Re. Smooth mkv playback @1080p

[m2k10]

I was curious as to what system specs people use and how well they are able to playback full 1080p mkv files.

I have a MacBook Pro 17" High Resolution, 2.5ghz Core2Duo, 4gb ram, 8600 GT 512mb, OSX 10.6 Snow Leopard. I notice jerky playback through the latest 32-bit VLC and PLEX App. Not tried quicktime player yet but don't expect anything different.

It is not completely obvious but it definitely does not run smoothly, which shocked me as my system spec is pretty high.

I assume it is a mixture of reasons, lack of good support on Macs, inefficient driver / app players on OSX, lack of latest release graphic card drivers for the Mac...etc.

What do others here use and what is the playback like?

[icaruscollapse]

I think there's something else going on, because I'm able to play them fine on a lower system. I have a Macbook C2D 2.16Ghz, 2GB RAM, with integrated graphics, and they play fine. I only have a 13" screen, but I can either scale to fit, or do normal size and only see part of it, and mine are running completely smooth.

I couldn't tell you what the issue is, but I know you should be able to play them on a lower system. What quality settings are you using?

[roastbeef]

Make sure that you don't have the activity monitor running. Any other app that demands real time processing will cause playback to occasionally stutter.

[peaslaker]

I fixed my Snow Leopard mkv playback issues with the hint posted here:

http://fhf.org/archives/405

Namely:
1. From terminal: sudo chmod 777 /usr/X11/var/cache/fontconfig
2. After running VLC (and waiting for the MKV to start) you can reset the permissions with: sudo chmod 755 /usr/X11/var/cache/fontconfig

It should be a one time fix.

[m2k10]

Hi icaruscollapse,

I thought my specs were more than adequate myself, but it does not playback smoothly, it doesn't jump around, it just looks like its missing a frame or so continuously.

I use HB to encode, custom settings lower than that of high profile, no filters, but at a higher bitrate than most, my avg filesize is around 8 - 9 gb per movie.

I know my pc won't play 1080p movies at all, it is a 1.6 core2duo, 4gb ram, 8400GS, 17" standard resolution, community codec pack installed, windows 7, vlc etc just dies on it.

I am going to do some test encodes over the next few days, at different bitrates, settings etc... and I am also going to do the same encode in 720p as i do for 1080p and see how that plays back.

Will post results as soon as I have completed the tests.

[m2k10]

Hi peaslaker,

Just noticed your post, I will give it a try and let you know, but after reading the link, I am not sure I have the same problem.

Many thanks for your help.

[m2k10]

Tried that fontcache fix, no luck, made no difference.

Will continue testing.

[creamyhorror]

I know my pc won't play 1080p movies at all, it is a 1.6 core2duo, 4gb ram, 8400GS, 17" standard resolution, community codec pack installed, windows 7, vlc etc just dies on it.

First, have you enabled multithreaded H.264 decoding in CCCP Settings? (Look for the "MT" checkbox next to H.264/AVC.) You need that if you want to fully utilize your dual core CPU (VLC is incapable of multithreaded decoding).

On Mac, use MPlayer OSX Extended, which is capable of multithreaded decoding and is a great player all-around.

Next, if your PC's 8400GS card is a 512MB model, it should be able to decode 1080p movies fully using DXVA. Just use a DXVA-capable player like MPC-HC (and disable ffdshow and DirectVobSub - info here).

I myself use CoreAVC to decode 1080p movies with an 8400GS (using a technology called CUDA) on my HTPC.

[m2k10]

Hi creamyhorror,

thanks for the tips.

I have actually tried CoreAVC on my pc but it ran much slower than vlc or wmp, what cpu do you have?

I will give the mac players a try as you say and get back to you.

[m2k10]

Ok, I have just installed mplayer extended on my mac and the 1080p movie which was stuttering / jumping is now playing perfectly as far as I can tell. Also on my lower spec pc, I checked the multithread box on cccp and to my amazement it now plays the 1080p movie perfectly, many thanks for the information creamyhorror and to everyone else who advised me, I am sure others who had the same problems will greatly benefit.

I am a little confused why the applications and codecs themselves do not turn on multithread support where applicable as default.

Many thanks once again.

[Deleted User 11865]

Some decoders aren't multithreaded, and for a long time ffmpeg-mt was considered experimental (may still be the case, not sure). BTW, it's not clear whether you enabled ffmpeg-mt (i.e. "multithread") in MPlayerOSX Extended?

It's weird though, my 2.2 GHz MBP has no such performance problem: it can play 1080p smoothly even in single-threaded mode (with average bitrates between 2-6 Mbps; I do need to enable ffmpeg-mt for high-bitrate HP H.264 -- Blu-Ray or Blu-Ray-like -- but then I don't have any full length sources with such high bitrates anyway).

[m2k10]

I only enabled ffmpeg-mt on my pc through cccp and used wmp for the test. On my MBP I simply installed MPlayerOSX Extended and it ran perfect out the box, I have not checked the preferences to see what is and is not enabled but will do so tomorrow, the reason I cannot do it yet is simple, since i checked it worked ok with my 1080p movie, it has decided not to run any more for some reason, it crashes all the time before even attempting to play the movie, am looking into it now.

Finally, any other video type or source plays fine on my MBP in single-threaded mode, it is only the 1080p high-bitrate H.264, Blu-ray etc which require multi-threaded support.

Will post back when I have conducted more testing though throughout the week.

[creamyhorror]

Good to hear that MPlayer OSX Extended worked, if only for a while. I can't offer suggestions to fix it because I don't use Mac. (Try reinstalling?)

I expect the CCCP maintainers will set ffmpeg-mt to default in the next release. It's true, they're a little behind. An alternative is to use the latest DivX codecs, which are also capable of multithreaded decoding.