Since the video is heavily compressed using the MPEG-4 standard, you'll need a powerful CPU to play it back smoothly. In our experience, full-screen playback should be possible with processors running at or faster than 900 MHz.

We performed tests on a Win 98 platform furnished with a Pentium III/750 and were unable to play the video without any problems. Checking the task manager showed that CPU capacity use was a constant 100 percent.

In other words, the small file size and the low data rate shown by the THG video have to be compensated for with a high-performance CPU. This time, the programmers put a lot of work into the MPEG-4 encoding process. In our experience, just as much effort has to go into the decoding and playback algorithms.

If you have Windows XP, you are better off because its improved kernel shows better performance with multimedia applications, hence a "lower end" CPU with SSE might be sufficient. All CPUs with SSE like the PIII Tualatin, Pentium 4, Athlon XP and the Duron with 1100 MHz and above (Morgan-Core) offer enough performance.

Furthermore, you should have the latest DivX codec 4.11 installed on your computer. You can download the codec from DivX.com .

This codec will ensure that the video is played back properly. Since the audio signal was compressed using the MP3 format and the MP3 codec is included in most versions of Windows, you won't need any other special drivers.