Video/DVD playback problems

My system specs are in my sig. As you can see I'm running an Ati Radeon 9600. I'm using CCC v6.11.

I know I don't have a great graphics card but should I really be using 50% cpu just to play a DVD? And I'm not positive but with some of the high quality downloads (720p x264.mkv) I should be able to play them smoothly, shouldn't I?

I'll be the first to admit I'm not a genius when it comes to this sort of thing. I just want to know that I'm making the most of my hardware. Any advice or guidance you can offer will be greatly appreciated.

What program are you using to view dvd's? The video card really doesn't impact dvd viewing or performance. More stress is placed on the cpu and system.

'high-quality downloads' depend on what codec they use. ie- The h.264 codec generally uses more cpu time than the HD-wmv codec. So you may be able to view a 720p video in HD-wmv, but it might appear jumpy in h.264.

Thanks for the info. I've been using Media Player Classic for dvds.

Out of interest, is there any relevant information on what sort of processor you'd need to smoothly play different encodes? I bought my current processor when h264 encodes were just starting to be released becasue my old one just couldn't handle them.