Stuttering playback on the Mac? Try this!

[Christer Blomgren]

Hi, as you all are looking for solutions, I guess there are several problems.
I have a Dual Quad running at 2,26 Ghz (64-bit Intel) with 16GB memory, running MacOS 10.6.2 and VLC 1.0.3.
When running, and stuttering, the VLC only loads one CPU, the other 7 has almost zero activity. This means that VLC only uses abot 12% of the available power.
So:
Problem 1: Is VLC multi threaded ?
Problem 2: Is MacOS not possible to inform VLC of all CPU's ?

The stutter occures whenever the working CPU hits 100%. I tested this on a 8 GB Blueray at 720p.
The disk is of no problem as the entire file can be loaded into internal memory. Some changes helps the viewing marginal, but as long as only one CPU is used, VLC is not usable.
Apple denies any problem.....
Have anyone heard more on this subject.

[HDindoorvb]

following one of the posters' tips as follows solved my problem in playing 1080i .ts file with VLC1.03 under OS10.5.8:

* Go to VLC's preferences
* Click on "All" at the bottom of the window
* Navigate to "Input/Codecs" -> Other codecs -> FFmpeg
* 1) check "Hurry up" under the top "Direct rendering" (checked in default)
2) check "Allow speed tricks"
3) change "Skip the loop filter for H.264 decoding" from "none" (default) to "All"

Thanks very much for this wonderful software and all your help!!

bill g. sucks

[azeal]

Just purchased a workshop manual that includes 2 DVD's containing video clips using VLC. Using a MacPro, OS 10.6.2.

For one DVD I can "open with" VLC & the many video clips all flow nicely.

For the other DVD, the video is terribly pixelated, continually breaks up, and does not flow smoothly, impossible to watch. The audio also breaks up & skips several words, also not flowing smoothly.

Tried the fix below re: stuttering & it may have helped minimally, but all the video clips on this disc are not viewable at all.

Any suggestions?

[gundal]

I have new MBA 2.13/120 anyways been doing a bunch of research after how horrible I saw 1080p.x264.mkv playback was on the machine...
using vlc and snow leopard... anyways checked around tried all these speed tricks, loop filter skipping, cache size increasing, file mapping etc, maybe they help a lil but its not really what we want.. the program is still using well over 100% cpu to playback the video.. reading has led me to see that vlc cannot use gpu acceleration due to opengl and mac not suppliying the api blah blah more techno babble.. heres my question... I used handbreak to recode it in 1080p but using ffmpeg instead of x264... this took 7 hours but now it plays like a silk....vlc in activity monitor showing 47% during fullscreen playback... so whats up? is it the x264 codec??? just throwing out what I see.. in hopes it makes some connection with someone who knows how to fix this lol
Thanks to all the VLC team for the great program

[SnidelyW]

Ouch! I didn't realize how much CPU power VLC uses when it is playing large HD video. After reading your post, I decided to test it for myself. I just started a 20 GB 1920x1080 video. It is 45% compressed from a BluRay disc. Activity Monitor is reporting 40% to 107% CPU usage by VLC. I am using the 64-Bit version of VLC 1.1-pre3 on a 27" 2.80 GHz Quad Core i7 iMac.

I hope that the developers can bring this down.

[fkuehne]

Decoding 1080p H.264 content requires a horrible amount of CPU power, which mostly cannot be achieved by the current implementation of the H.264 decoder (taken from ffmpeg's libavcodec) at full speed (disabling the loop filter in the advanced preferences can help a bit here with a certain loss of quality). This will be addressed in VLC's future 1.2 release with a hardware accelerated decoding based upon Apple's API (on certain GPUs only) and multi-threaded decoding across multiple CPU cores.

[SnidelyW]

Hello Felix, just realizing how much CPU power is required to decode 1080p's certainly makes it easier to understand why Apple hasn't been too quick to integrate BluRay-capable Superdrives into even their latest line of Macs. While I was able to play the 1080p video that I mentioned in my previous post on my 2.8 GHz Quad Core i7 iMac with 8 GB of RAM, and 512 MB of video RAM, I was unable to play the same video on my daughter's 24" Core Duo 3.06 GHz iMac. It was dropping so many frames and pixelating so bad that it was unwatchable.

What this tells me is that even when Apple does finally implement BluRay-capable Superdrives in their machines, it probably will only be on the high-end Mac Pro's at first -- and maybe the high-end iMac -- as they are the only machines currently with enough CPU power to properly play such HD video with very high video bitrates.

