[Bossman]

Hey all. I had heard that QuickTime 4 supported MP3's, so I tried it out. The playback was excellant, but there were a few issues. For one thing, there's no playlist option, something that MacAmp did well. Also, when playing off of a Zip Drive, the playback was really jerky. Any suggestions? Thanks.

Tim

[Bryan]

I am also experiencing jerky mp3 playback. I am using a Performa 6400/180 with the original 1.6GB hard drive. I suspect that it may relate to processor speed or disk space, but I haven't yet tried this on a faster machine. the same mp3s play without problem using MacAmp.

What's causing the jerky MP3 playback in QuickTime 4 is most likely the lack of a playback memory buffer. This is what allows smooth playback of MP3's in MacAmp and SoundApp (SoundApp's buffer is even adjustable .
I'm also curious as to whether or not either of you are running with Virtual Memory or not; Mine's turned off.

[SmileyDude]

I also have a 6400/180. But I've done some upgrading on it. I have 136M of RAM, a 4G SCSI drive, and a 256k L2 cache. I'm running MacOS 8.5.1 and no VM.

I've noticed that in general, playback is about the same as SoundApp, but when I try to adjust the bass and/or treble, the sound starts breaking up.

I've also noticed that when I play movies, the sound quality is worse than under QT 3. I tried movies from the QT 4 website, and just for good measure, any QT movies that I had laying around on the hard drive. All sounded worse than under QT 3.


------------------
dennis

MP3 playback is a bit jerky for me as well, unless QuickTime Player is the frontmost application. However, MacAMP does not have this problem on my machine. I don't think this is a CPU or RAM issue, since this even happens on my G3/400 w/ 128 RAM.

Delorean is probably right in that QuickTime's just not doing a very good job of buffering the data. I would imagine this is being fixed, but good to post anyway.

- Scott

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Scott Stevenson
Contributing Editor,
MacN

Sound quality is top-notch for me in QT4. There is a mysterious little checkbox that may hold some answers.

1. Open any movie
2. Hit Command-I (get info)
3. Select "sound track" from the left drop-down box
4. Select "High Quality" from the right drop-down box.
5. Click the checkbox called "High Quality Enabled."


See if that helps any and please report your findings.

Thanks,

- Scott

Um, I can't even get QuickTime Player to even OPEN mp3 files. If I have a window open and drag an mp3 to the tray, it shows up on the tray as a piece of film with a number four on it. But, if I try to play the file from the tray, it gives me an error. Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Ster

P.S. G3 266, 8.5.1, 32MB RAM, RamDoubler8 set to 64 MB total memory, the same files work fine w/ MacAMP. -S

Is it possible you didn't install all of the QuickTime 4 components -- specifically the one that facilitates MP3 playback.

Not that I know which one that is. I would assume it's the MPEG component, but who knows?

- Scott

------------------
Scott Stevenson
Contributing Editor,
MacN

>Is it possible you didn't install all of the QuickTime 4 components -- specifically the one that facilitates MP3 playback.
>Not that I know which one that is. I would assume it's the MPEG component, but who knows?

Nope, I checked on that first thing. The only thing I didn't install was QT for Java. According to the Updater program, that's the only component that's not installed. It also reports that there's an updated Internet Extras extension, but it's the same as the original d/l, and the Updater keeps saying it's 'new' even after I d/l-ed it once.
Any other ideas?
-Ster

for mp3's that don't play just change the creator and type of the document to
PLAY and mAmp in filebuddy or something similar.

>for mp3's that don't play just change the creator and type of the document to PLAY and mAmp in filebuddy or something similar.

They were already PLAY/mAmp files. MacAMP plays them fine, but QuickTime Player still barfs at them. I'm at a loss here. I've heard that QT4 does mp3's really well, but it'd be nice to know first hand, you know?
ARGH!
-Ster

(Actually, best for Quicktime so far is creator 'TVOD' and filetype 'Mp3 ' (note space)) --
This ISN't the problem ...

Quicktime 4 does NOT recognize ID3v2 tags, only ID3 tags -- anything that's been tagged with ID3v2 tags does not register as a valid MP3 in Quicktime Player.

I have found that improper ID3 tags in MP3 files affect the play back in QT4. This is what causes the jerky playback. There are several programs out that strip/edit the ID3 tags, but I haven't experiment with which ones work.

However, even when QT4 is not jumpy on MP3s, the sound quality is less than what is provided by MacAmp, Vamp, or even StreamWorks streaming player. Maybe QT4 supports better variable bit rate encoded files... I haven't yet tried that...

