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Powermac G5 Quad online video performance

sk8er123

sk8er123

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 2, 2012
35
6
Cincinnati Ohio
Hello,
I have been looking at getting a Quad G5 and I just want to know anyone that has one, will I be able to play HD youtube video without stuttering? And also would I be able to play Netfilx or amazon videos without problems? The powermac would have 4 Gb of ram if that made a difference.

Thanks!
 
sk8er123 said:
Hello,
I have been looking at getting a Quad G5 and I just want to know anyone that has one, will I be able to play HD youtube video without stuttering? And also would I be able to play Netfilx or amazon videos without problems? The powermac would have 4 Gb of ram if that made a difference.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Netflix = no on any PowerPC. The extremely smart Intell said in another thread that you can have Plex transcode Netflix to a format usable by PowerPC, but that requires an Intel Mac. You should be able to play HD well, hopefully PowerPCMacMan will show up here, he seems to know more about YT optimizations.
 
sk8er123 said:
Hello,
I have been looking at getting a Quad G5 and I just want to know anyone that has one, will I be able to play HD youtube video without stuttering? And also would I be able to play Netfilx or amazon videos without problems? The powermac would have 4 Gb of ram if that made a difference.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I would say no to this,

I have the late 2005 dual core 2.0Ghz

It is ok for regular web browsing, but HD youtube video is not good, my 1080p iPhone movies are jumpy and unwatchable. You are much better off with anything intel Core2Duo and above based.

Of course there is macTubes (recently became bad though), and lots of work arounds to improve things, but the main issue is that the software is not developed for the PPC platform anymore. If what it does for you now is enough, then it'll do.

But any number of other intel Macs will be much better as they can run newer OS's work with cloud, sync your IOS6 devices, handle HD content with ease.

etc etc.
 
sk8er123 said:
Hello,
I have been looking at getting a Quad G5 and I just want to know anyone that has one, will I be able to play HD youtube video without stuttering? And also would I be able to play Netfilx or amazon videos without problems? The powermac would have 4 Gb of ram if that made a difference.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Bolonga... I stream 1080p to a 32" monitor and it has no issues displaying!
 
sk8er123 said:
Hello,
I have been looking at getting a Quad G5 and I just want to know anyone that has one, will I be able to play HD youtube video without stuttering? And also would I be able to play Netfilx or amazon videos without problems? The powermac would have 4 Gb of ram if that made a difference.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

IMHO, PowerMac's are decent-good-great computers for any and all such tasks which have inherently stayed the same from the days when PowerMac's were new.

Youtube-ish net video streaming is not among them. Not now, and even less so tomorrow. A Quad G5 might very well have the pure "oomph" to run the stuff, but the software support is shoddy or entirely missing.

Honestly, unless you have other good reasons to get a desktop tower, forget the PM G5. Even a first-third generation MacBook (which costs about the same) will serve those uses better.

RGDS,
 
Sadly, PowerPC is not made for the internet of today, but that doesn't mean that we'll figure out a way to display said services, but it's going to take time.

Get a used Mac Mini Intel instead. Much better for what you are planning to do.:apple:
 
He said....

X to the B to the M to the C

I don't have one, would think that a Quad G5, running XBMC, would be able to handle streaming 720p just fine. My piddling ibook G4 can 480p with no issues, I have seen a Powerbook 1.67 Ghz handle 720p from XBMC on youtube. 1080p might be possible, but....I'll let somone who has one actually comment on that. Here's that Powerbook G4:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzl5JMQRxB8

This is all quite sad as a 35 dollar Raspberry PI can handle 1080p from XBMC.

XBMC and the NaviXtreme program add-on make Netflix irrelevant. The 1 Channel repository makes Cable TV irrelevant. XBMC rules all your internets.
 
Thanks

Hey guys thanks for all the replies! So its obvious Netfilx is out and probably HD youtube in-browser so my last question, will I be able to watch youtube 360 or 480p with tenfourfox and flash 11? I know flash 10.something was the last official version but I've seen ways to get flash 11. Is this true? And no I'm not interested in getting another intel mac (I have a 2011 MBP) I'm just attached to ppc and need a desktop to do word processing but I'd like to be able to watch Youtube videos, though not 1080p.

Thanks so much for my possibly annoying questions, I just want to know what to expect.
 
sk8er123 said:
Hello,
I have been looking at getting a Quad G5 and I just want to know anyone that has one, will I be able to play HD youtube video without stuttering? And also would I be able to play Netfilx or amazon videos without problems? The powermac would have 4 Gb of ram if that made a difference.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

It would play videos wonderfully.
 
sk8er123 said:
Hey guys thanks for all the replies! So its obvious Netfilx is out and probably HD youtube in-browser so my last question, will I be able to watch youtube 360 or 480p with tenfourfox and flash 11? I know flash 10.something was the last official version but I've seen ways to get flash 11. Is this true? And no I'm not interested in getting another intel mac (I have a 2011 MBP) I'm just attached to ppc and need a desktop to do word processing but I'd like to be able to watch Youtube videos, though not 1080p.

Thanks so much for my possibly annoying questions, I just want to know what to expect.
Click to expand...

Latest version is 10. The flash 11 things you have heard are just changing what version Flash reports to websites. This is to circumvent some websites that refuse to use Flash 10 or below. Usually functionality is 100%, but there is the odd website that actually uses flash 11 new stuff, so that will not work. You should be able to watch 1080p Youtube in browser with Clicktoplugin, if not that then 720p.
 
