Choppy HD 1080p videos only in itunes

Dear all,

I gave up trying to fix that with Apple. I have a ticket opened for that, number 374243158. Today Apple contacted me to inform that iTunes do not support HD movies converted by third party applications, like Handbrake.

They assume the limitation or how iTunes is designed.

Good luck for you and happy new year.

I don't think this is just a Windows issue. I have the same issue on my late 2009 Mac Mini (2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM). I used Handbrake to convert a load of 1080p HD demos complete with 5.1 AC3 soundtrack, using the AppleTV 3 preset. I imported these into iTunes 11 on my Mac Mini (which is connected to my HD TV, and AV receiver) and hit play. The 5.1 surround sound track played back fine, with no issues - but the videos played back choppy with dropped frames. At first I thought it was due to my Mac Mini not having enough horse-power to play the 1080p video without choking (seeing as it's a few years old now). However, I then tried playing the same files in VLC player on the same machine - and they play back flawlessly and silky smooth. - It's definitely something to do with the way iTunes handles the files, and is far more resource heavy.

Some people have suggested restarting the machine helps - but it has made no difference in my experience. I tried the same video files on my newer MacBook Pro Late 2011 (2.2 GHz Intel Core i7, 4GB RAM), inside iTunes 11 - and they play fine with no issues. - So it seems to suggest a faster machine helps. No doubt the windows version of iTunes is even worse than the Mac version, so this problem may be even more apparent.

Guys... If any of you are still following this thread, I think I finally found a solution... When having this issue sporadicially I got sick of it because I KNOW my computer can run these videos... so.. I once again for the ten bazillionth time googled it... and I finally found a site that explains the issue. The issue affects both Windows and Mac, howver it seems to be worse on Windows. As for a faster computer, yes that WILL help, but that's not how to fix it...

http://www.tommytwisters.com/2012/01/itunes-choppy-hd-video-fix-for-windows/

Basically what his site says is... the problem is your idevices syncing wirelessly. While he says only Apple knows for sure WHAT it's doing, iTunes is apparently constantly looking for your devices... and that's what's causing the iTunes to lag!!! After following his instructions... I just watched the second ten minutes of a 1080HD show that was very choppy the frist ten minutes before turned off all my wireless syncing. So, this may be a workaround until **** freezes over and Apple actually acknowledges and fixes this issue.

I wil however note that some of you MIGHT not have the minitum ITUNES requirements to run 1090HD video, as it's apparenlty 2.4ghz. I've got 2.23 though, and I'm running just fine again now... so good luck to the rest of you, hopefully you'll still be good to go like me! 🙂

Message was edited by: AbsolutGrndZer0

I did not try this new cancel wifi workaround because I love the wifi sync. this has only been a minor issue for me because we watch all of our itunes content on the apple tv.

You can use VLC to play all videos, and you can simply right click on the video in question, select Find in windows explorer, then right click and choose Play in VLC.

However, I do understand that itunes is great as a media device, and you may not want to do this.

I will then offer the best solution I can...without trying to sound like an apple snob.

Get a Mac.

There is no reason anymore not too. Prices are not as great as they used to be.

So maybe you cant afford that 27" imac, I cant either. But you can get a nice mac mini and I promise you it will run your 1080 videos just fine in itunes.

Im using an old 2007 imac with a 256mb video card, its a 2.8 ghz core2duo running 3 gb ram mac osx Mavericks. Plays full 1080p videos in itunes just fine.

So go buy a used one, pawn shops are full of imacs. Ebay is full of imacs.

Imacs really are well built, and last long. they are more upgradable than people think. You can add more ram, you can increase the hard drive capacity by adding an SSD hd (you may not be comfortable doing it, but macsales.com is a company that will).

I have a brand new HP quad core, i even put a video card in the computer, I still get the itunes lag.

Here is the kicker..if you really NEED windows, you can install windows on any mac using parallels or bootcamp.

No reason not to go to a mac anymore, which is why they have gone from 1% market share to almost 10% now. Without loosing their great customer satisfaction rankings.

Dont take my word for any of this. google it.

And remember, your computer will run snappier when you dont constantly have to run an antivirus program. Ive never run one since 2005, the year I made the change.

and in case you want to know why I have a PC....I have 14 TB of videos on hard drives that I need to access. Using USB is too slow, so I took out all the optical drives of the HP and have 4 hard drives inside. then networked it as a server. all for 500.

Um okay no VLC will not play iTunes videos (at least not purchased ones, as they are protected) unless there is some way to get VLC to ask iTunes for authorization that I don't know about.

So I to have been having this problem for ages and see no sign of Apple fixing. But I think I may have found the issue and am keen for others to test. First to clarify - 720 plays fine, but 1080 has random stuttering. Its not the wifi syncing or any of the other causes listed (I have tried them all). I have a high end PC. i7 920 and GTX780 but noticed that the clock speed was stepping down (Intel EIST) when it was playing. So I went into the BIOS and turned of EIST, C1E etc and made sure the CPU stayed at clock speed and was prevented from going into energy saving mode.

And suddenly the stuttering was gone. I watched a movie last night purchased on itunes and it played almost perfectly. (I think I saw a couple of frames drop here and there) but no horrible stuttering.

