Using BBC iPlayer - getting jerky video on downloaded programmes

I had the same problem too - on all of my Macs (all intel, up to and including the dual 3.06Ghz iMac).

The good news is that the latest version of the BBC iplayer seems to have fixed the jerky full screen playback issue. It just popped up as an update last time I opened the player (2 days ago). Just thought it was worth mentioning !

Nick

Usually jerky video is because the processor is too slow such as a G4, but you have an Intel processor which should be up to speed. Do you have a lot of other things open when trying to play video?

512 MB RAM strikes me as low by pretty much any modern standards. OSX is memory greedy and the "minimum" is very much a minimum. I have 1.5GB on my old G4 and that still isn't always enough if I have a browser, itunes, and maybe a couple of other applications open. If you don't have enough RAM your computer will use the hard drive for temporary (virtual) memory which is slower and could slow down the video.

How full is your hard drive? A full hard drive can slow down a computer because it has to hunt around for space to use for memory.

I don't know enough to do other than wildly guess at the faster streaming vs. downloaded. Maybe the downloaded one is fragmented, or perhaps the streamed version works thorough a different player component that requires fewer instantaneous resources???

Other video. Video formats are in transition. Some is still in standard mp4 format. Other is in new h264 format (especially on new video services). h264 requires a lot more resources than standard. h264 really requires a fast Intel Mac with lots of RAM. On my computer h264 is jerky despite my having a dual 800 with max. RAM. If for some reason your Intel computer is operating marginally with respect to video that might be a reason why you are seeing jerky video. As I said before, 512MB RAM is low by modern standards. It may have been okay when you first bought the computer but back then h264 wasn't really in use. Adding RAM to a G4 wouldn't speed it up enough to play h264 but in your case it might.

The only thing I can think of, and it isn't grounded in facts, is perhaps the standalone player requires more RAM. It isn't finding it so it is having to use your hard drive for virtual memory and that's too slow.

I have an Intel with 2GB of RAM and iPlayer *can be* jerky on replay or live viewing.
It is not bad enough to stop us viewing with the iMac connected to a 37" LGB TV using a DVI cable.

ITV, CH4 & CH5 catchup programs can also be jerky at times but it seems to more the type of camera shot.

My only suggestion is that maybe the compression is too great and too much info is missing.
600 - 650MB for an hours viewing seems a bit light to me but I'm no expert in these things.

I have just looked at a streamed iPlayer copy of The One Show and the quality is nowhere near as good as the original broadcast.

Chris

I have a very similar problem with a recent generation Macbook Pro. Had been fine watching iPlayer until quite recently, now I get a recurring problem with jerky playback in full-screen mode. It's only with downloaded programmes on the 'BBC iPlayer Desktop'; if I stream it from the iPlayer website and watch in full screen then it's fine. And my machine's configuration should have more than enough umph to cope with the video processing. I wonder whether it's something to do with the latest version of the iPlayer software ...

james.

When I get a moment I will download something and check it out (I very rarely download the stuff, just watch things I have missed) and post my results.

But I never have problems with streamed videos on iPlayer, except just occasionally when 10 million others are also streaming the same program and the bandwidth goes kerplonk!

But in principle this has to be a BBC problem.

From the FAQs on iPlayer:

Should I choose Real Player, QuickTime or Windows Media Player (WMP) for downloaded programmes?
BBC iPlayer Desktop downloads
Our primary download option requires that you install and play programmes with BBC iPlayer Desktop as the technology we use is not compatible with any other media player.

Do you have iPlayer Desktop?

Downloaded 'Art Deco Icons' and it plays perfectly, no judder.

Please note however, that iPlayer Desktop is supposed to only work with Intel Macs. On my PPS iMac it sometimes works, sometimes doesn't, to instead I used iPlayer Grabber to download:

http://fader.co.uk/post/iPlayer-Grabber-the-iPlayer-downloader-for-Mac-OS-X.aspx

The video (which downloaded as a .mov file) played back in Quicktime Player, full screen, with no judder or quality loss.