Zardon

Any fellow Macintosh users will already know that getting High definition media to run as well as it would on a similar Windows based machine is sometimes rather difficult. 720p is normally possible without any issues but sometimes 1080p can play rather choppy regardless of processing power.

I have a little guide here that means that any semi powerful modern Intel based Macintosh should handle HD content with ease, which includes MKV's.

As much as VLC player gets a lot of attention, it has issues with 1080p content even on a high specced dual core intel cpu.

Firstly, install the Perian codec pack, which is similar in nature to the CCCP codec pack for windows. Snag it here. Perian - The swiss-army knife of QuickTime components

Next, install Mplayer OS Extended - MPlayer OSX Extended

Install, and run.

Go into preferences - go to video tab and check on
"use multithreaded ffmpeg build (experimental) - can cause crashes).



This is the first time a video player on the macintosh has full support for more than one core and it helps dramatically with playback.

You can also get the new beta builds by going into the playback tab and toggling on "automatically check for new updates" and "include prereleases (for testing - expect the to contain bugs)"

The new beta has options for setting massive caching which can help with some media on slower machines and slower hard drives as it loads more of the data into system memory rather than paging it constantly.



If you are still having issues on a lower spec machine you can also try the fast libavcodec decoding option right above this setting, although quality may reduce slightly.

In relation to MKV playback and If you REALLY want to try VLC player (which is still some way behind Mplayer Extended in regards to coding), then you can try these settings to improve playback. Please note the performance will not be as high as mplayer extended due to single core priorities.

(This needs perian pack also installed as above)

Download VLC player - VLC media player - Open Source Multimedia Framework and Player

Go into preferences - in the bottom left corner toggle on "all" button.

Go to Input/Codecs - Other codecs/FFmpeg and "skip the loop filter for H.264 decoding"



Change this to All or Non Key and it will help performance. "All" has been noted to reduce quality a little so it is best playing with the various options in this.

Lowfat

You can also use Plex. Which is an XBMC-based program which supports multicore processors as well.

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Zardon

yes, however its a more cumbersome interface for just playing videos such as MKV's you would temporarily download onto your HD, its more a Front row alternative.

This guide is more for VLC or equivalent users.

swimtech

What a juicy little guide - thanks for sharing this with everyone!

The principles you've elucidated ought to assist as well in setting up other player software in other OS's too.

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