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The 11.6" MBA and 1080p MKV

ImperialX

ImperialX

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 17, 2007
1,339
23
Tokyo, Japan
Anyone with a 11.6" MBA, 1.4Ghz, 4GB RAM, care to try playing a 1080p MKV file encoded in h.264 and x.264 + FLAC audio? I'm very interested in seeing the performance.

This is a killer feature for people who watch anime. ;)
 
D

drjsway

macrumors 6502a
Jan 8, 2009
936
2
ImperialX said:
Anyone with a 11.6" MBA, 1.4Ghz, 4GB RAM, care to try playing a 1080p MKV file encoded in h.264 and x.264 + FLAC audio? I'm very interested in seeing the performance.

This is a killer feature for people who watch anime. ;)
Click to expand...

Just tested it. 100% smooth in VLC.
 
T

The Final Cut

macrumors 6502
Sep 5, 2009
378
0
ImperialX said:
Thank you very much. Do you happen to have a 1080p TV/display you can connect to and see if there is any form of stuttering at that resolution?

Greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

I am curious about this too, 1080p playback is great and all, but if there are issues playing on an external 1080p monitor I would have too pass on the air.
 
ImperialX

ImperialX

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 17, 2007
1,339
23
Tokyo, Japan
The Final Cut said:
I am curious about this too, 1080p playback is great and all, but if there are issues playing on an external 1080p monitor I would have too pass on the air.
Click to expand...

I think you mean just the 11.6" model. The 13.3" can play 1080p back on an external 1080p monitor without a problem.
 
M

Maila87

macrumors member
Jan 2, 2010
31
0
Sounds nice. Can you get info from Activity monitor please during playback?

I need for work 1080p MKV playback on 720p and 1080p external device. But the 11,6" model looks so nice and handy.

BTW: If I tried to play 1080p MKV x264 on MacbookPro 2,2GHz, GF 8500GT 2GB RAM, it was slideshow. After upgrade to newest VLC it is watchable for now.
 
D

drjsway

macrumors 6502a
Jan 8, 2009
936
2
ImperialX said:
Thank you very much. Do you happen to have a 1080p TV/display you can connect to and see if there is any form of stuttering at that resolution?

Greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

100% smooth connected to 1080p TV. CPU activity only 40-50%.
 
KnightWRX

KnightWRX

macrumors Pentium
Jan 28, 2009
15,046
4
Quebec, Canada
ImperialX said:
try playing a 1080p MKV file encoded in h.264 and x.264 + FLAC audio?

This is a killer feature for people who watch anime. ;)
Click to expand...

Get the 720p version anyway. Most Anime doesn't air in HD in Japan, much less in 1080p. You're just getting upscaled files that just take up more space than they need to.

Not that I doubt the MBA can playback those files, just that wasting bandwidth is ridiculous.
 
ImperialX

ImperialX

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 17, 2007
1,339
23
Tokyo, Japan
KnightWRX said:
Get the 720p version anyway. Most Anime doesn't air in HD in Japan, much less in 1080p. You're just getting upscaled files that just take up more space than they need to.

Not that I doubt the MBA can playback those files, just that wasting bandwidth is ridiculous.
Click to expand...

*Cough* BDRip *Cough*

Completely unrelated question, you're probably a fan of TTGL, looking at your avatar?
 
M

Meever

macrumors 6502a
Jun 30, 2009
641
30
1080p anime seems kind of wasteful most of the time. Unless it's a full length movie with a big studio behind it most animes have pretty shoddy production quality these days and the extra details from 720 to 1080 seems almost nonexistent. I'd rather be able to fit a whole season onto a flash drive opposed to three episodes XD
 
I

illLAdelph

macrumors newbie
Oct 28, 2010
4
0
Yes, exactly, I have plenty of 1080p mkv's and a 1080p Samsung LCD that I want to play them on...

So if I get a 1.4 will I notice any major differences in power vs the 1.6? Like any specific known problems or slowing down?

And I assume it is more important to get 4gb of ram vs 2 instead of 1.6 vs 1.4?
 
M

Maila87

macrumors member
Jan 2, 2010
31
0
illLAdelph said:
Yes, exactly, I have plenty of 1080p mkv's and a 1080p Samsung LCD that I want to play them on...

So if I get a 1.4 will I notice any major differences in power vs the 1.6? Like any specific known problems or slowing down?

And I assume it is more important to get 4gb of ram vs 2 instead of 1.6 vs 1.4?
Click to expand...

When played 1080p MKVs in VLC on my MacBookPro from 2007 with 2GBs RAM. There were no problem. Yes it has more powered CPU, but RAM is just 2GBs.

So guess, that this shouldn't be the bottleneck.
 
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