anyone finding the MBA too slow for video watching?

[slicedbread]

I've had problems with realplayer for years. Think others might as well?

To be fair, the biggest problems I have had are with realplayer. The videos are stuttery and drop frames. I seem to have found a bug - the contrast of a video seems to be flashing and alternating during playback. Its very annoying and distracting. Only noticed this on the air tho, not had issues on my mac mini (gma950) or my mac pro. (Disabling overlay seems to help, the flashing stops - but at the expense of poorer, un-antialiased output).

Most other videos seem to be ok, at least standard definition ones don't drop. Most of my divx and xvid files are fine. Even short viewing times (like 20-30 mins into a movie) and the fan will spin up to max. And it seems that streaming over a network makes it slower as well, taking up cycles of CPU time. The same file from the 80GB hdd isn't as jerky as streaming over 802.11G from my mac pro)

Not tried 1080p trailers yet, but most of the 720p ones are smooth. There are a few which have issues with frame rates - curiously "where in the world is osama bin laden" is particularly bad and unsmooth.

And I now seem to have encountered a high pitched squeal/buzzing when connected to headphones. Dunno if its my dud machine or a generic defect like the similar issue in macbook pro's?


Overall I love the form factor and using it for surfing a music, but for even basic - middling levels of video/HTPC use and it falls short. Kinda disappointed.

 

[Mactagonist]

For anyone who says "the air is just a web/presentation machine, of course it isnt for videos", come back to earth and stop drinking that Apple kool-aid. It is absolutely absurd that a machine sold for a premium price in 2008 would be unable to reliably play youtube videos and SD videos. No one, and I mean no one, should accept for one minute that the Air cant do what the iPhone can do.

Fortunately this is not the case, and the Air is perfectly capable of playing video. I have no issues playing SD videos in VLC or Quicktime Pro. I have no issues playing youtube videos in Safari 3.1. When it comes to HD 720p .mkv HD video will start skipping after 20+ minutes unless I make sure the Air has proper ventilation.

If your Air cant play SD .avi, .mp4 or .mpg files smoothly, it is defective take it back. If your Air cant play youtube videos, it is defective take it back. If it cant play 720p video (with proper ventilation, nothing else running and a good player like VLC) it is defective, take it back.

It is true that OSX in general, and the Air in particular, plays video worse than windows. It seems to take more CPU time (causing heat and fan noise) to play a particular video under OSX than under WinXP. I imagine that this is a general codec or video driver issue in OSX. However it shows itself more on the Air than any other Apple machine as the Air, due to its design, is more sensitive to heat.

Despite all this, if your Air cant play SD video smoothly, TAKE IT BACK. While it isnt as cool or as quiet as I would like when doing so, a non defective Air can do it easily.

 

[LizKat]

I rent movies from iTunes Store onto my Air, and watch video podcasts and purchased music videos. They all play fine so far, and my fan stays in the hardly-audible range. It's parked on a table when I'm watching a movie.

Since the machine is new, if I did have video playback issues with it (or any other issues!), I would have called Apple tech support for help diagnosing the problem.

 

[Malcster]

yep - the MBA is half baked. It's great if you use it for very light tasks, but I had nothing but trouble with video - choppy and not smooth like on my MBP C2D or MB CD(!). I can't figure out what the issue is given the fact that it's supposed to be as fast as a 2.0 CD in benchmarks, yet it can't keep up with simple hulu or youtube playback on my MB.

I'm sending mine back Friday... I will patiently wait for a Rev B product.

Whilst this unfortunately may be true for you, the MBA is certainly not half baked and only good for light tasks, i have no problems on mine with any of the tasks you mention (and more.. virtual machines, handbrake encoding etc are all good too) and im on the 1.6, not even the nippier 1.8.

Perhaps you don't need revision B, you just need a working revision A

edit: what BryanHarig said!

 

[Alkiera]

yep - the MBA is half baked. It's great if you use it for very light tasks, but I had nothing but trouble with video - choppy and not smooth like on my MBP C2D or MB CD(!). I can't figure out what the issue is given the fact that it's supposed to be as fast as a 2.0 CD in benchmarks, yet it can't keep up with simple hulu or youtube playback on my MB.

I'm sending mine back Friday... I will patiently wait for a Rev B product.

I've noticed a huge difference in cpu usage playing the same .flv video from Youtube in the youtube flash player and in VLC. From what I've read on the forums, all Mac OS users see similar issues, in that the Flash implementation for OSX uses inordinate amounts of CPU. At least one or two people noted that their MBA when bootcamped into XP had much less issues with YouTube video; that tells me it's a Flash/OSX issue, not a MBA issue.

On my week 07 MBA, VLC can run divx, .flv, mpg, whatever, for however long. The fan does spin up some(not even 6000 rpm), but I get no jumping or core shutdowns. I've even watch SD tv episodes on Hulu.com (season 1 Buffy, mostly) with no problems; CPU gets warm, fan spins up(higher than when using VLC/QT), but no drama. The case gets a fair bit warmer when running extended Flash video than under other conditions; but again, it's a Flash video problem, not a MBA problem.

