Comments on: Obligatory Tiger review

By: Worldboy

Worldboy — Sun, 15 May 2005 08:45:58 +0000

I can get 24fps 720p full screen on my iMac 1.6 512MB with only one or two moments in the Batman HD trailer when it drops to 15fps for like a second. This is only seen in the Movie Info screen because you can’t tell just watching the movie, it’s so smooth.

1080i is another story. I tried the BBC HD download file in 1080i and it stuttered all the way skipping entire scenes. Unwatchable. This all matches what Apple is saying.

However all is not lost for the Mac mini. People are suggesting that Apple should put an HD decoder in the Airport Express and a video or Firewire output so the mini owners can stream HD from iTunes to the Airport Express to the TV.

This sounds like it might just work.

By: Jeefus

Jeefus — Wed, 04 May 2005 16:03:37 +0000

I’ve tested QT7 Pro on both my shiny new dual 2.7Ghz Powermac running Tiger and my handy little 1.33 Ghz 12″ Powerbook with some of the H.264 HD files. The Powermac (unsurprisingly) has no issues whatsoever… I can still interactively scale the window or pop in and out of full screen even in 1080i content with no slow down whatsoever. Truly astonishing stuff. Despite all the gripes about the recent Powermac upgrade, Apple’s top of the line is truly a beauty. The Powerbook pretty much reflects your experiences… fullscreen 720p content runs with the odd frame dropped and a bit of stuttering, and 1080i content is a no go area. I wouldn’t expect the Mini to be able to handle it.

By: B.Greenway

B.Greenway — Tue, 03 May 2005 22:13:22 +0000

Far far from it, I used mine to stream a DVD out to my projector just last nite. Audio and Video isnt the problem, high definition is.

By: Riot Nrrrd™

Riot Nrrrd™ — Tue, 03 May 2005 19:09:54 +0000

There’s a Usenet newsgroup where people post HDTV clips/movies. I’ve tried to play 1080i stuff like the OutKast-on-the-Grammys clip that’s floating around out there, or an IMAX movie called “Ocean Oasis”, on both my 1 GHz AlBook and my dual-1.25 GHz MDD at work. The AlBook (using VLC) can’t play either of them, too much stuttering and pregnant pausing. The MDD can just about play the “IMAX Ocean Oasis” movie, however. But it’s clear to me in either case that if you really want the HD experience, you gotta get a new dual-2.7 GHz G5 … so I’m saving my pennies.

Guess you better abandon the “Mac Mini HTPC” concept, eh

By: B.Greenway

B.Greenway — Tue, 03 May 2005 14:15:19 +0000

errolbert, I’m running Tiger on 1.42GHz mini with 512MB of ram, no other apps of any consequence are open and or running, and I get noticeable frame loss on the 720p files.

Is there something about your setup that differs significantly from mine? If not I cant see how your playing the QT7 720p files just fine, that is unless your speaking about other 720p files, like I said in the article, DiVx played back fine, even some 720p mpegs.

By: errolbert

errolbert — Tue, 03 May 2005 14:06:20 +0000

My mini plays the smaller HD content just fine, if that’s all I’m doing. However, the best I can get 1080p files to do is about 60% of their frames without audio hiccups.

By: xSmurf

xSmurf — Tue, 03 May 2005 05:15:43 +0000

Is it only me of the boot dvd is blazing fast? Well kinda normal, correct me if I’m wrong, the throughput of a dvd much bigger than with cds.