Poor performance on Snow Leopard

We should try to see if we can narrow down the problem.

So far we know it affects both DVDs and AVIs. Are only Mac Minis affected? If so, which models?

We should also try removing all Quicktime plugins and then seeing if Front Row's performance improves.

Try Front Row with and without Quicktime 7 installed.

Try Front Row with DivX 7 installed, but not Perian. Then vice versa.

And try using the avc1Decoder instead of Perian for MP4 playback.
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/23875/avc1decoder

My Mac Mini model is Mid 2007 1.83 Core 2 Duo with the intel GMA950 graphics card, now running 10.6. DVD plays fine in stand alone app, not in Front Row.

From what I can see right now my .avi files seem okay in Front Row on the mini.

However, I have noticed .mkv files exhibiting the same stuttering and diminished playback quality in Front Row, along with them taking a lot longer to load in, than in 10.5.8. This file plays fine in other app's, just not Front Row.

The MacBook Pro (June 2009 model) plays this DVD and the .mkv fine in Front Row and in any other app(VLC, DVD player, etc) also in Snow Leopard.

Both Machines have Quicktime 7 Pro installed, along with Perian.

I uninstalled Perian on the Mini, and it did not improve playback of the DVD through Front Row.

I don't have any experience with DivX7, or the avc1Decoder mentioned, so they are not installed. Perian alone had met my needs pretty well. I will try to do some more tests in the coming days. Hope this helps.

I'm having the same problems with purchased downloads from iTunes, DVDs on disk and DVDs that are ripped and on a firewire drive attached to my Mini with 2gigs of ram. This model of Mini is the 1.83 Core Duo with the Intel GMA 950 (64MB Shared). Never any video trouble with the old Leopard. I have it attached to 2 50in LG LCD TV Via HDMI. DVI to HDMI then the HDMI is on a splitter to the to TVs in separate rooms. The images are a bit fuzzy, the playback jerky, and the audio about a second out of sync. Even music has trouble. Playing through iTunes or the DVD player is not quite as bad but I do notice a degradation from the display in Leopard. I was hoping it would be better since the Displays Pref Panel has the 1080p option now.

John,

Try this. Create a new user account on the Mini. Log into that and play a DVD or MP4/M4V in Front Row. Does it play more smoothly in the new user account?

Tried that thanks, now difference.

I'm having the same issue:

Mac Mini, 1.83Ghz Core Duo

.AVIs playback choppy and with stuttering (these happen to be shorts uploaded from my Nikon D5k) into iPhoto. Playback used to work fine before upgrading to 10.6; I tested by viewing old AVIs that had been fine as well as a few uploaded today. Same problem.

.MOVs uploaded from my iPhone work fine.

I think, all GMA950 and X1300 users are affected. Playback of any kind of media using Frot Row is jerky. Any other players works fine.
First I installed SL without Quicktime and only when I cacth the problem with FR and thought maybe it needs Q7. Installed it and it did not helped. Tryed to remove Perian - same sh *t.

the feedback page does not allow you to pick 10.6 as an OS yet!

I noticed it too, but send feedback anyway.

The jerky effect runs throughout my whole Front Row experience. From browsing the menus, watching the album art swap sides during a song to watching videos of any sort. Audio is fine but everything visual has jerky-like playback.

I have a Mac Mini, the Aug '07 higher end model (The one before Apple put nVidia chips in Minis).

2.0GHz Core 2 Duo, 2GB DDR2 667 Ram, Intel GMA950

I use my Mac Mini in the living room as a media player, either watching DVDs or streaming from an additional Mac Mini in the Office (both are running Snow Leopard) I have found when watching DVDs that the play back is out-of-sync and jumpy an completely unwatchable, however streamed movies from the office are fine.

I have noticed another problem which may or may not be related: When I am watching streamed movies in Front Row I find that every now and then (without rhyme or reason) Front Row looses the source, and therefore stops playing the Movie, the only way to get it back is to put the Mini in the living room to sleep and then waking it, this makes it somehow rediscover the Office as a source. Like I sais not sure if it is related but does effect Front Row reliablility (Note this never happened with Leopard)

I'm having exactly the same problem. It looks totally isolated to Front Row. I've got a freshly installed system (not upgrade) and have installed none of the Quicktime add-ins (or much else for that matter).

Installed Plex to see if it's working any better. Video playback was fine, but of course Plex is having issues with the remote control.

BTW - wasn't Front Row one of the applications that WASN'T rewritten in Snow Leopard?

Mac Mini 2.0GHz
2GB DDR2 677 Ram
Intel GMA950

Same here - serious issues with Front Row photo slideshows. I select the menu, then hit a photo slideshow. it's jerky and jumpy. I then cannot pause or play it, or skip forward and backward. Well - I kinda can, but there is a delay of about 5 seconds, and all is a bit random. and there is no indication if you are skipping forward or are on play or anything.

Haven't tried movie playback. but this is quite annoying.

Having the same problem across the board in Front Row. It's actually rendered useless to me now. Needs an update to Front Row from Apple I reckon, as they didn't update this software at all for SL.

Fingers crossed the update happens soon, as I use it all the time.

😟

I am also experiencing media playback problems, however, have not tried in front row. I get these problems with iphoto slideshows when it tries to play movies (snapshots theme) on my MacBookPro with NVidia 9600(256MB)!!! I also noticed other lags when trying to play movies in general especially when on battery power, so IMHO the problem is with media playback in general, not only in front row. I didnt have any of these problems in 10.5