Video Playback Fine On iPhone - Horrible On Computer

Hi Lawrence, thanks for the reply.

Remember, this is not a isolated incidence. Others have this issue too (actually supposedly everyone), its just some people get a better playback on VLC, I don't. So I can't see it being the things you said, OTHER than maybe my video card just can't handle it cause its so old ? But again, like I said, I play other higher res videos just fine. Full movie size as well ! So that kinda blows all theories. Right ?

Anyway, to answer you:

My HD is no where near full, I never do that. I'm a pretty anal Mac kat thats been Mac'in since 1997. My whole computer is always streamlined, I never clutter or overfill, etc.. All my drives get backed up, and fresh instal wipeded usually once every 2 years or so. Long before I ever see a problem, and never have seen a problem honestly.

My Buffer settings are a great idea, honestly haven't checked those in years cause I never had a problem. BUT now I went to check, and it seems to be different, I can't find any "buffer settings" for QT PRO anywhere in preferences. Do you know where to find it ? I'll check VLC now too.

I do not think I understand "CPU Utilization" or where I go to see that ? Details ?

I've never bought, instaled, used or ran any antivirus applications ever. Again, I try to keep my computers very stripped down. I notice they run better that way. Low amount of app's, low amount of disc usuage, save files externally when I can, get off of net and unplug from it when not using the net, etc...

Thanks for the help !

Ok, I'll check my CPU utilization and report back. I agree, my G4 is old. LOL. But again, we have to use common deductive reasoning here. The biggest clue here and variable removed is this, and we can't forget this, my computer as is (video card, old, settings, etc..) can play a huge movie file of equal to or higher res just fine. Just not when it came from the iPhone UNLESS I export it as a lower quality for some reason. But yet, the quality shouldn't be the issue, since I can play other movies (downloaded from net or exported from DVD, etc..) of the same file (.mov) of equal to or higher quality. So is the export fixing something else ?

And if its the specs of my computer, tell me how I play other video of equal res (which FYI is not HD) so fine ? HD is 1920 x 1080, the iPhones movie specs are 1280 x 720. Not much more than (less than double) standard 1980's TV resolution which was 720 x 480 or something like that.

BUT, the other deductive reasoning here, is your helpful info, that you can play your iPhone recorded videos just fine on your newer laptop. So, I see the other side of it now too. I ask this though, as this may be the answer, how are you getting the iPhone movie into your computer ? And is it possible, (if your not using image capture) that the importing method you and others are using automatically perfectly compresses the file to be as high quality as it can, but yet play good on your computer ?

I use Image Capture because of the fact that it can't compress or mess with any file, photo or movie, so I like that. iPhoto is too "automatic" for my taste and possibly not the raw file. Can you open up the movie properties of the .mov file you get from your iPhone once it gets into your computer and tell me all the properties ?

The iPhone movie properties I get importing raw are:

QUICKTIME PRO:

Format: H.264 Decoder

Resolution: 1280 x 720

Audio: AAC, 44.1k, Mono

FPS: 29.96 -- (this is what I think is off - usual is 29.97)

PLAYING FPS: 14 (this is obviously way off)

Data Rate: 10.66 mBits/s

VLC readings are the same. Roughly. But it has a error log type of window in which says a lot of weird stuff.

I'll post some snapshots of all the info, CPU Activity, Property windows, Logs, etc..

Direct links to screenshots of the Activity Monitor.

These are all BEFORE the movie is playing, computer on complete idle:

http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/4003/49586261.jpg

http://img714.imageshack.us/img714/1303/59935266.jpg

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/3121/70305755.jpg

http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/268/74597679.jpg

http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/2096/72357512.jpg

Direct links to screenshots, these are all DURING play of the video:

http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/5527/98502488.jpg

http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/7079/56055917.jpg

http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/4791/91616489.jpg

http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/3125/28857038.jpg

Lawrence Finch wrote:

I import it using Picasa, because all of my photos and videos were in Picasa before I moved to the Mac. So, while iPhoto is purportedly great, 5,000 photos are a lot to reindex.

Cool, understood. But what is your imported iPhones movies properties ? Once in the computer, and playing fine. Oh, and what "player" are you using to play them "perfectly" ?

Thanks -

mcsound wrote:

Given the specs of your computer, I would not expect smooth playback of HD video. You definitely lack the processor power and are fairly low on the amount of RAM need to do so.

Hi mcsound, thanks for chiming in to help.

I don't know if I agree with this. Mathematic reasoning just don't support this. I agree consumerism does though - lol.

