Fyi:

 

My biggest problem stems from watching streaming HD (like Hulu). Since there is no hardware acceleration, the CPU is taxed trying to stream and decode at the same time. This also kills any multi-tasking I might be doing like running an email client.

I figure if decoding could be offloaded to dedicated hardware, the CPU can still function and keep some degree of multi-tasking.


Several ways for me.

The first is by streaming through the home wireless from a desktop that I have, but this obviously only works if I am at home. The movies themselves I get from ripping DVDs. I have a program (Magic DVD Ripper) that converts DVDs to video files on a computer. I've done this so that I can put my media on my mp3 player, PS3, or netbook depending on how I want to watch it.

If I'm going to be travelling for an extended time, I will copy a few movies I plan to watch onto the netbook's hard drive.

Secondly, I watch stuff on Hulu.com a lot.


Just get a DVD ripping program. It becomes pretty much a one-click affair. Select the output video format you want and then let your computer do its thing. I looked online and created a setting for mpeg movies optimized for playback on PS3. You will need a computer with a DVD drive though, and preferably something significantly more powerful than a netbook as ripping and encoding takes a bit of horsepower.

You will get a resulting file, which you can play on your netbook across your home network, copy and play from the external HD, or copy and play directly from the netbook's HD.

 

^Thnx man. So are the DVD ripping programs free or do I need to buy from Amazon?

 

dvd shrink is free which will rip and decode. But you need either a video converter to convert to avi. divx. or some other form of media, unless there is a program used to rip and convert to a smaller media format.

 

Upgrade to Flash10.1 that just came out a few days ago. It adds hardware acceleration to for most graphics chips. www.adobe.com

also for ripping dvds I use a combination of dvdfab pro and handbrake.

 

OK you lost me there brah. I'll stick to using my Sony portable DVD player

 

Rick:
step 1 - Rip the DVD to your computer as an ISO file with DVDShrink ( http://www.softpedia.com/get/CD-DVD-...D-Shrink.shtml )
step 2- Install Daemon Tools Lite ( http://www.disc-tools.com/download/daemon )
step 3 - run DLT and right click on the tray icon and select Virtual Device>Device0>Mount Image
Step 4 - point it to your ISO file and voila, it will show up in Explorer as a DVD drive, ready for playing (or AutoPlay will start your movie viewer program automatically).

 

^^^ thing is i find the iso to be big and to conserve space i rip just the movie.

 

I put a 250 GB drive into my netbook, so space isn't an issue for me, but I can see how it may be for others. In that case, yes just rip the movie and convert.

 

every time I try spec'ing out a "small" netbook/laptop I end up with a i7 box with most of the bells and whistles

 

i know what you mean. Everytime i did a build it cost me about $500 so i told myself to look for a good system prebuilt that was less than $300 and i was able to find one that i wanted for 299.

 

Thanks gents. I'll give it a try

 

I'm a bit late to the game but I bought a asus 1201pn.

I'm pretty impressed with how solid it feels compared to some of the sub $500 laptops I've worked on. On the other hand when I was Deciding which pre-installed programs to get rid of I found Asus's site to be very informative.

 

Hmmm.. I see... It is perfectly clear now.


Also, apparently, your computer is a "She."


(so, for four or five days a month it will be a real pain in the ass)

 

thanks