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trance2 · Apr 3, 2006, 08:06 PM

I am bit troubled by the performance of my 2.0ghz MacbookPro. I first noticed this video problem when viewing video from google videos. If I have a video playing and then place it in the background by selecting another window the video and audio becomes extremely choppy. I know the hardware is more than capable of handling this but I am not sure if it's the current driver or software.

This video problem continued when I rented Sleeper Cell (Showtime mini series) from block buster yesterday. I believe the DVD used heavier compression since it packed 4 eposides per disc as result during playback the video became pixelated frequently. It acted as if the processor is having problem decoding it. This dvd ran fine on my Windows machine and the machine is a two year old AMD64. I took it to a Mac Genius and he was able to duplicate the problem on another Macbook Pro. Does anyone here have a workaround for this? It's really bugging to get a top of the line hardware but not living up to its hype.

mduell · Apr 3, 2006, 08:58 PM

The MBP shouldn't have a problem with any bitrate MPEG2 from a DVD. What is CPU usage while you're experienceing these problems, and what amount of the CPU is the video playback app using?

f1000 · Apr 3, 2006, 09:08 PM

Originally Posted by bobbo

Does anyone here have a workaround for this? It's really bugging to get a top of the line hardware but not living up to its hype.

Use VLC.

trance2 · 05:48 PM

Originally Posted by mduell

The MBP shouldn't have a problem with any bitrate MPEG2 from a DVD. What is CPU usage while you're experienceing these problems, and what amount of the CPU is the video playback app using?

The CPU usage level is around 15-20% at double size. I took the laptop into the store today. Tech support put the dvd into an old ibook and it played fine. He then was able to duplicate the problem on a macbook pro on display.

So it's either the DVD player or the physical drive itself. He said he doesnt know what to do since it's not in the knowledge base. I told him to flow the problem up to engineering but I am not sure if he did it.

Update: I just installed VLC. CPU usage up to 60% however much better performance. The pixel is 98% gone but I can see a little bit of horizontal lines across the screan in full screen during action scenes.

harrisjamieh · Apr 4, 2006, 06:10 AM

Originally Posted by f1000

Use VLC.

He shouldn't have to though....

Alexey (rus) · Apr 4, 2006, 12:16 PM

this happened in the old powerbooks to that i use to have. When watching a video via safari in ESPN motion, i put safari in the background and it starts skipping. I think what it does is it somehow puts a lower priority on it and thus it skips. Try using firefox. That doesnt happen in firefox.

Cadaver · Apr 5, 2006, 01:24 AM

Its definitely a Safari bug. I've seen it on several different computers (PPC and Intel)

trance2 · Apr 5, 2006, 04:06 AM

Originally Posted by Cadaver

Its definitely a Safari bug. I've seen it on several different computers (PPC and Intel)

Thanks guys I will take a look at Firefox. I have been refraining from it since it has been giving me a lot of grief on my XP machine

nJm · Apr 5, 2006, 06:25 AM

But he said it is also happening with a DVD. I've never had problems playing DVDs on my iBook. Hell they even play back flawlessly on an iMac G3 400.