dukeman2233
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Q: Powerbook G4 no video support

Powerbook g4 is horrible for videos I have not been able to watch one youtube tells me that I need to plug in. Plug in support what does that mean is there anything that lets me watch any video?

PowerBook, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Jul 3, 2012 10:53 AM

by dukeman2233,Solvedanswer
dukeman2233 dukeman2233
Level 1 (0 points)
A:

so there is nothing downloadable app or anything that will make it like a normal computer i just want to watch videos like on my parents cpu.

Posted on Jul 3, 2012 1:28 PM

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dukeman2233

Q: Powerbook G4 no video support

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  • by old comm guy,Helpful

    old comm guy old comm guy Jul 3, 2012 12:20 PM in response to dukeman2233
    Level 4 (2,244 points)
    Jul 3, 2012 12:20 PM in response to dukeman2233

    dukeman2233 wrote:

     

    Powerbook g4 is horrible for videos I have not been able to watch one youtube tells me that I need to plug in. Plug in support what does that mean is there anything that lets me watch any video?

    That depends on which G4 PowerBook you are using. 

     

    Plainly, all G4 PowerBooks are marginal because of the processor speeds, but the faster models may be able to handle most youtube videos.  To do that, you should install the latest version of Perian.  Perian helps QuickTime handle a lot of video formats and files, such as FLV and WMV files. 

     

    While I do not do a lot of YouTube watching, Perian seems to have been batting about a hundred percent.  Bear in mind, though, that you may often encounter choppy video playback, especially if you are using a slower PowerBook.

  • by dukeman2233,

    dukeman2233 dukeman2233 Jul 3, 2012 12:56 PM in response to old comm guy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 3, 2012 12:56 PM in response to old comm guy

    Thanks for replying I downloaded it and I believe my computer is 2007 is there anything else like perian other than flash or something that helps me view almost everything that could even be older, My pc is a g4 powerbook 10.4.11. I already think I have tiger.

  • by Network 23,Helpful

    Network 23 Network 23 Jul 3, 2012 1:02 PM in response to dukeman2233
    Level 6 (12,043 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 3, 2012 1:02 PM in response to dukeman2233

    The PowerBook was no longer made in 2007, they had completely switched to the MacBook Pro by then. Yours must be older.

     

    YouTube uses Flash by default, or HTML 5. You should not need Perian if you have Flash. I used to watch YouTube on my old PowerBook G4 from 2003 with 10.4 and 10.5.

     

    Old Comm Guy is right about the old G4 processors. You will not be able to watch any HD videos, only SD. On YouTube, you will want to choose the lowest available resolution in almost all cases.

  • by dukeman2233,Solvedanswer

    dukeman2233 dukeman2233 Jul 3, 2012 1:28 PM in response to Network 23
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 3, 2012 1:28 PM in response to Network 23

    so there is nothing downloadable app or anything that will make it like a normal computer i just want to watch videos like on my parents cpu.

  • by ickystay,

    ickystay ickystay Jul 9, 2012 8:30 PM in response to dukeman2233
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 9, 2012 8:30 PM in response to dukeman2233

    Don't give up just yet. Download flash player 10.45.2 and install it. I seem to recall that it wants you to choose a browser, or will install on all your browsers. For me that was Safari and Firefox. I watch youtube videos all the time and while they load OK, they don't really play well, especially when they are HD. To really watch a youtube video, I download it to my hard drive and watch in my quicktime player. To download them, I use RealPlayer Downloader. It downloads them as flv files. I need Perian installed on my computer as a helper app so that QT Player and iMovie can deal with flv files. Kind of complicated, but it works for me. Good luck!

  • by Network 23,

    Network 23 Network 23 Jul 9, 2012 10:39 PM in response to dukeman2233
    Level 6 (12,043 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 9, 2012 10:39 PM in response to dukeman2233

    dukeman2233 wrote:

     

    so there is nothing downloadable app or anything that will make it like a normal computer i just want to watch videos like on my parents cpu.

    For YouTube which serves up videos as Flash, once you have the appropriate version of Flash for your G4 you are doing all you can (aside from freeing up the CPU as much as possible by shutting down other unnecessary processes).

     

    At that point, you will have made your G4 work like a "normal computer" ...which is to say, normal as of 6 or 7 years ago.