[Emegra]

My money would be on d, it would be interesting to know the cpu and ram currently on your notebook because unless they are quite high spec Mint may not be a good choice for that machine, so when you do get your hard drive updated perhaps it would be a good idea to install a more lightweight distro


Just my thoughts



Graeme

[Melissa]

How do I find out the cpu and ram?

[Emegra]

lets start with the ram

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free -m

[Mark Greaves (PCNetSpec)]

Open a terminal and run:

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free -m
for the memory

open a terminal and run:

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top
for the CPU usage
to stop top from running hit Ctrl+C .. or just close the terminal

the top output will be similar to:-

top - 20:42:06 up  1:19,  2 users,  load average: 1.58, 0.68, 0.54
Tasks: 136 total,   3 running, 133 sleeping,   0 stopped,   0 zombie
%Cpu(s): 17.2 us,  6.0 sy,  0.0 ni, 76.8 id,  0.0 wa,  0.0 hi,  0.0 si,  0.0 st
KiB Mem:   1532340 total,  1146296 used,   386044 free,    91112 buffers
KiB Swap:  1560572 total,        0 used,  1560572 free,   596052 cached

The bit I've jighlighted in red is the bit you're after .. but preferably  you'd run those whilst trying to play an mkv from your external HDD

[Melissa]

total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:           992        812        180          0         61        332
-/+ buffers/cache:        418        574
Swap:         1012        102        910

top

top - 20:49:54 up  8:43,  1 user,  load average: 1.21, 1.66, 1.97
Tasks: 140 total,   2 running, 137 sleeping,   0 stopped,   1 zombie
Cpu(s): 17.6%us,  3.5%sy,  0.0%ni, 78.7%id,  0.2%wa,  0.0%hi,  0.0%si,  0.0%st
Mem:   1016280k total,   833656k used,   182624k free,    63588k buffers
Swap:  1037308k total,   105216k used,   932092k free,   340552k cached

 

[Emegra]

Just for my benefit could you post the output of

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cat /proc/cpuinfo

just the top 10 lines similar to this

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[email protected] ~ $ cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor : 0
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 15
model name : Intel(R) Pentium(R) Dual  CPU  E2140  @ 1.60GHz
stepping : 13
microcode : 0xa1
cpu MHz : 1200.000
cache size : 1024 KB


[Melissa]

cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor   : 0
vendor_id   : GenuineIntel
cpu family   : 6
model      : 28
model name   : Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU N270   @ 1.60GHz
stepping   : 2
microcode   : 0x218
cpu MHz      : 800.000
cache size   : 512 KB

[Mark Greaves (PCNetSpec)]

can you run all 3 of those commands and post the abridged output WHILST trying o play an mkv from your external HDD

Code Select Expand

free -m
and

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top
and

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cat /proc/cpuinfo

[EDIT]

Can you also post the output from:

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cat /etc/*-release

--

[Melissa]

free -m
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:           992        905         86          0        104        375
-/+ buffers/cache:        425        567
Swap:         1012        103        909

top - 21:29:19 up  9:22,  1 user,  load average: 3.90, 2.11, 1.54
Tasks: 141 total,   1 running, 139 sleeping,   0 stopped,   1 zombie
Cpu(s): 92.6%us,  6.4%sy,  0.0%ni,  1.0%id,  0.0%wa,  0.0%hi,  0.0%si,  0.0%st
Mem:   1016280k total,   928020k used,    88260k free,    94712k buffers
Swap:  1037308k total,   106360k used,   930948k free,   396232k cached

 

[Melissa]

cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor   : 0
vendor_id   : GenuineIntel
cpu family   : 6
model      : 28
model name   : Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU N270   @ 1.60GHz
stepping   : 2
microcode   : 0x218
cpu MHz      : 1600.000
cache size   : 512 KB
physical id   : 0
siblings   : 2
core id      : 0
cpu cores   : 1
apicid      : 0
initial apicid   : 0
fdiv_bug   : no
hlt_bug      : no
f00f_bug   : no
coma_bug   : no
fpu      : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level   : 10
wp      : yes
flags      : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mtrr pge mca cmov pat clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe nx constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts aperfmperf pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl est tm2 ssse3 xtpr pdcm movbe lahf_lm dts
bogomips   : 3191.81
clflush size   : 64
cache_alignment   : 64
address sizes   : 32 bits physical, 32 bits virtual
power management:

processor   : 1
vendor_id   : GenuineIntel
cpu family   : 6
model      : 28
model name   : Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU N270   @ 1.60GHz
stepping   : 2
microcode   : 0x218
cpu MHz      : 1600.000
cache size   : 512 KB
physical id   : 0
siblings   : 2
core id      : 0
cpu cores   : 1
apicid      : 1
initial apicid   : 1
fdiv_bug   : no
hlt_bug      : no
f00f_bug   : no
coma_bug   : no
fpu      : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level   : 10
wp      : yes
flags      : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mtrr pge mca cmov pat clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe nx constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts aperfmperf pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl est tm2 ssse3 xtpr pdcm movbe lahf_lm dts
bogomips   : 3191.94
clflush size   : 64
cache_alignment   : 64
address sizes   : 32 bits physical, 32 bits virtual
power management:

[Mark Greaves (PCNetSpec)]

OK, the CPU frequency scaled (800Mhz --> 1600Mhz) when under load .. so whichever version of Mint you're using probably has the Jupiter power manager, or TLP installed.

That's a good thing for a netbook/laptop by the way.

[EDIT]

How about the other 3 things ??