Abysmal Video Playback

[zforrester]

For the last couple of weeks it seems, video playback on my computer has been terrible, skipping, ghosting, tons of artifacts... just all sorts of problems. Payback in itunes is unbearably choppy, expe cially. I'm not sure when this started happening, but I do know that it wasnt always this terrible. Im on a 600MHz iMac G3, running 10.4.3, and the programs I"m using are the latest versions of Quicktime Pro (7) and VLC. I don't know whats going on, but its driving me nuts!
Any ideas?

 

[superbovine]

is this playback directly from the hard drive or cds/dvds? Is it from a particular hard drive?

Is everything else slow? For example boot time? Copy files? Is your hard drive making more noise than usual? If your answer is yes to all those things. STOP doing anything on your computer if you like your data. Backup all the data you want to keep. After that, put in your OS X dvd and bootup with it. Use the disk utility and repair permissions and try to repair any other defects with the drive. More, than likely you drive is about to be hosed under this scenario.

 

[TLRedhawke]

I actually noticed the same thing happening on my 12" Powerbook 867MHz. Now, on a G3 iMac, one can understand some video issues with current software based on sheer age. However, on a G4 867, it's inexcusable. I discovered that the problem was actually the current version of Quicktime. I had to roll back to 7.01 to get decent performance out of it. There is a rollback available. Have a look at Versiontracker, and try it out to see if it helps.

 

[zforrester]

is this playback directly from the hard drive or cds/dvds? Is it from a particular hard drive?

Is everything else slow? For example boot time? Copy files? Is your hard drive making more noise than usual? If your answer is yes to all those things. STOP doing anything on your computer if you like your data. Backup all the data you want to keep. After that, put in your OS X dvd and bootup with it. Use the disk utility and repair permissions and try to repair any other defects with the drive. More, than likely you drive is about to be hosed under this scenario.

Actully, everything seems just as zippy as usual, except for one terrifying thing: A couple of weeks ago I decided I would buy a new iMac G5. Later that same day, my trusty, solid G3 CRASHEd. Not just froze or hung, but completely shut off, and actually started whimperning, believe it or not. i know my comps on the way out, as terrible as that is, but other than that and the video problems, its running fine. DO you know why iTunes in particular would be poorly handling the video files?

 

[zforrester]

I discovered that the problem was actually the current version of Quicktime. I had to roll back to 7.01 to get decent performance out of it. There is a rollback available. Have a look at Versiontracker, and try it out to see if it helps.

Thanks, I'll try it out

 

[superbovine]

Actully, everything seems just as zippy as usual, except for one terrifying thing: A couple of weeks ago I decided I would buy a new iMac G5. Later that same day, my trusty, solid G3 CRASHEd. Not just froze or hung, but completely shut off, and actually started whimperning, believe it or not. i know my comps on the way out, as terrible as that is, but other than that and the video problems, its running fine. DO you know why iTunes in particular would be poorly handling the video files?

if they are very high resolution using the new h262 codec (the hd one) you need a pretty fast system to playback video. that is the only reason I have seen my pb choke with a video file.