I am unable to play H.264 videos on my 2x1.2ghz g4 (overclocked).
I have decided to stay with the quicksilver rather than go with an MDD.
Has anyone been able to play h.264 with mplayer on any quicksilver system? I figure it would take the 1.8ghz sonnet to get the job done. Don't know about the 1.6ghz. Overclocking from 1ghz to 1.2ghz did not help at all.

Also, any known issues with the MDD mac? I have seen a few listed which makes me wary of just going to one.

> I am unable to play H.264 videos on my 2x1.2ghz g4 (overclocked).

What resolution? 720p and higher would definitely be too much for a 1.2 GHz G4.

> I figure it would take the 1.8ghz sonnet to get the job done.
> Don't know about the 1.6ghz.

I guess 720p will work flawlessly with 1.6+ GHz G4. At 1.8 GHz you can play 720p on Youtube with approx. 90% CPU workload according to Tiki.

> any known issues with the MDD mac?

None that I'm aware of. But then you didn't answer my question.

I see that you did follow the overclocking guide I have send you

Yes, I did.
Thanks, it was quite easy.
And I am not that great at soldering or vice versa.

One thing if you already didn't ... get yourself some good thermal paste, replace the standard fan with a faster one and make sure it sucks air in and it does not blow air out like the original fan does.

[ Edited by Oepabakkes on 2010/11/9 22:17 ]

720p h264 .mp4 and mkv's plays very well on the MacMini 1.5Ghz, directly from USB stick.
I'm really impressed with how well mplayer works on this machine.

For comparisation, the same movies is stuttering and gives picture distortion when I try them under OSX and mplayer (same with VLC or quicktime). I also have a PC nearby with 1.6Ghz P4, XP and 512MB ram, and a radeon 9800, and even there the same movies have trouble playing.

On MorphOS the 720p files shows high CPU usage, but this doesnt reflect on mplayer. I can move the movie window around, jump quickly back and forward in the movie without anything stuttering.
Trying to jump forward or backward on OSX or on the mentioned PC makes the movie freeze for some seconds, and usually picture problems when resuming.

> 720p h264 .mp4 and mkv's plays very well on the MacMini 1.5Ghz
> [...] On MorphOS the 720p files shows high CPU usage

What CPU workload do you get on average?

I just tried two movies, both branded 720p

First one I tested was Predators. The CPU graph varied a lot. During playing the movie with subtitle it sometimes is down to 80% for a short time, then up to 99%. So I would say that in average its around 90%.

Next one was Machete (havent watched the whole movie yet, but it smells B-movie...)
This one used much lower cpu rate, I'd say average at 65%. The resolution is slightlyt higher that Predators, but it has a lower bitrate, so that probably explains it.

Just for testing, I also tried a 1080p movie. The picture quality is good and its plays steady. But the picture goes at 50% speed, and the sound in full speed. After a while the sound starts stuttering. The cpu usage is at 98-99%.

I'll paste the information here that came with the two movies, so you can compare the data if you want:

|:-----------------------------------------------------------------------------:|
|| ||
|| Predators 2010 720p BRRip x264-HDLiTE ||
|| ||
|| Encoder ::: Lifechanger ||
|| Release Name ::: Predators ||
|| IMDB ::: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1424381/ ||
|| Format ::: H.264/MPEG-4 AVC ||
|| Bitrate ::: 2612 Kbps ||
|| Max Bitrate ::: 21.8 Mbps ||
|| Resolution ::: 1280 x 544 ||
|| Framerate ::: 23.976 fps ||
|| QF Ratio ::: 0.156 ||
|| Size ::: 1.95 GB ||
|| Audio ::: MPEG-4 AAC-LC Version 4 ||
|| Channels ::: 5.1 Surround ~ 397 Kbps ||
|| Sample Rate ::: 48000Hz ||
|| Resolution ::: 16 bits ||
|| Language ::: English || '

**************************************************************************
Genre:Action | Adventure | Crime | Thriller
Language: English
IMDB:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0985694/
Source:720p.DTS.x264-BECKS

General
Complete name :Machete.2010.BRRip.720p.H264.Feel-Free
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media
Codec ID : isom
File size : 1.72 GiB
Duration : 1h 44mn
Overall bit rate : 2 351 Kbps
Video #1
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 1h 44mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 2 029 Kbps
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 712 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Resolution : 24 bits
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.093
Stream size : 1.49 GiB (86%)
Audio #2
ID : 2
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format version : Version 4
Format profile : LC
Format settings, SBR : No
Codec ID : 40
Duration : 1h 44mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 320 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Rear: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Resolution : 16 bits
Stream size : 238 MiB (13%)

> I would say that in average its around 90%.
> [...]
> Bitrate ::: 2612 Kbps
> [...]
> Resolution ::: 1280 x 544

Okay, that's not really 720p, despite the branding. 24% less pixels to decode. I think it's easily imaginable that in case of real 720p that video would need more than 100% of your CPU.

