MKV plays terribly on MacBook Pro 13 inches (August 2009) +Snow Leopard +Perian +QT7

[krypton]

I just bought a brand new 13 inches unibody Macbook Pro 2009 2.53 GHz, 4 GIG Memory, 9400m video. I installed Snow Leopard and latest Perian 1.1.4. I tried playing James Bond - QOS 720p mkv and QT7 loads the movie but it is terribly slow, constant stuttering with video and audio and ultimately freezing up.

Is this expected because perian fails to utilize the hardware properly or am i doing something wrong (please help if you know how to fix this)?

If this is expected, is there a better way to play MKV while retaining Front Row functionality.

If there is no way to play MKV in quick time/Front Row. What is the best option out there as far as player?

Thank you guys. I hope this thread helps many people with the same questions.

[rmb7984]

I don't understand why this is the case, but Plex will play high bit rate mkv files without dropping frames. I had a similar problem with quicktime and iTunes, but plex would play them smoothly.

Also, plex has similar functionality to frontrow. This might be exactly what you are looking for.

[krypton]

thanks.
I downloaded Plex but haven't tried it. I just want to make when you sure that when you say "I don't understand why this is..." do you mean you don't understand why it's happening on my particular machine or you don't understand but have the same issue on your machine/friends machine/etc.

I just want to make sure I didn't mess something up on my machine because according to Perian forum, QT7 should play MKV no problem in Snow Leopard. First Paragraph here: http://forums.cocoaforge.com/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=20827

[hexonxonx]

I have good luck with Plex but even then sometimes it just won't play HD MKV movies. If Plex can't play it, nothing can.

By the way, the reason Plesk can play HD movies better is because it uses software to decode the movies. The other apps use hardware such as video cards and they have a hard time decoding 780p and 1080p movies or at least some of them. My MacPro has a hard time playing allot of them unless I use Plesk.

[krypton]

Plex sounds like a winner. So again, you are not having any luck playing it on macbook pro 9400m either with just perian and QT7? I'm sorry to be specific it's just that I was under impression the new MBP with 9400m would play MKV no problem in QT7. Anyone out there with exact same config having problems?

[rmb7984]

Originally Posted by krypton

thanks.
I downloaded Plex but haven't tried it. I just want to make when you sure that when you say "I don't understand why this is..." do you mean you don't understand why it's happening on my particular machine or you don't understand but have the same issue on your machine/friends machine/etc.

To clarify, I mean that, as you mentioned, I don't understand why Plex can play some movies that QT7 cannot. I didn't mean anything specific about your system. I have had movies that will not play in QT7 on my 2009 mini, but would play in plex. I'm sure your computer will work fine once you get plex running.