Enjoy yourselves

Just as a test, I installed QT4 on a old Gateway 2000 P5/133 with only 16MB of RAM, running Win98. And the quality of playback on MP3's was excellent. The only thing to compromise the quality was when I was pulling/pushing the drawer.

Ah, so the tags are the culprit! That may well be: I've gone through and manually changed almost every files' tags (well, not manually; I used MacAMP Tag Editor, but you know what I mean). I'll see about striping tags from a few files and see if that works.
Thanks all,
Ster

[Gordon Werner]

folks ... QT4 does not play mp2s they show up as the little movie icon with the 4 on it


Gordon

So i've changed tags, the settings in the quicktime player info, vitual memory is off, i've given the player more memory, turned a heap of extensions off and on, made sure it's the only app running and it's still choppy and playing slow, about 22 seconds of mp3 for every 30 seconds of real time. i'm using a 7200/120, but that seems not to be the issue as people with G3 400's still have this problem. I'm on OS 8.5.1, so what am i missing here?

It has to work, it's supposed to be so cool! aaargh!

[This message has been edited by ally (edited 04-22-99).]

Try sending an uncooperative mp3 to QT4 via FinderPop via the Processes menu - I've gotten alot that won't drag-and-drop to play that way.

[cyngus]

I have not experienced jerky playback on any machine (I've tested on PB G3/233, G3/300 (biege), G3/333, 7200/90, 7100/80, and 5200/75LC). However, on ONE machine, the 7100, I have experienced what I would describe as static, or choppyness is the sound output, however the playback does not appear to slow or break up, its like a very staticy phone line, but ONLY why I try to adjust treble or bass. On all the other machines I have tried it works great. I wonder if the version of system software with certain machines play a roll. All the machines I listed about are running 7.5.5, the G3's are running 8.5.1, I will test it on a 6400/180 today (7.5.5).

Yours,
Justin

This Beta does not support Variable Bitrate (VBR) encoding, therefore you may experience jerky or popping playback of some MP3 files. Every MP3 file that I've ripped/encoded with AudioCatalyst using Constant Bitrate encoding sounds fantastic. The Mac Quicktime Player does suffer from the problems associated with the OS's shared multitasking kernel, though.

It seems that id tags aren't the only culprit... I was getting lousy playback on my PB5300, which I'd figured was due to the overall speed of the machine. Then I opened the Get Info box for the mp3 I was playing to set the High Quality flag for the mp3 I was playing, and discovered that you can set the Preload and Cache Hint(?) flags as well. After doing that, playback was FLAWLESS.

I tried setting the same flags on the bbc56.mov streaming file I have on my drive, and it appears to work on streaming movies as well. It was still unwatchable, but at was less unwatchable.

The only problem I could see was that I had to save the mp3 file in QT's native format for the Preload/High Quality settings to work (It doesn't appear to work on the fly..), which completely destroys the portability of the file.. MacAmp Lite wouldn't play the changed file at all.

IMHO, the Preload and HighQ settings should be global Quicktime options, instead of on a per-movie basis.. Converting all your mp3 files to QT4 is a waste, when I could stick with MacAmp for quality playback.

HERE'S HOW TO FIX THE JERKYNESS in playing MP3's in QT4.

MacAmp and others play MP3s without skipping because they load the entire file into RAM, so it doesn't have to access the disk. A typical Quicktime movie however reads it's data sequentially off the disk, so it doesn't require large amounts of RAM. Anyway, if you open an MP3 file in Quicktime Player, do "Get Info", go to the Sound track, and go to "Preload". Check the Preload box. Close the file, and save it ALLOWING dependancies. Currently, trying to resave MP3s tends to freeze the player.

After it's saved, open the file you just saved, and it will play flawlessly. Someone needs to email Apple to tell them to make this a Global preference for all MP3 files.

<font color="green" size="+1"><u>Greetings</u>!</font>

One way to determine whether or not the MP3 jerkiness is caused by no preloading of the MP3 data is to create a RAM Disk and copy the MP3 to it. This, in essence, preloads the MP3 (like MacAmp, for instance) and eliminates the need for hard drive accesses. Although this is not an ideal solution, it should help troubleshoot a possible cause. If anyone gives this a try, please let me know how it turns out.

<font size="+1" color="green">-HAL</font>

[This message has been edited by HAL (edited 04-22-99).]

Um... when i do a get info on mp3s, there are no high quality flag or preload caché options. it just tells me that it's an mp3 file.


