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MBA 11 Ultimate-Vimeo HD Lag Test

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donster28

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Oct 5, 2006
1,726
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Great White North
Have had my MBA 11 for weeks now and it works great so far.

I have been watching HD YouTube and Vimeo videos with no problems but I noticed last night that some Vimeo vids are really choppy when played full screen. Here's a really good short called Blinky TM (for all you horror/robot fans...you'll love it!!!) that exhibits this:

(Please play in full screen)

http://vimeo.com/hd#21216091

Could anyone with the same MBA let me know if this problem is universal? Results from slower and faster MBA's also are appreciated.

Thanks for your help. :)
 
Last edited:
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bella92108

macrumors 68000
Mar 1, 2006
1,610
0
donster28 said:
Have had my MBA 11 for weeks now and it works great so far.

I have been watching HD YouTube and Vimeo videos with no problems but I noticed last night that some Vimeo vids are really choppy when played full screen. Here's a really good short called Blinky TM (for all you horror/robot fans...you'll love it!!!) that exhibits this:

(Please play in full screen)

http://vimeo.com/hd#21216091

Could anyone with the same MBA let me know if this problem is universal? Results from slower and faster MBA's also are appreciated.

Thanks for your help. :)
Click to expand...

11" MBA 1.4ghz, 128gb = No issues on playback... likely something is tying up a system resource or something installed isn't playing nice. Backup and do a clean restore and try again. Worst case if it doesn't fix it, you can restore the old backup and don't lose anything. Have you checked on alternative internet connections? I'm on Comcrap 25mbit, but i know some other providers do some strange bandwidth "optimization" that can cause issues for HD playback... unlikely but something....
 
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donster28

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Oct 5, 2006
1,726
811
Great White North
bella92108 said:
11" MBA 1.4ghz, 128gb = No issues on playback... likely something is tying up a system resource or something installed isn't playing nice. Backup and do a clean restore and try again. Worst case if it doesn't fix it, you can restore the old backup and don't lose anything. Have you checked on alternative internet connections? I'm on Comcrap 25mbit, but i know some other providers do some strange bandwidth "optimization" that can cause issues for HD playback... unlikely but something....
Click to expand...

Sorry but did you play it in full screen?
 
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bella92108

macrumors 68000
Mar 1, 2006
1,610
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donster28 said:
Sorry but did you play it in full screen?
Click to expand...

Yes.

It's got to be a software issue where something you have is conflicting. The MBA specs are 10x what you need for this type of playback, so it's not a hardware performance issue.
 
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donster28

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Oct 5, 2006
1,726
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Great White North
bella92108 said:
Yes.

It's got to be a software issue where something you have is conflicting. The MBA specs are 10x what you need for this type of playback, so it's not a hardware performance issue.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I tried to run it on Firefox and it ran smoother. You're right, there must be something on Safari. Checked resources but cannot find anything hogging anything.

I remember restoring from Time Machine when I first got my MBA so a fresh install this time around might do the trick.

Thanks again. :)
 
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bella92108

macrumors 68000
Mar 1, 2006
1,610
0
donster28 said:
Thanks. I tried to run it on Firefox and it ran smoother. You're right, there must be something on Safari. Checked resources but cannot find anything hogging anything.

I remember restoring from Time Machine when I first got my MBA so a fresh install this time around might do the trick.

Thanks again. :)
Click to expand...

Ever since the last Safari update I've been underwhelmed by it's performance.

When the new firefox came out, I'm baffled as to how much faster it runs than safari. You'd think Apple would be able to make a faster browser given they make the OS, the hardware, and the browser. It's beginning to cause me to question apple's direction.
 
R

Ridley

macrumors regular
Mar 28, 2011
111
0
That video was stuttering for me too at about 2 minutes. I paused and let it load which fixed it then it started to stutter again at about 9:45 (i like the video btw thanks). I have an older MBP, not the MBA, but I can tell you I've been watching full screen flash movies off Hulu and in HD off Netflix for years without stuttering. I googled and found an old thread on the issue, but I don't think there is a fix. I think its just strange behavior. http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1666546

For the video you showed if i let it sit for a while, even if it looks like its loaded plenty in advance it would eventually play without stutter. The thread i linked you mentioned something about a 30 second wait?
 
