You don't have to convert your video files to run them on the Mac. You can get a DivX codec for QuickTime to play AVI files. You may also download the VLC media player and/or Mplayer, which will play most media formats. Only Windows Media Player 9 will play WM9 files. You may download the Mac version of WMP 9 from Microsoft's Mactopia web site. You have a lot of options for playing media on the Mac. You don't have to rely on Windows software.Freiheit said:
what happened to VirtualPC7?
- Thread starter Zammy-Sam
- Start date
texanpenguin
Registered Penguin
fryke said:
It's MOSTLY like that, sure, but how QUICK can you win it?
So far I'm pushing 50-or-so seconds from deal to completion. So although many people can WIN Solitaire, I can win it four times in the same amount of time.
Solitaire, you see, is my bitch.
Zammy-Sam
Desertchild
MacBidouille says not until october.
French article: http://www.macbidouille.com/niouzcontenu.php?date=2004-06-17#8807
French article: http://www.macbidouille.com/niouzcontenu.php?date=2004-06-17#8807
texanpenguin said:It's MOSTLY like that, sure, but how QUICK can you win it?
So far I'm pushing 50-or-so seconds from deal to completion. So although many people can WIN Solitaire, I can win it four times in the same amount of time.
Solitaire, you see, is my bitch.
Theres no decent Minesweeper port for OSX either
Ailes Grise
Interstellar Immigration
The only reason I'd want VPC 7 is to run MS Word 2000
and an old PC game Alpha Centauri and use IE once in
a while in XP. I've already changed most of my software
licences to OS X. Is Word and AC considered too processor
intensive for VPC 7? I have a P4 1.5 but its now running
Suse 9.1 so VPC is the only option.
and an old PC game Alpha Centauri and use IE once in
a while in XP. I've already changed most of my software
licences to OS X. Is Word and AC considered too processor
intensive for VPC 7? I have a P4 1.5 but its now running
Suse 9.1 so VPC is the only option.
SirMacsAlot
Registered
Just wondering whether the graphics inprovements would be enough to allow smooth playback of launch.com music videos. I have yet to find a way to play music videos from launch.com and there are videos they have that others don't so if I can play those using Virtual PC 7 with smooth playback I will be at the store the day it comes out to buy. I love my mac but that has been the only thing I've been regretting ever since I switched.
I plan on watching videos with only Virtual PC 7 open and only the web browser open within Virtual PC 7 so this would be a great thing for me. Right now with Virtual PC 6.5.1 it just stutters all the time and than freezes with Windows XP as a host. I don't want to play games or anything but would love to play those videos and other videos in WMV format that don't work with my mac.
So for anyone with more "inside" information could you tell me whether windows xp will run much faster and smoother on a 1.25Ghz G4 with 768MB of Ram. Right now it crawls.
Also with the new graphics features would I now be able to play music videos without stuttering on a broadband connection. I'm thinking that Virtual PC 7 using GPU on the mac directly (IE. no graphics emulation) that the graphics would be fine and I would think that the performace would be much better if emulation is only being done on non video or non graphics processes.
I'm sorry for going so long but I'm hoping this would be a good change.
I plan on watching videos with only Virtual PC 7 open and only the web browser open within Virtual PC 7 so this would be a great thing for me. Right now with Virtual PC 6.5.1 it just stutters all the time and than freezes with Windows XP as a host. I don't want to play games or anything but would love to play those videos and other videos in WMV format that don't work with my mac.
So for anyone with more "inside" information could you tell me whether windows xp will run much faster and smoother on a 1.25Ghz G4 with 768MB of Ram. Right now it crawls.
Also with the new graphics features would I now be able to play music videos without stuttering on a broadband connection. I'm thinking that Virtual PC 7 using GPU on the mac directly (IE. no graphics emulation) that the graphics would be fine and I would think that the performace would be much better if emulation is only being done on non video or non graphics processes.
I'm sorry for going so long but I'm hoping this would be a good change.
Zammy-Sam
Desertchild
If you want to have your launch.com videos on the road and not only at home, VPC will be the only choice. However, if it's actually a service you enjoy at home, I would suggest you to get yourself a cheap pc for this.
From what I have heard about VPC7, it is not going to be so much more improved in speed. The main improvement will be the G5 compatibility, which won't be of any interest for you (at least with your G4 alubook). I heard, gaming is still impossible, which makes me wonder if the "direct" hardware access to the gpu is so much direct at all?
I still believe that a cheap windoze box will do fine for little task like that and cause you much less headaches.
From what I have heard about VPC7, it is not going to be so much more improved in speed. The main improvement will be the G5 compatibility, which won't be of any interest for you (at least with your G4 alubook). I heard, gaming is still impossible, which makes me wonder if the "direct" hardware access to the gpu is so much direct at all?
I still believe that a cheap windoze box will do fine for little task like that and cause you much less headaches.
VPC just isn't for that average guy who rather buys a second PC to watch some videos from some website that don't work on the Mac. When I'm on the road and have to test stuff in IE for Windows, VPC is quite a good solution. And much cheaper (and less weight, too!) than buying a second notebook that runs Windows natively.
The argument that a cheap PC might do the same is good - but only if you have the space for it and want the ugly beast to sit there in silence most of the time. VPC is a sleek software solution. Not for heavy-duty work, of course, but for many small tasks that you might need Windows for.
The argument that a cheap PC might do the same is good - but only if you have the space for it and want the ugly beast to sit there in silence most of the time. VPC is a sleek software solution. Not for heavy-duty work, of course, but for many small tasks that you might need Windows for.
