Windows 7: Huge increase in CPU usage while playing any video

I just checked on mine playing an AVI and it seemed to stay around 5% usage and I have had no freezing or lag, everything is running smoothly.

Same here Mr.GRiM. I have very little CPU usage (3-5%) using Media Player, Media Center, DivX Player or even QuackTime (not a typo).
Seen here > http://www.lrsvc.com/images/W7_DVD_playback.jpg <

Peace

@ Snowcrash: Unfortunately, I can't use MPC HC to make my GPU decode video [aka DXVA - DirectX Video Acceleration] because my GPU is GeForce 6600. I need atleast Geforce 8 series or Radeon 3xxx series in order to get that magic working!

I read the article at Guru3d.com: Accelerate x.264 1080p movies over the GPU Guide

@ Mr.Grim and Snowcrash: I am glad to see that you dont have the problems that I have!

and @ NosferatuX: Thanks dude!

From what I can gather, the problem, atleast for now, seems to be my GeForce 6600.

I will be removing my graphics card and trying out my onboard GMA 950 to see whether it has the same problems.

I also tried switching off Aero by changing to Basic theme but the isse remains.

I would really appreciate if someone with a Geforce 6 series could confirm whether or not they are facing a similar problem!

Thank you all, for your replies!

This community is great!

You're most welcome man!

Since you're out to dismantle your 6600 from your setup, please do verify if you have the latest BIOS and chipset drivers for your motherboard, here. Might be worth trying

I do hope that if your on-board graphics perform much better, your 6600 wont go to waste

I have a little bit of a skip every now and then when im decoding some sorts of movies through Windows Media Player. but there is one movie i have that will only play smoothly through Windows media player. Who knows....

But for now i would just stick with Media Player Classic. That way you it doesnt cost you a dime but whatever you wanna do.

I think I finally know what my problem is.

When I try to play videos through WMP12 and/or Winamp, the codecs which I installed are not used.

Instead the default built in codecs i.e. for an AVI file with MP3 audio, I get the following active filters:

AVI Splitter, MP3 Decoder DMO, Mpeg4s Decoder DMO.

When I play the same file with Media player Classic, I get:

AVI Splitter, ffdshow Audio decoder, ffdshow Video Decoder.

SO, my question now becomes:

How to make Winamp and/or WMP12 force to load the same decoders that Media Player Classic uses?

As far as I remember, it used to work properly when I had my first installtion of seven. But I had to reinstall and ever since I have this problem!

Please help me! I am also gonna post my problem on K-Lite Codec pack's forums.

Waiting for your replies!

Thanks for your time!