How can I convert my videos to playback smoother on my G5?

[dustinschings]

I have a large Movie library and most are 1080p or 720p. I have no luck playing 1080p on my machine, and only a some 720p files will play. Usually older 480p videos work fine so I used Handbrake to convert a 720p film to 480p.

It still studdered and glitched out. The file size of the 480p version is larger than the 720p.

Perhaps I just don't understand all of this or the many settings in Handbrake, or both. But what I do understand is that people seem to have tons of luck playing HD videos on their G5s, but I can barely make off a DVD copy. Any help is appreciated.

Here is a crappy recording I did to show how the playback quality is on the 480p movie I converted from 720p in Handbrake.

My machine is a Early 2005 DP G5. 2x2.0GHz G5s, 4GB DDR400 RAM, 120GB SSD, GeForce 6800 ULTRA, running Leopard and I am using Coreplayer to attempt to watch these.

Dustin
[doublepost=1493672465][/doublepost]To be clear as I am sure some of you was my other post about Coreplayer freezing, and it being a network issue; these files I am using to test with are on my SSD.

 

[AmazingHenry]

Usually 720p will play fine in QuickTime or VLC on a G5. 1080p works OK in VLC as well. Try them out, and if they work well, we'll know the problem is with Coreplayer.

 

[eyoungren]

I have a large Movie library and most are 1080p or 720p. I have no luck playing 1080p on my machine, and only a some 720p files will play. Usually older 480p videos work fine so I used Handbrake to convert a 720p film to 480p.

It still studdered and glitched out. The file size of the 480p version is larger than the 720p.

Perhaps I just don't understand all of this or the many settings in Handbrake, or both. But what I do understand is that people seem to have tons of luck playing HD videos on their G5s, but I can barely make off a DVD copy. Any help is appreciated.

Here is a crappy recording I did to show how the playback quality is on the 480p movie I converted from 720p in Handbrake.

My machine is a Early 2005 DP G5. 2x2.0GHz G5s, 4GB DDR400 RAM, 120GB SSD, GeForce 6800 ULTRA, running Leopard and I am using Coreplayer to attempt to watch these.

Dustin
[doublepost=1493672465][/doublepost]To be clear as I am sure some of you was my other post about Coreplayer freezing, and it being a network issue; these files I am using to test with are on my SSD.

Try using MPlayer.

@Dronecatcher has a script in there that optimizes the playback. Sometimes you can notice the dropped frames, but the playback is smooth and the audio is synced.

This is what I used to use before Coreplayer and it's still my backup for when Coreplayer is fuzzing out. MPlayer may drop frames but it keeps resolution.

 

[Dronecatcher]

Your G5 should be good for playback in VLC and Mplayer up to 1080P and whilst Coreplayer is far more efficient, it's less compatible due to it's age and lack of development and can go off track on some files.
I'd try the files in VLC, Quicktime and Mplayer to see how they fare. If you can, open a troublesome file in Quicktime and post a screen grab of the Movie Inspector window to give us a clue as to whether it's the file type causing the issue.

EDIT: Also, changing from 720P to 480P doesn't necessarily make a file easier to play if it's still got the same codec and data rate.

 

[dustinschings]

Your G5 should be good for playback in VLC and Mplayer up to 1080P and whilst Coreplayer is far more efficient, it's less compatible due to it's age and lack of development and can go off track on some files.
I'd try the files in VLC, Quicktime and Mplayer to see how they fare. If you can, open a troublesome file in Quicktime and post a screen grab of the Movie Inspector window to give us a clue as to whether it's the file type causing the issue.

EDIT: Also, changing from 720P to 480P doesn't necessarily make a file easier to play if it's still got the same codec and data rate.

I think that is where my lack of knowledge comes in is the codec/data rate stuff. I only know resolution, and file type information. Everything else is beyond me. I am a computer guy/tech, just not at all in the know on A/V.

I will attempt these tests and report back.

 

[eyoungren]

I think that is where my lack of knowledge comes in is the codec/data rate stuff. I only know resolution, and file type information. Everything else is beyond me. I am a computer guy/tech, just not at all in the know on A/V.

I will attempt these tests and report back.

