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What are the requirements for playing 1080p videos? Is a graphics card needed?

3 Answers 3

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Its depended on your hardware, software and the video itself.

With new CPUs such as Core iX series or AMD A,FX series (or even Dual Core or Core 2 Duo) you can play Full HD video without thinking about videocard.

If you have old CPU (such as Pentium 2,3 or worse) without graphics card, it will play slowly,maybe stopping every second. Then you'll need a videocard preferably those which have Full HD support.

EDIT: As @Psycogeek mentioned, it's also depended on which codecs/software you have installed
(newer versions can make higher performance) which codecs are used by your video
and how much it is optimized (it will probably have bigger size if it's optimized for less CPU/GPU usage).

There are a lot of things which can optimize the video itself, but that's another theme ;)
(If you are interested in it, start with FFMpeg)

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    I think this is what the OP wanted to know. A small correction though: Slower Core 2 Duo models (<= 2 GHz) aren't capable of playing all 1080p videos.
    – Daniel B
    Apr 21, 2014 at 21:00
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    I think it should be noted somewhere in here that the software and render method could be a way to get lesser hardware to play HD videos just fine. A lot of todays software are comming default with intention to use the GPU, and actually use a lot of power doing so. MPC in a simple overlay mode (still grafic acceleration) and not "3D" render modes (for 2d displays) can take a load off. There is also the "filtering" and interpolating, and codec efficency on playback. In short, we could play a 1080p video before 2000 when this hardware didnt even exist, just with less features.
    – Psycogeek
    Apr 22, 2014 at 1:57
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The graphicscard needs some form of accelleration for sure, but if you have a lot of memory and a powerful processor, the graphicscard does not have to be a 3D accelleration card. Note that a powerful 3D accelleration card (preferably an AMD card as they also do 2D accelleration where nVidia does not) can be enough and doesn't make you have a powerful CPU and enough memory.

So long answer short: it depends on the configuration of the system, but a powerful graphics card can outweight a slow CPU and little memory.

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The important stats for 1080p are that it supports 1080 horizontal lines of vertical resolution and supports progressive scan (this is what the p indicates). The 1080 part is indicated in the resolution stats, so anything 1920x1080 or better. The card should handle 50-60 frames per second, although some 1080p standards are as low as 25 fps.

In other words, all you need is a video card that has a resolution of 1920x1080 or better and can handle at least 25 fps (though 50-60fps is recommended for all versions of the 1080p standard).

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    How is this even an answer? May 13, 2014 at 18:36
  • @Roberts, How is it not? It specifically states the requirements for 1080p. All you need is a video card with the proper resolution and capable of handling a specific number of frames per second. That is the definition of 1080p. If the OP wants more detail, he needs to be more specific about his question.
    – MaQleod
    May 13, 2014 at 19:58
  • But you just vomitted the 1080p stats in the answer. All you need is a video card with the proper resolution and capable of handling a specific number of frames per second, now that is the answer! May 14, 2014 at 12:13
  • @Roberts, and I do state that, in the answer: "So anything 1920x1080 or better. The card should handle 50-60 frames per second" - I just take the time to explain why those particular stats are important and what they mean as well.
    – MaQleod
    May 14, 2014 at 14:43

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