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QuickTime flickering during Video Tutorials?

When I am watching the Video Tutorials for any of Apple products my QT flickers dark and light, not to the point where I can't see the video, but to the point where it is annoying. Anyone else having this problem? This is on a 4 day old new MacBook. I have the most recent version of QT installed.

Anyone else having the same issue?

Tim

MacBook 2.4Ghz Dual Core, 2 Gigs Ram, 250Gig HD, 500Gig External HD., Mac OS X (10.5.2), 60Gig Video iPod, 1Gig iPod Shuffle

Posted on Mar 2, 2008 9:42 PM

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138 replies

Mar 9, 2008 12:56 PM in response to morberg

Exact same problem here. Brand new, 2.4 GHz MacBook. Quicktime flickers when playing mpegs.

I removed Perian from my system and found that the flicker is gone for some MPEGs, like the latest apple event. However, the flicker remains for other mpegs. I have completely removed quicktime from my system and reinstalled it -- no dice.

This did not happen on the old 2.2 GHz MacBooks, so I'm thinking it might be related to the new Penryn Chips and the video drivers for the GMA X3100 graphics chip. I don't think it's a hardware failure, I just think the drivers need to be updated or fixed.

From everything I read, the drivers for the X3100 are apparently very, very immature.

Mar 9, 2008 7:37 PM in response to bdkjones

Bear with me, here is what I've discovered about this problem:

When I bought my new Mac a week ago, I took out the hard drive that came with it and replaced it with a larger one. When this video flickering problem came to my attention and I couldn't fix it any other way, I took out my hard drive and replaced it with the one that came with the MacBook.

Now, I had never even turned the computer on with that HDD installed, so I was able to restore my machine to a perfect, absolutely factory-fresh state. I turned it on, tested it with the same videos, and the flickering problem is present.

Here's where it gets interesting: I went to my local Apple store and tried playing the same videos on the new Penryn-based MacBooks they had on display. The problem does not appear. (The video is "washed out" when the Quicktime window is in front, and if you move it behind anything or partially off the side of the screen the wash-out effect goes away. But there is no flicker.) In other words, there's still a problem, but it's not the same one.

Now, I also upgraded the RAM in my MacBook. I tested it using Rember (a memory tester) and I even took it back out and put in the original RAM that came with the MacBook -- the problem did not go away. So, to recap: the problem showed up on a COMPLETELY factory-fresh 2.4 Ghz MacBook.

I have contacted AppleCare and arranged to have my MacBook exchanged. Since the problem appears to be hardware-related (at least in my case), I recommend that you guys do the same thing. Needless to say, the consumer line of portables isn't exactly Apple's top priority. If enough of us start exchanging faulty notebooks, however, they'll move the fix up the to-do list!

Mar 10, 2008 12:17 PM in response to bdkjones

I ordered a white MacBook with a 250G hard drive which (I think) they installed at my local Apple dealer. It seems really weird that the hard disk could affect video playback in such a way. Especially since the flicker can be made to disappear only by moving another window over the browser. I'm not convinced it's a hardware issue, but it would be good to know if anybody has seen this problem on a machine with no changes to HW.

Edit: never mind, I noticed that you did experience the problem on a machine with native HW.

Message was edited by: morberg

Mar 10, 2008 5:01 PM in response to Shatterbox

New 2.4 Macbook, black...

I am having the same problem. Un-installed, installed, tried it with quicktime pro and just running the normal. It is narrowed down to this, only when playing movies or streaming from .mpg files/movies.

I have upgraded memory and HD so I installed a fresh Leopard. This is happening only with Quicktime 7 from what I can tell. Has anyone actually solved this problem? I have a hard time believing it is a hardware problem since all other movie types play just fine....... Maybe the drivers need an update as mentioned in another post?

Help is greatly appreciated. I am using Quicktime 7 Pro now.

Mar 11, 2008 8:29 AM in response to tslyjr

Another update:

It's NOT a hardware issue after all. I exchanged the MacBook for another one, and the new unit exhibits the exact same problem. Still, the demo units on the floor of the Apple store don't have this issue. I have compared the installed software on my machine to that on the demo units and it's identical.

10.5.2, same Quicktime components installed, Quicktime 7.4.1, same running daemons... I cannot figure out why my MacBook (and all of yours) has this issue but the ones in the Apple store do not. It's incredibly irritating.

The ones in the store don't flicker, they just show a "washed-out" video if Quicktime is in front. The video only gets sharp, clear, and black when Quicktime is behind something or off the side of the screen. The MacBook Air shows this problem as well, so it's definitely related to the Intel graphics.

The best thing all of us can do is go to apple.com/feedback and file bug reports. Keep harping in Apple's ear until they fix this.

Mar 11, 2008 6:04 PM in response to bdkjones

MACBOOK QUICKTIME VIDEO PLAYBACK FLICKER ISSUE

Well, this is the first time I have been so far out on the front end of a new problem with a new computer purchase, so I guess I have the responsibility of raising the "noise level" on this defect. I certainly want a "fix" sooner rather than later.

