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richard371

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Feb 1, 2008
3,736
1,919
Try playing the BBC motion gallery sea video and use command I to check the frame rate. It is supposed to be 30 fps but sometimes will drop to 8 or 10 etc and get very choppy. My black MB doesn't drop a frame. Dissapointing.
 

Eidorian

macrumors Penryn
Mar 23, 2005
29,190
386
Indianapolis
Open up Activity Monitor and/or get a temperature monitoring application. iStat being the most popular one right now.

The BBC player/gallery is using a lot of CPU power and then forcing the laptop to shut a core down to cool.
 

richard371

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Feb 1, 2008
3,736
1,919
both cores are running

both cores are running and I even tried it when the cpu was cool.



Open up Activity Monitor and/or get a temperature monitoring application. iStat being the most popular one right now.

The BBC player/gallery is using a lot of CPU power and then forcing the laptop to shut a core down to cool.
 

richard371

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Feb 1, 2008
3,736
1,919
It was completly downloaded and i was even looping it. My Black macbook does not drop any frames at all. It is a shame the air cant even handle 720p wo dropping frames.
 

ahaxton

macrumors 6502a
Jan 17, 2008
552
0
Is this a trolling?

We have had an extensive discussion on what can play on our MBA's. I have played 720p and 1080p videos just fine. 720p all codecs tried, 1080p many codecs.
 

richard371

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Feb 1, 2008
3,736
1,919
Maybe its a prob with my unit. I also remember reading that 720p is fine and that only 1080p can drop some frames.
 

richard371

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Feb 1, 2008
3,736
1,919
Ok here is what I noticed. If I turn it off and play it when its cool it plays fine but after about 5 or 10 mins when the cpu temp gets to around 150-170f it stutters. i have it on a desk with plenty of venilation. Both cores are always running according to istat. Does this mean I have to put it on ice if i want to watch 720p? I hope this does not have thermal problems as it is the 3rd one i have tried due to battery issues.

I sat my black macbook on the bed with poor venilation and looped the video for about 30 mins. It never dropped a frame and the cpu got to about 150.
 

Masquerade

macrumors 6502a
May 16, 2007
654
0
Ok here is what I noticed. If I turn it off and play it when its cool it plays fine but after about 5 or 10 mins when the cpu temp gets to around 150-170f it stutters. i have it on a desk with plenty of venilation. Both cores are always running according to istat. Does this mean I have to put it on ice if i want to watch 720p? I hope this does not have thermal problems as it is the 3rd one i have tried due to battery issues.

I sat my black macbook on the bed with poor venilation and looped the video for about 30 mins. It never dropped a frame and the cpu got to about 150.

Trolling begins!

OFFICIALY MACBOOK IS A BETTER MACHINE THAN MACBOOK AIR. PERIOD.
 

shadowfax

macrumors 603
Sep 6, 2002
5,849
0
Houston, TX
Trolling begins!

OFFICIALY MACBOOK IS A BETTER MACHINE THAN MACBOOK AIR. PERIOD.

Are you referring to your own post or his?

that is peculiar about the heat/performance issue. it sounds like something is horribly awry with your machine, either heating issues or the processor itself is bad and doesn't work at full resolution. 3rd (or 4th?) lemon? that's rough luck, man. Maybe your Apple store got a bad batch?
 

richard371

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Feb 1, 2008
3,736
1,919
After using the air its hard to go back to the macbook. I am returning it because I like the air so much better. But I have had no probs with the mb. I am on my third air and it want do any good to me if I cannot watch movies on it because it over heats.

Doesn't SOUND like trolling. Sounds like a thermal paste issue.
 

kantonaxtwoo

macrumors newbie
Jan 29, 2008
9
0
it works beautifully on my mba 1.8/80

after i read this thread ive been watching trailers on apple.com and im watching them in 720p and 1080p and it looks amazing smooth and no dropped frames at all so im not sure if you have an individual issue or not and my cpu is running around 125
 

pgharavi

macrumors 6502
Nov 25, 2004
308
229
It's not a troll, I have the exact same problem.

In order to test this out, I downloaded a video in 720p (.mkv), and it will play fine for about 5-7 minutes, and then I get a hiccup. And then another, and another, and then very quickly the sound continues but the video is completely frozen.

I get this message (or something close to it) in VLC:

"Error, Dropped frames for more than 5 seconds (computer too slow?)."

This has happened each and every time. I've even tried fresh reboot and closing every app that could be on (mail, adium, browser, etc). The fans are going full bore and something somebody said in this thread sounded interesting to me:

I brought up activity monitor and I've noticed that of the two CPU "bars" the left one is FULL and the right one is empty. When I go into the stats, it said 50% of the CPU is idle. THAT must be the problem. Does this mean I have a defective unit?

EDIT: I forgot to add one other bit of info: this never happens when I *start* with a regular movie file, in non 720p resolutions. But just last night, after giving the 720p movie file another shot, I once again gave up, and then tried watching a regular movie file (non-HD reso) and while that was playable, it was FAR choppier than normal. So I'm thinking the MBA asn't able to cool down enough to let the second core back online?
 
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