Your computer hardware will affect the overall quality of the video you view
off the Web. Webcasts, and video in general, gobble a lot of your PC's resources.
If your computer can’t buffer a large amount of the information that you’re
receiving, the video will look choppy. To deal with Webcasts, your computer
needs a fast processor, a good video card, and a good deal of memory.
So how much is enough? Average system requirements are often pegged at the
following:
500 Mhz Pentium processor
64 MB of memory
A video card capable of
16-bit color (65,536 colors)
These are recommended minimums, and (except for the video card) have little
basis in reality. You can use older Pentiums with less memory, but expect the
video to come in with glacial slowness. Optimally, your computer should have as
much memory and the fastest processor possible. A video card capable of
displaying 24-bit color (a whopping 16,777,216 colors) is the icing on the
cake.
Cutting Edge Gear
One piece of hardware you should seriously consider upgrading is your video
card. It’s easy to ignore this vital component, but a video card can make or
break your Webcast experience. Video is buffered in the card, and if the card
lacks sufficient memory, you’ll run into problems. Most new computers come with
a decent video card, but such cards aren’t generally optimized for the types of
tasks many users have in mind. They’re just good enough for basic work and Web
surfing.
If you can afford it, you should look into buying a new video card. Look at
some of the mid-range or high-end offerings from companies like ATI and Diamond
Multimedia. Both companies make excellent, powerful video cards. The better
ones are more than adequate for viewing Webcasts.
If you can’t afford a new video card, consider updating your card’s driver
software. You can download updated drivers from the manufacturer’s Web site.
This option isn’t a good as getting a new card, but you will notice an
improvement.