i was ready to get a macbook pro last weekbut heard about the new macbook pro update. it's on macrumors.com. it should be out by this month. looking to get one.

did u figure out how to make vsl use the perian decoder instead of QT decoder?

lvmez, I have no clue what your post hast to do with this thread here.

a-swift, I thought it is being used automatically? If not, maybe we should wait for Nathan to chime in.

not sure if slv uses the perian codecs instead of the qt ones when perian is installed... but i have to say, i love perian, it makes installing all the codecs needed easy... like playing flv, works in quicktime, no problem, unlike mplayer or vlc (from my usage).

I need to verify this, I just bought a macbook pro yesterday 2.4 gig, 2 gig of ram, 160 gig bytes of HD and 256 Nvidia graphics card.

well if someone figured out how to make vsl use perian codecs instead of qt codecs let me know.

a-swift, actually I think it already uses Perian. I tried an avi w/o Perian installed -> it crashed SSL/VSL with some bla bla about the mp3 stream. Then I tried the same avi w/ Perian installed and it worked fine.

what kind of video file are you using with mp3 audio? certainly not H.264. an Xvid maybe?

uhhh. i think it was time i updated my perian. i had version .5! holy shit that was old.

Is the QT encoder you guys are talking about the one that was in the setup SL-V installation package?? I just reinstalled Mac OS X and only installed Perian so I didn't install the Quicktime that came with SL-V. I have no problems with Xvid/Divx coded avi files but I have to have the the audio in wav format for those to work. I get no program quits, freezes, stutters, or glitches whatsoever...and I'm running a 2.0Ghz Macbook. I was thinking about getting a Macbook Pro but after last night with no problems, I really don't see a need to upgrade right now. I also tried the H.264 coded files but they seem to cause the most problems when it comes to the process load.

Xvid/Divx encoded files are defintely consuming less CPU load.

2.0Ghz MacBook Pro, Perian or QT decoders still can not decode 2 H.264 @ 2500k bitrate videos with VSL without glitching. CPU is 100% both cores in this case.

2000k H.264 videos on the same macbook pro do play back fine. CPU is about 70-80% both core while decoding 2 videos. In my experience.

The difference in picture quality between 2000 and 2500 is huge though. I say 2500 is an absolute BARE MIN for good picture. And thats H.264 or Xvid/Divx

swift, can you tell a difference in the quality between the 2500 Xvid/Divx and the 2500 H.264 files?

I've looked at both and I can't see why I should encode with H.264 when it takes longer to encode and has more stress on my Mac.

That is good news about Perian. I'll test it on Monday and see what its mpeg2 capabilities are like.

We use whatever codecs are installed on the system, Perian included. One of the things which MovieInfoBatch does is list the codecs for a particular stream type in the order that QT would use them.

Perian also reads containers and it is its .avi container reading which stops divx/mp3 in avi files crashing

matt212 i just ran some Xvid @ 2500 vs. some H.264 @ 2500. the difference is ever so slight. i was running them side by side. 1 on deck a and the other on deck b and crossfading. it's hard to tell the difference on most scenes. however Xvid with mp3 is a non-starter for me since VSL does not play any audio for me when using Xvid with mp3 audio, even with Perian installed.

Quicktime however plays these Xvid with mp3 audio just fine on my system, VSL just doesn't play the audio. Xvid with PCM audio is a non-starter also since I would not be able to fit all my videos on my laptop. hate externals.

Thats strange. For me it plays them but veeeery stuttery.

Nathan, are you aware of the stuttering? Shall I start a new thread about it?



I haven't understood why VSL can not play back stuff which QT can play back (like MPEG1 for example)... I thought VSL uses QT to decode? MAybe you can add this to the FAQ's Nathan.

I was thinking the same thing about playback in the standalone players but not in VSL. I understand about the externals, I never use them out either. I got 168 videos that equal 16GB on my HD right now....all Xvid with wav audio avi files.

I think the best format for VSL would be Xvid with mp3 audio at this point...Good picture, less CPU load and good file size. Nathan, would that be a possible solution for VSL in the near future??

I will not back down from my statement that H.264 gives the best quality for a given bitrate, but the CPU utilization is not worth it. If Xvid with mp3 audio was working better, I'd consider using that on borderline systems. Faster systems, I'd just use H.264

lol @ will not back down. haha

It seemed when I updated it lost support for 15 of my vids not encoded to h264 already. I will look at encoding. wierd.

Must of been a codec conflict.
ill batch those movies when i get home

hey nik, that's why i posted it. in case someone wanted to wait for a newer version. i would have liked for someone to give me new info if they had it.

Tell me this. After installed Perian 1.1 my QT player can play MPEG2 (VidDisc) video, I can add it to Vidio-SL, but it will not play audio or Video.

I belived Video-SL was based on QT ?

I'l love if it would work on my MPEG2/VOB, would save me and others so much time converting video and preserve quality of my videos.

it won't work. i bought the $20 quicktime mpeg2 plugin and video-sl still won't play mpeg2 files (even with mpeg2 audio).

Twizzle> Yes I saw your post about that before and it's sad that it dont work.

But I quote Nathan H in a post above "We use whatever codecs are installed on the system" So I hope that the dev team solv it some way.

i think i told you it wouldnt work before you bought it, and you STILL bought it. sometime you just gotta see for yourself. hahaa.

just because VSL says it's decoder is based on QT doesn't mean if it plays in QT it will play in VSL.

Quicktime supports A TON of video and audio formats. only a handful of those work in VSL.

hey swift, i'm gonna start converting. gonna need your help. i'm thinking about converting on my desktop but gonna use videos on a mac. what do you suggest is the best format for me to convert videos, thanks.

if your computer is fast enough, i'd recommend H.264 encoding with AAC audio. My high quality encodes are 2500k video bitrate with 160k audio. my fastest computer can play these with vsl with no problems. My slower systems stutter on these files with two videos playing at the same time. if your computer is really fast, i'd up the bitrate even more for better picture. 3000k or maybe even more.

thanks. my desktop is 2.2ghz, 4gb of ram and 500gb hard drive. do you suggest 2500k video bitrate? one more question, where's the best place to download H.264? thanks again.

H.264 encoder, where to download? not sure what the best one is so i can't say. everybody has an opinion on what's the best way to encode. a lot of people here seem to like handbrake a lot. some people like SUPER on windows. some people like visualhub. i prefer to use ffmpeg from the command line.

which do you think is most user friendly? thanks.

Without getting into too much detail, MPEG2 is a multiplexed format (audio & video is mixed instead of being separate streams). Perian has made it easier but it would still require work before MPEG2 can be supported (same reason the Apple MPEG2 component doesn't give us MPEG2 playback).

At least Perian's is good quality, Apple's component is pretty simplistic.