Not being a programmer, I don't fully understand the tricks that you folks have up your sleeves when it comes to VLC and 1080p video, but I wish you the best in implementing it.

VLC continues to be the best video player around for Macintosh.

[huib]

Unneccesary to say that it always stutters on exactly the same locations of the dvr.ms file?
The file is played perfectly on a windows computer however. Tried many older versions of VLC for Mac but same problem
mac osx 10.6.3

Huib

[cyberzeus]

Folks - new to these forums - Love VLC - great stuff...

So today, I jumped into the "trying to get BD to play on my Mac" scene and boy what a day. After many hours, I was finally was able to get Fast & the Furious #4 decoded, saved to disk, and play using VLC only to find it stutter horribly. So I embarked on the hunt - checked these forums, found this post, tried all of the hints - none worked.

Next, I decided to give XBMC a try and lo and behold, she plays like a champ - very little stuttering if any and the video\sound quality ROCKS. So this tells me two things - XBMC is pretty kick butt but also,I really think the stuttering is a largely a VLC issue as opposed to being something about the hardware\OS platform.

My system is:

Macbook-Intel 2.00GHz w/ 2GB RAM (not-pro - regular Macbook black)
Leopard 10.5.8
LG BD
Mac BlurayRipper Pro for decryption
Tried VLC v1.0.5 - no joy
Used XBMC Camelot-9.11
Play method = m2ts

Also, I tried the exact same VLC settings\hints on my Macbook Pro w/ 8GB RAM but VLC 1.0.0 and it still stuttered just as bad.

So again, if it were me, I would start looking at XBMC is doing m2ts playback and compare the two apps...

[huib]

XBMC, for me at least, seems to be huge overkill for just playing a DVR.MS file, somewhere in a corner of my screen.

Just waiting for the good people of Videolan to solve the stutter problem.

Huib

[cyberzeus]

I agree that that it defintiely is - if that is your end goal. But I'm pretty sure others here have different goals but nonetheless, that's not really the point. The point is to try and help these figure out where to look...hence the need to compare a known working setup with one that is failing...

[huib]

And you indeed did help. The XBMC plays the DVR.MS files flawlessy, where VLC stutters.

Thanx.

Huib

[cyberzeus]

By the way - so folks don't get confused - the files being payed are NOT DVR.MS files - as mentioned in my original post, I am playing the original m2ts files from the BD except that they have been decrypted...

[huib]

Downloaded 1.1.0 on my superfast Imac 4GB mem with Leopard.
Still stuttering on exactly the same locations in the file while Windows plays it without problems .
How now brow cow?
The install size of VLC is 100 MB or larger nowadays. Remember the first version about 100 years ago?

Just want to play DVR.MS... Pls help this poor sucker .

Huib

[g1ngerninja]

I too am getting stuttering but only when watching HD MKV files and not all of them. Mostly 1080p BD Rips cause the issue where by one of the CPU's would spike at 100% and you get a warning message saying "main warning: late picture skipped". This happens at the same places every time this file is played.

I have a Mac Pro 2006 2Ghz Quad 8GB RAM 2x1TB Samsung HDD in RAID 0.

