Hardware requirements for playing HD

Question

A friend of mine has some HD videos (720p and 1080p), so i would like what are the hardware requirements in order to play them correctly with no slowing-downs ?

my computer is build of :

  Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 2.40GHz
    nvidia GeForce 5200 FX
    768 RAM

My friend said that it won't be possible to play the HD videos on my comp because of it's old hardware - is this true ? And again, what are the minimal hardware setup needed to play HD ?

Thanks.

Answer 1

It's more to do with your graphics card than anything else. In your case your card supports 1080i, so you should not have any problems. http://www.nvidia.com/page/pg_20040109440047.htm

Answer 2

I would guess 1080p would be asking too much. Someone else with a low end CPU had success here: Minimum reasonable system requirements for Windows 7 Media Center

If 720p/1080p HD worked on your machine could you post back (and accept an answer)

Answer 3

CPU power also an issue in case of HD. You need at least P4 for your configuration because those celerons were extremely weak. With P4 you will be able to watch at least 720p.