Adobe Flash Player 10 problems on Safari (Leopard)

rp2000

rp2000

rp2000

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Just tried playing some of the new BBC HD streams on iPlayer in Safari (Version 3.2.1 (5525.27.1)) with Latest OS X 10.5.6 and am having some problems.

In the past I have always found Flash player works better in general on Windows machines, but it has never been as issue for me as I have a fairly powerful MBP (2.53 ghz early 2008 model).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod...ight_with_Jonathan_Ross_Series_16_Episode_11/
This is the stream (There is only about 10 HD shows atm). Weird thing is this clip plays OK in Firefox making me think it is a browser/memory/overhead issue of sorts.

I came across a similar problem with 720P Youtube stuff a few months ago, but found updating to latest Flash Player (Check and update here: http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/) Jerky on OS X (Firefox and Safari) until I applied version 10,0,22,87

Now I find the same problem with the BBC HD files I stream. (Even though I have the latest player version).

My Mac is up to date, my Internet lets me sustain speeds of 1.7MB a sec so bandwidth/throttling/limits etc are not an issue.

Can someone test please with various macs and let me know if they get similar problems?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-n-IKfEgIk

This is also a good test file, Jerks for me only very slightly in firefox, moreso in Safari.

I am finding it hard to believe Flash Video is streaming content at a bitrate too high for my computer to decode in real time, so am thinking some sort of OS X issue tbh.

Please do not reply to this thread unless you have access to a Mac, have latest Flash Player version, Latest OS version etc and are able to test using my links.


rp2000
 
I have been having problems with flash on Safari 4 used in conjunction with webkit (only browser i use). It's strange as with some builds of webkit it doesn't effect flash and on others it does. I also get the strange jerkiness, it wasn't too bad when i just watched that iplayer then but it has been in the past. Maybe give Safari 4 with webkit a go and see how it is then.

The worst is when right click on a page with the flash movie playing, it'll become ultra jerky. OS X has done this since i have been using it for near enough 2/3 years. Always annoyed me.

I'll have a go on my ol' 2.33GHz 17" and see what it's like on that.

It's deffo a software issue as when i check iStat there is only like 20-30% load.

EDIT - Just watched that youtube vid of star wars and it plays perfect. The iPlayer doesn't play as smooth as that youtube video.
 
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Mr Ross plays nice and smoothly on this older machine (OS X 10.5.6, Safari 3.2.1, Flash Player 10,0,22,87, 2006 MacBook C2D)

The Star Wars video looks like it might be dropping frames here and there but I don't know if that's happening on my end.
 
I noticed the same problem with Wossy on my launch model MBP (10.5.6, 3.2.1, 10.0.22.87) the other day when I first spotted the BBC HD streams. Problem goes away however when I run it full screen...

Just checked on my 2009 mini (10.5.6, 4 Beta, 10.0.22.87) and that does the same.

Flash is a useless way of serving media IMO. I've got users at work requesting we build a Citrix farm that runs it "properly" ...
 
I played that Star wars clip loads of times now. With other stuff open, other stuff closed, let it buffer fully, stream on the fly etc.
There is no real pattern in terms of other apps being open and system resources etc.

If I just open safari, goto that Youtube Video, hit "HD" then I get it playback and it jerks (watch the smoke to be certain) if I move the slider back to the beginning then sometimes it plays perfectly (smoke movement is "smooth").

At least I am not the only one who notices these flash player issues on OS 10.5 :(

Also one other thing I always notice with Flash (again only on Macs) is a "judder/skip".

It is on nearly all Youtube videos, you will notice a jerk between 9-10 secs of all videos (SD, HQ, HD, whatever). Cannot explain it but it has always happened. I have seen it on multiple Macs tbh so I know I am not imagining it. I am very curious as to whether you 3 get this issue as well.

