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jpward · Nov 7, 2003, 06:49 PM

Greetings everyone!

I've been having some video quality programs on my iMac Bondi, 512MB RAM, 6MB VRAM, 40GB Hard Drive, iForce G4 500 CPU.

The playback is very poor color, sometimes even bordering on black and white. It doesn't matter what type of video file is being played. It also doesn't matter what application is playing the video file.

While the video is playing and I grab the title bar of the window containing the video playback and drag the window to a new location, the image will change back to "normal" until I release the mouse and stop dragging. Then the video returns to its crappy quality.

I've done a search, but I can't find any other post that address this problem.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance as always.

Ward

beb · Nov 7, 2003, 07:35 PM

Is it one video file or a bunch of files? Sometimes QuickTime, MPEG files can be improperly encoded.

jpward · Nov 7, 2003, 08:15 PM

it's every damn video file i have. sucks a bunch.

beb · Nov 7, 2003, 10:57 PM

Is it running OS 9 or OS 10?

Is it a QuickTime, (.mov) Realvideo, (.RM) Windows Media Player, (.WMV or .AVI) or MPEG (MPG, MP4) file?

It might be the videocard, but if it's only occuring with "video" files, it sounds like a compressor codec isn't working the way it's supposed to. It may be a simple case of reinstalling software the video files use.

macintologist · Nov 8, 2003, 08:26 AM

I have a bondi and it has the same problem. It happened when I started updating the OS, along with Quicktime and updating basically the software in general. If you did a System restore to OS 8.1 using the original CDs, then they would play fine. Try that, then update it 8.6, then update to Quicktime 4, then 5, the ATI drivers, and see where the problem begins. For me it doesn't matter because it's not my main computer anyway and I just use it to play Unreal on my lovely Voodoo 2 for imac card

THE MAC GOD · Nov 8, 2003, 11:23 AM

I TOO have the same problem... its been this way since OS9. I have the latest version of everything now, but it still has these black and white bands. The only way I can get full color (notably in webpage embeds) is to hold down on the volume button and for some reason the color comes back.. but then the video gets choppy... I posted a thread about this a while ago and no one responded, so I figured no one knew about it.

HELP!

Arty50 · Nov 8, 2003, 12:39 PM

Weird. I know this isn't much help, but mine's ok. Although my cd-rom drive died a couple of weeks ago.

Rev. A / 10.2.8 / NewerTech 433 G4 / 45G / 512M / MCE CDRW / Voodoo 2

msc1974 · Nov 8, 2003, 02:50 PM

Sounds like a problem with your iForce G4 500 upgrade card... I had a simular problem with my iMac.
Have you had a look at the iForce website for possible software upgrades to stop this from happening?
Sorry for not being to much help.

csimon2 · Nov 8, 2003, 02:56 PM

Sounds like it could just be a problem with your monitor. My Bondi iMac displays video MUCH darker and contrasted than the LCDs I use with my G4 towers, even with the brightness/contrast controls set to max. These computers are approaching on 6 years afterall, and most monitors have a very difficult time of looking as bright and with the same color capacity as the were when new. Have you tries connecting any external monitors?

THE MAC GOD · 05:48 PM

No... it has to be a software problem... or at least how the software works with the Bondi's hardware... I don't use an iForce... the processor isn't even an issue... if anything, it would be the graphics chip. If it was hardware, the problem would extend beyond JUST quicktime movies. The whole screen would look like this (I took a picture of the whole desktop so that you can see that the banding and black and white only pertain to the quicktime):

http://students.uwf.edu/slr6/1.jpg
http://students.uwf.edu/slr6/2.jpg
http://students.uwf.edu/slr6/3.jpg
http://students.uwf.edu/slr6/4.jpg
http://students.uwf.edu/slr6/5.jpg

Edit: NO BIG INLINE PIX!!!!--tooki

After I took the picture... (apple shift 3), the quicktime movie immediately went to the normal colors. If I pause the movie again and move another window over it, it refreshed to the normal colors. But as soon as I hit PLAY, it goes back to it's crazy colors.

