Quicktime playback staggers on large HD files

Question

Quicktime  7.6 Pro
Playback staggers and skips frames on large files (1920x1080 1.5GB. .mov files)
VLC also staggers but plays better than QT?
I have to run files through Compressor for smooth playback.
Do i need a graphics card for smooth playback?

Answer 1

Apple make a program "Aperture" and that program can make slide shows of your photos.
Thanks for pointing that out. Although I am an Aperture user, I use it exclusively for photo file management and adjustments and did not even realize I could make slideshows with it.
Jon:
I see you know what your saying can you help with this one  same sort of thing.
Sorry for taking so long to respond. Once I read your post, I had to go back and run some tests in Aperture before making an answer.
I made a 5min slideshow and previewed it in Aperture it worked fine.  So I clicked export and exported it to 1080p .MOV file (a quicktime movie file), Aperture dose not have any setting for this just click and go.  The final file plays fine on VLC but is choppy on Quicktime.  WHY?
1) The "slideshow" played in Aperture is, for the most part, a live "'tween" simulation of the file that will be created and saved as a QT video slideshow. The "'tween" is basically a set of instructions telling the computer how to morph two or more images and render the results to the screen.
2) "'Tween" videos can be stored as comparatively small files and were originally used to create/view slideshows but these videos had/have compatibility issues with some of the evolving apps based on the "modernized" version of QT. The process of "exporting" your Aperture slideshow tells QT to create "snapshots" of the "morphed" images at fixed intervals in time and store them as physical video frames in a real QT "movie" file (i.e., not a QT file containing photo tracks with a "'tween" track telling the media player "how" to render/display morphing data). This "real" QT file is much larger than the "'tween" file and is the basic source of playback problems on older and/or slower platforms that cannot process (render and display) the data as fast as the platform can read it and the media application is told to play it.
3) VLC and the various QT-based media players are written to function differently with different goals in mind. In some cases the algorithms included in VLC are much more efficient than those in QT and vice versa. As I am not involved in the VLC project I have no specific input regarding the actual differences that allow it to process and render your slideshows faster/better than QT. You might remember, however, that one of the goals of VLC playback compatibility is the playback of Blu-ray disc content while Apple has yet to release any BD player app based on the QT structure embedded in any version of OS X.
4) Most Aperture export options are "presets" with fixed settings pre-programmed into them—e.g., the "1080p" option created a non-anamorphic 1080p30 file using the H.264 "best" quality auto-data rate Main Profile@Level 5 encode settings. On my system, this meant my sample file had a data rate on the order of 40 Mbps. To put this in perspective, a Microsoft 1080i60 VC-1 Blu-ray disc has a typical data rate of 30 Mbps, and a typical MPEG-4/AVC 1080p60 Blu-ray disc has an average data rate on the order of 20 Mbps. Thus, if your 5 minute file encoded in a manner similar to my test, your file is trying to play the equivalent of two Blu-ray discs simultaneously in terms data throughput. And, while my system's hardware configuration did not seem to have any playback problems, my initial guess would be that your video card(s), CPU(s), system clocking, or other issue may be preventing smoothest playback through the QT media player but is being much more efficiently handled by the VLC software.
can I put the file though some other program to make it more compatible(I know it already compatible I mean, it will not run smooth on QT) with Quicktime to give smother playback?
Yes, but my best recommendation at this point would be to make your slideshows more QT player compatible by reducing the file's overall video data rate in your Aperture export. While there may not be any user options using the "1080p" selection, you can switch your workflow to the "Custom" Aperture export option and run some tests on your own system to see it it improves matters and to what extent. In case you are interested, here are the results of my tests. Recommend you download the files for testing and comparison on your system rather than playing them via the default browser plug-in.
The following sample slideshow test files were created from unretouched photos taken by my daughter-in-law using her Sony compact digital camera and can be downloaded to your system for playback test comparisons:
http://downloads.walker4.me/downloads/Temporary_files/Jul%209,%202013.mov
The above file was created using the Aperture "1080p" preset. It is a 1080p30 H.264/PCM (38.9 Mbps/1.41 Mbps) [email protected] CAVLC encoded file. The file plays fine on my system in both QT player apps. (File provided as a baseline sample comparison with your "1080p" file export.)
http://downloads.walker4.me/downloads/Temporary_files/Jul%209,%202013-Custom-B.m ov
This is a "Custom" encoding for the same sample slideshow project as depicted above. It is basically the same encoding as the file above but with frame rate reduced to 24fps but keeping the "Best" quality level setting making it a 1080p24 H.264/PCM (31.7 Mbps/1.41 Mbps) [email protected] CAVLC encoded file. (File provided to see if the data rate reduction that resulted from decreasing the number frame "snapshots" taken each second while keeping each snapshot's quality level constant plays any smoother on your system. I.e., this is a way to minimally reduce the target data rate in Aperture slideshow export work flow.)
http://downloads.walker4.me/downloads/Temporary_files/Jul%209,%202013%20Custom-M .mov
This is another "Custom" encoded file. In this case, the frame rate and the quality settings were changed. Most people seem to think exporting at the hightest possible "Quality" setting will produce the best playback results. Unfortunately this is not always the case if the final result then includes or creates new problems. Most files can be encoded using a "Medium" quality setting with little or no reduction in visual playback. Here the exported file is a 1080p24 H.264/PCM (5.72 Mbps/1.41 Mbps) [email protected] CAVLC medium quality file. (This file was included here so you could compare playback smoothness on your system when the encoded data rate is more aggressively reduced using the built-in Aperture user settings.)
http://downloads.walker4.me/downloads/Temporary_files/Jul%209,%202013%202.mov
It is, of course, also possible to use the iPhoto app to export your slideshows. This work flow also has a "Custom" export option but it allows me to access an "Eport Movie to QT Movie" option which has many additional user options. This file is such an export. In this case the file is a 1080p24 Multi-pass H.264/AAC (16.6 Mbps/0.128 Mbps) [email protected] CAVLC file with Quality level set to "High." key frame frequency of 24, frame reordering is on, and with the data rate set automatically (but could have just as easily be set to a manual limit and optimized for CD/DVD or streaming use and/or included any of the available system filters/special effects).
In any case, you can download and compare my files or create and compare a number of your own files using any of the work flows mentioned. Good luck, and let us know if this fixed your problem.