Concorde Rules said:
Ross jerks slightly at full screen but loads when windowed!
Click to expand...
Total opposite for me!!!. For some reason the button in iPlayer says "resume in fullscreen" by default on HD streams, so it went fullscreen and seems fine (but grainy as I am running 1440x900 and the video is much smaller) When I go windowed I see a slight lag/delay/dropped frames/skips etc.

Weirdly one of the support pages I read earlier says if you have Flash Player/iPlayer probs running fullscreen is better than windowed, which mirrors my experience.
MagicBoy said:
I noticed the same problem with Wossy on my launch model MBP (10.5.6, 3.2.1, 10.0.22.87) the other day when I first spotted the BBC HD streams. Problem goes away however when I run it full screen...
Click to expand...
Same for me, The only logical reason I can think is that it is only rendering the stream and "stretching it" whereas windowed it additionally is rendering the rest of the webpage and streaming (but seeing as the webpage is just HTML etc).


rp2000
 
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rp2000 said:
I played that Star wars clip loads of times now. With other stuff open, other stuff closed, let it buffer fully, stream on the fly etc.
There is no real pattern in terms of other apps being open and system resources etc.

If I just open safari, goto that Youtube Video, hit "HD" then I get it playback and it jerks (watch the smoke to be certain) if I move the slider back to the beginning then sometimes it plays perfectly (smoke movement is "smooth").
Click to expand...

Yep

At least I am not the only one who notices these flash player issues on OS 10.5 :(
Click to expand...

Yep

Also one other thing I always notice with Flash (again only on Macs) is a "judder/skip".

It is on nearly all Youtube videos, you will notice a jerk between 9-10 secs of all videos (SD, HQ, HD, whatever). Cannot explain it but it has always happened. I have seen it on multiple Macs tbh so I know I am not imagining it. I am very curious as to whether you 3 get this issue as well.


rp2000
Click to expand...

Yep. I hate flash.
 
Pretty much all flash video's that are streamed, BBC, Youtube etc stutter on my mac mini at work and mac pro at home. Even did it on my old macbook pro at some point. It never happened until about 8months ago and now it's doing it on every mac I use.

No idea why and google revealed nothing, really really annoying!
 
Have the same problems, the Star Wars clip was a bit jerky. Jonathan Ross played OK though, really notice the crudiness of Adobe Flash on BBC Sport website sometimes though where it hangs, and then skips through the video.

Macbook 2008 2.4Ghz / 10.5.6 / Flash 10.0.22.87 / Firefox

edit: in the linked Star Wars clip on Youtube it is even worse!
 
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Logsi said:
Another bad playback thing for me is playing 1080p trailers from apple in quicktime. VLC play fine!
Click to expand...

I don't know the specifics of your setup (ie. hardware, display etc.) but my 2Ghz Core Duo MacBook (2GB RAM) can handle a 1080p Harry Potter trailer fine.

Extremely overzealous for a 1280x800 screen, but it can at least decode it :p

Oh and I hate flash with a passion for being the only thing on the web that makes my MacBook's fan go nuts!
 
Logsi said:
Another bad playback thing for me is playing 1080p trailers from apple in quicktime. VLC play fine!
Click to expand...

Got a link? I used to play the 1080p files on my 1.83 mini (From Apple's site). Unless they have upped the bitrate since shouldn't struggle in Quicktime. Not tried any recently on my MBP though, so maybe newer Quicktime's messed it up or something?

Just trying this one now: http://movies.apple.com/movies/fox/wolverine/wolverine-clip_1080p.mov

Edit: 100% flawless on my MBP. (Maybe you have other applications open? I only had QT and Safari open).


rp2000
 
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My specs are a Unibody 2.8GHz, 4GB RAM and a 320GB 7200rpm Drive.

Just getting that vid now.

I have perian and flip4mac installed, could it be either of those messing it up?
 
That wolverine plays fine but this;

http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/isanybodythere/

Still stutters for me! But if downloaded and played in VLC it's fine.

EDIT - Just noticed that it will only stutter when opened in the actual Quicktime program, if it plays in my browser like the link rp posted it plays fine. Can you tell me if it plays alright if it's played in the actual quicktime program?
 