Below is the log for viewing and below that the media info for the file:-

TIMER module_need() : 51.986 ms - Total 51.986 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 51.986 ms)
using video output module "opengl"
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 53.044 ms - Total 53.044 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 53.044 ms)
main debug: got 1 direct buffer(s)
main debug: pic render sz 1920x1080, of (0,0), vsz 1920x1080, 4cc I420, sar 1:1, msk r0x0 g0x0 b0x0
main debug: pic in sz 1920x1080, of (0,0), vsz 1920x1080, 4cc I420, sar 1:1, msk r0x0 g0x0 b0x0
main debug: pic out sz 1920x1080, of (0,0), vsz 1920x1080, 4cc UYVY, sar 1:1, msk r0x0 g0x0 b0x0
main debug: looking for video filter2 module: 15 candidates
main debug: using video filter2 module "i420_yuy2_sse2"
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 0.309 ms - Total 0.309 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.309 ms)
main debug: indirect render, mapping render pictures 0-24 to system pictures 1-25
avcodec debug: using direct rendering
main debug: using audio output module "auhal"
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 65.551 ms - Total 65.551 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 65.551 ms)
main debug: output 'f32l' 48000 Hz Stereo frame=1 samples/8 bytes
main debug: mixer 'f32l' 48000 Hz Stereo frame=1 samples/8 bytes
main debug: no need for any filter
main debug: looking for audio mixer module: 3 candidates
main debug: using audio mixer module "float32_mixer"
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 0.730 ms - Total 0.730 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.730 ms)
main debug: input 'dts ' 48000 Hz 3F2R/LFE frame=512 samples/2048 bytes
main debug: looking for audio filter module: 1 candidate
scaletempo debug: format: 48000 rate, 2 nch, 4 bps, fl32
scaletempo debug: params: 30 stride, 0.200 overlap, 14 search
scaletempo debug: 1.000 scale, 1440.000 stride_in, 1440 stride_out, 1152 standing, 288 overlap, 672 search, 2400 queue, fl32 mode
main debug: using audio filter module "scaletempo"
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 0.703 ms - Total 0.703 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.703 ms)
main debug: filter(s) 'dts '->'f32l' 48000 Hz->48000 Hz 3F2R/LFE->Stereo
main debug: looking for audio filter module: 14 candidates
main debug: using audio filter module "dtstofloat32"
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 1.355 ms - Total 1.355 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 1.355 ms)
main debug: found a filter for the whole conversion
main debug: filter(s) 'f32l'->'f32l' 52800 Hz->48000 Hz Stereo->Stereo
main debug: looking for audio filter module: 14 candidates
bandlimited_resampler debug: f32l/52800KHz/2->f32l/48000KHz/2
main debug: using audio filter module "bandlimited_resampler"
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 0.889 ms - Total 0.889 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.889 ms)
main debug: found a filter for the whole conversion
main debug: End of audio preroll
main debug: End of video preroll
main debug: Received first picture
main debug: Post-processing available
main warning: vlc_object_find_name(postproc) is not safe!
main debug: looking for video blending module: 1 candidate
main debug: Decoder buffering done in 128 ms
main warning: PTS is out of range (-9942), dropping buffer
blend debug: chroma: YUVA -> UYVY
main warning: PTS is out of range (-19827), dropping buffer
main debug: using video blending module "blend"
main warning: PTS is out of range (-30742), dropping buffer
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 1.211 ms - Total 1.211 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 1.211 ms)
main warning: late picture skipped (60547 > -6908)
main warning: late picture skipped (18547 > -6908)
main warning: late picture skipped (5432 > -4933)
main warning: late picture skipped (12840 > -4604)
main warning: late picture skipped (15481 > -4455)
main warning: late picture skipped (12103 > -4455)
main warning: late picture skipped (21030 > -4222)
main debug: control type=4
main warning: early picture skipped
main warning: received buffer in the future
mkv debug: seek request to -1 (0.197135%)
mkv debug: seek got 1729978000 (20%)
main debug: b_seek=1 th*avg=946088 skip=5697044586
main debug: Buffering 0%
main debug: Buffering 0%
main debug: Buffering 16%
main debug: Buffering 28%
main debug: Buffering 14%
main debug: Buffering 55%
main debug: Buffering 41%
main debug: Buffering 80%
main debug: Buffering 83%
main debug: Buffering 69%
main debug: Stream buffering done (334 ms in 32 ms)
main debug: End of video preroll
main debug: Received first picture
main debug: Decoder buffering done in 341 ms
main debug: End of audio preroll
main warning: output PTS is out of range (79561), clearing out
main debug: audio output is starving (423667), playing silence
main warning: output date isn't PTS date, requesting resampling (-40550)
main warning: buffer is 40551 in advance, triggering downsampling
main warning: late picture skipped (5290 > -2250)
main warning: late picture skipped (10706 > -2242)
main warning: late picture skipped (17562 > -2162)
main warning: late picture skipped (21796 > -2077)
main warning: late picture skipped (30555 > -2001)
main warning: late picture skipped (277 > -2106)
main warning: late picture skipped (437 > -2102)
main warning: late picture skipped (2385 > -2055)
main warning: late picture skipped (3187 > -2055)
main warning: late picture skipped (17361 > -2025)
main warning: late picture skipped (6732 > -2075)
main warning: late picture skipped (7595 > -2097)
main warning: late picture skipped (9157 > -2041)