-mahooo

[dthree]

MacAmp most certainly does NOT load the entire contents of an MP3 file before or during playback. MacAmp regularly uses only 2.5 megs out of the default 8.1 meg allocated, even when I play 10meg 15meg, or bigger files. MacAmpLite uses even less for the same files, only 971k.

I have found that MP3s only get choppy on the new quicktime player if I am launching another program. I have a 266G3 with 128meg of ram.

d3 `-{>

For those thinking that choppy MP3 playback in QT 4.0 is due to processor speed... it is not. We've seen the same problem on PowerMac G3/400's and legacy PowerMac 7500/100's alike.

It dosn't appear to be a speed issue, only a buffer issue. Hopefuly Apple will activate a memory buffer for the final release.



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Kevin Stone
www.StoneEntertainment.com/clickemporium

I have the same problem as Mahooo. When I choose "Get info", I don't get the option to change anything. I can't choose "high quality" or toggle the cache or preload options. Why is this?

I have QT 4.0 Pro and did the Delux install. I'm running 8.5.1.

well, what's left to try now? has anyone actually gotten any mp3s to play smoothly by altering the cache, preload, or high quality checkboxes in the get info window? Or by trying to use a ram disk, or by saving the mp3 with these changes and then playing it as suggested above?

[asagoo]

mp3 plays fine on both my 4400/200 and G3/233. As dthree said, only when an application launches, or a the frontmost app is getting a lot of processor time, it gets choppy.
But even this should be eliminated in MacOS 8.6, since it doesn't let tasks block others, even during an application launch.
Can any 8.6 beta testers confirm this?

[dthree]

I have an, um, friend running 8.6 on an identical system to mine with the same results as I stated above.

d3 `-{>

[asagoo]

Hm, that's a pity.
However, I noticed that it also seems to depend a lot on hd performance. When the system accesses the hd, I get a pause. Also, when playing tracks from a zip, it gets really bad, simply because it isn't fast enough.
So people having trouble playing from hd, should try defragging their disk.

[miro7]

I don't think that it is as much a dependancy on a fast HD (I have Ultra SCSI and it still dos this) as it is just something that needs to be fixed. Currently QT4 uses more RAM and more CPU time to process MP3 files than any other Mac player. I have read all the posts and the settings for high quality audio, saving dependancies and the cache hint all make the player better. Quality of sound is extremely good, but the QT4 just hogs the CPU. That and the fact that their is no playlist (the favorites tray would work if you could load sets...) is reason enough for me to use another player for MP3. I wouldn't mind using it if these problems are addressed.

[CAewok]

I just installed 8.6, and it does let tasks block other tasks. Notably, Netscape still takes the vast majority of the CPU to start up and to load web pages, so if quicktime 4 is playing mp3s, it is interrupted. The playback tends to be interrupted less under 8.6, though. But I am only using the Basic Quicktime 4, not the Pro install.

I have tried everything written in these posts and more. The ONLY way I can get QT4 to play back smoothly is by shuting off VM. It even does well in the background execept for when apps load. I hope that Apple does something to remedy this. I consider MP3 to be one of the most necessary media functions that QT should support well. (6360/160Mhz 512-L2 48MB 1.2IDE SCSIzip)

[chumeister]

To those that are trying to "Get Info" on a movie file to access the 'High Quality' and 'Preload' settings - you need to load the movie or mp3 file into QuickTime Movie player, and then choose the "Movie" menu and "Get Info" from within MoviePlayer. Look at the settings in there then.

[Ball]

I too was eager to try out QT4's mp3-playing ability. I was pleased with the sound quality, but there are a few things that should be changed to make QT4 a viable mp3 player.

First, as many have pointed out, playback jerkiness should be corrected. It plays perfectly until I try to do anything else. This could be fixed using a memory buffer as in MacAmp and SoundApp.

Second, there must be an easy, yet powerful way to play multiple mp3's. As noted, MacAmp usually does a good job of doing this, and so does SoundApp. Playlists are a must for mp3 users.

Lastly, there are a few features that should be included along with a good playlist. Various shuffle or random modes need to be available. Furthurmore, we should be able to program songs to play in an order that we specify.

Of course, QuickMP3 is a step in the right direction. It allows users to create a playlist, but that still needs work. It offers a shuffle option too, but it is not nearly as good as SoundApp or MacAmp. Then, of course the playback can still be jerky.

B24 seems to squash the jerky playback. I have smooth, clear MP3 on my Perf6360. It was not so before. Has anyone else experienced the same improvement?

MP3 playback is now great with B24, even with VM on! I have a 7200/120.

[This message has been edited by ally (edited 05-29-99).]