 

[Jimmie Geddes]

I've been having the same issues others are reporting. Whenever I try to watch videos streaming using RealPlayer or Windows Media it's very choppy. It's kind of annoying that the MacBook Air can't handle that. My iBook G4 was able to handle that with its 800 MHz processor. Hopefully Apple will release an update to help fix this issue.

 

[mykoljay]

I haven't experienced any problems yet watching video. However, I have only watched video through ITunes (Rentals), Hulu.com, and YouTube.I have not tried RealPlayer or Windows Media.

For all those saying that MacBook Air should not play video and I should get another computer and/or AppleTV, you are wrong.

I bought a MBA plus 22" monitor as my only computer/TV.

When I bought it, I had expectations that perhaps I could not play some games and do video editing. Everything else should be fine, even playing HD. It's clearly something wrong with the code (or compatability issues with RealPlayer, Flash, MediaPlayer, etc. This is my first Mac and it should/and is faster than my 8 year old pc (that I tossed) which plays divx, YouTube, and other video perfectly. I'll assume this will be worked out in future updates (how is apple's track record?).

 

[beatzfreak]

To be fair, the biggest problems I have had are with realplayer. The videos are stuttery and drop frames. I seem to have found a bug - the contrast of a video seems to be flashing and alternating during playback. Its very annoying and distracting. Only noticed this on the air tho, not had issues on my mac mini (gma950) or my mac pro. (Disabling overlay seems to help, the flashing stops - but at the expense of poorer, un-antialiased output).

Most other videos seem to be ok, at least standard definition ones don't drop. Most of my divx and xvid files are fine. Even short viewing times (like 20-30 mins into a movie) and the fan will spin up to max. And it seems that streaming over a network makes it slower as well, taking up cycles of CPU time. The same file from the 80GB hdd isn't as jerky as streaming over 802.11G from my mac pro)

Not tried 1080p trailers yet, but most of the 720p ones are smooth. There are a few which have issues with frame rates - curiously "where in the world is osama bin laden" is particularly bad and unsmooth.

My Air has no problems with that trailer in 720p as long as I let it load almost completely before watching. (My internet connection is painfully slow)

And I now seem to have encountered a high pitched squeal/buzzing when connected to headphones. Dunno if its my dud machine or a generic defect like the similar issue in macbook pro's?

Again, I don't have this problem. Are you pushing the jack all the way in? It's a tight fit with some headphones because of the door. In this case, I use an iphone adapter.

I have a 1.6/HHD.

 

[1appleAday]

For those of you who play rmvb file, do you use RealPlayer 11?? i heard it's improved compared to previous version...is it true?

I too have tons of files in rmvb and plan to get a new labtop soon. other than surfing the net, my main usage will be to watch those videos. should i get an AIR or MB? Any advice?

Thanks!

 

[jjahshik32]

I just got my air a few days ago, as a 2nd computer, a portable to go with my desktop. however I am finding that it is actually a bit too slow for my needs (i got the 1.6/80gb), even as a secondary computer.

I kinda wanted to use the air as my appletv device - to watch all the things I've downloaded on my desktop on my HDTV, which is in another room.

Loading up youtube and flash heavy sites seems to make the fan speed up to full blast. Watching divx movies also makes it spin up to max.

Some video files (notably RMVB real player files) play very jerkily and result in dropped frames, but usually the audio is alright.

All in all, quite disappointing as its a nice little machine otherwise. Just the dropped video frames and fan spinning up to max to watch files is kinda hard to live with. Anyone else finding this with their air?

You should have gotten the regular macbook, even the 1st gen 1.83Ghz macbook is faster than the macbook air.

This is why I returned the mba and got a refund... honestly though only thing good for the mba is just webbrowsing, email, word documents,ichat and divx/xvid movies. I was surprised that the mba could not handle a 720p movie without it stuttering or skipping some times during the movie, and I didnt even dare try to play a 1080p movie (but then what's the point when the screens resolution is only 1280x800 but of course hooking up the mba via mini dvi to my 52" sony bravia is not a good idea)... I was pretty bothered by paying $1800 for a portable machine not being able to play a 720p movie with having to tweak things and making sure nothing else is running and even so the fan going crazy high just on a 720p if not just with some demanding safari webpages or firefox...

Playing 720p movie trailers were fine because the file is small but if you tried a whole movie.. good luck.

 

[texasdoc]

Mine works great

I posted in another thread last night how I was able to play the Osama bin Laden trailer in 1080p (I know, 720p is fine but I wanted to see how it would handle 1080p). I looped that trailer probably 20 times and had zero stutters, frame drops, slow mouse, etc. etc. I then launched full screen Youtube simultaneously, and again, no problems. Then I let both those run and did some surfing in Safari, again without problems.

My conclusion: SOME Macbook Airs are defective and cannot play video properly. They should be returned. Others are perfectly fine and can handle video well. I think people need to be careful about drawing conclusions and making statements that the Macbook Air in general can't play a 720p video when in fact mine can, and I suspect most can.

