VLC slows down my Mac Mini
Posted: 25 Oct 2010 23:00
Hi guys,
I've been an extremely content VLC user for some years now.
I have a Mac Mini hooked up to my projector and have always used VLC for watching all my video files.
My Mac is getting on a bit now - it's a 2Ghz with 1GB RAM. It had always run perfectly, even with many applications open simultaneously, something that used to amaze me, it seemed so much more efficient than any PC I had owned!
I only started to get problems when I upgraded to a newer version of VLC. I had been running the same version for many years - ver 0.8 or 0.9 I think. I am now on ver 1.1.3.
Basically, now when I open VLC the system initially is fine. Video playback is perfect, even 720p mkv files run without glitching, the problems occur when I try to exit to finder or switch applications. The system takes an age to respond and I usually end up with the rainbow wheel. This behavior continues until I manage to quit VLC, which in itself proves difficult because the system is running so slow, then everything is fine again.
I thought initially that I might need to upgrade my RAM to take the newer version. Maybe that is the case, but if so it is a little frustrating, because I can run an xvid film through Quicktime and be able to run many other apps simultaneously, but cannot with VLC.
Any help or advice is appreciated.
I've been an extremely content VLC user for some years now.
I have a Mac Mini hooked up to my projector and have always used VLC for watching all my video files.
My Mac is getting on a bit now - it's a 2Ghz with 1GB RAM. It had always run perfectly, even with many applications open simultaneously, something that used to amaze me, it seemed so much more efficient than any PC I had owned!
I only started to get problems when I upgraded to a newer version of VLC. I had been running the same version for many years - ver 0.8 or 0.9 I think. I am now on ver 1.1.3.
Basically, now when I open VLC the system initially is fine. Video playback is perfect, even 720p mkv files run without glitching, the problems occur when I try to exit to finder or switch applications. The system takes an age to respond and I usually end up with the rainbow wheel. This behavior continues until I manage to quit VLC, which in itself proves difficult because the system is running so slow, then everything is fine again.
I thought initially that I might need to upgrade my RAM to take the newer version. Maybe that is the case, but if so it is a little frustrating, because I can run an xvid film through Quicktime and be able to run many other apps simultaneously, but cannot with VLC.
Any help or advice is appreciated.