SirMacsAlot
Registered
Well I can see gaming being a problem. Even for a high end graphics board for a windows pc it still taxes a system so when you add emulation it just won't work good. Now what I was trying to find out was if the direct graphics access would allow the operating system graphics to be done via the GPU instead of through CPU emulation. Because my 32MB video card in my notebook is more than enough for music videos and graphics for windows in addition to running Mac OS X. I don't think that most mac video cards are even able to play the windows pc games out there today.
I'm thinking that if all the graphics and music video playback would be done by my macs GPU I would think that would speed things up in Virtual PC. Right now my Virtual PC shows me having a 633Mhz 586 CPU and if all of that 633Mhz Virtual CPU could be used for everything else besides video and graphics that would speed things up greatly at least I would think.
I hope I'm saying this the right way but you get what I mean.
For example on my old windows pc when using my intergrated graphics card a longtime ago launch.com music videos would stutter and even freeze when using the onboard graphics even with a broadband connection. Now that same exact computer with onboard graphics disabled with a PCI Nvidia card with 32MB of SDRAM (not DDR) it played flawlessly. That is why I'm thinking this.
That is what I think the problem is. My onboard graphics had only 2MB of VRAM shared with my 256MB of RAM and that was a good computer then. Now take Virtual PC having to emulate that same amount of VRAM and that makes it even slower than that same onboard graphics GPU. So that is my thinking. Its like my windows pc being downgraded from 2MB of shared memory to 640K of shared memory. It just aint gonna work baby.
Also just like others said I'm using a notebook and buying a used notebook is still way more than buying an upgrade to virtual pc for 100 bucks. I also use Virtual PC for some business specific apps that require windows xp or 2000 so that is why I have it. So if version 7 could speed up my windows xp performance greatly and allow me to play music videos smoothly it would be worth every penny when you consider I'm going to write it off as a business expense which is true. So for me its free.
Also does anyone think Microsoft might allow a limited beta soon so we can at least see where they are on this just because I'm very curious.
I'm thinking that if all the graphics and music video playback would be done by my macs GPU I would think that would speed things up in Virtual PC. Right now my Virtual PC shows me having a 633Mhz 586 CPU and if all of that 633Mhz Virtual CPU could be used for everything else besides video and graphics that would speed things up greatly at least I would think.
I hope I'm saying this the right way but you get what I mean.
For example on my old windows pc when using my intergrated graphics card a longtime ago launch.com music videos would stutter and even freeze when using the onboard graphics even with a broadband connection. Now that same exact computer with onboard graphics disabled with a PCI Nvidia card with 32MB of SDRAM (not DDR) it played flawlessly. That is why I'm thinking this.
That is what I think the problem is. My onboard graphics had only 2MB of VRAM shared with my 256MB of RAM and that was a good computer then. Now take Virtual PC having to emulate that same amount of VRAM and that makes it even slower than that same onboard graphics GPU. So that is my thinking. Its like my windows pc being downgraded from 2MB of shared memory to 640K of shared memory. It just aint gonna work baby.
Also just like others said I'm using a notebook and buying a used notebook is still way more than buying an upgrade to virtual pc for 100 bucks. I also use Virtual PC for some business specific apps that require windows xp or 2000 so that is why I have it. So if version 7 could speed up my windows xp performance greatly and allow me to play music videos smoothly it would be worth every penny when you consider I'm going to write it off as a business expense which is true. So for me its free.
Also does anyone think Microsoft might allow a limited beta soon so we can at least see where they are on this just because I'm very curious.
Pippin
Sys***** slave.
The Current Virtual PC will not utilise your Graphics card, hence the standard shared memory. There are rumours that VPC 7 will enable the use of graphics cards
however I would not hold your breath on this.
Apple Graphics Cards are exactly the same as the standard PC ones that you can buy in shops, mostly that have just been flashed for the Macintosh platform.
Apple has been slow in getting good graphics cards however this has changed recently with the 9800 and the 9600xt - finally meeting standards worthy of gamers. Now with the Nvidia 6800 they are at the same level as the Windows platform.
If your virtual pc is emulating at "633Mhz 586 CPU" you should run a music video no problem, even if it is the standard 2 or 4 meg shared memory - can increase this in the BIOS on windows but I dont know if any effect would take place in VPC.
Apple Graphics Cards are exactly the same as the standard PC ones that you can buy in shops, mostly that have just been flashed for the Macintosh platform.
Apple has been slow in getting good graphics cards however this has changed recently with the 9800 and the 9600xt - finally meeting standards worthy of gamers. Now with the Nvidia 6800 they are at the same level as the Windows platform.
If your virtual pc is emulating at "633Mhz 586 CPU" you should run a music video no problem, even if it is the standard 2 or 4 meg shared memory - can increase this in the BIOS on windows but I dont know if any effect would take place in VPC.
Zammy-Sam
Desertchild
There are many web-based streaming sites, that won't playback on macs, no matter if you use IE for mac or anything else. And there are also some videos that won't play back on macs no matter if you use Media Player, vlc, qt pro, Real One, mplayer... There was a thread on this.
However, I think VPC7 could help SirMacsAlot out, if $129 are no concern and if the gpu access will work better.
However, I think VPC7 could help SirMacsAlot out, if $129 are no concern and if the gpu access will work better.
Zammy-Sam said:
Yes but my point is, has he tried them? He doesn't say so and as a newbie may not be aware of they exist. Also, if he can't steam directly can he download them to his hard drive and then try? Apologies to SirMacsAlot if he has examined all the other options and is still tearing out the hair.