Playing HD don't take much resources, as my old xBox 360 plays HD movies just fine. But the real point is, 1280 x 720 is not HD, sure its a higher res than standard TV, but not by some overwhelming amount that causes issues like this. I can play other high res videos on this computer just fine, from DVD (which actually should be more taxing on the computer), and also from file (which is literally the same).

The xBox 360 has less processing power and less ram than my old "out of spec" computer, and it plays HD movies just fine. Point to all this is, it just aint adding up. The first inclination I agree, is to go buy a new computer. But, if you do the math, there is no reason why a 1.67Ghz processor can't play HD movies. Cause actually, it can, my computer plays them fine in iMovie, and edits HD video and renders HD video and burns HD video, and real 1920 x 1080 HD video, not this faux HD of 1280 x 720. So see how this is not adding up ?

RAM has nothing to do with this either. Playing movies from file or disc uses almost no ram. But editing film does for sure, and at that, these 2GB of ram I got has edited, rendered and made plenty of HD movies.

Look at the screenshots I supplied, the before and during screens of the "System Memory" (RAM) shows that while playing the faux HD iPhone clip, it used only 100mb of Ram.

So again, no reason to think it is the specs of the computer. I agree it could be the video card, or processor MAYBE, but again, why does other HD clips/movies play on this computer smoothly, while anyone taken from the iPhone doesn't ?

If it is the case that the iPhone is just taking a amazingly high quality of 1280 x 720 (higher than other 1280 x 720 cameras for some other reason), then why in the world would Apple not give the iPhone a camera setting to allow us to pick "capture" setting optimized for the end result application we plan on using ?

Either way, this is not ok, and either way, its funny how it gets most people buying into the whole "consumerism" thing. Which is the last thing we need. Don't get me wrong, I buy things like crazy, and will be buying a couple new computers soon, BUT there is no need for it to play HD or several other things people think. HD is not rocket science, and again, HD is old and was supported even when my computer came out. My screen resolution exceeds the iPhones video clips resolution !

There is some framerate controversy I think, or something that the iPhone is doing that other sources are not. But I just can't find it out, and I find it strange there is not more talk about this.

mcsound wrote:

Sorry, I tried to edit my post as soon as I sent it and wasn't able to. The RAM I was referring to was the RAM on your graphics card. Assuming that your computer is the last PPC G4, you would have 128MB DDR on your graphics card. Also there are many flavors of HD. If you are editing HD in iMovie on a G4 you are working in HDV which is an MPEG 2 CODEC. The iPhone 4 shoots h.264 HD video 1280 x 720, thats MPEG 4, a more highly compressed CODEC that requires more processing power to decode.

Also you can't look at resolution alone. There is nothing faux about 1280 x 720. In fact that is the resolution that most professional televised sports is shot at. Data rate is very important as well . Data rate for most commercially produced DVDs is about 4-5 mBits/s. The iPhone is recording at 10 mBits/s.

Ha, yea no problem, I know how these forum threads can be. And I should have deciphered the possibility you were referring to that anyway.

I definitely understand where you are coming from. And I do think that may be it. My Video card. And maybe some movies I get/download are just more easy on my exact config even though they are at similar resolutions.

Plus, if you look at the screenshots I supplied, under the "CPU" ones (during play and before play), it is showing that during play, it is using 98% of the CPU. Now, I do not know how to read that exactly, but from what I can gather, maybe it is taxing my computer's processor (or graphics card), or a litle of both ? But the readings still stay in the "Green", so honestly I am unsure how to register the info. I am waiting for Lawrence to chime back in to say something on the screenshots.

So I do believe it is a "Data Rate" thing as you said. And it makes sense, cause it is possible all high quality "looking" movies/clips/video I've played on this computer were just recorded at a lower data rate. What really KILLS me about all this is, honestly, the video from a iPhone is amazing yes, BUT does not look even close to as good as some other videos of "lower quality". I also notice that with pictures. The specs of the iPhone is up there for sure, but oddly enough, a Canon camera with lower specs gives me WAY better pics.

I still say there should be a camera settings menu in the iPhone. For those who just want to take a quick recording and have it play anywhere quickly just fine. This aint over, the real test is I will bring my videos over to a friends house that has a kinda new Mac Pro tower, if that has problems playing it too, then we all have to admit there is a issue.

BTW, McSound, I imagine you are not having this same issue (obviously), so I ask, after you shoot a video on your iPhone (4?) then import it into your computer, what player are you using that is not giving you these same issues as I ? If applicable of course.