ITunes video playback quality is not that smooth

Hello:
Two questions--
1. Why do the music videos I purchase on iTunes (and then play on iTunes) freeze up for a few seconds after I push play, but then otherwise playback is OK?
2. Why does the "spinning beachball" appear almost everytime I press play for a video?
Comment--
Given that my Mac more than meets the minimum system requirements for video playback, I think the videos should play smoothly from start to finish, especially at $1.99 a piece. I suspect that the playback bugs listed above are the result of iTunes not being that good/powerful of a video player. Hopefully, these issues will be resolved upon future iTunes software updates. In the meantime, I will not purchase anymore videos.
Thanks.
Powerbook G4 12" 1.33 Ghz 512 K RAM Mac OS X (10.4.3)
Powerbook G4 12" 1.33 Ghz 512 K RAM Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Just updated iTunes to most recent version. Now I'm getting jerky video playback in BOTH iTunes and QT Pro (latest version). CPU use is very high but random; ditto with video playback (i.e., doesn't hang up on the same scene/time).
I had this issue a little over a year ago after updating iTunes to the then latest version. Got nowhere with Apple's "Service" texts. I played around with configs for a while and also re-installed iTunes. It has worked fine until yesterday (same symptoms as last time). As for the past "fix": nothing I can hang a hat on. Methinks Apple updated the version I re-installed with (tho' the version # was unchanged).

Similar Messages

Problem with itunes video playback.

many of my high quality video files seem to run so smoothly with my media players lik VLC, but when i play them in itunes the video gets stuck and the audio keeps playing.. how do i solve this..

What was the fix for this? Everything has sucked for my itunes video playback since the last major revision release.

Faulty iTunes Video Playback

Dear All,
I’ve unfortunately encountered a problem with iTunes video playback after installing iTunes 10 (and now iTunes 10.1) on my new Dell computer. The computer has hardware which should run iTunes with no problems (dedicated video card, 4 GB ram and a nice screen), and has Windows 7 installed, with the newest BOIS (Dell Studio XPS 16).
My iTunes video though is faulty. TV Shows bought from iTunes run in a way that’s halting and really choppy. No other video plays this way on the computer, just in iTunes. And its much more exaggerated when the video is stretched to full screen or made larger in any way. Its unnoticeable if I make the video the size of a notecard on my computer. It makes video unwatchable if its full screen.
Anything I can do? Any ideas? I’ve followed all the suggestions in this article to no avail (http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1718), except for the IDE step, which doesn’t seem to be an option on my computer?
Thank you for all your help.

There have been reports of problems like this when iTunes has a big version jump.
I've not witness any problems that you have, I'm running on low power on battery and video still plays fine in iTunes, even fullscreen. My laptop is probably less powerful than yours is.
Problems like this seem to come about if there is a major software revision and the software isn't removed properly before installing a newer version.
Try http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1923 this is how to completely remove iTunes to install a newer version. Best to do a backup first just in case. If that doesn't work, there is another way, but we'll try that one for now.

Are you having iTunes video playback problems?

Do you have iTunes Store-bought videos whose playback is terrible, all choppy and full of freezes while playing back in iTunes?
Have you copied one of those iTunes videos to a thumb drive and had it play back perfectly?
This problem is not fixed by any of the Quicktime adjustments that Apple suggests on their "how to fix video playback issues" page, and, aside from this video playback issue, iTunes is working fine on my machine. As I said, the videos work fine, too, if played from a thumb drive instead of the hard drive.
This has been going on for weeks, and people have been posting about it here on the forum, but, to my knowledge, there's no fix. Just silence.
It might be useful if people who are seeing this problem post some information about their systems. For all I know, all of us who are seeing this problem have one particular vendor's computer.
The computer I am having this problem with is a new HP laptop that came with Vista. This one:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument?docname=c00846935&cc=us&dlc=e n&lc=en&jumpid=regR1002USEN
1.6 GHz AMD Turion ™ 64 X2 Dual-Core Mobile Technology TL-52
2 X 512KB L2 Cache
2048MB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
NVIDIA GeForce Go 6150 (UMA)
120GB 5400RPM (SATA)
I think the problem has to do with SATA, but I don't really know, except that my computer has it and I am able to play these videos perfectly from a thumb drive but not the SATA hard drive.
If you are having this problem, please consider posting your computer's info. Thanks.
HP Pavilion Entertainment PC Other OS Vista

