Quicktime on Mavericks outputs stuttering audio.

Gary, for some stupid reason I restarted my computer and all the problems have come back as bad as yours. Previous mooted fixes don't seem to help so it must be something obscure that I did that triggered it to work ok.

On thing to add/note

I started a HTML5 Youtube video playing ( sound was all over the place ) and then switched off the Focusrite while it was playing and the sound came out the laptop speakers without distortion. I then switch the Focusrite back on while the video was playing and the sound was perfect. Reload the browser to restart the video and the distortion comes back.

Something to feedback in your discussions with Focusrite support if you haven't already.

The facts that

1. Quicklook and Finder preview work perfectly.

2. Playing two videos at once works perfectly.

3. Logic pro works perfectly

still make me think it is an Apple issue but now not quite so sure.

Gary,

I'm totally with you on this one. My Saffire Pro14 is also crackling playing back QT videos since upgrading to Mavericks. All of Apple's trailers sound awful.

I can temporarily fix the problem in two ways. I can open the system Sound control panel and simply select the Inputs tab for display. As long as it's selected, the sound is fine. Second, I can toggle the Firewire buffer in the Saffire Mix Control software, but that only lasts until I pick another trailer. Neither is an acceptable solution.

I'm especially annoyed that Focusrite is claiming no Maverick compatibility issues with the Saffire Firewire products when this is clearly not true. I emailed them, got a followup asking for details, and then nothing. Grrr.

When I try to play Avid rendered files through QT 7 on my Mac Pro the video stutters - it's unwatchable. Animation Compressor seems to play better.

I have been experiencing stuttering on OS Mavericks while playing videos on VLC (doesn't matter if it was full screen or not).

After a lot of search, the problem turned out to be caused by AirServer

Disabling AirServer (or quitting the application) removed all stuttering.

So my advice to you all, check if you have a software that is "listening" for audi/video and see if disabling it assists you.

Re Youtube HTML5 video.

The exact same video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSk4LArTqgo) I used to test is unlistenable in Safari but works perfectly in the Chrome browser?!?

Baffling.

No problems with Youtube here, just Quicktime.

Scoobyclub - why you would want to learn 'Angels" by Robbie WIlliams on guitar is perhaps more baffling than the audio issues we are experiencing!

As above, by default Youtube uses flash video, if you haven't changed this to the HTML5 option the video will be fine. I think the HTML5 option effectively substitutes in Quicktime Player for Flash.

I am a big fan of Justin Guitar and have learned a bundle from his site, I also know he encodes videos for mp4 not just Flash and Angels was top of the list when I was testing. It's not a bad song, though I haven't actually been learning it (yet). Maybe once I solve my Quicktime issues I will give it a go :-)

I switched to the HTML Trial of YouTube and your test vid plays ok. I'm on a early 2009 Mac Pro running Safari.

Iksolver, I totally agree. The problems with playing and previewing all sort of files, including MOV, are a major issue. I will never hurry again to update the OS -better to wait and make sure the new system will work fine!

Apple, please fix these issues soon. Meanwhile, I suggest again to make bug reports rather than looking for workarounds.

I'm sure it works fine for some folks. It even worked fine for me at one point til I restarted my machine. But, something is wrong with Quicktime and I guess this just means finding workarounds in the short term and crossing fingers for updates.

As miguel suggests, best just turn in the bug reports, don't think anything meaningful is going to happen from just discussing here. Definitely not going to jump in as quickly to a new update next time round though.

Bug reports on Mavericks can be made at http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

If you have registered to use the bug reporter utility, you can also submit reports at https://developer.apple.com/bug-reporting/

Final quick update from me on this issue:

I have logged a bug report with Apple and Focusrite

As reported above somewhere the stuttering/crackling goes away when I play MP4 in QuickTime and open the Sound preference pane from within system setting and highlight "Saffire" (my FireWire audio interface) in the Input tab....Audio is now perfect, even full screen.....what's that all about!!?

I hope Apple or Focusrite can fix this.

Just tried this Gary and it is the same for me ( maybe this is why I thought my problem was solved ). In addition both input and output have to be selected as Saffire. If the output device is saffire and the input device isn't the crackling is there.

Still, this is about the best workaround so far

Cheers

Colin

I have found a temporary solution. I am using a Saffire Pro 40 and it is doing the same thing with QuickTime videos. I use Google Chrome, so I am not having issues due to video. I am also not having issues with sound in FInal Cut Pro X or Logic Pro X.

Right click the quicktime video and "open with" iTunes. iTunes will play it instead of quicktime. When I do that, it no longer has the click and pops.

Of course some of you are saying you are getting the click and pops on iTunes. I do not. Only on Quicktime.

Another thing, QuickTime does not do the click and pops when I use the speakers to my Macbook pro or Thunderbolt display. Only when I use the Saffire pro 40 through my studio monitors. Hopefully they fix it soon, especially if I run into something bigger than just having to play QuickTime video's in iTunes.

As far as you who have big libraries of stuff that is not working. I would not convert those librarys to anything else right now. Just wait and see what happens. And try to play it iTunes instead of Quicktime and see if it works.

• Am experiencing stuttering audio during playback of H.264, 1920 x 1080 Linear PCM, 16 bit little-endian signed integer, 48000 Hz, Stereo (L R) encoded video in Quicktime 10.3 (727.1) via my Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 with Saffire MixControl 3.3.
• Do not experience flash or html 5 youtube playback issues in Firefox but do experience html 5 youtube playback issues with Safari.
• Playback in iTunes is fine but stuttering returns when a video is totally full screened without the itunes control bar showing. Quicktime 7 works fine.
• Preformed a clean install of 10.9 13A603 on my Mac Pro.
• Connected my firewire interface to both the onboard firewire and a PCI-e based fw card, same problems.
• Issues seem to resolve themselves if I change the FireWire Driver Latency to Long in MixControl.
• Disabling App Nap for quicktime and safari did not help.
• Playback is fine over headphones plugged directly into the Mac Pro.
• Do experience the same odd solution another user posted whereby you leave System Preference>Sound input open with Saffire selected.
• Connected the Optical SDPIF output of my Mac Pro to the input of my Saffire Pro and switched the Mac's default sound output to digital, even with short latency stuttering is now gone.