Michel Fortin · Nov 8, 2003, 04:31 PM

What if you half-cover the video with another window? I would guess the colors to be great under the shadow of this other window. If this is the case it is because Quicktime sends the pictures directly to the video card in an accelerated but incorrect way and it has issues with this specific video card. The part of the movie under the shadow cannot be hardware accelerated.

jpward · Nov 9, 2003, 07:56 AM

That's exactly what the movies look like, Mac God.

Sooooooo frustrating that I want to put a fist through the screen.

Does anyone have that Vooodoo upgrade card in their bondi? Does that correct the problem?

jpward · Nov 9, 2003, 07:57 AM

Originally posted by beb:
Is it running OS 9 or OS 10?

Is it a QuickTime, (.mov) Realvideo, (.RM) Windows Media Player, (.WMV or .AVI) or MPEG (MPG, MP4) file?

It might be the videocard, but if it's only occuring with "video" files, it sounds like a compressor codec isn't working the way it's supposed to. It may be a simple case of reinstalling software the video files use.

It's version 10.2.8 and it happens with every type of video file.

Where can I learn more about compressor codecs?

beb · Nov 9, 2003, 09:39 AM

Originally posted by jpward:
It's version 10.2.8 and it happens with every type of video file.

Where can I learn more about compressor codecs?

QuickTime Manual

-I read the one on version 5. I haven't read the v.6 one.

This sounds to me, esp with the images like a compound hardware and software problem.

Because, if it's a bondi mac, then it has a CRT-based monitor. CRT monitors have refresh rates 75Mhz, 85Mhz, 120Mhz -that sort of thing.

Maybe the refresh rate your at which your iMac is operating is incompatible with QuickTime, or the current version of QuickTime wasn't really tested (by Apple) enough at that setting, with original iMac-type hardware.

A possible workaround is to go to your "monitors" control panel and set the "refresh" rate to something else -if possible.

Apple seems to be encoding the matrix trailers in Sorenson 3, it would be really interesting to see how much memory that codec, along with the qmusic 2 codec requires. I'm not sure where that information could be found.

ingimar · Nov 9, 2003, 10:35 AM

You should try MPlayer. It plays just any file that QuickTime player can�t play

jpward · Nov 9, 2003, 10:52 AM

Originally posted by ingimar:
You should try MPlayer. It plays just any file that QuickTime player can�t play

I do have MPlayer as my default player for just about everything. - Thanks

THE MAC GOD · Nov 9, 2003, 01:10 PM

NO... it doesn't matter... ANY QT video does this... even MPEGs... And.. like I said... it's been this way through MANY osX's..

Yes, I do have the voodoo 2 board... but since there is no drivers for OSX, it's really not there... the video just passes through anyway... but, Like I said, it HAS to be a software problem...

jpward · Nov 12, 2003, 11:39 AM

In playing around with the video playback, I've found (as another user mentioned above) that if you cover the window that is playing video with just part of a different window (in my case I cover the window with the video with the MPlayer control window) and the playback looks as it should.

I can't explain why this works, but it does work. You don't have to cover much of the playback window, just barley touch it.

Strange. Maybe it's time to buy a new mac.

THE MAC GOD · Nov 22, 2003, 05:06 PM

GET a load of this... I ran Xupport on my iMac and the video fixed itself. Afterwards, it plays as it should! Mind you, I ran all the cleaning scripts and cron cleans and force rebindings... but hey... whatever works! Let me know if it works for anyone else!

Kenneth · Nov 22, 2003, 09:48 PM

I used to have this "issue" on my iMac Rev. A.

I think it is a software problem since I don't see this with older version of QT or Mac OS.

THE MAC GOD · Nov 24, 2003, 11:07 AM

Originally posted by Kenneth:
I used to have this "issue" on my iMac Rev. A.

I think it is a software problem since I don't see this with older version of QT or Mac OS.

That's what i've been trying to say in this thread forever... If it was a hardware issue, it would effect the whole screen and not JUST things that play in QT.... DOH!

jpward · Dec 21, 2003, 09:46 PM

I've finally switched to 10.3 Panther. All video problems are now fixed...