Think of codecs as translators. A codec compresses video in a certain way, depending on it's type. The end result is is compressed video but based on the type of codec, what is played back may not be handled well by the apps translating the codec.

Some codecs handle compression better and some apps handle translation of that codec better.

Then you throw in updates. Codecs are only updated so far on PowerPC systems.

 

[dustinschings]

So what codec and rate should I convert my movies to if I want smooth playback on my G5?

Still haven't had a chance to open in other programs, but I can say from experience that VLC doesn't fare much better, and QT is usually the first app to "glitch" up and not play properly.

 

[dustinschings]

Here are two screen grabs from QT showing some info. One movie (Django) plays fine in all players. The other (A Knight's Tale) plays like crap in ALL players, even mplayer script. (Which is great for a ton of my movies!)

 

[Dronecatcher]

There's nothing tricky about the codecs in those files, although the data rate in A Knights Tale is rather high for h264 on a Power PC - 1100 kbits/s would be more comfortable. I would say though it's just a bad movie rip in the first place.
As far as best codecs go, Coreplayer should tear through h264 up to 1080P (and that's the hardest for PowerPCs to decode). I usually use this file to test high end G4s and G5s with Coreplayer:
http://jell.yfish.us/media/jellyfish-3-mbps-hd-h264.mkv

H265 it won't play at all on PowerPC OSX.
When I'm converting for movies that'll play on the humblest spec, I use MPEG4 in Handbrake (see screen grab) - however, although easy to play in VLC, Quicktime And Mplayer, Coreplayer doesn't like it at all.
PowerPCs can be picky from one machine to the next, dependent on invididual software installs etc - you really have to do a few tests to find your optimal format and playback means.

 

[amagichnich]

For me lower bitrates worked out pretty well. Also lower framerates

 

[dustinschings]

I definitely think it boils down to bit rate, 100%. I have found a couple 1080p videos that play beautifully in a few apps, and they were all lower bit rate. I am encoding A Knight's Tale again but limiting to 1M/s and we will see what happens. Will update soon!

 

[TzunamiOSX]

ok lets go...

if you want to use H264 AVC it is the best to use Coreplayer. For Coreplayer some settings must bee change or you can get artifacts on playback

i show you working settings under Handbrake 0.9.9 (same on other versions but 0.9.9 is my favorite because 0.9.9 has some scaling features missed in newer versions)

You can test "High Profile" and Preset "medium" first. Now activate "Advanced Options".
Most important: Always Disable "Weighted P-Frames" under Advanced Options.
If this dont help to give you a smooth movie, activate "fast decode" (you must activate "fast encode" before activating the "Advanced Options").
If this also doesn't work, set Profile to normal with the rest of upper settings.

[doublepost=1493735598][/doublepost]

There's nothing tricky about the codecs in those files, although the data rate in A Knights Tale is rather high for h264 on a Power PC - 1100 kbits/s would be more comfortable. I would say though it's just a bad movie rip in the first place.
As far as best codecs go, Coreplayer should tear through h264 up to 1080P (and that's the hardest for PowerPCs to decode). I usually use this file to test high end G4s and G5s with Coreplayer:
http://jell.yfish.us/media/jellyfish-3-mbps-hd-h264.mkv

H265 it won't play at all on PowerPC OSX.
When I'm converting for movies that'll play on the humblest spec, I use MPEG4 in Handbrake (see screen grab) - however, although easy to play in VLC, Quicktime And Mplayer, Coreplayer doesn't like it at all.
PowerPCs can be picky from one machine to the next, dependent on invididual software installs etc - you really have to do a few tests to find your optimal format and playback means.

View attachment 698193

AHHHM, you are using MPEG-4 encoding in you picture and you are right, for MPEG-4 you need no tricks, but for H264 especially AVC you need to know what to to.

 

[Dronecatcher]

i show you working settings under Handbrake 0.9.9 (same on other versions but 0.9.9 is my favorite because 0.9.9 has some scaling features missed in newer versions)

Might be worth noting that 0.9.5 is the last version that can be used on PPC
[doublepost=1493737094][/doublepost]

I definitely think it boils down to bit rate, 100%. I have found a couple 1080p videos that play beautifully in a few apps, and they were all lower bit rate. I am encoding A Knight's Tale again but limiting to 1M/s and we will see what happens. Will update soon!