I am keen to see if others can try this to see if it is the actual cause. In the mean time I'll keep wathcing a few more 1080's to see if it is really fixed.

UPDATED: Problem not solved. 1080 still choppy with CPU clock speed locked.

Really wish Apple would look at this. Makes Movies unwatchable

If you are watching purchased movies, do as I said a year ago and turn off the Wi-Fi sync. Because you like it you don't want to, truth is I like it and I miss it... but I've tried turning it back on every few months to see if they have fixed it, and guess what... suddenly my video starts freezing again. So, I turn it back off, and voila smooth video again.

I will say again, I miss the Wi-Fi sync, but at least in the case of it happening to me with iTunes purchased (and DRM still intact) tv shows and movies, turning off the Wi-Fi sync on all of my devices and iTunes itself is the only thing that fixes it.

Interesting AbsolutGrndZero. I have Wi-Fi Sync turned off in iTunes on the Win7 PC that I am watching the Movies on, but that doesnt help.

Are you saying you have to turn off Wifi Sync on my iphone and ipad too???

(by the way 720p movies play fine. Its just the 1080p's that don't)

Well, not like in the settings of the iPad/iPhone but whe you plug it into your computer on the screen where you pick what you want to sync, you must UNCHECK "Sync with this device over Wi-Fi" on every devices options while it's plugged it.

And yes, 720p is not a problem, only 1080p seems to be, I have no idea why but iTunes for some reason is unable to properly show 1080HD when it's constantly "HEY YOU WANT TO SYNC NOW??? WHAT ABOUT NOW?? WHAT ABOUT NOW??? WANT TO SYNC NOW??? HUH? HUH? HUH?"

I can't guarantee this will fix it for you, but I can say it fixed it for me and when I turned the wi-fi back on a few months later to test it, the problem started right up again.

Also, home sharing and such still works fine (like I use my iPhone's Remote app to control iTunes when I am watching tv shows) just when you want to sync your device, you need to actually plug it into your computer to do so.

EDIT: Let me double check my settings make sure there isnt another place it needs to be tweaked... I seem to remember it was, but the site that originally told me about it seems tobe shut down now... so i'll repost in a bit.

EDIT 2: Okay, I remembered that I also went into startup and unchecked the iCloud extension program because even with the Wi-Fi sync option turned off, iTunes itself keeps trying to LOOK for devices... so that's really what you need to stop. Even if it's just make sure that iCloud isn't running while you watch stuff might be okay.

Plus, your problem might be completely unrelated too, though I hope that isn't the case... 😟

EDIT 3: Okay, now I am curious again... going to turn my Wi-Fi sync back on again, see if the problem returns!

Message was edited by: AbsolutGrndZer0

Thanks AbsolutGrndZer0. I don't sync any ios devices with that iTunes so I think my set up should be like yours (Wifi Sync disabled). Will have a google for other places to disable it too. Would love to fix this problem one day. There arent many options for legally purchasing digital movies in Australia, else I would have given up on iTunes long ago.

Browneagle wrote:

Thanks AbsolutGrndZer0. I don't sync any ios devices with that iTunes so I think my set up should be like yours (Wifi Sync disabled). Will have a google for other places to disable it too. Would love to fix this problem one day. There arent many options for legally purchasing digital movies in Australia, else I would have given up on iTunes long ago.

Well rats... Um.. Do you use USB? I do and USB 2.0 doesn't cut it, I have to use USB 3.0 or it doesn't transmit fast enough.

As for not syncing any devices with that iTunes, you might still double check then that ICloud isn't running anyway, because if it's the problem (as it seems to be for me) it might still be looking for devices even though there are none to find, especially if it's the same account as it's trying to sync all your computers and devices.

In fact, that's actually a good thing to do, even temporarily for a test... to isolate if there is something interefering. For these instructions I am assuming you know nothing, just to be thorough..

Go to Start then "Run" and type "msconfig" then on the General tab select "Diagnostic startup", click okay, then restart your computer. Try it for awhile that way and if you have no problems, then... slowly turn stuff back on (this time using "Selective startup" below diagnostic and the other "Startup" tab) until you find the problem. Will take a long time but... it's what I would do next (and was going to be doing if I hadn't found that site when I did)

Ok so last night I had family staying and nothing to watch, so I decided to risk another movie on iTunes. As I went to play the iTunes 11.2 update came through and whilst I have 720p selected in preferences, it still downloaded a 1080p version. (no idea why it does that)

To my surprise it played perfectly. Not a single dropped frame! Then I tried another 1080p movie that had previously stuttered that now played perfectly too (only watched 10 min).

Now I have seen intermittent periods of good plays in the past but keen to see if anyone has sees improvement in 11.2?

Browneagle wrote:

Ok so last night I had family staying and nothing to watch, so I decided to risk another movie on iTunes. As I went to play the iTunes 11.2 update came through and whilst I have 720p selected in preferences, it still downloaded a 1080p version. (no idea why it does that)

To my surprise it played perfectly. Not a single dropped frame! Then I tried another 1080p movie that had previously stuttered that now played perfectly too (only watched 10 min).

Now I have seen intermittent periods of good plays in the past but keen to see if anyone has sees improvement in 11.2?

That's awesome! Here's to hoping they finally fixed it!

On a side note, just had to turn off Wi-Fi sync again... they still havent' fixed THAT LOL