main warning: late picture skipped (13046 > -1994)
main warning: late picture skipped (13174 > -1994)
main debug: removing module "blend"
main debug: looking for video blending module: 1 candidate
blend debug: chroma: RGBA -> UYVY
main debug: using video blending module "blend"
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 0.332 ms - Total 0.332 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.332 ms)
main warning: resampling stopped after 6453382 usec (drift: -449)
main warning: late picture skipped (-27 > -2594)
main warning: late picture skipped (6689 > -2516)
main warning: late picture skipped (12403 > -2467)
main warning: late picture skipped (19384 > -2467)
main warning: late picture skipped (22163 > -2354)
main warning: late picture skipped (48639 > -2212)
main warning: late picture skipped (13839 > -2150)
main warning: late picture skipped (15929 > -2095)
main warning: late picture skipped (22895 > -2038)
main warning: late picture skipped (25954 > -2038)
main warning: late picture skipped (36147 > -2054)
main warning: late picture skipped (8415 > -2469)
main warning: late picture skipped (23031 > -2482)
main warning: late picture skipped (26214 > -2358)
main warning: late picture skipped (33019 > -2243)
main warning: late picture skipped (32947 > -2243)
main warning: late picture skipped (-2639 > -3061)
main warning: late picture skipped (11268 > -3074)
main warning: late picture skipped (5830 > -3044)
main warning: late picture skipped (7559 > -3044)
main warning: late picture skipped (2531 > -3061)
main warning: late picture skipped (9409 > -3136)
main warning: late picture skipped (1969 > -2766)
main warning: late picture skipped (7801 > -2610)
main warning: late picture skipped (12243 > -2506)
main warning: late picture skipped (17631 > -2506)
main warning: late picture skipped (20974 > -2447)
main warning: late picture skipped (930 > -2454)
main warning: late picture skipped (5398 > -2392)
main warning: late picture skipped (10213 > -2325)
main warning: late picture skipped (12568 > -2325)
main warning: late picture skipped (18495 > -2293)
main warning: late picture skipped (43530 > -2339)
main warning: late picture skipped (45265 > -2339)
main warning: late picture skipped (47936 > -2452)
main warning: late picture skipped (49494 > -2451)
main warning: late picture skipped (50674 > -2471)
main warning: late picture skipped (-2039 > -2489)
main warning: late picture skipped (92 > -2416)
main warning: late picture skipped (2965 > -2366)
main warning: late picture skipped (9514 > -2366)
main warning: late picture skipped (13037 > -2436)
main warning: late picture skipped (13171 > -2499)
main warning: late picture skipped (2653 > -3015)
main warning: late picture skipped (4882 > -3082)
main warning: late picture skipped (7774 > -3082)
main warning: late picture skipped (10900 > -3232)
main warning: late picture skipped (12822 > -3246)
main warning: late picture skipped (30361 > -3447)
main warning: late picture skipped (30798 > -3447)
main warning: late picture skipped (30638 > -3493)
main warning: late picture skipped (34874 > -3435)
main warning: late picture skipped (40751 > -3435)
main warning: late picture skipped (3425 > -3566)
main warning: late picture skipped (8100 > -3566)
main warning: late picture skipped (12474 > -3598)
main warning: late picture skipped (11812 > -3493)
main warning: late picture skipped (16566 > -3493)
main warning: late picture skipped (-1394 > -3377)
main warning: late picture skipped (37942 > -3363)
main warning: late picture skipped (40801 > -3464)
main warning: late picture skipped (44176 > -3539)
main warning: late picture skipped (49211 > -3439)
main warning: late picture skipped (51486 > -3439)
main warning: late picture skipped (-1210 > -3474)
main warning: late picture skipped (1304 > -3427)
main warning: late picture skipped (3174 > -3346)
main warning: late picture skipped (4764 > -3346)
main warning: late picture skipped (6744 > -3294)
main warning: late picture skipped (40417 > -3206)
main warning: late picture skipped (25810 > -2565)
main warning: late picture skipped (29828 > -2524)
main warning: late picture skipped (31150 > -2363)
main warning: late picture skipped (31707 > -2276)
main warning: late picture skipped (31792 > -2276)
main warning: late picture skipped (-1605 > -2651)
main warning: late picture skipped (-2219 > -2629)
main warning: late picture skipped (-2137 > -2678)
main warning: late picture skipped (-13 > -2667)
main warning: late picture skipped (31543 > -2667)
main warning: late picture skipped (30281 > -2791)
main warning: late picture skipped (32898 > -2855)
main warning: late picture skipped (29534 > -2855)
main warning: late picture skipped (32399 > -2823)
main warning: late picture skipped (-1646 > -2822)
main warning: late picture skipped (2795 > -2778)
main warning: late picture skipped (3836 > -2778)
main warning: late picture skipped (40067 > -2946)
main warning: late picture skipped (41682 > -2928)
main warning: late picture skipped (43833 > -2817)
main warning: late picture skipped (-1788 > -2480)
main warning: late picture skipped (35194 > -2408)
main warning: late picture skipped (36037 > -2353)
main warning: late picture skipped (38455 > -2353)
main warning: late picture skipped (39193 > -2292)
main warning: late picture skipped (40528 > -2292)
main warning: late picture skipped (21096 > -3541)
main debug: skipped big render time 220843 > 203541
main warning: late picture skipped (241415 > -3541)
main warning: late picture skipped (749663 > -3567)
main warning: late picture skipped (753765 > -3766)
main warning: late picture skipped (751983 > -3766)
main warning: late picture skipped (236079 > -3671)
