Windows Media Player manages 418 minutes of playback time with the MP4 file – or 32% better than MPCHC and 36% better than VLC. It’s when we start to look at the two Microsoft applications that we get some startling results. There are differences, but it’s not so much that one would worry much about it. Switch to the lower bitrate MP4 file and MPCHC comes out ahead by 3%. If we start with the MKV file compared to the MP4 file, VLC actually ends up doing a bit better than MPCHC by 7%. The results are interesting to say the least. MPCHC will be retested with EVR mode enabled). All of the video players were using the default GPU decoding (DXVA) for the initial testing I am in the process of running additional tests (e.g. In all cases the software is set to loop and a local file logs the time until the laptop shuts off (at 1% battery life remaining). I also tested the original MKV file with both MPCHC and VLC as a reference point. It's a 4Mbps video stream using the AVC High 元.1 profile, with a 2-channel 164Kbps AAC audio stream.) I tested with MPCHC, VLC, Windows Media Player, and the Modern UI Video app – and the last I tested with and without activating desktop mode to see if that made a difference.
(Update: I also used the 720p MP4 file we use for tablet battery life testing, which I only tested with the Modern Video app. The file is a 2.03 Mbps MP4 with an AVC High L4.1 profile video stream and a 93.8 Kbps 2-channel AAC audio stream.
However, I wanted to look at a variety of programs and decoding video on Windows 8.1, and as Windows Media Player and Video couldn’t handle our original file natively I had to resort to using a different video file.įor this testing, I grabbed a 1080p MP4 video that worked with all four video playback options. Keep in mind that we’re dealing with something of a worst-case scenario in terms of battery life, so as long as the workload is consistent among tested laptops we’re don’t have a problem. Rather than deal with those issues, I chose (back in the Windows 7 era) to simply use MPCHC 64-bit and call it a day. MPCHC supports the file natively, as does VLC, but Windows Media Player and the Windows 8 Video app would require additional codecs (they show the video but don't handle the audio). The file also has a 510Kbps 6-channel DTS audio stream, and that’s where we start to run into trouble with our choice of video playback software. One of the main reasons we use MPCHC is that our test video is a 1080p MKV file with a high bitrate video, specifically it’s a 10.4Mbps video stream using the AVC High L4.1 profile. One of the readers asked about what program we were using for video playback in our “Heavy” test, and I responded we use Media Player Classic Home Cinema (MPCHC). One interesting subject did come up with that article, however, and it was something I wanted to investigate further.
There are quite a few variables, and we try to minimize the impact of other elements on battery life, but since I can’t easily go back and retest the original Windows 8 results it’s difficult to say for certain if the drop is consistent among laptops or something specific to the Sony VAIO Pro 13. The short summary is that no, it did not change appreciably, though at least one of the tests I ran showed worse battery life with Windows 8.1 compared to Windows 8.
How to Check CPU Usage on Windows 8/8.A couple weeks back, I posted a short article on battery life with Windows 8.1 looking at whether or not it had changed compared to Windows 8.Rate My Computer with Built-in Assessment Tool | Windows 8.Meanwhile, the following picture with all categories presented in the monitor is for your better understanding.
In the next window, you can check the System Diagnostics Report, Diagnostic Results, Software Configuration and other info. Step 3: Check the System Diagnostics Report and other information.
So you need to wait for the process to complete. Step 2: Wait for the monitor to collect data for diagnostics.Īs the Resource and Performance Monitor turns up, it will spend 60 seconds in collecting data to generate a system diagnostics report. Tips: In the command, there must be a space between "n" and "/". Open Run dialog by Windows+R hotkeys, type the command of perfmon /report in the empty box and click OK. Step 1: Use a run command to open the Resource and Performance Monitor. Steps to check computer performance in Windows 8/8.1 computer: