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Air cannot even handle 720p 30fps
- Thread starter richard371
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First thing I thought of so I downloaded mplayer (or whatever) and I had the same issue.
I've had that same problem with my G5 Quad. It's definitely a VLC/mkv/whatever-codec-the-video-is-in issue. Playing all the Apple trailers and most HD material out there should be fine but some mkvs can make all but the fastest of macs choke. It depends on so many variables. Best to stick to the more native codecs (h.264, etc)
Actually, I also hat this problem with core shutdown with a normal 350MB avi files, playing in QuickTime or in VLC.
I even shut down any other programs and disabled the internal display of the MBA (by waking it from sleep with the lid closed), but it was still the same.
Pretty lousy!
I even shut down any other programs and disabled the internal display of the MBA (by waking it from sleep with the lid closed), but it was still the same.
Pretty lousy!
Fine here
Surprised at this thread as ive just finished watching 2 hours of 720p .mkv video in VLC with no problems at all! This is on a 1.6 MBA too, doesnt even max out the cpu (uses about 40% of each cpu)
Only thing ive noticed is the fan was ramped after it finished for a few minutes, but thats now idled down to normal too.
Maybe theres a dodgy batch of GPU's around?
Surprised at this thread as ive just finished watching 2 hours of 720p .mkv video in VLC with no problems at all! This is on a 1.6 MBA too, doesnt even max out the cpu (uses about 40% of each cpu)
Only thing ive noticed is the fan was ramped after it finished for a few minutes, but thats now idled down to normal too.
Maybe theres a dodgy batch of GPU's around?
I am on my second Air. The mac genius said he couldn't find anything wrong with my 1.6 80 HDD Air after running stress tests. He said he would give me a brand new air and if it continued to have problems it wasn't because of the air but because of the files I was watching. I am having the same problems with my new air. I have a hard time watching dvd's on my superdrive or 350 mb .avi files. Apple needs to do something about this.
I have opened and watched plenty of files & a DVD w. my 1.6 without a problem. Are you watching them via Bootcamp/Windows or in Mac OS? My fan gets up to 6krpm but never shuts down or stutters. Do you have other processes running concurrently?
Videos stutter on my 1.6 MacBook Air in both mkv and mp4 format playing in VLC and Mplayer. I transcode all my movies to 5Mbit with 128kbit AAC and play with QuickTime normally. QuickTime on the MB Air does play these files with no problem, using 80% or so of each CPU. Try transcoding?
I was able to play two hidef movies on the MacBook AIr at the Apple store without stuttering. Can't recall if they played at 24 or 30 fps. I was also able to work with iPhoto while these played in the background. BTW I was using a model with the solid state drive.
Are you sure the movie was completely downloaded?
Are you sure the movie was completely downloaded?
When playing movies / tv episodes in XVID format using VLC, my machine will often get hot enough to shut one of the cores down causing playback errors.
It also happens when I watch a couple Youtube videos (after around 15 minutes).
I can also get it to happen when I'm running VMWare, Safari, Lotus Notes, MSN Messenger, Fireworks CS3 and Mail at work. Those are the programs I typically have to use all day.
It sounds like I might just have a bad machine.
It also happens when I watch a couple Youtube videos (after around 15 minutes).
I can also get it to happen when I'm running VMWare, Safari, Lotus Notes, MSN Messenger, Fireworks CS3 and Mail at work. Those are the programs I typically have to use all day.
It sounds like I might just have a bad machine.
Mine will do the same, but this is usually on a less than ideal surface for ventilation (for example, using the machine to watch movies in bed or something). It's entirely possible, though, that it's a thermal paste issue. From what I've seen, it's pretty easy to get the bottom panel off of the MBA, but how easy is it to access and disassemble the heatsink assembly? Anyone know? Could probably fix the issue yourself, if you know how to correctly apply thermal paste. I'd try to get the same kind of paste as apple uses (the white thermal paste) just so AppleCare doesn't know the difference if you need service in the future -- if what you've done isn't the source of a problem, they shouldn't be able to deny you service, anyway, although they'll certainly try if you make it that they know you did something.
Although, I wouldn't advocate opening the machine if you've never done anything of the sort in the past, as you could easily mess something up if you don't know what you're doing. I opened up an iBook years back to fix the power jack after the plug had broken off inside and couldn't be removed from the outside. Had to take the machine for service at a later date and AppleCare guys had no clue that I ever opened it. But you never know. You just need to be careful in the event that you know what you're doing and want to try it.
Might be the mkv file itself. Mkv files run fine on my 2.8ghz 8 core mac pro but it does crash ALOT.
