slow Quad 2.5 G5 PowerMac

[malfaris]

today i tried to play HD trailer of ironman 1080p mkv file . through vlc and it keeps stopping and dropping frames infact i didnt see anything and i got the message from vlc "too slow computer". i am encountering the same thing with motion 3, even without rendering just previewing some templets and its very slow. i have leopard with 5g of ram.
even most pro softwares are not that fast, when i spent around 3700 i expected really fast pc. its ok but i expected more especially when view HD movies.
thanks for your ideas

 

[matt321]

What video card are you running?

 

[jjahshik32]

Can the G5 quad handle 1080p hd??

 

[aibo]

I think with a gfx card upgrade your computer can handle it, but bear in mind your $3700 computer is from 2005.

 

[malfaris]

my graphic card NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GT 256mb. so my question can i do anything about it. like will upgrading the graphic card will solve the problem.

 

[malfaris]

another question? you guys with the newest mac pro 2.8 xeon is playing 1080p smooth by all means or you have some drops. even if its smooth i feel bad selling my quad g5 coz i think i will lose alot of money.

 

[iGrant]

another question? you guys with the newest mac pro 2.8 xeon is playing 1080p smooth by all means or you have some drops. even if its smooth i feel bad selling my quad g5 coz i think i will lose alot of money.

Welcome to the computer market, they deprecate in value, they do not go up in value!!! There are a FEW expectation but they are rare. Almost all computers lose there value during time. You could sell your Quad core and you might get 2000 ~ 2400 for it but it depends.

Just as an estimate, I just upgraded from a G4 to a Power Mac Dual 1.8Ghz G5, and I only paided 600 bucks for it.

I would say if you have to be able to do 1080p HD content, sell your Quad G5 and see about getting a new Mac Pro from the 2799 it is. Or you could buy a used one Mac Pro, the 4 core will do what you want and it will also be fast. You really don't need 8 cores unless you are doing professional video editing, etc.

My Dad has the Quad Core Mac Pro and it can play 1080p content without any problems.

Just my two cents

-iGrant

 

[jjahshik32]

another question? you guys with the newest mac pro 2.8 xeon is playing 1080p smooth by all means or you have some drops. even if its smooth i feel bad selling my quad g5 coz i think i will lose alot of money.

Mac pro handles 1080p movies like its nothing!!

Even my 17" mbp handles it with ease!

 

[aibo]

my octo 2.8 handles three 1080p movies in quicktime playing simultaneously before the background movie will stutter

 

[Porco]

I think everyone needs to calm down with the 'your computer is too old' stuff....

My Dual G5 2.5Ghz PowerMac (older and less powerful than the one quoted above, with a worse video card too) handles 1080p trailers fine... so I think something else might be the problem here.

Apple's own recommendations for HD video say:

For 1920x1080 (1080p) video at 24 frames per second:
QuickTime 7 for Mac OS X:

Dual 2.0 GHz PowerMac G5 or faster Macintosh computer; 2.0 GHz Intel Core Duo or faster
At least 512MB of RAM
128MB or greater video card

 

[malfaris]

thanks everyone was really helpful. let me be more specific, its ironman trailer, amazing quality thats why its 112mb for just 2:25sec. i think Porco might be right because i remember playing trailer from apple without problem i will try it now. and yes i do alot of editing in Final cut studio 2 thats why i bought the quad. not professional work to be honest but rather as a hobby. and i find motion 3 to be slow. even the rendering in final cut pro isnt what i expected. i would want to wait for the mac pro to come with blu ray burner, i dont know if that coming soon or not.

 

[malfaris]

i forgot to mention that i played this trailer with VLC coz quick time dont have this format(mkv). and i got the message " ffmpeg: more than 5 seconds of late video -> dropping frame (computer too slow ?)". also my camcorder canon HV10 record 1080p and playing on this quad no problem but maybe the trailer is higher quality.

 

[Lord Zedd]

MKV is a horrible format, No G5 will play a 1080p mkv video.