The size of the video or trailer may also affect its playback performance, if your computer’s processor is overwhelmed or the video file is too large for your Internet connection speed to handle properly. Closing unused, open programs on the computer can help free system resources.
I have a neat little media PC sat under my telly that I eventually put Win XP Pro on in preference to MCE because MCE is a bitch for hogging system resources. I work it with a tidy little wireless keyboard with built in mousepad dealie. It's a pretty crappy system but the case is about the same size as a DVD player so it looks the part. I was having trouble with my BSG downloads stuttering every few minutes while playing but it was because of an intrusive WIFI application running in the back ground. As far as a PC having trouble playing large video files this is only really a problem when playing WMV or similar content where the processor has an extra layer of DRM to negotiate. Any PC from the last few years will cope with broadcast HD resolutions (don't know about 1080 variants mind you..) if it's in an Xvid format.
Of course Vista will have even more layers of DRM to suck up system resources so I'm not looking forward to it becoming the standard for gaming.
Edited for words, sweet sweet words...
This comment was edited on Dec 28, 11:54.