iBook G3 video skipping (slow computer msg in VLC) & crashing with mplayer

What is the MHz rating on the iBook?

How big is the hard drive and how much space remains available on it?

How much RAM is installed?

According to documentation on the VLC website, choppy video can be the result of a processor that is simply too slow to run the program.

You may want to ask about minimum requirements on the VLC Media Player for Mac OS X forum. I couldn't find a list of minimum requirements in the documentation on their site.

I asked for a bit of help, and Scott P. says he uses VLC on his 700 MHz iBook all the time.

Some other comments from Scott:

That nothing will play it is a bit telling.
"avi" could be any number of codecs, some of which QT won't play without add-ons. I would be curious to know what she is trying to play. My bet would be something she downloaded from bittorrent or the "LW" word. In that case, there are just so many things that could be wrong with the file…
That aside, she should really try not running it in full screen if she is (didn't say). I usually have no issue running a video in VLC at the resolution it came in. That said, It doesn't have enough chuzpah to handle things like the QT stream for the Keynote, video from elsewhere on the LAN, or shows saved to network from ReplayTV (presumably TiVo would have the same issues). Only works for locally stored video.

Scott would have hopped in here to help, but he is headed out of town. He will be back tomorrow, and may check in for answers to his questions about your sources then. He told me I could quote him. I hope there's something there that gives you a clue.

Missy,

Under 'Energy Saver' --> Options in System Preferences what is Processor Performance set to? If it is not set to 'highest', try this and see if it makes a difference. Also, I presume you are trying this while running from AC power?

..k

Aloha Missy!

Sorry I wasn't around yesterday (believe me, I really would rather not have been on Iowa interstates in a snowstorm).

The message I believe you were getting was the one that said something like "an error has occured causing more than five frames to skip" blah blah blah. And it gives you an option to "suppress" future errors for the video, right?

If so, that's because we are running on about as lowly a machine as can be handled by the program 😉
I like VLC because it can do where other programs on the iBook can't. But even then it needs some help. Unfortunately, the documentation I used to set up VLC was included in the installer for another application and I've since deleted the readme (heck, I readit). So, I've done the next best thing. I went through the preferences and tried to remember the few changes so I could pass them on.

One (under "interface") was to increase the verbosity from the default to either of the other numbers. I really can't remember what it does, but I do know it was recommended when the CPU was choking)

The other was under the misc. tab, and was the setting for VLC priority. For some reason mine is set to and obscenely high NEGATIVE number (like -100).

Now...you still are going to get skipping. I have a hidden dock, and if I bring it up, I get skips. If I grab the controller and drag it, I get skips...you get the idea 😉

When you say they are AVI's on a DVD, I assume that means they are not the normal DVD type files. It might be a bit annoying to try, but could you move one to the HD and then try playing with it in the other apps?

My thought here is that the computer is using so many resources reading the files from the DVD that it is causing issues for QT, mplayer, and (to a lesser extent which is why I love it...)VLC. Try that and let us know if it stops the problem you noted.

...you said kernel panic. Is the whole "screen goes dim and a message in 10 languages" scenario playing out, or is the iBook just freaking out and shutting down the get info panel. In other words, do you need to reboot when this happens or not?

Missy, I just realized I don't have any AVIs on a DVD. I need to:

1) find some AVI files
2) burn them to DVD
3) try to get the same problem you reported.

I've got a few things I need to do today, but I should be able to give this a go this afternoon. If I get the same problem you did with Get info shutting down, we'll know our beloved iBook are just not up to the task. If I don't have the same behaviour, Then Ronda (and I) might just need to help dig a bit deeper to look for problems with your l'il white bundle of joy 😉

btw: Ronda is the person to whom I look when an issue crops up with my iBook. I got it used 2 years ago, and just recently sold my XP PC and replaced it with an old G4 tower that works like a charm. So if I put my foot in my mouth at any point, point at me, laugh, and follow Ronda's advice. I usually do.

Ah, but Ronda don't know nuthin' 'bout that VLC, Scott.

Lead on.

OK, Missy. Here's the results of my playing around.

Didn't actually have any stray AVI files, so I found a few different formats and put them all on a CD. I also made a couple into a VideoCD just for kicks. I figured that would approximate a dvd playback, kinda.

I gotta say, I probably won't do that to my iBook again 😉
Files that played well enough when on my hard drive gave me a little bit of stuttering (though no error, nor the odd thing that the preview did) and some choppy sound. This reinforces the original idea I had that with a locally stored file, you can use VLC if you turn off every thing else first. And I do mean everything. Airport included. I do that just to be sure that in the middle of something mail doesn't decide to check my inbox or software update doesn't decide that now is the perfect time for me to install an iPod updater that will do absolutely nothing to my 3G iPod.

Another trick I've used is to switch the screen resolution while watching video. Here come all the folks to say that is such a bad idea as an LCD only looks good in its native resolution. We'll just pause while they post...OK, then 😉
Really, try it. The video still looks good, the iBook is processing significantly fewer pixels, and the result is a little bit smoother run for you. Of course, every thing else looks kind of funky, but we're watching videos here!

Finally, just as a note, the VLC specs to indicate that a G4 processor is needed for "smooth playback of mpeg2" files. So we are never going to look as good as a G5 or one of the new Core Duo rigs. But it does work if you make sure that VLC can use all of the resources on the iBook.

That is still closes out the get info is a bit puzzling. But that is definitely going to be a QT thing, and I'm not the best troubleshooter on that.

Now that you changed the verbosity, make sure the priority is changed as well. Remember a really low negative number is good there.

Yes, we are at the very low edge for this kind of thing. It will take most of our system resources just to watch videos. Make sure that your memory has as little loaded into it as you dare. Maybe even try making a "video" user account where nothing but OS X loads on startup. Disable hidden docks and magification on the appliction icons. Use a plain background (hey, every little bit, right?). That way there is nothing to distract your little joy from playing video.

...whatever you do, don't give in to the temptation to "overclock" the iBook. That way leads to the dark side. And broken iBooks 😉

I reuglarly play avi. files on VLC player on my ibook, exact same specs as yours, and I sometimes have the same problem as you. I find that if I restart my ibook before playing the file, it will work perfectly. If I've been using the iBook for a while and had other programs open whilst trying to play the avi., it will just not work, I get sound fine but the video skips and I get the error message.