Video Streaming - glitchy playback and high CPU usage

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Level 1

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Video Streaming - glitchy playback and high CPU usage

Hi,
I'm running a mid 2007 macbook with OSX 10.5.8, and I am experiencing issues playing back video from a large number of websites. Specifically BBC iPlayer, and other OD sites, but others too. HTML5 playback seems to be okay.

I tried changing from Safari to Chrome, and this seemed to make no difference, and even though I tend to run a lots of programs and have lots of tabs open, I get this issue when I'm not running anything else.

When I look at my CPU usage, its constantly running at 80% when the video is running fine. Then it leaps to 100%, and the video fails and get stuck. Sometimes continuing the audio, but with the image frozen. I think the computer gets too hot, and slows the CPU speed down, resulting in the glitches.

I'm pretty certain my problem lies with Flash. As when looking at activity monitor, this is the process that leaps into action and drains my CPU when video is playing. I'm currently using the latest versions of everything. My computer should be fast enough to playback these (admittedly very compressed) formats without really struggling. So something must be wrong in software somewhere!

If anybody has come across this issue, and found a solution, it would be great to hear it!

Thanks in advance.

Jamie

Macbook 2.0ghz 2gig Ram 320gig HD, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Feb 27, 2011 5:58 AM

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Answer 1

Feb 27, 2011 8:42 AM in response to macaddict384

The problem is Flash. It's a pretty common issue, so I have no idea what the exact problem with Flash is.

All I can say is that you could try reinstalling Flash. My dad got rid of it completely, in fact, when it started lagging under Snow Leopard. I installed Click2Flash, which doesn't load any Flash stuff unless I click on the item that is trying to load. It gets rid of laggy ads and videos 🙂

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Answer 2

K Shaffer

Level 7

34,972 points

Feb 27, 2011 12:12 PM in response to macaddict384

The Adobe web site has recent versions of Flash player and Shockwave player;
among them, are ones for certain web browsers as well as specific OS X system
versions. As in PPC or Intel-based Mac systems of a certain build number range.

And the download package for each product includes an Uninstaller so the old
player may be removed first, before installing the newer one. Keep in mind, the
most recent players they have may not work with your older OS X system, so
be sure to read and look around. I've found several versions, including ones that
do OK for my G4 computers running 10.4.11 and 10.5.8.

The older computers have different possible issues, but yours is new enough to
not have graphic processor or other hardware limits increasingly PPC-Macs have.
And then with streaming content and changes in software/hardware, some factors
are beyond the reach of older computers, when left behind due to a new direction.

You computer may also be a candidate for some general & preventative maintenance;
depending on how it is used, how often it sees huge file transfers and other variables.
My computers can stay on (including sleep) for over 170 days and not act oddly. There
are things that can improve by simply restarting the computer; or start in SafeBoot to
then run Disk Utility's 'repair disk permissions' to alleviate some basic glitch or issue.

If specific graphic content related 'cures' don't make much difference, consider the
whole computer approach for general health to make it work the best it can; then any
other causes of slowness may be more pointedly addressed, by selective direct means.

The specifications of your computer indicate it should be able to handle OS X 10.6.6;
but a direct upgrade is not recommended unless the existing issue is investigated.
There may be underlying hard disk drive issues or other logical errors behind troubles.

Are there any Console logs relating to actions the system takes while processing video?
They'd be listed by time/date and could show other things going on, outside of Flash
players or compromised basic computer functions that appear now only under stress.

Good luck & happy computing! 🙂

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Answer 3

Feb 27, 2011 2:01 PM in response to K Shaffer

Had a flash problem since last year ...
Deinstallation of adobe flash and firefox did not help.
Today with new version it works!
Adobe flash Version 10.2 with firefox 3.6.13 on 10.5.8 OSX.
Hope this helps some of you ...

Regards
Sven

Adobe Flash Player Install Manager:

Version: 10.2.152.26
Zuletzt geändert: 27.02.11 22:48
Art: Universal
Ort: /Applications/Utilities/Adobe Flash Player Install Manager.app

Firefox:

Version: 3.6.13
Zuletzt geändert: 27.10.10 07:29
Art: Universal
Informationen: Firefox 3.6.13, © 1998-2010 Contributors
Ort: /Applications/Firefox.app

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