HD 1080p in MacBook Air ?

[cherishbearpapa]

Sigh~ Thanks for trying though.....

Can anyone who has an Air please give it a try?

Thanks!

 

[Consultant]

I just hit the Apple store and downloaded the same 10,000 BC 1080p trailer on the 1.8 SSD. Although the CPU wasn't 100% utilized the video did not play back smoothly. I had it set to the fit to window setting.

It was watchable, but by no means smooth. I'd put my money on it being the video card. Also, there were no other apps running at the time, but it wasn't after a clean boot.

Same here. Just went to the store. 1.8 SSD model. Not clean boot.

Tried Dark Knight
http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/thedarkknight/hd/


720p plays fine. 1080p is watchable, but my guess is that it's probably 80-90% frame rate. Oops, totally forgot to do COMMAND-I in quicktime to look at frame rate...

Full screen runs better than windowed mode with Activity Monitor showing. Speaker is weak (under keyboard), but there were a ton of people.

Might be a software thing, because the CPU utilization did not go above 100%, I do see blips of it going over 130% (dual core should be 200% max). If CPU can run faster, then it might be able to play 1080p. So it might be worth revisiting after some software updates.

Was going to try playing with VLC and other players, but there were lots of people waiting.

 

[cmm26red]

Hello all ,

For those of you who already received your Air, could you please try a 1080p trailer at the below link to test the smoothness of HD playback in Air?

http://www.apple.com/trailers/disney/walle/hd/

Also wondering if 1080p x264 .mkv HD will have a smooth playback in Air?

Thank you very much in advance!

Why would you want to run a non-native format on the MBA's display. This makes absolutely no sense to me given it's onboard graphics chip.

 

[bjdraw]

Why would you want to run a non-native format on the MBA's display. This makes absolutely no sense to me given it's onboard graphics chip.

It's easy if you think about it. What if you have a 1080p movie on your laptop for watching on your 30-inch cinema display, but you're going on a trip. Do you really want to transcode to 720p just to watch it on your MBA?

 

[cherishbearpapa]

Anyone?

 

[beast]

It's easy if you think about it. What if you have a 1080p movie on your laptop for watching on your 30-inch cinema display, but you're going on a trip. Do you really want to transcode to 720p just to watch it on your MBA?

Why would you put a 1080p movie on the MBA's tiny hard drive????

 

[Catch]

Why would you put a 1080p movie on the MBA's tiny hard drive????

I find that pretty odd as well. I think quite a few people have already posted that it does not run at full frame rate and gives a jerky, albeit usable playback. Personally I can't see how less than full frame rate can be considered usable, but then again I prefer watching my HDM on 50"+

I intend to use handbrake to 'rip' some of my DVD collection appropriately to take on long business trips, and also on trips with the family. Nothing like making a couple of hours on a plane go faster than with the kids watching a movie!

Regards,

C

 

[clayj]

I'm curious as to where people are even getting movies (not trailers) in 1080p format onto their computer's hard drive. It's not like you can rip a Blu-ray or HD-DVD movie. Normal DVDs only go up to 480p, and the MBA can handle that playback easily. Or are we talking about some HD movie downloaded from iTunes?

 

[Consultant]

I'm curious as to where people are even getting movies (not trailers) in 1080p format onto their computer's hard drive. It's not like you can rip a Blu-ray or HD-DVD movie. Normal DVDs only go up to 480p, and the MBA can handle that playback easily. Or are we talking about some HD movie downloaded from iTunes?

Blu-Ray and HD-DVD can be ripped, although it's a major pain.

Yup MBA can handle the typical DVD rip, and movie playback will be fine for most users except for those who absolutely cannot go without 1080p (only a few people). 720p works great in MBA...

 

[Catch]

. 720p works great in MBA...

That has to be the sweet spot for the size screen surely? I do follow the argument about re-ripping though...

By the by, will the Apple service be delivering at 1080p or 720p? Those are some BIG movie downloads if they are at 1080p...

C

 

[errol]

That has to be the sweet spot for the size screen surely? I do follow the argument about re-ripping though...

By the by, will the Apple service be delivering at 1080p or 720p? Those are some BIG movie downloads if they are at 1080p...

C

Blu-Ray disks are 25gb per layer (50gb for dual layers), so a full, uncompressed, blu-ray would be that size. Granted, HD-DVDs were smaller, these are being discontinued. With some menus and extras removed, I bet a full 90 minute 1080p Blu-Ray/HD-DVD with uncompressed audio and 5.1 audio, would probably be around 12-15gb.

 

[MRU]

Do you think it could simply be the crappy drivers for the X3100 chipset ?

Maybe explains the discrepancy of why original core duo macbook owners handle the format better ? The GMA 950 had / has infinitely better and maturer drivers.

 

[richard371]

Thats what i am thinking.

I hear 10.5.2 will have better x3100 drivers.

