Level 1

36 points

Flash playback jerky

Does anyone else notice slightly jerky playback with Flash Player (the latest version)? It's getting really annoying trying to watch Hulu, for example.

I've tried enabling and disabling hardware acceleration in the Flash Player settings, to no avail...

Is it me, or shouldn't Flash play quite smoothly on this machine?

15" Macbook Pro (Late 2008), Mac OS X (10.5.6), 2.4 GHz, 4 GB RAM

Posted on May 8, 2009 1:14 PM

45 replies

walker7366 Author

Level 1

36 points

May 10, 2009 2:27 PM in response to Vibrator

What browser are you using?

Okay, I tried Hulu in Camino, and while it's not perfect, it does seem like it stutters less often, though, I might be imagining that out of wishful thinking.

The stutter: every 10-30 seconds, sometimes longer, the video pauses for a split second and then catches up to itself. Like a tiny hiccup.

I may just try using Camino for the time being, but I still think there's something wrong between Flash and my computer.

walker7366 Author

Level 1

36 points

May 10, 2009 2:32 PM in response to walker7366

Okay, I take back what I said about Camino being better. Fired up a "30 Rock," and it stuttered 4 times within the first minute.

I simply cannot believe that you get Hulu to run totally smoothly. How???

Vibrator

Level 1

5 points

May 10, 2009 4:13 PM in response to walker7366

Given the evidence, I doubt this has anything to do with Flash. Open your activity monitor and make sure that there isn't some stealth process running in the background.

I've run Flash in OSX on Mac Pros, iMacs, MBPs, MBs, and MBAs without issue. Your computer should be able to handle it fine.

walker7366 Author

Level 1

36 points

May 10, 2009 4:35 PM in response to walker7366

I totally agree, my computer should easily be able to handle it, which is why this is so confusing.

Don't think anything's running in the background. Looking at Activity Monitor right now, my system is running between 90-98% idle.

Have you seen this discussion?

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1666546

Vibrator

Level 1

5 points

May 10, 2009 4:56 PM in response to walker7366

Do youtube videos play OK?

If you can run Windows, did you try playing the same Flash content in Windows?

walker7366 Author

Level 1

36 points

May 10, 2009 6:03 PM in response to walker7366

It's the same with Youtube.

Windows? Not on this mac. 😉

But in that other discussion, a couple people said that they didn't have this issue when they tried in Windows. It does seem to be a Mac-Flash thing, but I don't understand how you don't have the same issue. Strange.

Vibrator

Level 1

5 points

May 10, 2009 6:07 PM in response to walker7366

I don't believe this issue is common. I go by the Apple Store all the time. This afternoon, I checked Flash playback on many different Macbooks at the store. They were all fine. It's an important issue to me because I frequently use Flash to develop scientific presentations.

Message was edited by: Vibrator

walker7366 Author

Level 1

36 points

May 12, 2009 12:01 PM in response to Vibrator

Do me a favor? and run this Flash test and report back what fps you got?

http://www.craftymind.com/factory/guimark/GUIMark_Flex3.html

I got 20 fps with Firefox, and 29 with the latest Safari. I think the numbers for windows is in the upper 40s or so.

Since you say you have smooth flash playback, I'm curious as to what your average fps is compared to mine...

Vibrator

Level 1

5 points

May 13, 2009 1:23 AM in response to walker7366

I haven't had a chance to run this test on any current Macbook yet, but my 5 yr old Powerbook gets less than 3 fps. However, the playback is perfectly smooth--slow, yes, but smooth nevertheless. No stuttering. For this reason, I don't think the average Flash frame rate would reveal much about the nature of your problem. It seems to me the variance of this rate would more useful. When you run the test does the frame rate stay right around 29 or does it jump around wildly (from 15 to 35, for example)?

When I run it on the Powerbook of my Windows PC, the rate is very stable. The PC gets 60 fps.

Network 23

Level 6

12,351 points

May 13, 2009 1:49 AM in response to walker7366

My MacBook Pro peaks at 25-26fps unless something else hits the CPU, then the frame rate drops to around 16fps.

My PowerBook G4 1.25GHz is getting about 5fps. I was just watching Hulu and it was pretty consistently watchable if you don't mind the 5fps.

Both machines were just upgraded to 10.5.7 though I wasn't having a problem in 10.5.6.

Vibrator

Level 1

5 points

May 13, 2009 4:21 AM in response to walker7366

walker, see this thread:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1988546&tstart=0

walker7366 Author

Level 1

36 points

May 13, 2009 8:40 AM in response to Vibrator

Okay, I'm confused...what do you mean by slow but smooth. What does "slow" mean? When I tried Hulu on my old ibook G4, Hulu was very choppy. It just couldn't handle it. I don't understand how you can say you have 3 fps and it's "smooth."

BTW, no, the fps weren't jumping around.

Please explain what you mean by "slow" but not stuttering, if you don't mind...

walker7366 Author

Level 1

36 points

May 13, 2009 8:40 AM in response to Vibrator

Interesting. I'll look into that, and maybe give it a try. Thanks for pointing it out.

walker7366 Author

Level 1

36 points

May 13, 2009 8:50 AM in response to walker7366

Oh, that's basically just running disc utility, which I've done, and everything "looked OK." (I do regular maintenance and keep my machine in very healthy condition.)

Also, Apple doesn't recommend running fsck in place of disc utility after 10.3

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1417

walker7366 Author

Level 1

36 points

May 13, 2009 8:53 AM in response to Network 23

Network 23 wrote:

My PowerBook G4 1.25GHz is getting about 5fps. I was just watching Hulu and it was pretty consistently watchable if you don't mind the 5fps.

What do you mean by "consistently watchable"? What does the video look like? "Smooth" would be like watching a dvd, or tv. No jumpiness, choppiness, totally smooth.

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Flash playback jerky