OK, I figured it out... I too have a dv6000 with Vista and I have been trying to fix this terrible itunes video playback thing and this is what I found. For whatever reason the NVidia driver in the dv series doesn't play nice with Vista. They say that they are looking into it but have no response other than that. Somehow the data from the hard drive isn't fast enough. So, reading this I figured that if that REALLY is the problem that I could use a external drive and have the videos come from there, and Voila!! It works like a charm, no skipping, no stalling, no more blue screens. I hope this is helpful, I know what a pain this can be.
ALSO, apparently some think that you can't watch itunes video while using Vista's "ReadyBoost". I haven't had that issue personally, but I have seen a lot that have who disabled it and had it work fine.
Let me know if this works for everyone else.
Later
S

Exported iphoto slideshow to itune but playback quality is low

I am using Macbook air Early 2014. OS X 10.10.1
My question is I exported iphoto slideshow to itune but playback quality is low. I used 480P MP4 format. How I can improve this?
Lo

Hello!
My first question is pretty obvious:
- is the quality great when previewing your slideshow in iPhoto?
If so, try the following:
delete the bad slideshow from iTunes
go back to iPhoto and select a better quality export method, like 720p or 1080p
Did that help?

Had some old movies from reel to reel on a vcr. i converted these to mp4 format using pinnacle video capture, quality was not great but it was decent enough on my computer. when i placed these on my ipad it was much worse and very choppy. i have handbra

had some old movies from reel to reel on a vcr. i converted these to mp4 format using pinnacle video capture, quality was not great but it was decent enough on my computer. when i placed these on my ipad it was much worse and very choppy. i have handbrake and thought i could maybe change the movie so i could play it on ipad but dont know what dimensions or framerate etc. currently the movie on the computer is in 640 x 480 mpeg 4 aac. thanks derek

Jon,
What Julianne said at first about re-linking made perfect sense and I followed it easily, had actually already been there. But in my situation now, it didn't have any effect. The directory of folders which had already been added were still just as they were, and the outstanding balance are not in the desired position. And the folders which had been brought in earlier today when I clicked "synchronize folder", were still missing all the metadata.
Maybe this means I need to start over, and I'm fine about doing that that, but I don't know what it takes to accomplish that. I'm concerned now that any changes I make out of guesswork could only make the problem harder to resolve. It just feels to me like something I did at the beginning just wasn't right, and now it's a tangle.
Can you advise?
Thanks,
Gary

G5 crashes during iTunes video playback after Leopard install

I have a G5 1.6 single-processor running 10.5.1. Since I installed Leopard, I have been experiences frequent crashes during iTunes video playback (TV shows bought in the iTunes store). The crashes hang my whole system and require a restart by holding down the power button. The video itself sort of "blip-blip-blips" during the crash, but the mouse and keyboard are unresponsive, windows don't do anything, etc.
Any thoughts? Anyone else with this problem? Thanks!

Ever since I installed Leopard on my dual 2ghz G5, neither itunes nor quicktime player works. They both crash on launch. Maybe not the same issue, but I'm regretting the upgrade.

IPad 2 Video playback Quality Issue (Low Contrast and grayish black)

Does anyone notice that the video playback quality is really bad on the iPad 2? If you try to play any video (youtube, apple trailer, your own converted video) on the iPad 2, any black images will turn grayish... Just put your iPhone, iPod touch, or even the older iPad next to it, then you will notice a BIG difference. The color is similar to what happened when you set the gamma incorrectly on a display.
Also, you will notice this more if you change the orientation of the device, the contrast will be corrected for a fraction of a second.
I've tried this on other iPad 2 and they all share the same problem. I tried to talk to the Apple Genius Bar and they refused to give me a proper answer on this, instead simply claiming that is just the way it is... I wanted to refund this but I've passed the 14 days rule and also I got it from a authorized retailer and so Apple just won't take it back.
I believe it can be fixed by software... Any idea? or I shall throw it away T_T

