Mimimum spec for playing Blu Rays & HD streaming

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• mac2708 Posts: 3,349

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  05/07/14 - 10:24 #2

  Cyberlink have a Blu-ray Disc Advisor
  
  http://www.ghacks.net/2009/01/05/can-your-pc-play-blu-ray-movies/

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• Helmut10 Posts: 2,433

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  05/07/14 - 12:07 #3

  I have just bought a Laptop with an Intel i5-4200M (HD4600) processor, 8 GB RAM. That is more than enough for HD streaming. It even clocks down to 800MHz from it's nominal 2.5 GHz. My understanding is that it's the HD4600 Integrated Graphics that does all the hard work in respect of HD hence the numbering.
  So for a basic starter spec would be on the lines of an Intel i5-4xxx (HD4xxx) + 8 GB RAM.
  
  You should also check for a 1 Gbs Network Card some still have 100 Mbs Cards, and a decent Wireless Card the latter is harder to check.
  
  TVs in themselves tend to have only 100 Mbs Network Cards and single band N standard Wireless Cards to cut costs to the minimum, so it may not be the PC/Laptop with the limitations.
  
  It's the system as a whole that needs looking at rather than one component. So no Guarantee.

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• JamesEE83 Posts: 33

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  06/07/14 - 08:37 #4

  Helmut10 wrote: »

  You should also check for a 1 Gbs Network Card some still have 100 Mbs Cards, and a decent Wireless Card the latter is harder to check.
  
  TVs in themselves tend to have only 100 Mbs Network Cards and single band N standard Wireless Cards to cut costs to the minimum, so it may not be the PC/Laptop with the limitations..

  
  1Gbps wired network isn't necessary for HD streaming - even a full quality bluray rip will comfortably stream along 100Mbps links (something I do regularly, playing rips from a server to a smart TV, the latter of which only has 100Mbps). The faster link certainly isn't needed for any internet streaming. The only time gigabit would be useful in these terms is for multiple HD streams from a single server.
  
  Wireless may be an issue however. Although most laptops should at least be rated to 802.11n, depending on the configuration, the maximum speed may be only 72Mbps for a single stream setup. If it's possible to check, a connection speed of 144Mbps should be a minimum, faster if possible. Although in theory, all of these speeds should be capable of streaming full quality blu-ray rips, in practice due to overheads and potential poor quality, the actual throughput will be lower.
  
  Again though, if it's only streaming from the internet that's required, unless the wireless signal is particularly weak or there's a lot of interfering devices around, network issues are not likely to be real concerns. If it's the laptop that's going to do the actual processing of a stream rather than simply serving up files to a TV (i.e., connection to the TV is by HDMI cable not ethernet cable) then the graphics performance will be the thing to look at.

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• Stig Posts: 12,446

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  06/07/14 - 09:08 #5

  Ads wrote: »

  I am going to get a new laptop, which I will also use to connect to the tv for HD streaming.
  
  My 5 year old PC currently connects to the tv but high quality streaming judders a little, so I want to ensure my new laptop is completely smooth. Also I have been told a lot of mid range laptops can't always give a totally smooth Blu Ray experience either.
  
  Any advice would be much appreciated!

  
  Regarding judder; it's depends what you are seeing, but can be down to something as simple as the wrong refresh rate for the material you are viewing.
  UK TV requires 50Hz
  US TV and most streamed content is 60Hz
  Blu-ray is 24Hz

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