Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Why does hi-def video jutter on my macbook?
- Thread starter Melan
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Not all high-def is the same. What is the codec used for the audio and video, bitrate of the video, dimensions of the video, and what software are you using to play it back?
I too sometimes have a little judder on HD video, but since the CPU and RAM is nowhere near maxed out I just thought it was because of the ****** GPU... 
I too sometimes have a little judder on HD video, but since the CPU and RAM is nowhere near maxed out I just thought it was because of the ****** GPU...
Thats exactly what I thought about my situation.
Even a Mac Mini will play 1080p Blu-ray m2ts files, which are very high bit rate, so a MacBook should as well, provided it's in a supported codec and you have Plex or XMBC.
I too sometimes have a little judder on HD video, but since the CPU and RAM is nowhere near maxed out I just thought it was because of the ****** GPU...
I wish, HD video is encoded solo thru the CPU, but I think some GFX cards have some extra features like the Radeon HD... and stuff
My macbook is 2.2GHz with 4GB ram. As to what HD videos i've had this with, it's pretty much all the videos I've tried to run on my comp. That includes trailers download from apple (usually 720) and played on quicktime (i have perian installed if that makes a difference), videos streamed on hulu at 480p, and the thing which reminded me of the problem, a Macbreak HD video podcast I just watched on itunes. I just realised I've never as far as i can remember watched an HD video on VLC, might that make a difference?
OTOH, particularly with the 720p Apple Quicktime trailers, I can't think of any good reason why you should be seeing stutter... far lesser computers play those fine.
basically its 2 problems. 1) Apple rarely updates video drivers, 2) flash depite being designed for the Mac sucks.
A) How many people on this thread with this problem have actually submitted a bug report on the Apple site?
B) How many of you expect this problem to be fixed with an update tommorow?
A) How many people on this thread with this problem have actually submitted a bug report on the Apple site?
B) How many of you expect this problem to be fixed with an update tommorow?
On my MacBook it does follow any pattern it's just random... Sometimes I'll get stutter on 720p trailers from Apple's homepage but most often I won't. (and I know it's not my internet connection )
Could it be that the video is just "compiled" wrong?
)Could it be that the video is just "compiled" wrong?
You forgot 3) video processing is done by the CPU. So better CPU = higher def video.
OK, let's clear this up. I've already told you that even a puny little Mac Mini can play 1080p video, so it clearly isn't a systemic problem with the MacBooks. Download Plex and see how the file plays with it. If Plex cannot play it, then there's something wrong with the file. If Plex does play it, then the problem is the crappy playback software you've been using (Quicktime, VLC, etc.). Then you'll know.