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MacBook playing 1080p

tuartboy said:
Apparently all HD content in any useful form is illegal these days...
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Ouch

tuartboy said:
No, I don't. I installed b4 and it plays with about the same CPU utilzation as VLC in the previous screen grab. No sound.
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I get no sound and stuttering on my iMac.

tuartboy said:
You sure about that? The screen grab a couple posts back of my 4-core Mac Pro is using VLC and it distributed pretty evenly across all 4.
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I see the attachment but I can't save it.
 
I get full performance in VLC on my Mac mini Core Duo 1.83 GHz w/1.25 GB of RAM using the sample clip.

You can't multitask with it up though. (120-150% CPU usage.)
 
Alright, I got the sample to playback without any problems.
Doubt its gonna work for the entire length of the movie.

VLC nightly - latest branch.
Settings: (advanced checked) input / codecs >> other codecs >> FFmpeg >> skip the loop filter for H.264 decoding >> All
 
Works fine for me

I tried playing the sample movie posted in the latest release version of VLC (0.86a) and it was fine and didn't drop any frames that I could tell. I have a Macbook C2D 2.0ghz with 2GB of RAM.
 
Just a note... MacBooks are 1280x800, and 720p is 1280x720, meaning that playing 720p files means absolutely no resizing, the files can play natively fullscreen. On the other hand, a 1080p video would need to be downsampled; in this case it's better the 720p movie. So what's the big deal about watching this huge 1080p videos?

Unless you're plugged to a 1080p-capable TV.
 
@tuartboy: Thank you for testing. Glad you like my style :D

@khisayruou; Very interesting. Why do you doubt it would work for the entire movie? Worked very well for the clip. I think we might have a winner.

@clicq: Did you use the settings in the post above you? If not, I am suprised.

@mcmillan: Yep, I realize this and have most of my movies in 720p, but I hook it up to HDTVs as well :D


Thank you all for your help. Seems like the computer is fully capable, just not fully optimized. That tricky VLC thing seemed to solve it for now.
 
dav said:
@khisayruou; Very interesting. Why do you doubt it would work for the entire movie? Worked very well for the clip. I think we might have a winner.
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Cause the scene that causes me problems were the action sequences and the clip you provided is short so I have no real way of telling if it will hang or not on longer sequences. Let us know if it works out!
 
dav said:
@clicq: Did you use the settings in the post above you? If not, I am suprised.

Thank you all for your help. Seems like the computer is fully capable, just not fully optimized. That tricky VLC thing seemed to solve it for now.
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I didn't have to change any of those settings -- in fact I don't think I've changed any settings from the defaults. If there's anything I can check for you, I'd be happy to do so...
 
I found that if I used the Universal Binary version of VLC player rather than the Intel Package played Hi-Definition files perfectly and flawlessly.

I'd give that a try if you are on an Intel MB.
 
ipaqowner said:
If I upgrade to Quicktime Pro can I save the Quicktime HD samples?
Where can I buy/download HD Movies in Quicktime format?
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You don't need QT Pro to get many (or most) of the HD samples from the Apple site, but the workaround is a bit of geekery you mightn't be comfortable with. You need to inspect the source of the webpage to get the URL pointing to the sample, and use the Terminal command curl to grab and save the movie.

This doesn't work if the movie is a QuickTime reference movie, but I think you can get the URL the qtl file is pointing to - it's been some time since I did this.

Admittedly, using QT Pro is much easier, but as an example try this - open Terminal and type:
Code: 
curl http://images.apple.com/movies/us/hd_gallery/gl1800/1080p/wink_m1080p.mov > wink.mov


By the way, although this is the second time today I've posted about curl, it isn't something I've just discovered, rather it's just coincidence. I've been using it for years.
 
Eidorian said:
4. VLC had rather broken (stupid high CPU and stuttering) xh264 in .mkv container playback until 0.85. Even so it's still not great.
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The latest VLC plays back pretty much every codec under the sun. And better playback than quicktime itself for quicktime's own h.264 on slower machines.
 
gkarris said:
Here's the specs from Apple for 1080p

Dual 2.0 GHz PowerMac G5 or 2.0 GHz Intel Core Duo or faster Macintosh computer
At least 512MB of RAM
128MB or greater video card

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/player/specs.html

Integrated Intel GMA 950 in a MB won't cut it...

Maybe the next Intel GMA? (anyone?)
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I'm watching a 1080p HD sample right now on a first gen MacBook (1.83GHz, 1GB RAM) and I don't notice any dropped frames or stuttering ...

... when using QuickTime or Front Row. I didn't try VLC.

For some reason, viewing the same movie in iTunes, I do see stuttering when there's lots of motion.

Looking at the movie info pane (command-I) in QuickTime, the fps does drop during motion, but never any lower than 17fps (source is 30fps).

So HD quality seems to depend on the playback application being used, although I thought iTunes used QT for video playback.

If it's this good (albeit not perfect) with GMA950, then yes, the next generation integrated graphics will be fine.
 
scottlinux said:
The latest VLC plays back pretty much every codec under the sun. And better playback than quicktime itself for quicktime's own h.264 on slower machines.
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As long as you don't include PPC Macs in your "slower machines", maybe.
 
Tried this (Kill Bill 1080p sample) on my C2D MacBook Pro (2.16) and it played flawlessly. 50% CPU usage and smooth playback. Quicktime however, wouldn't even open it. Disgusting scene btw...funny but disgusting.
 
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