I'm on the phone with apple support right now. I work at a post production house, and we/our clients keep having this issue - everything looks great on screen and on the ipad 1, and theres a huge gamma shift on the ipad 2. they need to fix this ASAP. like Jls21 already said, a lot of us use ipads for work purposes - unacceptable!
this thread ( https://discussions.apple.com/message/15100980#15100980 ) seems to blame the h.264 codec/compression settings…? does anyone know of another codec that prevents this gamma shift on the ipad 2?
this is from the tech specs page:
Video formats supported: H.264 video up to 720p, 30 frames per second, Main Profile level 3.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps, 1280 by 720 pixels, 30 frames per second, audio in ulaw, PCM stereo audio in .avi file format
is there anything that jumps out to anyone regarding workarounds for this issue?
we've used both Compressor and MPEG Streamclip - there's no quality difference between them, in case anyone is trying that.
okay so, i was transferred to a senior technical rep and he looked it up - apparently apple is getting a bunch of complaints about this issue and they've submitted it to their developers. the more people that call and complain, the higher up on the priority list it goes to be fixed in a software update. there is no workaround known, and it's a standard issue across all ipad 2's.

My iTunes video playback is not working.

So my videos haven't been playing on iTunes.
when I rent a movie, I cannot watch it, because it simply goes to a green screen.
I have updated everything that needs updating.
Also, the trailers don't even play- they're in green screen too.
I have tried renting in SD and HD and neither change the screen...
As much as I love hearing every sound of the movie, I'd like to watch it..
Any brainy folks outthere willing to help?

If you installed DivX, that can prevent iTunes video content from loading. Check the DivX website for uninstall insructions.

ITunes video playback stutter

Hello all, when I play a movie in fullscreen mode in iTunes on my 2011 iMac the playback stutters every four or five seconds, this only occurs in fullscreen mode, has anyone heard of this and are there any solutions, it's driving me crazy, thanks in advance

I am having this same problem. Again I have a 2011 27" iMac running Lion. The stutter or frame rate lag is only happening with iTunes videos when being watched in full screen mode. However, it does not happen with every itunes video - only some. Yet they can be HD, normal quality, rental or not rental - it is strange that there seems no reason why one video would stutter while another would not. The lag occurs particularly when the shots are panning or moveing quickly. I have not found a solution yet. Could be a Lion problem i suspect as I did not have this issue with snow leopard. Any one else got this issue?

WINDOWS VISTA ITUNES VIDEO PLAYBACK ISSUE!!!!!! AAHHHHHHH!!! HELP!!!!!!!!!!

am using a Dell XPS GEN 5 PC with Windows Vista Premium Edition as the current OS installed. I have latested up date for Itunes and QuickTime (7.1.6) Installed. I have recently bought and downloaded 3 of the Original Star Trek Tv Shows from Itunes. When I try and play one of them, they don't work. The Screen comes up, the show starts, then stops. Sometimes the sound keeps on playing, and then stops. Sometimes it just dosent even come on. I'm guessing (as a highly advanced Windows PC User) That this ia a "video/playback issue, related to a Apple/Vista Compatibility problem. I would like help solving this problem.

hi slideaway!
my computer has a right proper meltdown, switching itself off and restarting to a "Windows has recovered from a serious error" sort of message.
good lord. are you getting any sort of blue screen? if so, what numerical and text codes are you getting with it? (ie 0x[zeros/letters/numbers] CAPSANDUNDERSCORES)
here's a reference on the sorts of things i'm asking about:
Troubleshooting Windows Stop Messages
if you're not seeing a blue screen (or just a flash of one), we can use this technique to make hidden blue screens appear for us:
1) Open your system control panel (Start->Control Panels->System).
2) Select the "Advanced" tab.
3) Click the "Startup and Recover" section's "Settings" button
4) Verify that under "System Failure" the "Automatically restart" checkbox is not checked.
love, b

ITunes Video Playback Choppy/Laggy?

