Quicktime Performance (103%CPU)

[matthemercyless]

Hey everyone!

Hope you are all well

I am rockin a 1.67Ghz G4 Powerbook and want to know what other people's success has been with running 720p videos on their own Powerbooks.

I have 2gb Ram and a 7200RPM HDD and I have scoured the net looking for ways to improve my frame rate when playing 720p videos in Quicktime. I have tried setting the option to allow the video to be cached into RAM to improve performance

(under window>show movie properties>other settings>cache (improve looping performance by caching this track in memory) )

However, I have had very little success in improving frame rate, especially when watching HD action trailers.

Does anyone know of anyway to improve frame rate in quicktime? My Powerbook seems to spaz out when I try to play HD videos on it. See attachment


Any help will be greatly appreciated.


-Mat-

 

[Eidorian]

1. Get a faster computer
2. Don't use Quicktime

VLC gets much better playback performance then Quicktime.

 

[Chundles]

VLC seems to be able to playback HD video much better. On my MacBook (2.4GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM) a 1080p video shows some stuttering in Quicktime but is totally smooth in VLC.

The main issue is your computer, the 1.67GHz G4 was a great processor in it's day but it's just too damned slow now for most HD playback.

Give VLC a go and see what happens but the biggest bottleneck on your machine is the G4 processor - even the cheapest Intel Mac is much faster than your PowerBook when it comes to raw power.

 

[cherry su]

on a side note, if you want to upgrade your computer, you might want to wait for Nehalem MacBook/Pros (which are also supposed to bring a new case design)

oh, and how are you getting 103% processor utilization with a single core processor?!

 

[KingYaba]

VLC seems to be able to playback HD video much better.

Ha! I didn't know that. I'm downloading a bunch of trailers right now to try.

To the OP: My eMac can play 420p videos at 24 frames a second with Quicktime. According to this web page: http://www.apple.com/quicktime/guide/hd/recommendations.html you need something faster ( G5 and up ) for 720.

 

[matthemercyless]

For me Quicktime has much better performance than VLC. Does anyone know anything about adjusting the h.264 settings in VLC, as that may help.

By the way, suggesting that I buy a new computer kind of defeats the object of what I'm trying to do. I'm currently saving up to go travelling, so I doubt I will be buying a new computer for at least another couple of years.