video pixelated/grainy on MacBook Pro 13"

[tmr250z]

I just got my uMBP 13 a couple of days ago, and today for the first time tried to play some .avi videos I have. I'm using vlc to play them. On my 4 year old Windows XP SP3 laptop they play clearly and sharp without any pixelation or graininess. But on my mac, these same videos pixelate and appear grainy when played. And now that I think about it, the Welcome animation that you see when you turn on your mac for the first time was pixelated and grainy as well. I didn't pay it any attention at the time because I was so excited about finally getting my mac.

Is there something wrong with my video card or is it something else?

 

[BlueRevolution]

The problem is that with a high-quality display you can see the compression artifacts in low quality video, whereas you might not notice them on a lower quality display. Try watching some HD movie trailers and see how things look there.

 

[tmr250z]

OK, I just watched The Final Destination HD movie trailer streaming through QuickTime X, the 1080p version of the trailer. Even though I don't see any pixelation in the video, I still see the graininess almost throughout the whole trailer, especially during scenes that have very low lighting or are dark. It is really noticeable during the part when the girl says, " You saw it before it actually happened."

Here's a pic of what I see.

http://i32.tinypic.com/fxseww.jpg