If only the macbooks have the led screen then I'd jump on one as well. But yea the mba is just too underpowered (for me) to use, even as an ultraportable. I owned the sony vaio tz model with the 2.5" hdd (yes that little thing fit a normal 2.5") and it ran cool and even played 1080p just fine.
problem lies in video structure
My mac air (2.13mhz, ssd128) can play 720p/1080p trailers from apple.com just fine, even while they are being downloaded (1.4mb/sec dload speed)).
However, playing 720p rips of movies in mkv format which were not prepared by apple (encoders used unknown to me) is impossible, even if i copy them to mac's SSD, not to mention 1080p movies.
That leads me to believe that one of the following statements is correct:
(a) apple's own codec for HD implementation is indeed revolutionary, achieving HD encoding with a less complex video compression algorithm.
(b) apple's QT offers a hardware based decoder for the video formats it can natively support while the third party applications used to enable support for other video formats (VLC, perian codecs, mplayer osx etc) do not utilize mac air's hardware optimally, resulting in choppy playback, overheating the cpu etc...
If i am correct, then i think that a solution can only be found in transcoding your videos to either apple's own HD format or simply downgrading the video clip's resolution to 480p... problem is that each time a video is transcoded to another format, some quality loss is inevitable....
In any case it's obvious that macbook air can not rely solely on it's cpu to do the job of displaying HD video and therefore advanced software codecs that utilize the GPU hardware in order to tax the cpu less, are necessary. This is probably the case for windows notebooks as well but it seems software video codecs available for windows computers ( such as mplayer classic) are more advanced at this moment.
My mac air (2.13mhz, ssd128) can play 720p/1080p trailers from apple.com just fine, even while they are being downloaded (1.4mb/sec dload speed)).
However, playing 720p rips of movies in mkv format which were not prepared by apple (encoders used unknown to me) is impossible, even if i copy them to mac's SSD, not to mention 1080p movies.
That leads me to believe that one of the following statements is correct:
(a) apple's own codec for HD implementation is indeed revolutionary, achieving HD encoding with a less complex video compression algorithm.
(b) apple's QT offers a hardware based decoder for the video formats it can natively support while the third party applications used to enable support for other video formats (VLC, perian codecs, mplayer osx etc) do not utilize mac air's hardware optimally, resulting in choppy playback, overheating the cpu etc...
If i am correct, then i think that a solution can only be found in transcoding your videos to either apple's own HD format or simply downgrading the video clip's resolution to 480p... problem is that each time a video is transcoded to another format, some quality loss is inevitable....
In any case it's obvious that macbook air can not rely solely on it's cpu to do the job of displaying HD video and therefore advanced software codecs that utilize the GPU hardware in order to tax the cpu less, are necessary. This is probably the case for windows notebooks as well but it seems software video codecs available for windows computers ( such as mplayer classic) are more advanced at this moment.
This is the info I was looking for. What about 720p .avi playback with VLC, also unbearable?
Nonsense. The current MBAs can play 1080p files perfectly fine, regardless of container, provided you use the right software (e.g., Plex, XBMC). It even does Blu-ray rips.
601.
601.
Current MBA have similar specs to my Early09 Mini, and it plays anything I throw at it, and I'm playing to above HD resolution on my Dell screen. All my FullHD rips are on a storage server, so it's streaming and playing.
If the MBA is stuttering, then there's almost certainly a software issue on your machine. The hardware is more than capable.
If the MBA is stuttering, then there's almost certainly a software issue on your machine. The hardware is more than capable.
This issue has mostly been resolved since 10.6.1 or Macbook air firmware upgrade.
I now no longer need to use Cool book to unthrottle the cpu with Flash HD Stuff or VLC. Unfortunately I still need to use it with Plex and my blu-ray rips.
Strangely air seems to know much better, when to throttle and most importantly when to not! Making life much better for us an de-crippling the macbook air for most users! I've monitered the air CPU frequency changing from 886-1.6mhz with hd stuff, aperture, I'm not sure about games?
I do now find that the most demanding stuff I that I can throw at it seems to be itunes hd tv episodes. It skips frames even with the cpu throttled. I thought itunes stuff was off loaded to the gpu? Mind you on my model that is clocked back too.
I now no longer need to use Cool book to unthrottle the cpu with Flash HD Stuff or VLC. Unfortunately I still need to use it with Plex and my blu-ray rips.
Strangely air seems to know much better, when to throttle and most importantly when to not! Making life much better for us an de-crippling the macbook air for most users! I've monitered the air CPU frequency changing from 886-1.6mhz with hd stuff, aperture, I'm not sure about games?
I do now find that the most demanding stuff I that I can throw at it seems to be itunes hd tv episodes. It skips frames even with the cpu throttled. I thought itunes stuff was off loaded to the gpu? Mind you on my model that is clocked back too.
Yup my 1.86 reb b with ssd also can't handle streamed hidef. very disappointing and I got a new mbp 13, inch.