I made a post awhile back about the best way to stream to your TV. If you are a geek like me, then this post should help clarify some playback questions. I still believe that outputting audio and video from your PC to your tv is the best way to go. But I have learned a few things in the process.

Specs
OS: Windows Vista Ultimate
Video Card: Nvidia 6600GT 158.18
CPU: Athlon X2 3800+ (socket 939) at 2.15gz
TV: KDS-R60XBR1 at 1920 x 1080
Codec Package: K-Lite Mega Codec Pack 2.2.5
Test Movie Encoded in x264 at 1280 x 720

I used to think that it didn't matter which media player was used to playback movies. Boy was I wrong. I have tested playing back this movie using Windows Media Player 11 and noticed some hitches during playback. CPU Utilization was anywhere between ~18% to ~33%. I was extremely annoyed to say the least because I thought I had a good enough processor to accomplish HD movie playback with x264.

Next I tried the same scene with Windows Media Classic that comes with the K-Lite codec package. I experienced no hitches during playback and cpu usage was anywhere from ~20% to ~42%. However, when playing a 1080p x264 rip CPU Utilization climbed to as high as ~60% with some minor hitches during playback.

I am no codec junkie. I cannot explain why its better to playback movies with media player classic. You can test this on your own machine, and I am sure you will come to the same conclusion.

I have read reviews that the GeForce 8 Series Nvidia cards have h.264 hardware acceleration. It is also my understanding that only certain applications will make use of it, such as PowerDVD HD. Unfortunately I could not test this out because I don't have either. :)

I am sure pushing my CPU to around 2.6gz would fix the 1080p issues. When I do that I'll try and post an update to see if performance improved. I also do not recommend heavy usage on your computer while streaming a movie for obvious reasons.

If you have a Geforce 8 Series and can test this out streaming to your tv, post a comment and let me know how it went.

And No, I cant mention which x264 file was used. Just assume it adheres to scene standards, k?