Ways to play 1080p video on laptop that is not capable to run it

Question

How to run 1080 video on laptop that can only play smoothly 720p video because of its poor hardware? Can I download some special codecs or lower details in some way, or do I need to change its format ? If yes, this will take minutes or hours?

Laptop's resolution does not support full HD, so I don't need to play a full HD move in its native resolution - but I don't know how to bypass some details so laptop can play it smoothly.

Some more information:

Laptop uses Windows XP, I play the videos locally and I can use any program to watch. The laptop isn't mine so I don't remember the exact config. But processor is between 1 and 2 GHz and about 1 GB RAM. I don't know anything about graphic cards - but I guess it does exist - it can play 720p smoothly.

Solution

How to run 1080 video on laptop that can only play smoothly 720p video because of its poor hardware?

You downsample the video to a lower resolution. Use a tool like HandBrake or mencoder. There are codecs that can downsample or change video resolution on-the-fly but that is hardware intensive and will make your video choppy on 720p as well.

will take minutes or hours?

Depends on the length of the video and the strength of the hardware used. If the video is long and the machine slow, the answer is hours.

Comments

[Joe_Rose]

Where are you watching videos? What program, is it online or local? What operating system?

[SuitUp]

I updated my question.

[Prerak Diwan]

I'm not exactly sure what it is that you are still asking? Is the video skipping at 1080p? Is this a blu-ray disk or a file? have you tested a 720p or is the assumption that 720p playback is smooth due to specs?

[SuitUp]

720 is smooth because of specs, i tested it, 1080 is not smooth because of specs and i tested it too - video is not played well

[subanki]

I don't think it can be done without converting

[Prerak Diwan]

Try using the kmplayer and see if that helps to smooth things out. Other than that, you're just going to have to convert it or get better hardware. Divx converter does resolution specific conversions.

[Georg Schölly]

It's going to take longer than the movie is, because the computer is not capable of decoding the video in real time.