How to get better movie playback on 2010 Macbook Pro?

[bender o]

Hi guys,

Here's my question, I have a 13" 2010 MBP 2,4Ghz Core2Duo, 8Gb RAM and 500Gb 5400RPM Hard Drive.

I watch a lot of movies on it so I upgraded to 8Gb RAM thinking that was what was causing me problems and I also got a larger hard drive since I had mine almost at full capacity. I watch 720p DTS .mkv movies connected to a 32" Sony LCD with HDMI.

I get a lot of bumped frames specially when there's a lof of effects or movement on the camera, how can I improve my performance? I've used MPlayerX and VLC and nothing seems to stop that issue.

Will taking of my optical drive and installing a SSD on it work? Is there a better/cheaper way to get better movie playback?

Thanks in advance

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Have you tried Movist yet?
I don't have problems playing back 720p or 1080p .mkv files on my 2007 iMac and 2009 MBP.

If you still have problems during playback:

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Have a look at Activity Monitor (Applications / Utilities /) and select All Processes and sort by CPU to see what the culprit may be.
Also check the "System Memory" tab to see what your "Page ins:", "Page outs:" and "Swap used:" are.

image below uses sorting by CPU as an example

Further reading:

Mac OS X: Reading system memory usage in Activity Monitor
Making The Most of Activity Monitor
What Is Activity Monitor (or How to Take Your Mac's Pulse)​

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If that is still not bringing any answers, analyse one or three .mkv files with VideoSpec (I prefer that, though it hasn't been updated since 11/2009), MediaInfo Mac (10/2010) or MediaInfo (4/2011, there is a Mac OS X version to download, VideoSpec and MediaInfo Mac are using the same library as MediaInfo) and post the reports.

 

[bender o]

Have you tried Movist yet?

I've never heard of it, I'll give it a try and if I still have issues I'll continue with that memory and cpu systems things you said.

Thanks

 

[blevins321]

I've never heard of it, I'll give it a try and if I still have issues I'll continue with that memory and cpu systems things you said.

Thanks

Try Perian too. It's a set of plugins that enhance the playback formats read by QuickTime.

 

[bender o]

Try Perian too. It's a set of plugins that enhance the playback formats read by QuickTime.

But that work only when I use QuickTime to reproduce the movies or with every player?

 

[blevins321]

But that work only when I use QuickTime to reproduce the movies or with every player?

Right, it'll let you use QuickTime to playback anything. Also any program that uses QuickTime as a backend processor will benefit.

 

[bender o]

Right, it'll let you use QuickTime to playback anything. Also any program that uses QuickTime as a backend processor will benefit.

I'm gonna check it out too thanks

 

[Young Spade]

VLC. I've been using it for years and it plays everything I throw at it.

 

[SHADO]

Do the movies stutter when you play them on just the MBP without attaching it to the HDTV? Have you tried connecting the TV to your MBP with a VGA or DVI cable? I have a Samsung P2570HD and connecting it with an HDMI cable didn't work very well, but then I switched to a VGA and it's excellent.

 

[bender o]

Do the movies stutter when you play them on just the MBP without attaching it to the HDTV? Have you tried connecting the TV to your MBP with a VGA or DVI cable? I have a Samsung P2570HD and connecting it with an HDMI cable didn't work very well, but then I switched to a VGA and it's excellent.

Actually I haven't tried, but don't you lose the hi-def when using VGA?

 

[SHADO]

Actually I haven't tried, but don't you lose the hi-def when using VGA?

No I get native 1080p resolution.