I am running a 27" 2011 iMac, 3.4 GHz Intel Core i7, 8 GB RAM and AMD Radeon HD 6970M 1025 MB graphics card. I am running the newest editon of Mountain Lion.
This is the first time I have had this, however I am not impressed at all. Video playback becomes laggy/choppy, the sound goes all fuzzy and becomes out of sync. It first started with "Blue Planet", I got it about 3 weeks ago now and I simply cannot finish the series as the play back becomes horrible. I have "Ancient Aliens" and that never done anything like that on the same machine. Even the HD version played perfectly.
Now I have just rented "The Hunger Games" in HD and I'm getting the same **** thing. When I pause the video for a little it stops, then it comes back again. Like watching a video with bad internet connection on YouTube, only it doesn't freeze, it just lags out.
I don't really fancy sitting through a 2 hour film pausing it every 15 mins, if I wanted to do that I'd have just not paid for it.
When I looked at my iStat Menu's CPU and RAM is not being used to much so it's not that. It shouldn't be anything to do with my internet connection, that was the whole point of downloading it? Plus my internet is 60MB (so 6MB/s) and I downloaded the 4.5GB file in 30 mins or so. So even if my internet connection had anything to do with it, it should be fine.
Like I said I've not had problems with this before, but this is stupid. Can this be fixed? If not I need to try and get a refund as this is a joke.

Thanks for your reply.
Ugh. Sorry. It is frustrating and in today's technological marketplace should be one of the easier things for the Mac to handle.
Received another feedback from someone. Have to try when my daughter gets up, but right-clicking on iTunes and doing a Get Info will yield the 'Run in 32bit mode', Checking this box helped another person who was floggedw with this issue
The whole thing is odd. The Choppy playback was an issue oh her machine prior to upgrading to iTunes 11 and me adding another 4GB of RAM. Ran disk utility, did all the normal things to try and solve. She doesn't have an i-device, so WIFI sync was a moot point.
I do not have the issue on my MBPro 15" running the same compliment of software and iTunes. Same movie plays fine. On hers, the issue is there. So this has to be software... settings, conflict, something...
UPDATE
Just tried the 32bit mode on her machine and same choppy results. Back to square zero.

ITunes Video Playback - Sound skipping

Hi - Just bought a new PC and have installed iTunes and brought over all my sound and video files to it via iPod hard disk function. Music is playing perfectly. All video playback is accompanied by terrible stuttering and spluttering of the audio. This is occuring at all times - even if iTunes is the only app running. DVD playback fantastic on PC as is video playback using other apps. Videos i'm trying to play are all under 5 minutes long and differ in type from video podcasts to Pixar content bought from itunes shop. New PC has brilliant spec so don't understand - any suggestions? All help much appreciated - regards!!

I almost have the same problem with the Video Podcast the sound is bad, For the audio only it works perfectly. At first everything was in order and worked well.
Then for no reason I got the trouble with the sound of the Video Podcast there was echoes and the quality was poor.
Cause it’s new computer I re-installed everything, so it worked well again. Then after going on a web site that uses active X for animation I got the problem back. I have no idea if Active X QuickTime are connected but each time the pattern the same.
Have tried to re-install iTunes the Quick Time I have changed the Audio option about filters in both nothing helped.

ITunes video player... not working

When I try to play any kind of video on my iTunes, it doesn't work. I have two iTunes programs (work and at home) and they both have this problem, so there has to be something that can be done to fix it. Can someone help?
Ipod Windows XP
Windows XP

Take a look here and see if any of the suggestions on the page help:
Troubleshooting iTunes for Windows XP and 2000 video playback performance issues
Good luck.

How do I get a picture in my iTunes video playback screen?

I recently re-uploaded my iTunes music and videos to iTunes after a crash. I now only have sound during video playback. How do I get a picture during playback?

See also:
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screenshot
*https://support.mozilla.org/kb/how-do-i-create-screenshot-my-problem
Current Firefox versions have a built-in feature to take a screenshot as part of the Web Developer Toolbar.
*Web Developer > Developer Toolbar
A quick way to save a screenshot is to press the "s", then the F1 key will bring up a help pop-up where you can click the "screenshot" entry' or use cursor Up/Down and press the Enter key.<br />
The default file name is "Screen Shot yyyy-mm-dd at HH.MM.SS.png" in the download directory.
help screenshot
You will have to type options yourself because clicking an entry in the pop-up that appears after the first "-" doesn't work (to see available options, use: screenshot --).

ITunes video playback quality is not that smooth

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for