main warning: late picture skipped (900 > -2376)
main warning: late picture skipped (1695 > -2289)
main warning: late picture skipped (-343 > -2289)
main warning: late picture skipped (2401 > -2269)
main warning: late picture skipped (5372 > -2264)
main warning: late picture skipped (6919 > -2239)
main warning: late picture skipped (9262 > -2239)
main warning: late picture skipped (13559 > -2313)
main warning: late picture skipped (-649 > -3458)
main warning: late picture skipped (496 > -3366)
mkv debug: Event Key
main debug: control type=1
main debug: removing module "blend"
main debug: looking for video blending module: 1 candidate
blend debug: chroma: YUVA -> UYVY
main debug: using video blending module "blend"
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 0.391 ms - Total 0.391 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.391 ms)
main debug: removing module "blend"
main debug: looking for video blending module: 1 candidate
blend debug: chroma: RGBA -> UYVY
main debug: using video blending module "blend"
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 0.328 ms - Total 0.328 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.328 ms)
main debug: removing module "blend"
main debug: looking for video blending module: 1 candidate
blend debug: chroma: YUVA -> UYVY
main debug: using video blending module "blend"
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 0.255 ms - Total 0.255 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.255 ms)
main debug: removing module "blend"
main debug: looking for video blending module: 1 candidate
blend debug: chroma: RGBA -> UYVY
main debug: using video blending module "blend"
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 0.321 ms - Total 0.321 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.321 ms)
main debug: removing module "blend"
main debug: looking for video blending module: 1 candidate
blend debug: chroma: YUVA -> UYVY
main debug: using video blending module "blend"
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 0.209 ms - Total 0.209 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.209 ms)
main debug: removing module "blend"
main debug: looking for video blending module: 1 candidate
blend debug: chroma: RGBA -> UYVY
main debug: using video blending module "blend"
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 0.383 ms - Total 0.383 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.383 ms)
main debug: removing module "blend"
main debug: looking for video blending module: 1 candidate
blend debug: chroma: YUVA -> UYVY
main debug: using video blending module "blend"
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 0.219 ms - Total 0.219 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.219 ms)
main debug: skipped big render time 425479 > 203670
main debug: removing module "blend"
main debug: looking for video blending module: 1 candidate
blend debug: chroma: RGBA -> UYVY
main debug: using video blending module "blend"
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 0.320 ms - Total 0.320 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.320 ms)
main debug: removing module "blend"
main debug: looking for video blending module: 1 candidate
blend debug: chroma: YUVA -> UYVY
main debug: using video blending module "blend"
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 0.208 ms - Total 0.208 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.208 ms)
main debug: removing module "blend"
main debug: looking for video blending module: 1 candidate
blend debug: chroma: RGBA -> UYVY
main debug: using video blending module "blend"
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 0.310 ms - Total 0.310 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.310 ms)
main debug: removing module "blend"
main debug: looking for video blending module: 1 candidate
blend debug: chroma: YUVA -> UYVY
main debug: using video blending module "blend"
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 0.204 ms - Total 0.204 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.204 ms)
main debug: removing module "blend"
main debug: looking for video blending module: 1 candidate
blend debug: chroma: RGBA -> UYVY
main debug: using video blending module "blend"
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 0.286 ms - Total 0.286 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.286 ms)
main debug: removing module "blend"
main debug: looking for video blending module: 1 candidate
blend debug: chroma: YUVA -> UYVY
main debug: using video blending module "blend"
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 0.200 ms - Total 0.200 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.200 ms)
main debug: removing module "blend"
main debug: looking for video blending module: 1 candidate
blend debug: chroma: RGBA -> UYVY
main debug: using video blending module "blend"
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 0.382 ms - Total 0.382 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.382 ms)
main debug: removing module "blend"
main debug: looking for video blending module: 1 candidate
blend debug: chroma: YUVA -> UYVY
main debug: using video blending module "blend"
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 0.218 ms - Total 0.218 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.218 ms)
main debug: skipped big render time 453050 > 203763
main debug: removing module "blend"
main debug: looking for video blending module: 1 candidate
blend debug: chroma: RGBA -> UYVY
main debug: using video blending module "blend"
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 0.337 ms - Total 0.337 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.337 ms)