Imixmuan said:
X to the B to the M to the C

I don't have one, would think that a Quad G5, running XBMC, would be able to handle streaming 720p just fine.
Click to expand...

Yep - Have a 2.3 DC with a 7800 card (XBMC makes use of the card) running XBMC and it handles anything at all super smooth.
 
Weird

I find this rather peculiar as I have no problems watching youtube with my G5 Quad. In fact, right now I am in the midst of watching a preview at 1080p and it does NOT choke at all. While yes, the fans rev a little while watching 720p or 1080p on the computer, it still manages to play back the videos rather well.

I do prefer using clicktoflash and clicktoplugin and Quicktime, but I have played flash youtube videos and it simply does not give me any problems at all..

I don't know why those who have G5 Quads are experiencing these problems, I would expect dual core 2.0 and 2.3 to possibly have these problems, but the Quad is a beast of a machine. With 4 x 2.5 PowerPC G5 processors I would expect it to handle the flash demands on youtube.

I can even playback 4096p, but it does choke a bit on that as I don't have a 4096p screen and its not really worth it.
 
PowerPCMacMan said:
With 4 x 2.5 PowerPC G5 processors I would expect it to handle the flash demands on youtube.

I can even playback 4096p, but it does choke a bit on that as I don't have a 4096p screen and its not really worth it.
Click to expand...

What video card do you use? I also do not have issues so it seems that there may be more at work here than just the CPU.

Does flash on OSX support hardware decoding? (I don't know) but maybe this is video card + CPU based which might explain the discrepancy among users HD abilities.

Re the 4 x CPU's I do not believe Flash etc is SMP aware so the number of CPU's or cores in the machine is largely irrelevant as it will only be using one, hence I think this is maybe GPU dependent as well...
 
My video card

Hi,

I am using the Nvidia Geforce 7800GTX 512MB.. Paid quite a bit for this card from AppleMacanix on ebay. Previously, I was using the 6600 256MB.

You are right, my mistake.. flash does not make use of multi-processors and is not SMP capable.


wobegong said:
What video card do you use? I also do not have issues so it seems that there may be more at work here than just the CPU.

Does flash on OSX support hardware decoding? (I don't know) but maybe this is video card + CPU based which might explain the discrepancy among users HD abilities.

Re the 4 x CPU's I do not believe Flash etc is SMP aware so the number of CPU's or cores in the machine is largely irrelevant as it will only be using one, hence I think this is maybe GPU dependent as well...
Click to expand...
 
PowerPCMacMan said:
Hi,

I am using the Nvidia Geforce 7800GTX 512MB..
Click to expand...

Interesting.....so thats the same card as I use and I also don't have any video playback issues...... OSX sees it as a FX4500 Quadro.

Anyone else here getting non-jerky HD playback? If so post up your card..

I know XBMC DOES use the video card for hardware acceleration - to be honest XBMC runs super smooth on the G5, much better than on my MB C2D 2.4... its the one app I can honestly say runs smoother on the PPC machine.
 
sk8er123 said:
Hey guys thanks for all the replies! So its obvious Netfilx is out and probably HD youtube in-browser so my last question, will I be able to watch youtube 360 or 480p with tenfourfox and flash 11? I know flash 10.something was the last official version but I've seen ways to get flash 11. Is this true? And no I'm not interested in getting another intel mac (I have a 2011 MBP) I'm just attached to ppc and need a desktop to do word processing but I'd like to be able to watch Youtube videos, though not 1080p.

Thanks so much for my possibly annoying questions, I just want to know what to expect.
Click to expand...

I play 1080p all the time!!! half the people here don't even have a quad!!!!
 
rabidz7 said:
I play 1080p all the time!!! half the people here don't even have a quad!!!!
Click to expand...

Exactly. A Quad can play 1080P YouTube videos without an issue. I don't know why people with DC PowerMacs are chiming in, Apples:apple: to Oranges. I used to own a Quad last year, it ate up anything I threw at it video-wise.

I don't think you'll have a problem playing HD video on other websites, either.

----------
sk8er123 said:
Thanks so much for my possibly annoying questions, I just want to know what to expect.
Click to expand...

You will be fine. The Quad is awesome.
 
I recently retired my G5 Quad (which kind of sucks) because my game development is now all done on my Mac Pros. But I had absolutely no problem watching 1080p YouTube videos. I was running a flashed 7800GTX 512 with 16GB RAM though lately. Before that, I was running the ATI X1900 and I was still running 720p and 1080p fine on my G5.
 
JaguarGod said:
I recently retired my G5 Quad (which kind of sucks) because my game development is now all done on my Mac Pros. But I had absolutely no problem watching 1080p YouTube videos. I was running a flashed 7800GTX 512 with 16GB RAM though lately. Before that, I was running the ATI X1900 and I was still running 720p and 1080p fine on my G5.
Click to expand...

Is your game Universal?
 
burnout8488 said:
I don't know why people with DC PowerMacs are chiming in
Click to expand...

Because playing a Youtube video or running a video player makes no use at all of 3 x of your CPU's - It only uses one, so for this particular topic a Quad has zero advantage over a DC - it's just CPU speed and (maybe) the type of GPU you have installed. Mine is a 2.3 (only 200hz slower than a 2.5) and it also runs HD video buttery smooth (on XBMC, but thats all I use) - So we're trying to find out why some people get HD playback issues and others do not.

Remember a Quad / Dual only makes use of more than one CPU when the app you are running is SMP aware - YouTube/Flash/MacTubes/etc. is not.
 
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