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Video skipping frames MBP 17" DVD Player, VLC, Vimeo...

M

MigueldelRio

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 14, 2009
16
0
Madrid, Spain
Hi all,

Hope someone can help me out on this.

Lately I have been having trouble when playing some DVDs and other videos on my laptop (MBP 17" 2.93 Intel Core 2 Duo, 8GB RAM, Mac OS X 10.6.2).

It seems it's skipping frames: it is especially clear on side camera movements such as pans, but it happens all throughout the DVD or video I'm playing. The movements are as if some frames were taken out, resulting in a "jumpy" image.

Besides the obvious fact that it's extremely annoying, I am very puzzled because it happens with all sorts of original DVDs, and also with some online videos (such as this one: http://www.vimeo.com/7809605, which I also highly recommend, if you'll allow me), but not with all. It doesn't matter whether I play the DVD with Apple's DVD Player or with VLC, the skipping happens anyway. It doesn't affect audio or any other application.

.mpg, .avi and other video formats seem not to be affected. Only VIDEO_TS folders or original DVDs seem to have this problem, as well as the above mentioned Vimeo video (which suggests it could happen with other streaming videos, but I haven't had that problem yet - Youtube seems to work just fine).

I wouldn't be able to specify when it started happening (probably about a month or two ago) but it hasn't been like this always, so I don't have a lot of info on any updates that may have caused the problem.

Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions!!

Miguel
 
Have you taken a look at Activity Monitor (Show All Processes and sort by CPU) to see what kind of CPU usage and Disk Activity is going on while you watch those problematic videos?

I just looked at the vimeo link and it played fine while another flash video played in the background.

I have a 2GHz iMac with 4GB RAM and use 10.6.2 with Safari 4.0.4.
 
spinnerlys said:
Have you taken a look at Activity Monitor (Show All Processes and sort by CPU) to see what kind of CPU usage and Disk Activity is going on while you watch those problematic videos?

I just looked at the vimeo link and it played fine while another flash video played in the background.

I have a 2GHz iMac with 4GB RAM and use 10.6.2 with Safari 4.0.4.
Click to expand...

Hi Spinnerlys,

No I haven't. I'll do that with both that Vimeo link and a "problematic" DVD when I get home tonight (just to check what happens with both) and post back the results.

Thanks for your fast reply!
 
spinnerlys said:
Have you taken a look at Activity Monitor (Show All Processes and sort by CPU) to see what kind of CPU usage and Disk Activity is going on while you watch those problematic videos?

I just looked at the vimeo link and it played fine while another flash video played in the background.

I have a 2GHz iMac with 4GB RAM and use 10.6.2 with Safari 4.0.4.
Click to expand...

Hi again,

It's kind of hard to check the Monitor because it doesn't always happen with the same DVD or with the same video. I just played a DVD that was skipping the other day and it runs just fine. Same with the vimeo link, now it runs smooth. Activity Monitor says 60-70% CPU is dedicated to Flash Player and about 10-15% CPU to Safari; I can play both the DVD and the vimeo video at the same time and both work flawlessly (it should like that all the time, after all it's the top-end MBP we're speaking of and video playback is a quite undemanding task I should think).

Thanks,

Miguel
 
jumpy, stuttering video frames

So glad y'all are discussing this right now, as I'm having the same issues. My DVD collection is in the process of being ripped to my two 2TB internal drives. I view them on a SONY Bravia 40"LCD TV connected via HDMI/DVI converter cable. The choppy video is ALSO apparent, however, on my Acer 21" widescreen monitor, which I use as my desktop. I would think this rules out refresh rate / HDMI issues. I've tried playback with Apple DVD Player and VLC media player with same poor results. When I increase the image to fullscreen size, the choppiness appears more evident, but that could just be because the image is larger and therefore easier to see the jumpiness.

I've checked Activity monitor and my media player uses 16% of the CPU; nothing else going on really. Lots of RAM, so that shouldn't be an issue.

I also get the same results no matter where the video files reside. I've tried moving them and playing them from different internal hard drives.


