iTunes Video choppy/lagging

[Brother Michael]

I gave the video content on the iTMS a shot tonight.

I bought the Lewis Black stand up show. Lewis is hysterical of course, and while the resolution is less than most pirated media I have seen, it was good enough for me for two dollars.

However, I have noticed that at times it just sorta lags/skips. It's like I ma streaming it on the web and it has to rebuffer or whatever.

I did a search and found nothing, any ideas?

 

[EricNau]

Are you running it on your G3 ibook in your sig?

I've noticed the iTunes Video player to be less than great. With my iMac G5, it glitches for a second when I try to skip forward or backward.

 

[realityisterror]

If you're using the computer in your signature (G3 iBook), some skipping would mean you're pretty lucky.
H.264 can be very processor intensive, particularly if you don't have a CoreImage graphics card. More RAM might help "buffer" the video a little bit, but it seems like you've got your machine maxed out...
Of course you want to make sure to quit anything you're not using while watching the videos...


reality

 

[Brother Michael]

oh f...

Guess I should've mentioned that I am running the video on my PC:

Specs:
P4 1.5ghz
512 RAM
128 Meg GeForce FX 5200 Video Card

I was planning on getting about 512 more RAM this weekend (as well as an iPod Shuffle )

 

[EricNau]

oh f...
...Guess I should've mentioned that I am running the video on my PC:

Well there's your problem!

 

[Brother Michael]

Well theres your problem!

PROBLEM SOLVED!

 

[EricNau]

Really, your PC should be running it better than that.

Does it just start lagging for no reason, or is it right after you paused and then restarted, skipped forward, etc?

To be honest, the iTunes plays videos horribly.

 

[Brother Michael]

Yeah, in regards to Shrike...video doesn't play on it...period.

 

[Eidorian]

Yeah, in regards to Shrike...video doesn't play on it...period.

Yeah, if you bought it then it's a protected MPEG-4 that'll only play in iTunes. Sadly iTunes and Quicktime have terrible playback. iTunes is sluggish and I usually end up using VLC anyways. Sadly you're locked in with iTunes for viewing that video.

 

[Brother Michael]

Do the videos look any good on a TV? I mean I was kinda hoping to get a Mac Mini here a month and hook it up.

For that matter will they look good on an iPod plugged into a TV (you can still that right?)?

 

[EricNau]

I've heard it looks OK on TV. According to nagromme, VHS quality is about 240x480, so iTunes videos should look fine.

 

[MattHttaM]

I have the same problem

I used to use a windows XP Pro Fully upgraded with Service pack 2
1.25 GB ram 2.4 Ghz CPU Geforce 7600 GT GPU
I had two videos I had downloaded that I tried to play in iTunes. Both of which lagged slightly. The lag would not be bad until my mouse moved and activated the ?flash overlay containing pause rewind ect. This would cause the video to become out of sync and glitch horribly.
I couldn't find anything on the net about it so I assumed it was because of my processor speed and didn't give it a second thought.

Now I just loaded up a 2.4 Quad Core with 3 GB of ram 1GB of SLI Geforce 8500.
The videos still lag. only 2% of my processor is being used so it hasto be program side NOT computer side. Probably compatibility issues with Windows.
I am not loaded with Service Pack 2 yet on this new computer so the issues exists on both SP1 and SP2.

I really hope someone can address the issue because it is simply annoying.

~Matt

 

[robxmas]

CHANGE IT FROM "High Definition" to "Standard Definition"

I realized that with shows, ITUNES now has it available for you to view and download your shows in HD. In preferences under "PLAYBACK" make sure you select "play videos using standard definition version". I think the reason it was skipping for me was because my monitor can't handle "High Definition". It worked for me. But give it a shot.