 

[elmo151]

indeed. 1080p is overkill and would need to be downsampled.

high definition 720p: 1280x720
MacBook Air resolution: 1280x800

= perfect (with small black bars of 40px each at top and bottom

if you go to the settings>>displays you can vary the resolution of your MBA.

 

[bjdraw]

a.b.hdtv.x264

 

[Consultant]

Blu-Ray disks are 25gb per layer (50gb for dual layers), so a full, uncompressed, blu-ray would be that size. Granted, HD-DVDs were smaller, these are being discontinued. With some menus and extras removed, I bet a full 90 minute 1080p Blu-Ray/HD-DVD with uncompressed audio and 5.1 audio, would probably be around 12-15gb.

When it's compressed, 1080p movies can be 4gb to 8gb and still look great.

 

[cherishbearpapa]

Could you please try this sample of Transformers in 1080p with your new Air and let me know if it's watchable (smooth/jerky)?

http://rapidshare.com/files/65877715/Transformers.HDDVD.1080p_20DTS.x264-CtrlHD.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/65877592/Transformers.HDDVD.1080p_20DTS.x264-CtrlHD.part2.rar

Please use VLC to play the file above.
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-macosx.html

THANKS A MILLION MATE!!!!!!

 

[aiongiant]

i tried 720p
that played smoooth!

1080p hoever was so-so.. watchable but jerky

 

[theappleguy]

Has anyone tried 1080i H.264 on a HDD based model (1.6GHz or 1.8GHz)? If 1080p is almost watchable, one would assume 1080i would run fine?

 

[Mr-Stabby]

The Apple 1080p trailers on my 2.16ghz CD MacBook Pro (10.5.1) with 2gb RAM and 256mb ATI X1600 run at 15fps compared to the actual 24fps framerate. In Full Screen it's even worse!

Strangely on my 2.5ghz Dual Core G5 PowerMac with 256mb GeForce 7800 Ultra it's almost as bad! Tried plugging it into a Sony Bravia 1080p TV with HDMI-DVI converter and it ran like a dog!

Haven't tried it on anything newer though but i cannot imagine a MacBook Air would be any better! Especially with such a small processor and integrated graphics

 

[Consultant]

The Apple 1080p trailers on my 2.16ghz CD MacBook Pro (10.5.1) with 2gb RAM and 256mb ATI X1600 run at 15fps compared to the actual 24fps framerate. In Full Screen it's even worse!

Strangely on my 2.5ghz Dual Core G5 PowerMac with 256mb GeForce 7800 Ultra it's almost as bad! Tried plugging it into a Sony Bravia 1080p TV with HDMI-DVI converter and it ran like a dog!

Haven't tried it on anything newer though but i cannot imagine a MacBook Air would be any better! Especially with such a small processor and integrated graphics

GEEKBENCH score of 1.8 ghz + SSD drive (it's slightly higher than PowerMac G5 Dual Core 2.5ghz):
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/427091/

 

[queuecipher]

I'm not sure how this works, but with hdtvs one can only notice 1080p when on a larger tv. Even then, the notice is dependent on viewing distance. Is there a benefit from watching 1080p from a couple of feet away on a 13.3" screen?

 

[gnasher729]

Hello all ,

For those of you who already received your Air, could you please try a 1080p trailer at the below link to test the smoothness of HD playback in Air?

http://www.apple.com/trailers/disney/walle/hd/

Also wondering if 1080p x264 .mkv HD will have a smooth playback in Air?

Thank you very much in advance!

Could you explain to us what is the point of playing a 1080p video on a 1200 x 800 pixel monitor?

 

[Consultant]

I'm not sure how this works, but with hdtvs one can only notice 1080p when on a larger tv. Even then, the notice is dependent on viewing distance. Is there a benefit from watching 1080p from a couple of feet away on a 13.3" screen?

No perceived quality difference on internal screen when paused.

When 1080p is discussed, it's implied that it will be connected to 1080p display / HDTV. For most people 720p and 1080p will not have a perceived difference at viewing distance (and actually watching the video, NOT putting face close to screen and say "oh I see it's slightly different), unless the output size is huge.

 

[QuarterSwede]

The Apple 1080p trailers on my 2.16ghz CD MacBook Pro (10.5.1) with 2gb RAM and 256mb ATI X1600 run at 15fps compared to the actual 24fps framerate. In Full Screen it's even worse!

Strangely on my 2.5ghz Dual Core G5 PowerMac with 256mb GeForce 7800 Ultra it's almost as bad! Tried plugging it into a Sony Bravia 1080p TV with HDMI-DVI converter and it ran like a dog!

Haven't tried it on anything newer though but i cannot imagine a MacBook Air would be any better! Especially with such a small processor and integrated graphics

I don't know. My wife's 2.16GHz C2D MB runs 1080p smoothly (even when scrubbing). I wouldn't be surprised if it ran it fine.

By the by, will the Apple service be delivering at 1080p or 720p? Those are some BIG movie downloads if they are at 1080p...

Movies on iTS are 720p.