Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Macbook air HD video test

Z

zunairryk

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 8, 2009
217
3
Vancouver, BC
Hi all, im using Macbook air rev. b 1.86ghz/128gb. Im having problems playing youtube videos in HD. Normal videos play just fine, however, if i play them in HD format, then it starts to stutter.

Im posting links to two videos, can you play them on your macbook air and let me know if there's any stuttering or not, along with the Rev. ( a, b or c) MBA you are using.

Thanks

Link 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5f-MYl-HzNw
Link 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37e3pZ5rmqI
:apple:
 
D

Durious

macrumors 6502
Apr 11, 2008
282
1
Calgary, Alberta
zunairryk said:
Hi all, im using Macbook air rev. b 1.86ghz/128gb. Im having problems playing youtube videos in HD. Normal videos play just fine, however, if i play them in HD format, then it starts to stutter.

Im posting links to two videos, can you play them on your macbook air and let me know if there's any stuttering or not, along with the Rev. ( a, b or c) MBA you are using.

Thanks

Link 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5f-MYl-HzNw
Link 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37e3pZ5rmqI
:apple:
Click to expand...

They stutter regardless of which I use, although if I download them and watch in a separate player they are fine. (Flash = Bad well at least for macs). Try running the same in a bootcamp on Windows and you will have better results
 
Z

zunairryk

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 8, 2009
217
3
Vancouver, BC
Durious said:
They stutter regardless of which I use, although if I download them and watch in a separate player they are fine. (Flash = Bad well at least for macs). Try running the same in a bootcamp on Windows and you will have better results
Click to expand...

yeah same here, if i let it load first and then play it, then there's no suttering or anything. I even tried installing windows XP through Fusion, and then tried playing the same videos, but stuttering was even worse :rolleyes:. ( i did allow 2 cores and about 1gb ram BTW).
 
Spanky Deluxe

Spanky Deluxe

macrumors demi-god
Mar 17, 2005
5,285
1,789
London, UK
zunairryk said:
yeah same here, if i let it load first and then play it, then there's no suttering or anything. I even tried installing windows XP through Fusion, and then tried playing the same videos, but stuttering was even worse :rolleyes:. ( i did allow 2 cores and about 1gb ram BTW).
Click to expand...

Just tried it with the new flash version and it stutters less but definitely still does. This just goes to show how useless Flash is.
 
Z

zunairryk

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 8, 2009
217
3
Vancouver, BC
Spanky Deluxe said:
Download Flash 10.1 Beta and see if that helps: https://www.macrumors.com/2009/11/17/adobe-launches-flash-player-10-1-prerelease-build/

Edit: FWIW, I just tried viewing those videos on my 2.53GHz Unibody MacBook Pro and they stuttered too.
Click to expand...

oh that sucks :(. I guess its just the flash on OS X that SUCKS :mad:. Bc on my almost 2 years old dell xps (1.6 ghz C2D) and like 4 years PC, they play just FINE.

I did install 10.1 beta, although it still stutters, but not as much as it did in 10.0.xx version of flash
 
D

Durious

macrumors 6502
Apr 11, 2008
282
1
Calgary, Alberta
zunairryk said:
yeah same here, if i let it load first and then play it, then there's no suttering or anything. I even tried installing windows XP through Fusion, and then tried playing the same videos, but stuttering was even worse :rolleyes:. ( i did allow 2 cores and about 1gb ram BTW).
Click to expand...

I said bootcamp
 
a.Lias

a.Lias

macrumors member
Nov 17, 2005
50
3
@OP: Played fine for me in W7 with the Flash 10.1 Beta. Rev.B, 1.6 HDD.
 
M

MGLXP

macrumors 6502
Sep 29, 2005
271
26
The youtube videos played without stuttering for me (without preloading) on my 2.16GHz MacBook Air in Mac OS X 10.6.2. But, it was only possible with Flash 10.1 and overriding the default SpeedStep (which would lower the CPU frequency to 1.6GHz or 800MHz no matter what) with Coolbook (which made sure the CPU frequency stayed at 2.16GHz at higher CPU usage scenarios).
 
