CPU opteron 180 , 2 gb pc 3200 ram , ATI 3870 vid card , 500 GB Hitachi 7200 rpm HD , When I try to play HD video back on my tv , 42", through hdmi cable and nero showtime it stalls and stutters , Is the CPU or vid card not up to the task ? Using latest showtime , part of nero 9 , what could be the problem ? nero showtime not a good player ? what player would be better . I find it hard to believe the cpu is to weak , they give much lower specs for use of nero and hd video . thanks

You should try different software. I was experimenting a while back with playing back 1080i HD from a computer to a HDTV (using much older, slower hardware than you describe) and noticed that Windows Media Player would start and stop on the playback, but the FOSS vlc software played it back without a problem. Not suggesting or recommending any particular software over another, just saying that you should try different playback software as there is a real difference. Also keep in mind that a lot of video playback software is really just using the built-in Windows' video display capabilities (such as DirectX) and you need to try video players which use their own unique code for playback and see if you find one that works with your hardware.

Message: Thanks , tried VLC worked fine ! so the new nero is a load of crap ! thanks again