Choppy video playback on Mac Mini using QT, iTunes, VLC but not PLEX...

[tbayrgs]

I'm having problems playing back video on my Mac Mini (hooked up to a Samsung Plasma) using all varieties of media players, including VLC, Quicktime, and iTunes. Regardless of the media file (SD, HD, various bitrates) it always appears choppy/studders. Yet, when I playback video in PLEX, I have no problems.

All of my media is kept on an external HDD connected to the mini via FW800. When I playback any of the media on any other device--macbook connected wirelessly (802.11N) or streamed to an TV I also have no issues, video is very smooth.

Any ideas what is causing the problem?

 

[srexy]

Plex is better at playback than the others.

 

[tbayrgs]

Plex is better at playback than the others.

Oh I agree but this seems to be a symptom of another problem(s). It happens with ANY video that I play--I know the mini isn't that powerful but my macbook can play it back fine using a wireless connection and inferior graphics capabilities.

 

[Dapness]

I had a problem similar to yours a few days ago. I have a Mac Mini hooked up to a 54' Plasma and for some reason I was running 1080p at 24hz. I dont remember changing that setting but I was getting all kind of stuttering and the audio track didn't match up. I tried EVERYTHING before I finally decided to bump the resolution down to 720p even though I had been running 1080p for months without any issues. I just happened to notice that the hz were set to 24hz and after I changed that back to 60hz everything worked fine.

 

[tbayrgs]

I had a problem similar to yours a few days ago. I have a Mac Mini hooked up to a 54' Plasma and for some reason I was running 1080p at 24hz. I dont remember changing that setting but I was getting all kind of stuttering and the audio track didn't match up. I tried EVERYTHING before I finally decided to bump the resolution down to 720p even though I had been running 1080p for months without any issues. I just happened to notice that the hz were set to 24hz and after I changed that back to 60hz everything worked fine.

You might be onto something there. I switched from 720p to 1080p resolution a little while back as well and can't recall if I previously had the problem as I usually don't watch anything outside of Plex. I'll give it a go later and see if the problem disappears. Thanks for the suggestion.