The new high-res optical formats are using more advanced compression technologies than ever before. MPEG4 and H.264 are two of the technologies used by HD DVD and Blu-ray. These technologies can compress video signals considerably more efficiently than what MPEG2 is capable of, but they also require more powerful machines to work well. At Anandtech they've taken a closer look at playing these HD formats with PCs and now the turn has come to Blu-ray and the H.264 codec. They've tested a number of graphics circuits and processors to see what kind of hardware is required for playing this new format and there is no doubt that the new HD formats comes with high requirements.
A powerful dual-core processors is more or less a must and if you want some help on the way you can throw in a powerful graphics card into the mix. NVIDIA seems to be the most efficient when it comes to H.264 playback today and especially its G80 architecture. Interesting reading for those who are thinking of upgrading the HTPC with a Blu-ray or HD DVD player soon.
"As for recommendations, based on our testing, we would not suggest anything less than an Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 for use in a system designed to play HD content. The E6400 may work well enough, but not even the 8800 GTX can guarantee zero dropped frames on the E6300."
:: Read on at Anandtech
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