> This one used much lower cpu rate, I'd say average at 65%. The resolution is
> slightlyt higher that Predators, but it has a lower bitrate, so that probably explains it.
> [...]
> Bit rate : 2 029 Kbps
> Width : 1 280 pixels
> Height : 712 pixels

That's more or less 720p, yes. I really don't have a better explanation than you (bitrate) as to why that video causes rather small CPU workload.

bitrate definitely makes a difference on CPU load, be it an mp3 audio file, simple mpeg1 video, divx video or h264 mkv.

I added lots of silver paste and a new fan to blow air across the heatsink.

No issues as of yet.

Looks like I am getting a sonnet encore g4 1.8ghz.

Quote:

As has already been stated before, "lots of silver paste" is not better than the correct amount, which would be the least amount needed to provide a thin film between the CPU and the heatsink. Otherwise the paste can actually begin to work as an insulator, instead of a conducting agent. If you think you might have installed too much paste, it might be a good idea to do it over again after carefully cleaning all paste from both the CPU and heatsink and then re-applying the correct amount and re-installing the heatsink properly.

Edit: Where did you find a 1.8GHz Sonnet G4 accelerator card for your PowerMac and how outrageously expensive was it to purchase?

[ Edited by amigadave on 2010/11/14 6:50 ]

Well I am not so sure about stability of my overclock to 1.2Ghz ... One time it hangs while emulating SNES or UAE or starting a DVD in just a minute with barely cpuload. And know the thing is running for an hour playing a dvd and running some SDL game with 80%-90% cpuload without problems.

If I purchase something faster I am wondering what would be the best choice 1.42Ghz with L3 cache or a 1.8Ghz Sonnet....

I just bought a sonnet 1.8ghz encore from eBay for $165 plus $15 shipping.

I'll let you know the results.
I have had no issues with overclocking to 1.2ghz that I know of.
I can definitely say that messing with the loopfilter settings in Mplayer in order to get HD video to work at slower speeds can cause some crashing. I hope this fixes the issue once and for all.

I just bought ImageFX 4.5 studio too.

As far as silver paste I only used enough.

> I hope this fixes the issue once and for all.

It definitely will.

I got back into the Amiga with one goal...see if the Amiga can meet my modern needs. So far it has. The main things that are keeping me in are the uber web browser known as OWB and Mplayer and Tubexx. I do mostly internet and multimedia. Getting HD video to work will be the clincher. Don't get me wrong, I love PageStream, Photogenics, ImageFX and all of that other great stuff but not without the full internet and video support. I'm not into video editing so a toaster is not a must (didn't they make a pci toaster?). E-UAE working has helped clinch the deal too. I like my amiga games a lot! I have not been able to try out Amiga OS 4 , but they do not have a demo like MOS so I do not know if I am missing out on anything. From what I hear I am not. I came back to miggy mainly because of the outrageous cost of obtaining similar programs for Windows. Amiga always did do it better.

Got the sonnet 1.8ghx encore in.
Gotta backup, install mac os 10.3.5, install a sonnet rom patch using mac os (apparently the mac needs a boot rom patch to even see the thing. Verified that, won't even produce a screen without the patch), then and only then put in new processor and then reinstall amiga and recover from backup. Good grief.

Okay, that's not really 720p, despite the branding. 24% less pixels to decode. I think it's easily imaginable that in case of real 720p that video would need more than 100% of your CPU.

Well, basically it is a "real" 720p movie...not every movie has an 16:9 aspect ratio (1280 x 720).

Most of the movies today are viewed in 2,39:1 and even FullHD movies doesn't have 1080 vertical pixels then...

> basically it is a "real" 720p movie...not every movie has an 16:9 aspect
> ratio (1280 x 720). Most of the movies today are viewed in 2,39:1 and
> even FullHD movies doesn't have 1080 vertical pixels then...

Point taken. Let me clarify then that I was talking about 720p movies that actually use 720 vertical pixels with a 16:9 aspect ratio.