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how to watch HD movies on X31

X20/X21, X30/X31, X40/X41 Series
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atnt
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how to watch HD movies on X31

#1 Post by atnt » Sat Apr 16, 2011 2:16 pm

Hello everybody

I have a 4 year old ThinkPad X31 2673-W2M that I love. It's running smoothly for my needs, considering its age, my only problem is that I can't watch HD movies, I can open them but they never run smoothly.

Can I upgrade my laptop enough to be able to watch HD movies on it, or is it just too old for that ? If I can upgrade it, what should I change / add ?

SYSTEM INFO: Ubuntu Linux 10.04 (lucid)
CPU GenuineIntel, Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 1.6 GHz
1 Gb RAM HDD ATA SAMSUNG HM121HC 120 Gb
VGA controller ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Mobility M6 LY

Thank you
aTnT

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Re: how to watch HD movies on X31

#2 Post by jronald » Sat Apr 16, 2011 2:32 pm

Full screen in HD, don't think so. Max the RAM and shut down everything you do not require to watch movies. If its one of the high CPU X31's maybe. I would also try a very light weight player, maybe Wimpy FLV?

Ron
I see in my son's eyes, each day, the wonders I have squandered fortunes to possess and have sought my entire lifetime to attain. jrr 09/2011


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rambof07
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Re: how to watch HD movies on X31

#3 Post by rambof07 » Thu May 17, 2012 7:54 am

really it create problem not to work . .take technical advice may resolve this!

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Re: how to watch HD movies on X31

#4 Post by RealBlackStuff » Thu May 17, 2012 8:27 am

rambof07 wrote:really it create problem not to work . .take technical advice may resolve this!
English, please.
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Re: how to watch HD movies on X31

#5 Post by smugiri » Thu May 17, 2012 11:24 am

You can try the Broadcom Hardware Decoder PCIe Mini Card decoder but I am not sure it will work with an X31.

The X31 has a whitelist so you will have to hack the BIOS to be able to even try this (see this thread). They are cheap enough to buy one as an experiment on eBay - they can be had for under $20.
Steve

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Re: how to watch HD movies on X31

#6 Post by RealBlackStuff » Thu May 17, 2012 3:41 pm

The X31/X32 just needs the NO-1802 hack to allow any wifi-card.
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Re: how to watch HD movies on X31

#7 Post by Neil » Thu May 17, 2012 3:47 pm

What kind of HD movies? BluRay rips or what?
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Re: how to watch HD movies on X31

#8 Post by twistero » Fri May 18, 2012 1:33 am

The Broadcom Crystal HD will be a no-go because the X3x only have mini PCI sockets, not mini PCIe.
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Re: how to watch HD movies on X31

#9 Post by ZaZ » Fri May 18, 2012 3:47 am

While you may have had the X31 for four years, it's seven years old. My old R60 with the T7400 ran 1080 Blu-ray rips at 30-40% of CPU usage. With a single core on the X31 I'm guessing CPU utilization will be much higher on the X31. Then there's the Linux issue. I don't know much about it, but I had I had a HTPC running Ubuntu with an AMD quad core CPU that I could never get to play Blu-ray rips properly. It ran decently, but there some hesitation and tearing. I don't know if I didn't install a codec or something, but I don't it was the hardware. Perhaps you're smarter than I, but I had to switch back to Windows 7.
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Re: how to watch HD movies on X31

#10 Post by smugiri » Fri May 18, 2012 2:25 pm

twistero wrote:The Broadcom Crystal HD will be a no-go because the X3x only have mini PCI sockets, not mini PCIe.

Did not know that!

Thank you for the info!

Amazing what you learn on this forum.
Steve

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Re: how to watch HD movies on X31

#11 Post by jronald » Tue May 22, 2012 9:48 am

As a side note, HD on that small of screen....kind of redundant.

YMMV
Ron
I see in my son's eyes, each day, the wonders I have squandered fortunes to possess and have sought my entire lifetime to attain. jrr 09/2011


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ThinkRob
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Re: how to watch HD movies on X31

#12 Post by ThinkRob » Tue May 22, 2012 9:02 pm

atnt wrote:Can I upgrade my laptop enough to be able to watch HD movies on it, or is it just too old for that ?
The latter.

Though obviously playback performance will vary wildly depending on the codec, codec parameters, bitrate, IO device, etc. the general answer is that the X31 is too old to handle most common "HD" content nowadays.

Sorry!
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