Safari Better Than QuickTime....

[Dronecatcher]

Thought I'd post this strange oddity - whilst there are better ways to play video on PPCs, it's worth noting that Safari is actually more efficient at video playback than QuickTime is (at least on the G3s I tested it on.)

On my G3 iBook, going by CPU use alone, Safari uses 15-20% less than QuickTime for the same video so I've created a droplet app, Vidari, to facilitate the drag and dropping of videos into Safari.

Note: Safari will look as you've set it's preferences - in my example, the interface is set to be minimal.

 

[philgxxd]

Another godsend from Dronecatcher!
This forum hosts so many goodies. Really a good place to be for us retros.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

So, any theories as to what could be going on here?

I'm almost certain Safari is using QTKit under the hood (in these old versions of macOS—nowadays it would use AVFoundation). Why would there be a performance difference?

 

[Dronecatcher]

So, any theories as to what could be going on here?

I'm almost certain Safari is using QTKit under the hood (in these old versions of macOS—nowadays it would use AVFoundation). Why would there be a performance difference?

I'm guessing Safari had more development with regard to efficiency - afterall it had to push online video so had to be nimble.

It's worth noting that all alternative QuickTime frontends are more efficient: Present Movie, iTheater and Front Row - maybe something about the mechanism of full screen instead of windowed GUI?

 

[Wowfunhappy]

It's worth noting that all alternative QuickTime frontends are more efficient: Present Movie, iTheater and Front Row

Ah, there we go—so it's not just Safari. I guess that's not surprising given that pre-X QuickTime dates back to classic Mac OS.

It might be interesting for someone on Snow Leopard (Maybe even PPC Snow Leopard?) to benchmark QuickTime 7 vs QuickTime X.

 

[AtaruBarreau]

Thought I'd post this strange oddity - whilst there are better ways to play video on PPCs, it's worth noting that Safari is actually more efficient at video playback than QuickTime is (at least on the G3s I tested it on.)

On my G3 iBook, going by CPU use alone, Safari uses 15-20% less than QuickTime for the same video so I've created a droplet app, Vidari, to facilitate the drag and dropping of videos into Safari.

Note: Safari will look as you've set it's preferences - in my example, the interface is set to be minimal.

View attachment 1754418

I used to stream sites like KissAnime with TenFourKit one year and half ago (and not Safari, not because of compatibility because of the following) and discovered this way that it had a better video player compared to stock Safari, in terms of both performance (even though it still made my PB 12'' quite hot) and features, for example if I recall well Safari has no fullscreen option (which is fundamental to me) when streaming direct .mp4 while TFK has!
Maybe it can help you with your research?

 

[Dronecatcher]

I used to stream sites like KissAnime with TenFourKit one year and half ago

Good point, I have TFK installed but just linked directly to Safari - will try it later.

 

[liero]

Hello, how to use the dropplet? I moved it to Applications folder and from there dragged to the dock. When trying to drag & drop a video to the dock nothing happens. The same with mView and mViewX. The only dropplet that works for me is G3V convertor. My setup is iMac g3 500 Mhz, 1GB RAM, fresh install and update to tiger 10.4.11. Is there something else I should install?
Thx

 

[Dronecatcher]

Hello, how to use the dropplet? I moved it to Applications folder and from there dragged to the dock. When trying to drag & drop a video to the dock nothing happens. The same with mView and mViewX. The only dropplet that works for me is G3V convertor. My setup is iMac g3 500 Mhz, 1GB RAM, fresh install and update to tiger 10.4.11. Is there something else I should install?
Thx

You do have Safari installed? And for mView the correct version of mplayer has been moved in Applications?

 

[liero]

You do have Safari installed? And for mView the correct version of mplayer has been moved in Applications?

wow that was quick! I have Safari 4.1.3 probably from the OS update, and MPlayer OSX, which is probably the wrong version I suppose.

 

[Dronecatcher]

I don't know why Safari not working if the Applications folder is in the standard place?

No, will definitely not work with MPlayer OSX - has to be the source executable in the mView download.

 

[Bruninho]

Maybe it was because Apple didn't give enough attention to Quicktime's development?

 

[liero]

I don't know why Safari not working if the Applications folder is in the standard place?

No, will definitely not work with MPlayer OSX - has to be the source executable in the mView download.

oh the one from the dropbox folder that looks like a terminal thumbnail, yes it is in the root of applications folder with mView and mViewX. Tried the same on iBook G3 with Panther, but same result.

 

[Dronecatcher]

oh the one from the dropbox folder that looks like a terminal thumbnail, yes it is in the root of applications folder with mView and mViewX. Tried the same on iBook G3 with Panther, but same result.

As far as I know, the mplayer used is only compatible with Tiger onwards.

Sorry, I don't know what to suggest - I've used this setup on every Mac I have and it just works.

 

[Macbookprodude]

Does Vidari work on leopard ?

 

[Dronecatcher]

Does Vidari work on leopard ?

Should do although it's more of a curio than anything - there are better players available.