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Not sure if this is going to help any of you guys but I had the exact same problem (sometimes the damned thing wouldn't even start). If you right-click on the player and go into the Flash settings, then move the buffer-slider up to 'unlimited' it solved all of my problems. Worked for me in both Safari 4 and Firefox 3.

Panzer
 
Logsi said:
That wolverine plays fine but this;

http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/isanybodythere/

Still stutters for me! But if downloaded and played in VLC it's fine.

EDIT - Just noticed that it will only stutter when opened in the actual Quicktime program, if it plays in my browser like the link rp posted it plays fine. Can you tell me if it plays alright if it's played in the actual quicktime program?
Click to expand...

VLC is a red herring. It uses a totally diferent decoder to play x264 so don't compare the 2.

Perian and flip4mac should only "kick" in for non Native quicktime formats, (I have both installed as well).

RE: in browser/out browser If you click on links through Apple's sites they will always launch in an external Quicktime window (for me) The only time they play using the embedded plugin is when I click on links from sites etc.
The links in Apple's sites are coded to spawn Quicktime, whereas if you just copy and paste the link or click it from an external source, they will use the plugin.

i.e. clicking this: http://movies.apple.com/movies/independent/isanybodythere/isanybodythere_1080p.mov will open it in your browser, but going through your link and then clicking will make quicktime open it.

Plays flawlessly for me in or out of browser. Like I say, it has always worked as it is Apple's codec optimised for their player. Possibly you have something conflicting, Do you have anything apart from Perian and f4m?

Is it possible your machine is using the wrong GPU? (I know you can "select" between the onboard and discrete GPUs).

Panzerbjorn said:
Not sure if this is going to help any of you guys but I had the exact same problem (sometimes the damned thing wouldn't even start). If you right-click on the player and go into the Flash settings, then move the buffer-slider up to 'unlimited' it solved all of my problems. Worked for me in both Safari 4 and Firefox 3.

Panzer
Click to expand...
Just loaded a Youtube clip and went to settings and see no options for buffering. I think you may be using/referring to an older Flash Player? The 5 settings tabs I see are Display, Privacy, Local Storage, Microphone and Camera.


rp2000
 
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rp2000 said:
Plays flawlessly for me in or out of browser. Like I say, it has always worked as it is Apple's codec optimised for their player. Possibly you have something conflicting, Do you have anything apart from Perian and f4m?

Is it possible your machine is using the wrong GPU? (I know you can "select" between the onboard and discrete GPUs). rp2000
Click to expand...

The machine isn't using the wrong GPU, it's always set to the 9600m GT as i play WoW on it and if it's using the 9400m it's a very noticable performance drop.

It's only the 1080p video that stutters out of browser.

I'll go try the 2.33Ghz 17"

EDIT - Tried it on the 2.33 and it plays perfect aswell. Must be something conflicting or a setting that's wrong. The 2.33 doesn't have Perian or flip4mac installed...

Also, does anyone elses flash videos stutter when right clicking?
 
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Logsi said:
The machine isn't using the wrong GPU, it's always set to the 9600m GT as i play WoW on it and if it's using the 9400m it's a very noticable performance drop.

It's only the 1080p video that stutters out of browser.

I'll go try the 2.33Ghz 17"

EDIT - Tried it on the 2.33 and it plays perfect aswell. Must be something conflicting or a setting that's wrong. The 2.33 doesn't have Perian or flip4mac installed...

Also, does anyone elses flash videos stutter when right clicking?
Click to expand...

Yes. Doesn't matter where you right click on the screen whilst the context menu is there video jerks and (in Youtube) the buffereing bar freezes even though in the background more data is being streamed (confirmed with activity monitor).

It is bizarre that so few people mention such problems on Mac tbh. At the end of the day Flash video is one of the big new things on the web last few years and most people use it at some point. You think all the other mac users here never spotted the problems or they keeping quiet for some reason?


rp2000
 
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