MediaInfo Export
* * * MediaInfo Mac 0.7.33.4 file analysis report.
* * * MediaInfo Mac is ©2010 by Diego Massanti - http://mediainfo.massanti.com
* * * MediaInfoLib by Jerome Martinez - http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net
Created on: 26 Jul 2010 15:53:32 GMT+01:00
Report for file: Angels_and_Demons.mkv

General / Container Stream #1
Total Video Streams for this File.................1
Total Audio Streams for this File.................1
Total Subtitle Streams for this File..............3
Video Codecs Used.................................AVC
Audio Codecs Used.................................DTS
SubTitle Codecs Used..............................S_HDMV/PGS / S_HDMV/PGS / S_HDMV/PGS
Available Sutbitle Languages......................English / English / English
File Format.......................................Matroska
Play Time.........................................2h 26mn
Total File Size...................................26.3 GiB
Total Stream BitRate..............................25.7 Mbps
Encoded with......................................MakeMKV v1.5.3 beta darwin(x86-release)
Encoding Library..................................libmakemkv v1.5.3 beta (0.7.7/0.8.1) darwin(x86-release)
Video Stream #1
Codec (Human Name)................................AVC
Codec (FourCC)....................................V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Codec Profile.....................................High@L4.1
Frame Width.......................................1 920 pixels
Frame Height......................................1 080 pixels
Frame Rate........................................23.976 fps
Total Frames......................................210406
Display Aspect Ratio..............................16:9
Scan Type.........................................Progressive
Color Space.......................................YUV
Codec Settings (Summary)..........................CABAC / 2 Ref Frames
QF (like Gordian Knot)............................0.476
Codec Settings (CABAC)............................Yes
Codec Settings (Reference Frames).................2
Video Stream Length...............................2h 26mn 15s 692ms
Video Stream BitRate..............................23.7 Mbps
Bit Depth.........................................8 bits
Video Stream Size.................................24.2 GiB (92%)
Audio Stream #1
Codec.............................................DTS
Codec (FourCC)....................................A_DTS
Audio Stream Length...............................2h 26mn 15s 692ms
Audio Stream BitRate..............................1 510 Kbps
Audio Stream BitRate Mode.........................CBR
Number of Audio Channels..........................6
Audio Channel's Positions.........................Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling Rate.....................................48.0 KHz
Bit Depth.........................................24 bits
Audio Stream Size.................................1.54 GiB (6%)
Audio Stream Title................................3/2+1
Audio Stream Language.............................English
Subtitle Stream #1
Language..........................................English
Format............................................PGS
Codec ID..........................................S_HDMV/PGS
Codec Info........................................The same subtitle format used on BDs/HD-DVDs
Subtitle Stream #2
Language..........................................English
Format............................................PGS
Codec ID..........................................S_HDMV/PGS
Codec Info........................................The same subtitle format used on BDs/HD-DVDs
Subtitle Stream #3
Language..........................................English
Format............................................PGS
Codec ID..........................................S_HDMV/PGS
Codec Info........................................The same subtitle format used on BDs/HD-DVDs
Menu / Chapters Stream #1

[SnidelyW]

After reading some of the previous comments, I decided to take a look at XBMC. After doing so, I have to agree with "huib" who stated that XBMC is really overkill. Over the years, I have taken a look at a variety of audio and video players. For example, in addition to Apple's built-in Quicktime Player and iTunes, I've looked at Chroma Player, Mplayer, XBMC, Movist, Plex and a number of other audio and video players. While a few of these have features that I like, I always come back to VLC as my default video player, and Vox as my default audio player. These snazzy, all-in-one combo apps -- like XBMC -- just aren't my cup of tea. I prefer programs that are dedicated to one primary task, and stick with improving that task.

