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Flash 10.2 beta and the MacBook Air

V

vd0t

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 7, 2005
115
0
Adobe released Flash 10.2 beta today:

http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flashplayer10/stagevideo.html

It includes Stage Video, a new API for GPU/hardware acceleration during video playback.

"In our internal testing, a laptop can play 1080p HD video with about 0% CPU usage"

Has anyone tried this with the MacBook Air? Improved battery life/performance?

Definitely improved CPU usage on my MacBook Pro 15". MacBook Air 13" still on its way...
 
Hellhammer

Hellhammer

Moderator emeritus
Dec 10, 2008
22,164
582
Finland
About 20% CPU usage on my 1.86GHz MBA. I don't use Flash so can't talk about battery life but 20% seems quite good IMO. And BTW, I watched Avatar trailer in 1080p. Fan didn't even kick in (it never has for me).

Oh, and thanks for sharing :)
 
F

foiden

macrumors 6502a
Dec 13, 2008
809
13
Hmm. Cool post. I'll have to give it a go. I have tested that exact same video with my MBA 13" ultimate with Flash 10.1. Now, apparently 2.13GHZ is actually enough to play that movie, all the way, smoothly. It also is the one thing that caused my fans to work the hardest. (Yep. Even Starcraft 2 OSX at all medium settings (runs perfectly on the MBA 13" ultimate at that setting even during large battles (300+ units)) doesn't command the fan as much as that video did.)

As long as it hopefully doesn't mess other things up, or I have the ability to go back to a more stable flash, I should give it a go. I can't say about battery as I didn't monitor the exact battery usage on playing that movie. Just that it was definitely using my CPU like no tomorrow. Then again, 13" Max has a pretty strong CPU.

I'll get back to you when I run this with the new flash.
 
V

vd0t

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 7, 2005
115
0
Also, when you're testing make sure not to use Google Chrome (my default browser). Chrome has its own Flash plug-in, and doesn't use Flash 10.2 even if it's installed in your system. I tried it with Safari and it was about 15% CPU usage on a MacBook Pro 15" 1.53 GHz Core 2 Duo.

Edit: As low as 10% CPU usage when playing back the Avatar trailer in 1080P. Incredible!
 
Hellhammer

Hellhammer

Moderator emeritus
Dec 10, 2008
22,164
582
Finland
vd0t said:
Also, when you're testing make sure not to use Google Chrome (my default browser). Chrome has its own Flash plug-in, and doesn't use Flash 10.2 even if it's installed in your system. I tried it with Safari and it was about 15% CPU usage on a MacBook Pro 15" 1.53 GHz Core 2 Duo.

Edit: As low as 10% CPU usage when playing back the Avatar trailer in 1080P. Incredible!
Click to expand...

I used Safari and checked that my player indeed is the 10.2. Your 10-15% sounds about right as MBA has inferior CPU
 
F

foiden

macrumors 6502a
Dec 13, 2008
809
13
I'm using Safari. I always use Safari, actually. I only go to Firefox if, for some reason, a site is coded with some hacks (or bugs) that throw Safari off.
 
T

TheSacredSoul

macrumors 6502a
Jul 8, 2010
512
11
I have the 128gb MBA 13" with 4gb ram and the CPU usage was around 23%-27% playing the Avatar trailer on 1080p. No idea on battery effect though.

P.S. The 1080p Avatar trailer is epic!
 
F

foiden

macrumors 6502a
Dec 13, 2008
809
13
Strange. The Big Bunny one fluctuated. When I first started it, I did notice the first Major optimization. It pretty much fluctuated between 30-40% CPU usage combined between the Flash Player (taking the most) and Safari. The fans were soft, though, and only mildly operated at this time. About halfway through the video, while still playing exactly the same, the total CPU usage dropped to somewhere between 15 and 18%, the fan completely shut off, and it got a bit cooler than when I first started it. I'm curious as to what happened there. Mind you, in order to see the movie near full screen and the activity monitor, I basically used the pop-out function to have the window take up the desktop, where I can still decide to display the activity monitor in front of it.

