Graphics Card Help

[mastagrilla]

Hello,

I'm having issues playing back HD video loops and short movies in (ProPresenter) presentation software. Video is choppy and lags behind audio sometimes.

I was wondering if I need to update the graphic card in the tower? It's got two video outputs... #1 goes to a monitor by the tower, #2 goes to a mounted Sanyo projector.

If so, what would be a good idea for a new graphics card?


System details here:

Dual 2 Ghz PowerPC G5
3.5 GB DDR2 SDRAM
OSX 10.5.8

Graphics Card Details here:

NVIDIA GeForce 6600 LE:

Chipset Model: GeForce 6600LE
Type: Display
Bus: PCIe
Slot: SLOT-1
PCIe Lane Width: x16
VRAM (Total): 128 MB
Vendor: NVIDIA (0x10de)
Device ID: 0x0142
Revision ID: 0x00a4
ROM Revision: 2149
Displays:
W1953:
Resolution: 1280 x 768 @ 60 Hz
Depth: 32-Bit Color
Core Image: Hardware Accelerated
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Quartz Extreme: Supported
Rotation: Supported
SANYO XM100:
Resolution: 1024 x 768 @ 60 Hz
Depth: 32-Bit Color
Core Image: Hardware Accelerated
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Quartz Extreme: Supported
Rotation: Supported

 

[Behemecoatyl]

Your CPUs are not powerful enough to play 1080p video.

 

[mastagrilla]

How about 720 video???

 

[AdrianK]

How about 720 video???

Depends on codec, profile, bitrate etc.

Xvid will play a lot better than h264, lower bitrates and less complex profiles all make it easier on your G5.

 

[bizzle]

720p shouldn't be an issue. I can play 720p Apple trailers on both my dual 1.8 and dual 2ghz. I've also thrown lots of other downloaded 720p content at the both and they play it just fine. 1080p.. not so much.

 

[mastagrilla]

OK, so are there any ideas on an actual graphics card I can install to boost performance???

 

[SuperJudge]

Sadly, no graphics card will improve video performance on a machine running Leopard or Tiger since Leopard and Tiger don't do hardware acceleration for video playback.

 

[Joshuarocks]

Funny, I can play 1080p and 4096p on my G5 Quad with no problems.. HTML5 rocks on this thing, though flash isn't too bad with the Quad G5, probably the fact I have 2 processors in there and 2 cores - total of 4 x 2.5 PowerPC G5.

 

[SuperJudge]

Funny, I can play 1080p and 4096p on my G5 Quad with no problems.. HTML5 rocks on this thing, though flash isn't too bad with the Quad G5, probably the fact I have 2 processors in there and 2 cores - total of 4 x 2.5 PowerPC G5.

Yes, exactly that. Four cores is better than two, especially at a higher clock speed. Also, how can you even really tell on 4096p? Do you even have a monitor that will fully show that?

 

[Joshuarocks]

Yes, exactly that. Four cores is better than two, especially at a higher clock speed. Also, how can you even really tell on 4096p? Do you even have a monitor that will fully show that?

The only monitor I have is the 24 inch LED Cinema display, hooked up via the Kanex MDM-DVI adapter which does work.. cost me close to 100.00 for it, but it was worth it. I did an experiment and typed in 4096p in youtube and saw a still movie with a dog.. and it seems to run great, though it does take a while for the thing to load up, but unlike my G4 1.67 Powerbook which DOESN'T go beyond 720p, this G5 can handle it nicely.

For those with G5 Quads also, try to view a 4096p on an LED Cinema display.

 

[iThinkergoiMac]

Your CPUs are not powerful enough to play 1080p video.

My PBG4 can do 1080p just fine. It has to be encoded as Apple Intermediate Codec for it to happen, but it can do it. The fact that it's 1080p isn't the issue as much as the codec.

@mastagrilla: You're going to have a hard time playing back 1080p in presenter software, but if you use NicePlayer, you can get it to accelerate the video through the GPU by using CoreVideo. I'd give it a shot. You'll also likely need Perian, since NicePlayer uses the QuickTime libraries. It made a huge difference on my PowerBook G4!

 

[Joshuarocks]

Yes, exactly that. Four cores is better than two, especially at a higher clock speed. Also, how can you even really tell on 4096p? Do you even have a monitor that will fully show that?

My PBG4 can do 1080p just fine. It has to be encoded as Apple Intermediate Codec for it to happen, but it can do it. The fact that it's 1080p isn't the issue as much as the codec.

@mastagrilla: You're going to have a hard time playing back 1080p in presenter software, but if you use NicePlayer, you can get it to accelerate the video through the GPU by using CoreVideo. I'd give it a shot. You'll also likely need Perian, since NicePlayer uses the QuickTime libraries. It made a huge difference on my PowerBook G4!

Hi, I also have a PB G4 1.67 Hi-res model.. can you send me a link to download the codec which will allow me to play 1080p on the powerbook? I can play 720 with no problems and I have mplayer OS X Extended PPC version.

Thanks a bunch..So, the G4 CAN play 1080p.. not so much of a garbage processor, right?

 

[iThinkergoiMac]

The codec is whatever your video was encoded in. So, for example, if your video is MPEG-4 you can't simply play it back as AIC (the codec I mentioned). AIC is likely on your computer already, as it's in iMovie, FCE, and FCP. However, it's intended strictly for video editing. Video is not ever distributed in that codec unless it's intended for editing. It uses very little compression, which means your processor does less work to decode it and the file sizes are massive (as opposed to H.264, which uses a lot of compression and requires more horsepower to play back and the file sizes are small).

I hope I didn't give the impression that one can magically make any 1080p source play back on a G4. Using videos encoded in AIC is the ONLY way I've ever gotten 1080p to play back smoothly on my PBG4, and my point was to illustrate that the codec matters as much as the resolution.

As you have the high-res PBG4, Josh, you could try using NicePlayer to see if it helps with 1080p playback. You have a 128 MB graphics card, which is a noticeable step up from the 64 MB one in my PBG4. You may have some luck, but if it's encoded in H.264, you're probably out of luck.