Flash / Region Codes

[nope7308]

Flash:
When I watch an embedded video, the CPU jumps to 90%(ish). I know Macs are poor with flash, but 90% of the CPU? I'm running on the new Alu MB so I find this somewhat alarming. Is this normal? Is there any hope for a fix? The main issue I have with the high CPU load is the resulting heat/fan noise.

Region Codes:
I rented a DVD from the local library and received the 'region code' error. It turns out that the origin of the DVD is different than the Mac, so I have 4 (and only 4) chances to change the region code. Aside from being totally stupid, I can't find a workaround to this problem (VLC doesn't work either).

Any suggestions?

 

[macrem]

Flash:
When I watch an embedded video, the CPU jumps to 90%(ish). I know Macs are poor with flash, but 90% of the CPU? I'm running on the new Alu MB so I find this somewhat alarming. Is this normal? Is there any hope for a fix? The main issue I have with the high CPU load is the resulting heat/fan noise.

I'm not sure what's going on here... It does not seem normal though. I can see my browser's CPU usage go up 5% when I start watching a flash vid on youtube.

Region Codes:
I rented a DVD from the local library and received the 'region code' error. It turns out that the origin of the DVD is different than the Mac, so I have 4 (and only 4) chances to change the region code. Aside from being totally stupid, I can't find a workaround to this problem (VLC doesn't work either).

Any suggestions?

I rip DVDs to MP4s. Some people flash their DVD player ROM to dezone it, which seems risky to me.

The simplest solution I have heard is to set to the zone you'll use most commonly, then whenever you get a dvd from a different zone, watch it with VLC, but what seems to be the problem with that?

 

[nope7308]

Flash:
Hmm, my CPU seems to fluctuate. When I watch a 40 second clip on YouTube, it jumps to 50%. When I watch a short video from, say, UFC, it jumps to 100%. Any reason for this?

Region Codes:
Like I said, VLC doesn't work. When I attempt to open the DVD through VLC, I hear some spinning but it eventually stops. I read somewhere that VLC used to work, but now it suffers from the same region code problems as the Mac DVD.

I'm not looking to rip every DVD to my computer. Instead, I want a workaround so I can simply watch the damn movie. This whole copyright sensitivity thing is just plain stupid. I rented the damn thing from my library - what's illegal about that?

 

[macrem]

I totally agree about the zone issue. I bought DVDs in the US and Europe, why can't I watch them all simply by inserting the DVDs There should be a class action lawsuit against whomever is responsible.

 

[JG271]

Flash:
Hmm, my CPU seems to fluctuate. When I watch a 40 second clip on YouTube, it jumps to 50%. When I watch a short video from, say, UFC, it jumps to 100%. Any reason for this?

Some flash applications or videos will be coded in different ways - some will be more processor-efficient than others. Shame that flash isn't great on OSX

 

[nope7308]

Alrighty, so it sounds like I'm SOL with the Flash/CPU (expected). What about the Region Codes? Does anyone have a workaround for that?

 

[cw2k7]

What about the Region Codes? Does anyone have a workaround for that?

You can get region free firmwares for some of the dvd drives used in macs (rpc1.org tends to be a good source). Then you will be able to use VLC.

If you want to use the DVD Player app or frontrow you will also need DVD Region X to override the region code stored in nvram.

 

[hobbbz]

On any multi-core system, when you see a CPU usage display, it's referencing only 1 core. So if the Flash Player is using 100% of CPU it is actually using 50% of your total chip.

But yes the Flash Player sux on Mac. I design Flash things all day and hate when I test it on a Windows machine and things are running too fast.