Edit: Avatar trailer was about the same for me. Nothing quite as low as 10% except for temporary hits into it, but then I'm combining both Flash plugin CPU use and the Safari CPU use, which I'm guessing is what you need to do. On the other hand, the fan didn't even come on for Avatar. The Battery indicator said I should get around 4-4:30 hours of straight playback of this kind of video through Youtube, now. So it seems the Big Bunny pushes the 1080p power envelope a bit more than the Avatar trailer.

All in all, a definite *on the right track* movement for adobe flash player. These optimizations were a long time coming, but they're getting there. A little more, and I could match the rated 11" 1.4GHZ battery life while playing these videos. And that's saying a lot.
 
Last edited:
iNotion

iNotion

macrumors 6502
Jun 5, 2008
306
185
Singapore
Until the day Apple make peace with Adobe, my default browser on my MBA will be Chrome.

I hope they get along!! I need them both! Apple + Adobe.
 
F

foiden

macrumors 6502a
Dec 13, 2008
809
13
Yeah. Just 32-bit so far. Would be nice with a 64-bit version, but it still seems like an improvement, at least for video. I'm using click-to-flash so I'm not so sure about issues with page scrolling with flash content. I tend to not see ads or any flash unless I specifically want to see it.
 
Hellhammer

Hellhammer

Moderator emeritus
Dec 10, 2008
22,164
582
Finland
Over Achiever said:
Would I see a difference depending on which bit version I use on the new MBAs?
Click to expand...

Doubt it. 64-bit can use more RAM but that's not an issue for Flash because it should never use more than what 32-bit can offer (~3.3GB). Some heavier apps may benefit from 64-bitfulness but Flash shouldn't. Better HA support and stuff like that have bigger effect
 
C

centymeat

macrumors member
Nov 11, 2010
32
0
Wow, playing 1080p avatar /dark knight video on youtube,

I am getting less than 25% CPU% for safari + flash player,

I tested with 10.1, i was getting somewhere around 70%

I tried playing 2 1080p videos at the same time and the CPU usage was hovering around 90-95%.

That's amazing!
 
T

teski

macrumors regular
Oct 23, 2010
216
8
Impressive indeed! Turned off Click2Flash and the YouTube5 extension, and then ran the Avatar trailer...Didn't hit over 20%.
 
johannnn

johannnn

macrumors 68020
Nov 20, 2009
2,204
2,306
Sweden
Umm, ustream with 10.1: ~70%. ustream with 10.2: ~80%. Did I miss something or is this something that only benefits Youtube atm?
 
W

weckart

macrumors 603
Nov 7, 2004
5,835
3,514
Not seeing any real benefit with 10.2 tbh. Running 64bit OSX here, the flashplayer is getting over 100% on my quadcore with YT and the Nvidia PureVideo sample clip. Avatar started at 95% and settled around 60%. Nowhere near the 10% others are claiming.
 
M

Mannaerts

macrumors regular
Dec 2, 2010
110
53
Belgium, Antwerp
Well i installed Flash today on my new MBA but i don't get the grey bar anymore when i play Youtube. (grey bar is the bar with the sound & resolution setting etc)
Instead i'm getting a black bar where i can just put my sound and change it from windowed to full screen, but without a button to change it to 1080p for instance.

Any help? thx
 
Bill Gates

Bill Gates

macrumors 68030
Jun 21, 2006
2,500
14
127.0.0.1
weckart said:
Not seeing any real benefit with 10.2 tbh. Running 64bit OSX here, the flashplayer is getting over 100% on my quadcore with YT and the Nvidia PureVideo sample clip. Avatar started at 95% and settled around 60%. Nowhere near the 10% others are claiming.
Click to expand...
Are you using a GPU that supports hardware acceleration under OS X?
 
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