After speaking to a relatively nice guy at Apple (Steve H.) last week, I did extensive diagnostics on my own, and sent a VERY long email to Apple explaining the problem in great detail providing information pertinent to engineers (along with affected video samples) in addition to sending in a "data capture file" of my new MacBook's status.

I later found out my diagnostic email was not forwarded to the engineers because of questions they sent back to me, indicating that they never got the detailed report after viewing my data capture logs.

Today I spoke with "Catilin" - not an engineer - (apparently the engineers are insulated from speaking voice to voice with customers). Caitlin informed me that since I did a clean install of the OS before one of my tests, that is proof that my video files are corrupt and there is no defect. When I then asked if it is possible that Apple could ship a faulty product, she answered, "No."

Sigh... where are the scientists of the world when you need them?

Anyway, for those of you out there with the problem, I will not post my long detailed report here. We all seem to be experiencing the same issues anyway. I just wanted to confirm that you are not alone, and apparently not a small number. When customer service tells you that you are the first person they have heard of with this problem (as they are mostly saying now), know that it means nothing. There are a lot of customer service people, and even widespread problems take time to be common knowledge among support staff.

Please make sure you tell customer service that this is a KNOWN ISSUE among users. Dozens of people are certainly contacting Apple about this problem now, but they have not yet issued an internal memo so that all customer service personnel are aware of it.

I will attach the latest email I just sent to Steve H., who just left me a cryptic voice mail message explaining how we should use third party software to play back videos and how we should use easily obtainable online apps to convert our video clips to other formats that might not be affected by the defect.

Please note that I am not trying to be negative about Apple here, but it would seem from my communications so far, only the engineers (scientists) are open to evaluating this problem rationally, and unfortunately I am currently forced to speak to the engineers through the filter of "not so highly intellectual or scientifically trained" customer service persons.

So, please spread the word when you call Apple and make sure they are aware that you have read about this problem from other Apple customers online.

I am tired of this issue and do not have another 20 hours to invest. I hope someone else will take a turn moving this problem forward with Apple and post your results here. Maybe if we work aggressively in shifts on this thing, someone in a position to do something at Apple will finally hear about it.

---
Steve,

I did not understand your voice mail.
What do you mean by, "There is not really much more we can do on this."?

Incidentally, it affects more than MPEG 1 files, as is evident in the detailed email I sent to you.

Did you mean to say, there is not much more you can do about it now, but it is being worked on?

Is it Apple's official position that this defect will not be resolved and we must always use third party software to play standard video clips (as suggested in your message), instead of using Apple's defective software shipping with MacBooks?

I must assume you misspoke in your email message.
Did you mean to say to use other programs and convert videos to other formats in the interim while Apple's engineers work on a correction?

Has it already been determined that all new Macbooks have the problem, or only some?
Obviously, if it is only some, I need to return mine to get a MacBook that does not have this defect/conflict/ or whatever it is.

---
I hate to say this, but as is evident by your just received voice mail and you not being aware of the different affected video formats I wrote about in great detail before, you are apparently another technical support person to go down in history as not paying close attention to an important and detailed diagnostic email before replying.

It is doubly surprising to see this behavior in you, when in my earlier email I went out of my way to explain and warn against this all too common and bizarre phenomenon of customer service persons not paying attention to helpful diagnostic email before replying to the treasured customers who went out of their way to prepare and send such email.
---

I can't keep working for Apple for free on this issue, especially when I am not receiving coherent responses to my testing and kind diagnostics work.

Please consider me retired from the "MacBook Development and Leopard Beta Testing Team", until such time as it is decided to compensate me adequately for my generously donated time.

Fix it, tell me to exchange for another unit, or tell me the problem has been acknowledged and it is being worked on. Or reiterate one last time that it will not be fixed (as you suggested in your last message) and I will know I must return the defective computer and consider other options in life.

I have no more time for any other responses from you.
Dan Savage

Mar 12, 2008 5:55 AM in response to brystarks

I registered just so I could post in this thread . . .

Glad I'm not the only one with this issue. First Apple computer ever for me - black macbook. I see the flicker during quicktime playback and it is pretty dang annoying. I also noticed that the flickering goes away if a movie is playing through QTP in the background. For kicks and giggles I played a quicktime file on VLC and didn't experience any flickering. Hopefully this is just a software bug (the nearest Apple store is 2 or so hours away from me 😟 ) and will get fixed soon.

Mar 12, 2008 1:48 PM in response to Savage Snow

A Quick Update...

Apple has now officially recognized the MacBook/Leopard/Quicktime flickering video problem.
Below is an email quote from one of the Apple representatives I have been dealing with.

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"Apple has received reports similar to the behavior you are describing and we are investigating those reports. Further information will come in the form of a Knowledge Base article, Software Update, or Software Release."
----------

All in all, I guess it really hasn't taken too much time to admit there was a problem, and I presume a solution will be provided soon enough.

What I have learned from this so far is that it is important to be patient (and gently persistent) with customer service persons in the computer world. They are often not qualified or capable of really understanding complex technical issues, so understanding and sympathy may often be needed during the process of pushing an issue through to the engineers.

I am pacified now, knowing the issue has been been embraced for study.
Dan Savage

QuickTime flickering during Video Tutorials?

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