Video files using SW decoding stutters while those using HW plays smoothly. Same goes for VLC (though it doesn't show how it decodes) and for both 1G/8G Sony Android TV and 2G/16G cheap Android TV box.

I was trying to find out how I can tell which files will be using HW and which will be using SW, but I looked up media info on MPC and I can't tell. The rare few HVEC ones are all HW, but most show AVC AVC1 and I don't see the difference. Is there a way to tell?

I saw a post say HW use hardware and SW means its using CPU, so if all aspects remains the same but change ram to 4G, will it stop the stuttering? Or can it only be helped with better hardware (CPU, GPU, etc)?