I’d probably opt for an older version of VLC.

You didn’t mention which OS you are running. I read VLC 0.84 and lower run on Win9x without KernelEX. If you running something else like 2K, XP, Linux you should be good thru version 2.1. without SSE.

MSKino wrote on 2024-09-04, 18:20:

Does anyone know any media player that doesn't require a CPU with SSE and that can play mp4, mp3, and mkv files?

On Linux you can probably use almost any player, provided it's compiled for the correct architecture. In any case you can compile them yourself.
mplayer/vlc are good options.

I don't think it is possible for a K6-2 to play a .mkv file.

sure it is, .mkv is just a container 😀 you can put a potato in it and it will play.
Fastest K6-2 are around Celeron 400MHz performance level so no full res PAL/NTSC Mpeg2, but 320x240 should be fine.
There should be win32 mplayer builds compiled with full CPU features discovery floating somewhere on the net.

The powerDVD that came with my first DVD ROM played okay on my K6-2@450, it was at like 85-90% CPU load though. The one that came with my Voodoo3 not sure if that was powerDVD or winDVD, that dropped it to 30% CPU load with whatever. I know though that even with all the right codec packs and latest media player for 98 that I couldn't do it on media player though.

rasz_pl wrote on 2024-09-05, 03:12:

sure it is, .mkv is just a container 😀 you can put a potato in it and it will play.
Fastest K6-2 are around Celeron 400MHz performance level so no full res PAL/NTSC Mpeg2, but 320x240 should be fine.
There should be win32 mplayer builds compiled with full CPU features discovery floating somewhere on the net.

I'll take your word for it. I only know that file extension from Blu Ray rips and I know those require a far more powerful CPU.

I have a copy of Power DVD XP that came with a long ago video card purchase. That version of that software has been able to play DVDs on every K6-2 system I've had. The lowest spec system I have it installed on right now is my PCChips M520 with a K6-3+ @ 450 MHz and a PCI FX5200 and DVDs play very well.

Repo Man11 wrote on 2024-09-05, 04:03:

rasz_pl wrote on 2024-09-05, 03:12:

sure it is, .mkv is just a container 😀 you can put a potato in it and it will play.
Fastest K6-2 are around Celeron 400MHz performance level so no full res PAL/NTSC Mpeg2, but 320x240 should be fine.
There should be win32 mplayer builds compiled with full CPU features discovery floating somewhere on the net.

I'll take your word for it. I only know that file extension from Blu Ray rips and I know those require a far more powerful CPU.

I have a copy of Power DVD XP that came with a long ago video card purchase. That version of that software has been able to play DVDs on every K6-2 system I've had. The lowest spec system I have it installed on right now is my PCChips M520 with a K6-3+ @ 450 MHz and a PCI FX5200 and DVDs play very well.

Does it support 3DNow! ?

Do old VLC versions or other players support 3DNow! ?

https://www.3dnow.org/software.shtml

Has a list of common games/software and if 3Dnow is supported - but it looks like it hasn't been updated since AUG 1999.

Neither PowerDVD nor VLC is on it, I think the list predates both.

BinaryDemon wrote on 2024-09-04, 22:09:

You didn’t mention which OS you are running. I read VLC 0.84 and lower run on Win9x without KernelEX. If you running something else like 2K, XP, Linux you should be good thru version 2.1. without SSE.

VLC 1.1.0 did not work on my K6-2 350. It launched, but attempting to play a video made it immediately quit. VLC 0.8.6d was fine.

BinaryDemon wrote on 2024-09-05, 12:36:

https://www.3dnow.org/software.shtml

Has a list of common games/software and if 3Dnow is supported - but it looks like it hasn't been updated since AUG 1999.

Neither PowerDVD nor VLC is on it, I think the list predates both.

Wow!. Amazing that 3dnow.org is still live. I would have expected it to go the way of amdzone.com a while ago.

Looks like https://www.planet3dnow.de picked up the slack ....

BinaryDemon wrote on 2024-09-04, 22:09:

I’d probably opt for an older version of VLC.

You didn’t mention which OS you are running. I read VLC 0.84 and lower run on Win9x without KernelEX. If you running something else like 2K, XP, Linux you should be good thru version 2.1. without SSE.

I am running Windows XP so I'll be trying VLC 2.1, thanks for the info 👍

Trying to install VLC 2.1 gave me this error

I got VLC 1.0.0 Goldeneye installed

GemCookie wrote on 2024-09-05, 13:33:

BinaryDemon wrote on 2024-09-04, 22:09:

You didn’t mention which OS you are running. I read VLC 0.84 and lower run on Win9x without KernelEX. If you running something else like 2K, XP, Linux you should be good thru version 2.1. without SSE.

VLC 1.1.0 did not work on my K6-2 350. It launched, but attempting to play a video made it immediately quit. VLC 0.8.6d was fine.

VLC 0.8.6d also works for me. VLC 1.1.0, 1.0.0, etc crash whenever i try to play a file. But VLC 0.8.6d works fine. 360p mp4 content plays fine, although there are some frame drops.

You would need a relatively new video card with h264 decode acceleration to play modern mp4s smoothly (even at high resolutions).
You can find period-correct video cards that support DVD/MPEG-2 (h262) decode acceleration.

Check it on an overkill fast system, 'coz the lower res mp4/divX stuff might have been encoded long ago with primitive codecs and not quite fast enough CPU and stutters are baked into the file.

BitWrangler wrote on 2024-09-06, 21:54:

Check it on an overkill fast system, 'coz the lower res mp4/divX stuff might have been encoded long ago with primitive codecs and not quite fast enough CPU and stutters are baked into the file.

I've played the same mp4 file on my main system running Windows 11, with an amd Ryzen 5 5600X and a GTX 980 Ti. It plays smoothly without any frame drops.

tauro wrote on 2024-09-06, 21:53:

You would need a relatively new video card with h264 decode acceleration to play modern mp4s smoothly (even at high resolutions).
You can find period-correct video cards that support DVD/MPEG-2 (h262) decode acceleration.

Alright 👍

Some version of BSPlayer? I think that's what I used back in the day.