It's the bit rate + codec eg a G3 will struggle to play a 800 kbit/s h264 but will happily play a 50Mbit/s DV file.

 

[dustinschings]

To clear up, I use a new version of Handbrake on my Plex server for the simple fact that it has 12 cores and 24GB RAM. It chews right through it.

That said, here is a screen grab of me using a file that I limited to 1000kbps in Handbrake.

[doublepost=1493737715][/doublepost]Going to follow the steps and settings above in Handbrake to see if I can get a better result.
[doublepost=1493738366][/doublepost]Here is a snap of the settings I chose in the new Handbrake version to encode the next attempt.

 

[Dronecatcher]

Just for reference, the test file I mentioned:
http://jell.yfish.us/media/jellyfish-3-mbps-hd-h264.mkv

This is a 1080P h264 file with a bit rate of 3Mbit/s and plays fine in Coreplayer on my Dual 2.3 G5 - using the benchmark in Coreplayer, it scores 149%.
I only mention this as it greatly exceeds the spec of the problem video you had - maybe you can try this to establish whether there's an underlying problem.

 

[TzunamiOSX]

Just for reference, the test file I mentioned:
http://jell.yfish.us/media/jellyfish-3-mbps-hd-h264.mkv

This is a 1080P h264 file with a bit rate of 3Mbit/s and plays fine in Coreplayer on my Dual 2.3 G5 - using the benchmark in Coreplayer, it scores 149%.
I only mention this as it greatly exceeds the spec of the problem video you had - maybe you can try this to establish whether there's an underlying problem.

This is a real bad reference, because there is no camera movement. Best for testing is a shaking camera with explosions (dark to light).

Test it with James Ryan beach battle, or Star Trek 11 battle. if this work well, you can nearly play all as well too. The Dreamworks Intro is also a good test.

 

[dustinschings]

The Jellys just played fine. One thing to note, not sure if it matters, I am on a 4:3 screen at 1280x1024 resolution.

Here is a screen shot of the playback and QT video info from the Handbrake settings I used above.

So no good. Here is a screen shot of the settings I am going to try this time.

I also have a new copy of this movie downloading now, JIC. However, I know that I have this problem with MANY movies in my Library.
[doublepost=1493740492][/doublepost]Here is the CP Benchmark while running the Jellys.

[doublepost=1493740589][/doublepost]And here is the CP Bench on the problem file. None of this info means much to me.

 

[Dronecatcher]

This is a real bad reference, because there is no camera movement.

Can you explain the relevance of camera movement? The screen is populated with thousands of moving objects.

 

[dustinschings]

The MKV file didn't play any better. Would not play on QT of course, so no stats for this one.

I give up on this file. I just wish I knew what to look for when acquiring my movies to begin with.

 

[Dronecatcher]

And here is the CP Bench on the problem file. None of this info means much to me

Looks like performance is fine then, I still think the problem lies with how the original file was ripped or perhaps the file has chunks of data missing. I've only come across that particular image tearing when watching streaming video.
As to what file types to look for, avoid h265/hevc/wmv and check for bit rates lower than 1500 kbit/s. I think the rest is just luck of the draw - you'll only have quality control when ripping your own DVD/Bluerays.

 

[dustinschings]

Figures. The new version of A Knight's Tale is .m4v and HEVC. Converting now. This is unfortunate as the copies I am finding are either ones that haven't worked yet, or ~8GB in size!

 

[Dronecatcher]

I just downloaded a 720P version of your problem movie - even though it's a h264 .mkv and should play fine, Coreplayer and Mplayer wouldn't touch it on my Powerbook, however VLC played it no problem, which goes to show, there are no absolutes in PowerPC land:

 

[dustinschings]

I found a 720p version that came in .m4v format but I pushed it thru Handbrake and got a MP4. All good for now.

 

[TzunamiOSX]

Can you explain the relevance of camera movement? The screen is populated with thousands of moving objects.

H264 calculate only changes in the frames. Camera movements and fast changes off the complete frame are much harder for H264 than this small and slow object movements.