Mac Mini cannot play iTunes HD content smoothly.

[iBunny]

I have borrowed a 2GHz Core 2 Duo, 1GB Ram, NVidia 9400 to see how it would work as a media center.

It cannot play back any of my iTunes HD videos smoothly.

According to Apple... The following is required

2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo or faster processor is required to play HD video, an iTunes LP, or iTunes Extras from the iTunes Store
512MB of RAM; 1GB is required to play HD video, an iTunes LP, or iTunes Extras

So what gives? I want to buy a new Mac Mini (2.53Ghz, 4GB Ram, 9400) but fear that the extra 533 MHz wont be enough. Some series, such as Battlestar Galactica HD is completely unwatchable.

 

[fa8362]

I use a 2.26 with 2GB RAM and haven't had any trouble playing back HD videos in iTunes, but I rarely use iTunes for that. Perhaps it's a RAM issue since 1 GB of RAM means the 9400 is only able to use 128MB of RAM. 2 GB RAM enables the 9400 to use 256MB of RAM.

 

[powerbook911]

The 2.53 machine is the same as what is in top 13 and low end 15 MacBook Pros. They can certainly play HD iTunes video.

Furthermore, I have the 2 GHZ Mac Mini, and it can play the video you mentioned without problem. I do have more memory, but for a while I ran it with 1 GB and I didn't have much problem then either.

I think you'll find the 2.53 Mini to be super fast.

 

[Cave Man]

I had a 2 ghz Core 2 Duo/GMA950 Mini and it could play 1080p content using Plex. Unfortunately, Quicktime isn't that great of an app, but for the Mini you have it should play those videos just fine since they are encoded in h.264 and that Mini has hardware acceleration. I would open Activity Monitor and see what's going on while you're attempting to play the video.

 

[HungrySeacow]

The problem might be the 1GB of RAM. With only 1GB the mini reserves 128MB of RAM as video RAM. With 2GB or more (as long as you have two sticks of RAM) it will reserve 256MB.

 

[Cave Man]

128 mb of vRAM is plenty for video playback. Even the GMA950 Mini and its 64 mb of vRAM will play 1080p content.

 

[HungrySeacow]

Before I added 4GBs of RAM to my mini it only had one 1GB stick. Playing 1080p trailers from apple.com/trailers was choppy. With 4GBs it runs silky smooth. Also remember that you have more memory bandwidth with two sticks rather then one.