VLC on MB Air

[Tinmania]

I don't get why Queen6 would say all other players "use more cpu" is a downside.

Presumably because of battery life when away from a power source.

But other than that I don't see much point in worrying about CPU utilization for an app primarily used to play video (as long as it can play it stutter free). If I am watching a video I am not likely doing much else with the computer. Now if we were talking about a rendering app, then yea better CPU utilization is a big plus.

That said I have never had an issue with VLC. It seems to handle whatever I throw at it. I don't care what its roots are but I certainly remember being frustrated many times under Windows with missing codecs and whatnot (with just about any player--including media player classic).




Michael

 

[Queen6]

Mplayer OS X Extended and MplayerX already support this through FFmpeg-mt. If VLC are only now implementing the -mt branch of FFmpeg, they are quite late.

I don't get why Queen6 would say all other players "use more cpu" is a downside. I think using both my cores is an upside of the other players, I can play much higher bitrate/resolution video without having it drop frames (like VLC does to maintain performance).

VLC does take advantage of multicore`s it`s simply more efficient, which is an entirely different matter, for any portable battery consumption is a primary concern, once you pull the plug

 

[KnightWRX]

VLC does take advantage of multicore`s it`s simply more efficient, which is an entirely different matter, for any portable battery consumption is a primary concern, once you pull the plug

Since VLC doesn't use FFMpeg-mt, it doesn't use multi-core for video decoding no.

If you're concerned for battery, you're not watching videos anyhow.

 

[halledise]

The version I tried is the last open-source one from April 2010.

that's the version (of Movist) i'm talking about
works fine for me on current Air, early 08 MBPro and a 2007 iMac

 

[Queen6]

Since VLC doesn't use FFMpeg-mt, it doesn't use multi-core for video decoding no.

If you're concerned for battery, you're not watching videos anyhow.

Really, I am sat right now at KLIA waiting on the flight to Hong Kong, I can watch a couple of movies while I am waiting on the Quad Core i7 MBP or I can just sit here bored and save my battery....

 

[KnightWRX]

Really, I am sat right now at KLIA waiting on the flight to Hong Kong, I can watch a couple of movies while I am waiting on the Quad Core i7 MBP or I can just sit here bored and save my battery....

Or since you're sitting in an airport, equipped for travelers, you can plug your laptop into the outlets provided for such a purpose.

In the end, if you really wanted to save battery, you'd be using Quicktime with hardware acceleration and watching MP4 movies. That's the most battery efficient way to watch movies on the Mac period.

 

[Queen6]

Or since you're sitting in an airport, equipped for travelers, you can plug your laptop into the outlets provided for such a purpose.

Of course all airports have one power outlet per traveler

In the end, if you really wanted to save battery, you'd be using Quicktime with hardware acceleration and watching MP4 movies. That's the most battery efficient way to watch movies on the Mac period.

Sure you can, but you don't need to, and converting something like 2.5Tb to Quicktime format may just take a day or two...

If you don't like VLC move on, for the vast majority it`s a perfectly adequate solution, that is stable and has regular updates and offers the best battery life for those that dare to cut the cord

 

[Queen6]

@Queen6
VLC v1.2 is coming, bringing the following (among other things):

• A whole new native OS X GUI with Lion's full-screen mode (optional)
• Multicore decoding
• Subtitle rendering independently of the resolution of the video

You can try it out in a v1.2 nightly build. Don't hesitate to file bug reports along the way .

Thx I will have a lt a look the hardware acceleration of H.264 decoding sounds like a major advance, although I don't have any problems with dropped frames on any of the Mac`s presently in the house, ranging from a 2.4Ghz C2D to 2.4 i7 and you won't be pegging that one out in a hurry, given it`s monsterous performance

 

[ET iPhone Home]

UPDATE: VLC is working great on the MBA. Now, my attempt with Handbrake (since it was recommended earlier in the thread). I'm just hoping it's user-friendly. I read, it allows you to create different formats to rip, whether it be for iPhone, iPad or PC use. Will i know which one to select for MBA use?

 

[Menge]

For the MBA, just choose the High Profile one - which will try and preserve most of the video's quality and original resolution.

If you want to make sure the videos play on the iPad/iPhone/AppleTV you can select AppleTV 2 and it'll keep it at the highest resolution/quality that the video OR iDevices allow

 

[ET iPhone Home]

For the MBA, just choose the High Profile one - which will try and preserve most of the video's quality and original resolution.

If you want to make sure the videos play on the iPad/iPhone/AppleTV you can select AppleTV 2 and it'll keep it at the highest resolution/quality that the video OR iDevices allow

Hey, thanks for taking the time to post. Will try both formats and update as to how well it worked.

 

[ET iPhone Home]

VLC and Handbrake are great.

If I select Apple TV 2 in Handbrake, will this then allow me to view the movie in both 4S and iPad devices, yet maintain the highest resolution if I connect my MBA via HDMI to my flat screen LCD TV? Or should I keep the movie at High Profile format and later encode it from High Profile to Apple TV2 should I decide to later watch certain movies on the 4S?

Thank You.

 

[Weaselboy]

VLC and Handbrake are great.

If I select Apple TV 2 in Handbrake, will this then allow me to view the movie in both 4S and iPad devices, yet maintain the highest resolution if I connect my MBA via HDMI to my flat screen LCD TV? Or should I keep the movie at High Profile format and later encode it from High Profile to Apple TV2 should I decide to later watch certain movies on the 4S?

Thank You.

ATV2 format will allow you to watch on the ATV and any iOS device. You don't want to encode twice though because each time you lose a little quality.

 

[ET iPhone Home]

ATV2 format will allow you to watch on the ATV and any iOS device. You don't want to encode twice though because each time you lose a little quality.

Thanks, but does ATV2 keep it at the most highest resolution (original quality) with minimal compression, as I plan mostly to watch movies on a bigger screen (via HDMI on a MBA). As for smaller devices like the 4S, I was going to encode T.V. Episodes (on DVD), which are 30mins to an 1hr.

Thanks.