[megas88]

Ok, so I have a problem with vlc right now. Recently mkvs have once again started taking forever to load. This is a serious reoccurring problem and I really wish it would just stay fixed. It got fixed once then an update came it was broken again, and kept repeating the same problem. If there's an easy bug reporting service I can get to I'd love to report it so it can at least be fixed so I don't have to go back to pre 64bit vlc or other versions. I'm using vlc 1.1.2 on a macbook pro OSX 10.6.4 Intel core 2 duo 2.33GHz and 2gb of RAM. Please help me solve this problem. It's killing me. I just wanna watch my vids! Thank you.

[SnidelyW]

Megas88, you can go to the following page, open a free account, and submit a ticket. However, I'd check first, as I wouldn't be surprised if there is already a ticket for this problem.

http://trac.videolan.org/vlc/timeline

[jagwatoof]

For what it's worth... I'm using a Macmini 3,1 (the 2009 model just before the current generation... P8700, 4 gb ram, nvidia 9400m) OS X 10.6.4 and vlc 1.1.3

With default settings, when I tried a relatively short test video (1440x1080 mpeg4 avi), vlc plays fine for about 2 minutes (seeking to any given location within the video is fine) then it gets glitchy until I reboot (just quitting and restarting vlc doesn't help). After a reboot, I can start vlc again and play that same video again and it'll be fine for about 2 minutes before screwing up again. By "glitchy", I mean it's like the data stream is corrupted or is being lost, so that frames aren't being updated properly. Like if a person is waving his arm, the old position of the arm lingers on the screen, and new placement of the arm comes in with distorted colors and outline.

This video plays fine in Mplayer OSX Extended (even after vlc craps out on it).

I read the thread here and decided to disable (uncheck) the Preferences -> Input/Codecs -> Access Modules -> MMap -> "Use file memory mapping" option. After doing this, vlc plays my test video with no problems at all.

I also changed Preferences -> Input/Codecs -> Access Modules -> File -> "Extra network caching value (ms)" to 1500 ms (up from 900), and I'm able to play pretty much any video over my network (from a Windows SMB share) without any trouble, including some 1080p mpeg4 AVC video files that stutter and freeze up on Mplayer OSX Extended.

Putting this here because even though it's contrary to Fkuehne's suggestion, it makes vlc work correctly for me.

[SnidelyW]

Hello Jagwatoof. Thanks for the info. I haven't had any problems with playing an video files, but I am going to archive your comment for future reference...just in case.

[adrianosc]

DISABLE the MMap -> "Use file memory mapping" option worked for me too. Videos are now playing much smoother than before. I'm using VLC 1.1.3.
Thanks jagwatoof for the post.

[lapinou]

I recently bought the new mac mini (mid 2010) and also had a lot of stuttering in my videos (i have a lot of 1080p mkv with very high bitrate).
I had so much sluttering that i was considering selling it for a windows htpc configuration.

I disabled "Use file memory mapping" too and now it is reading all my mkvs without any problem.

[lapinou]

Oh and also thx to everyone that contributes to vlc (mac or pc version), it is definately the best player on both platforms !
I hope you guys will come out with a mac version with gpu acceleration soon

[massimo.grossi]

On my brand new mac mini (2010) @ 1920x1080 I have the same issue.
Videos play very well inside a window, but If you want to get a noisy shuttering reproduction you just have to full screen it.
The strange is, if you go for cmd+3 window option (very very close to full screen) you play smooth... it's just the cmd+f option that really spoil everything.
I tried with mkv, avi and mp4, the result is always the same.
I hope our heroes can fix this in next release.

[jpcpt03]

Most 1040p video promlems stem from the clock speed in the "PLAYBACK" settings. Likely from the 50cps and 60cps current diverences between Europe and the US on computers that use this for a timing clock. Solution is simple, reduce the playback speed by 50/60ths. Go to PLAYBACK in menu and go to SLOWER. Defult is 50% up or down change. Finer changes in Microsoft are by slider bar. In OSX set in PREFERENCES, HOTKEYS, FINE. This gives a 10% change. Drop to about 80% slower.