If yours won't, just return it.

My 2 cents.

 

[shfawaz]

I love how people think or assume that just because its a MacBook Air and its thin and light, its only for light duty tasks. Nothing could be further from the truth. I can do practically do anything with an Air that I can do with my 17" MBP.

I have had my Air for two months, record High-Def OTA using an EyeTV Hybrid with an ATSC signal recording shows like Leno, Letterman, House MD, LOST, etc. and recording and playback are just as good as those on my 17" MacBook Pro. Sound and video are both superb.

Yes playing and recording videos is an intense process, however lesser Macbooks, Powerbooks, Mac's etc, with slower processors have tackled video processing and editing for years. To say the Macbook Air can't handle simple HD video playback is simply not true.

If your having trouble with video playback on your Air, you may indeed have a problem.

 

[hotdamn]

I love how people think or assume that just because its a MacBook Air and its thin and light, its only for light duty tasks. Nothing could be further from the truth. I can do practically do anything with an Air that I can do with my 17" MBP.

I have had my Air for two months, record High-Def OTA using an EyeTV Hybrid with an ATSC signal recording shows like Leno, Letterman, House MD, LOST, etc. and recording and playback are just as good as those on my 17" MacBook Pro. Sound and video are both superb.

Yes playing and recording videos is an intense process, however lesser Macbooks, Powerbooks, Mac's etc, with slower processors have tackled video processing and editing for years. To say the Macbook Air can't handle simple HD video playback is simply not true.

If your having trouble with video playback on your Air, you may indeed have a problem.

best post. this should be framed and pinned for everyone having a problem.

 

[hotdamn]

If your Air cant play SD .avi, .mp4 or .mpg files smoothly, it is defective take it back. If your Air cant play youtube videos, it is defective take it back. If it cant play 720p video (with proper ventilation, nothing else running and a good player like VLC) it is defective, take it back.

Actually, I changed my mind. This one's better. This should be aired on national television!

 

[WilliamG]

I've been saying this since the day I got my Air. I also have a 2.4GB Merom MacBook Pro, and there's no question that the Air can handle anything I throw at it just as well as my MBP. In fact, I wrote a review of the MBA on the Notebook forums, which you can feel free to check. I even compared my MBP to the MBA, and yes, the MBA is MORE than capable.

This isn't a plug for another forum or anything, but it's at least more info for people on the fence. The MBA rocks.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=232152c

 

[meagain]

WilliamG - Thanks for that link. Well done!

 

[ceehjayem]

For the people that has problems with simple videos, what configuration do you have? I will be getting my new 1.8/80 on wednesday and will report what I find out.

 

[ceehjayem]

I've been saying this since the day I got my Air. I also have a 2.4GB Merom MacBook Pro, and there's no question that the Air can handle anything I throw at it just as well as my MBP. In fact, I wrote a review of the MBA on the Notebook forums, which you can feel free to check. I even compared my MBP to the MBA, and yes, the MBA is MORE than capable.

This isn't a plug for another forum or anything, but it's at least more info for people on the fence. The MBA rocks.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=232152c

By the way, thank you for this review. It is AWESOME and with great detail and pictures. Nice 40D. I just sold my 30D to do an upgrade.

 

[queshy]

weird...my fans stay idle when watching videos, and I've never felt the machine to be "sluggish" even with several Safari tabs open and youtube playing. Haven't tried RP...

 

[HotAir]

I've yet to watch any movies on this thing. But those with *overheating* troubles might need to switch to slow-mo during XXX viewings. It's only a machine, you know... give it a break.

 

[WilliamG]

Thanks for the feedback, people. I can say that even in bed, watching YouTube or SD movies, there are no issues with the system overheating. However, with 720p HD movies, just make sure there's airflow toward the back, and everything should be dandy. I watched a 720p movie streamed from my Time Capsule via N wireless to my MacBook Air, and had zero issues for 2.5 hours of movie.

It's so tiresome to see the hate on the MacBook Air. It's a stunning laptop.

 

[hotdamn]

weird...my fans stay idle when watching videos, and I've never felt the machine to be "sluggish" even with several Safari tabs open and youtube playing. Haven't tried RP...

there is nothing weird about that, that is the expected behavior.

 

[greenmeanie]

I am starting to wonder what video's they are watching?
Maybe pirated videos from torrents? Which are ripped anyways and maybe poorly at that.

 

[hotdamn]

I am starting to wonder what video's they are watching?
Maybe pirated videos from torrents? Which are ripped anyways and maybe poorly at that.

those still shouldn't be a problem.
I mean come on, are we really gonna argue that a 480i divx video should tax a core 2 duo? or youtube?
Give me a break.
Something is terribly wrong with some of these machines.

 

[EMAGDNIM]

Seriously, I was messing around with one today for a while (making my final decision on which macbook to buy) and I brought some movies on a USB drive and the demo unit didn't have any problems playing back the videos I had. If you are having problems playing back simple things like youtube then take your Air back to the store...