John
Mac Pro 2.66 Quad, 6GB RAM, 1x1TB boot drive, 2x2TB DVD storage drives, 40" Sony Bravia LCD TV (connected with DVI/HDMI converter cable,) 21" Acer widescreen video monitor
 
Skipping Video

Hey all,

I'm having a similar problem except mine only happens when I connect my Imac to the tv. I have a 3.06Ghz intel core 2 duo, 4 Gb ram, NVIDIA GeForce 9400 GPU brand new on Aug 1st 2010. Im connecting to a Sony bravia HDTV through Moshi's Mini DP to HDMI, which is nice because it transfers video and audio all at once. When ever I connect the Imac to the tv and try to watch videos on VLC or Mac's Dvd player or Quicktime, the video keeps skipping. I'm having a hard time deciding if the problem is with the Graphic Card, Moshi's adapter from Mini DP to hdmi or the HDMI cable itself (which is less probable because i have tried it with several different HDMI cables including a high end Monster Cable).

If any one has any ideas I'd be glad to hear, thanks in advance.
 
This worked for me

I have a Core2Duo Macbook Pro connected to a Sony Bravia 46" screen using a HDMI to mini displayport dongle.
I too had playback issues, choppiness, and out of sync video.
I use VLC, and was able to fix this by adjusting a preference setting within VLC.
Make sure you are using the latest version of VLC, also the 64bit version if possible.
This solution specifically helps with the playback of files from a hard disk.

Open VLC.
Go to Preferences (⌘,) click All preferences in the bottom left corner.
- select Input/Codecs, then within that, Access modules, and finally within that, File.
- change the Caching value (ms) to 800.
 

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I have the basic 13inch i5 and i use and watch Vimeo and youtube
and have no problems but if I watch freecaster.com I do get some
problems with constant stopping and lagging.
 
FOX160 said:
I have the basic 13inch i5 and i use and watch Vimeo and youtube
and have no problems but if I watch freecaster.com I do get some
problems with constant stopping and lagging.
Click to expand...

I would highly recommend just getting an Apple TV. I have a Sony Bravia 40" and streaming HD movies as well an non-HD stuff looks great. I have a bunch of DVD that I've ripped and they look fine. It is a bit annoying that I can't view the full DVD, but It's a pain to have to lug my laptop downstairs and hook cables up to it. I will admit that the only dongle I have is the Mini Display Port to Composite one.
 
phpmaven said:
I would highly recommend just getting an Apple TV. I have a Sony Bravia 40" and streaming HD movies as well an non-HD stuff looks great. I have a bunch of DVD that I've ripped and they look fine. It is a bit annoying that I can't view the full DVD, but It's a pain to have to lug my laptop downstairs and hook cables up to it. I will admit that the only dongle I have is the Mini Display Port to Composite one.
Click to expand...

OK so using Apple TV will resolve this?
May I ask is it not playing.

Thanks for the advice
 
Calculon said:
I have a Core2Duo Macbook Pro connected to a Sony Bravia 46" screen using a HDMI to mini displayport dongle.
I too had playback issues, choppiness, and out of sync video.
I use VLC, and was able to fix this by adjusting a preference setting within VLC.
Make sure you are using the latest version of VLC, also the 64bit version if possible.
This solution specifically helps with the playback of files from a hard disk.

Open VLC.
Go to Preferences (⌘,) click All preferences in the bottom left corner.
- select Input/Codecs, then within that, Access modules, and finally within that, File.
- change the Caching value (ms) to 800.
Click to expand...

Hi Calculon,

Thanks for the tip. I haven't had the issue in a while, although I must say it does come up unexpectedly every now and then. I think it's especially related to DVDs for some reason, and it doesn't matter whether I play them with DVD Player or VLC. Recently I watch a lot of video files through VLC (avi, mkv, etc.) and they all run perfectly fine. When or if I stumble upon the issue again I will try your settings, and report back whatever happens.

Thanks a lot for!
 
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