Question : Problem: Slow video playback - why?

Ok, so it's not a dual PIIIZ/1300, but it's certainly fast enough to play large (window) AVI files... BUT it doesn't.

AVIs (of almost any size) stagger along at a pitiful rate.  Dropping frames like a drunken picture framer.

System is (DELL WS410) Dual PII-400 / 128MB / SCSI-2 UW-LVD controller and drives (VIKING II).  Video is Diamond FIRE GL-100 (8MB)
OS is Win2K pro (same under NT4)

Disk paths are fast enough - miro DC30+ captures to disk without problems at 5MB/s, (benchmarking sees approx 11MB/s bandwidth), and plays back to miro 'video out' without problems.

I am willing to replace the video card if that's going to solve the problem, but the next question is - "is it?", and "what card/level should I look at buying?"

Points awarded when I receive a clear strategy, and decide to make the upgrade. (You don't have to wait for me to actually buy the card!)

TIA
MC

Answer : Problem: Slow video playback - why?

OK - here we are...
I found a significant part of a solution.

I installed MediaPlayer 7 amd couldn't boot, so that had to go.  Now I'm back to MP6.x.x

All continuing as it was.

I decided to go into one of the miro MJPEG (AVI) files, and look at the properties of that video stream.  

Finally under advanced, I found three check boxes that were all checked (line checking / overlay etc)  I turned them all off, and voila - the results are about as good as you would expect for an interlaced recording playing on a progresssive display.

Oddly enough, these were 'properties' of the file, but are in fact 'preferences', as they remained sticky to future file playback of other streams.

Thanks for the leads, but I dun found it by myself.   Please feel free to ask back for any help.