1080 on an iMac? Which model?

[Poncho]

I can play 720 HD on my Macbook, but it fails and stutters with 1080 downloads, for example those i download from Vuze.

I guess an iMac would be up to the job but what model? Should I wait for a better processor in iMac or a better graphics card befor buying one?

Do people have experience of this?

 

[Eidorian]

1080p Quicktime trailers play flawlessly on my MacBook.

 

[Poncho]

I've Got An Earlier Version Of The Macbook Than You Have.

 

[Eidorian]

I've Got An Earlier Version Of The Macbook Than You Have.

1080p Quicktime trailers play flawlessly on my Mac mini Core Duo. It'd help to know what you're using to play your videos.

 

[Poncho]

I just use VLC as this is supposed to play everything but it says frames drop (computer too slow). My Macbook is just over 2Mega hertz.

 

[Poncho]

Also, I'm not talking about Quicktime trailers, I've never tried these. I'm talking about the HD trailers that are 1080 you find here:

http://www.vuze.com/channel/hd


Of bands and stuff.

 

[Killyp]

BTW it's 2 Gigahertz, not Megahertz (very, very big difference).

All the iMacs can play 1080p without an issue. They're very powerful. It's down to the CPU, not the graphics card.

Your MacBook should be able to play it fine, depending on the bitrate. A really high bitrate video will make almost any computer stutter, but generally anything up to ~10 mbps should be fine on an original MacBook.

How many programs do you have running in the background?

 

[Poncho]

My friend said it was because the Macbook shared its graphics card with the memory rather than having a dedicated graphics card with dfedicated memory like his Macbook pro and therefore I would have to get a Macbook or a new iMac one day.

I have tried turning everyhting off as weel except VLC.

 

[Poncho]

Here's what I mean and how powerful my Macbook is,,,

So I can get any iMac and watch them on one of those then?

 

[johto]

Here's what I mean and how powerful my Macbook is,,,

So I can get any iMac and watch them on one of those then?

Seems your videofile(s) are broken/corrupted ( see the mosaic mess) ..thats why your vlc drops frames.

 

[harcosparky]

Also, I'm not talking about Quicktime trailers, I've never tried these. I'm talking about the HD trailers that are 1080 you find here:

http://www.vuze.com/channel/hd


Of bands and stuff.

I went there and downloaded and played 1080p downloads without issue.

I have a 24" 2.4 GHz iMac with 3 GB Ram

My video card is a --> ATI, RadeonHD2600

 

[Eidorian]

Try using Quicktime with Perian. h.264 in MKV isn't the most friendly implementation in general.

 

[Type121]

Try using Quicktime with Perian. h.264 in MKV isn't the most friendly implementation in general.

+1. VLC doesn't cut it when it comes to these formats. It just can't keep up. I spent days this past summer trying to get VLC to play a 1080p video in at .MKV file with no luck. Perian and the Quicktime player handled it no problem, and with less processor usage than VLC at 720p.

 

[juanster]

i ve used my macbook for a couple of 1080p s and if i m not running any apps on the background i have no problem...

 

[Poncho]

Thanks Guys...

I've since tried Mplayer and, while I don't get a mosaic mess, it staccatos (perfectly) frame by frame. Also tried streaming some 1080 HD from Apple, this streams OK but will freeze every now and again.

Yes, it is a .mkv file, which could be the reason.

Still, any axcuse to get a big shiny new iMac. Credit crunch aside of course.

 

[psonice]

I have a current 2.8ghz imac, and I've been experimenting with HD a bit. I've captured some stuff at 1920x1080, but at 60fps (normal video like a trailer would be 24fps, i.e. it'd need less than half the power to play back!). At that extremely high setting, it plays back perfectly under windows (using around 80% of the cpu time), but it plays poorly under OSX. I think the video drivers still need some work on the mac side.

On the other hand, it will play 'normal' 1080p content perfectly. Also, I encoded the video at too-high bitrates, at lower bitrates it would play back more smoothly, so it's possible that the mac can handle even 1080p60 video smoothly.