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donster28

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Oct 5, 2006
1,726
811
Great White North
Ridley said:
That video was stuttering for me too at about 2 minutes. I paused and let it load which fixed it then it started to stutter again at about 9:45 (i like the video btw thanks). I have an older MBP, not the MBA, but I can tell you I've been watching full screen flash movies off Hulu and in HD off Netflix for years without stuttering. I googled and found an old thread on the issue, but I don't think there is a fix. I think its just strange behavior. http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1666546

For the video you showed if i let it sit for a while, even if it looks like its loaded plenty in advance it would eventually play without stutter. The thread i linked you mentioned something about a 30 second wait?
Click to expand...

No probs. :) It is indeed a well made short! I need more Blinky now...hehe :(

A while back, I have uploaded my own HD videos on Vimeo and followed their requirements for uploading 720p. My videos are mp4 encodes at 5000 kb/s. They do not play well full screen too. :( Could it be the 5000 kb/s encode, I wonder.
 
slapguts

slapguts

macrumors 6502a
Jan 10, 2008
661
0
donster28 said:
Have had my MBA 11 for weeks now and it works great so far.

I have been watching HD YouTube and Vimeo videos with no problems but I noticed last night that some Vimeo vids are really choppy when played full screen. Here's a really good short called Blinky TM (for all you horror/robot fans...you'll love it!!!) that exhibits this:

(Please play in full screen)

http://vimeo.com/hd#21216091

Could anyone with the same MBA let me know if this problem is universal? Results from slower and faster MBA's also are appreciated.

Thanks for your help. :)
Click to expand...

Plays flawlessly on the MBA in my sig. Once I let it load for a bit, that is. I have ClickToFlash installed, so it loaded a non-flash version. Maybe that made a difference?

Great video, as well. Thanks for the link.
 
D

donster28

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Oct 5, 2006
1,726
811
Great White North
slapguts said:
Plays flawlessly on the MBA in my sig. Once I let it load for a bit, that is. I have ClickToFlash installed, so it loaded a non-flash version. Maybe that made a difference?

Great video, as well. Thanks for the link.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your input. This leads me to believe it's the Flash plug-in for Safari that's the culprit.
 
D

donster28

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Oct 5, 2006
1,726
811
Great White North
I am really worried that my unit is 'throttling down', totally unexpected but a possibility. Stuttering also happens when I play my home made mp4 1080p video played with Quicktime. I don't remember this happening on my friend's 11" ultimate.

Will have to go to a Genius tomorrow. :(
 
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Ridley

macrumors regular
Mar 28, 2011
111
0
donster28 said:
I am really worried that my unit is 'throttling down', totally unexpected but a possibility. Stuttering also happens when I play my home made mp4 1080p video played with Quicktime. I don't remember this happening on my friend's 11" ultimate.

Will have to go to a Genius tomorrow. :(
Click to expand...

Do let us know what you find out. Thank you.
 
D

donster28

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Oct 5, 2006
1,726
811
Great White North
Ridley said:
Do let us know what you find out. Thank you.
Click to expand...

UPDATE:

Just got back from the Apple Store. Spoke to a Genius and she couldn't believe this was happening. I tested their demo MBA 1.4 2 GB and they ran the video flawlessly.

Got a replacement brand new unit and it ran the video like butter in the store. I am now migrating my files and updating necessary apps.

Forgot to mention that the defective unit had its fans running like crazy when I attempted to run the video last night.

Will let you know how it goes from here.
 
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bella92108

macrumors 68000
Mar 1, 2006
1,610
0
donster28 said:
UPDATE:

Just got back from the Apple Store. Spoke to a Genius and she couldn't believe this was happening. I tested their demo MBA 1.4 2 GB and they ran the video flawlessly.

Got a replacement brand new unit and it ran the video like butter in the store. I am now migrating my files and updating necessary apps.

Forgot to mention that the defective unit had its fans running like crazy when I attempted to run the video last night.

Will let you know how it goes from here.
Click to expand...

There are fans in a 11" MacBook Air? I've never heard mine, and I do video encoding a lot... if I heard fans in a MB Air I'd be concerned, lol.
 
alecgold

alecgold

macrumors 65816
Oct 11, 2007
1,490
1,044
NLD
My iPad played it flawless, but only after it downloaded far enough, the download was quite slow.
 
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donster28

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Oct 5, 2006
1,726
811
Great White North
Update

UPDATE:

After updating to 10.6.7, the choppiness returned. I am now convinced 10.6.7 is not optimized.

To all who posted here with no problems, did you update to 10.6.7?
 
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