A

awesomedeluxe

macrumors 6502
Jun 29, 2009
262
105
Very strange. I'm using linux, which I would assume got an equally sucky version of flash, on a much older computer--Pentium M, Mobility Radeon X300 with 32MB of VRAM. No stuttering.
 
M

MGLXP

macrumors 6502
Sep 29, 2005
271
26
awesomedeluxe said:
Very strange. I'm using linux, which I would assume got an equally sucky version of flash, on a much older computer--Pentium M, Mobility Radeon X300 with 32MB of VRAM. No stuttering.
Click to expand...

Did you make sure that the HD button was on? The regular non-HD version is a lot less CPU intensive.
 
L

LinMac

macrumors 65816
Oct 28, 2007
1,270
43
This isn't an HD video test. This is a Flash HD video test.

There is a big difference between those.

Using VLC 1.0.3 I can play almost any video I would like using software decoding. Properly encoded video plays via Quicktime X taking almost no CPU power at all (Rev. B/C only).

Adobe has made an absolutely terrible piece of software for OS X. The Linux version has benefited from a 64bit rewrite that really helped even the 32bit build.
 
Z

zunairryk

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 8, 2009
217
3
Vancouver, BC
Thanks for the feedback guys. I have noticed that flash 10.1 does help alot. I have had so much stuttering before, but after installing 10.1 its ALOT better, there's almost no stuttering in the 2nd video (the bb storm one),whereas on previous version of flash it was so choppy.

However, its still not perfect. I hate how my 4 years old pc (AMD Athlon) can play the HD videos perfectly without any hiccups, but the macbook air can't. But im glad that its improving. Maybe the final version will be even better ;)
 
MBHockey

MBHockey

macrumors 601
Oct 4, 2003
4,055
303
Connecticut
Spanky Deluxe said:
Did you preload the video? Playback definitely wasn't completely smooth on my MBP unless I preloaded the whole video. It wasn't stuttering much but the frame rate definitely wasn't 100% constant.
Click to expand...

No I just clicked it and it started playing, then immediately switched to HD. It played smoothly without letting it download first. It did download very quickly...probably about 10 seconds. I have a 25/20 fios line. I don't imagine this has anything to do with me having an SSD?
 
a.Lias

a.Lias

macrumors member
Nov 17, 2005
50
3
tigres said:
Both played ok on my Rev B SSD, with flash beta 10.1.

However, I would like to know if anyone can play this at all without stutter.

I have never been able to watch these.

http://www.hulu.com/hd/48731
Click to expand...

Wow - I didn't even know that Hulu had full 720 shows online! No dice for me in SL - it would stutter for a few frames every ten seconds. :(
 
MBHockey

MBHockey

macrumors 601
Oct 4, 2003
4,055
303
Connecticut
a.chufong said:
Wow - I didn't even know that Hulu had full 720 shows online! No dice for me in SL - it would stutter for a few frames every ten seconds. :(
Click to expand...

tigres said:
Both played ok on my Rev B SSD, with flash beta 10.1.

However, I would like to know if anyone can play this at all without stutter.

I have never been able to watch these.

http://www.hulu.com/hd/48731
Click to expand...

This also plays smoothly for me. Again, I have the 13" MBP with and SSD and the 10.1 Flash beta.

How high does your CPU spike when watching HD flash videos?
 
Z

zunairryk

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 8, 2009
217
3
Vancouver, BC
lucifiel said:
you don't need a superdrive to install Windows...though you have XP, so i guess that's different/

I ran both the HD videos in Win 7 and OS X, no problems and no stutter.
Click to expand...

Really? Can you please tell me how or post a link? From my research, i gathered that you cant install it remotely, and it wont boot off USB :(
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom