Mac is very SLOW playing WMV files!?!

rosco

Standard Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2009
Messages
13
Reaction score
0
Points
8
I have Flip4Mac installed on my MacBook Pro so I can view WMV files through QuickTime Player.
The only thing is that although the files start playing immediately they take ages to buffer completely, if that is the correct term, therefore it is impossible to quickly search through the file. I am waiting at least 3 to 4 mins before I can search through the files completely. The files are normally about 15 to 20 mins long.
The same task is a breeze with Media Player on a PC.
Is there another solution or application which would enable the files to be totally accessible more or less straight away?
 
Last edited:
WMV ... The same task is a breeze with Media Player on a PC.
Well WMV should be the clue, it's not called "Windows Most Vile" format for nothing ;) Not sure i have the same problem, i use Quicktime on my MacBook at home and its fine? I'll take a look tonight, but is it every file you try to play or just this one? Size? Corruption? Could be anything.
 
there was a previous version of flip4mac which instead of opening the file and buffering would just take a while to open the actual file- but once open you could scrub along the timeline as normal. It always seemed like less of a waiting time than the buffering way as well, maybe try an older version?
 
flip will convert the WMV files to QT as you play them, hence the slow bar creeping up and the lack of ability to skip forward on the search bar. VLC all the way
 
I'll try VLC. I use to use that on my PC for playing VOB files. Thanks for the advice people!
 
Strange this thread should come up as a friend of mine suffers from the same issue but I don't.

We're both running Snow Leopard and QT10. When he loads a WMV it buffers slowly but when I do it I get a 'loading' bar upfront then I have the whole file in QT and I can skim through it...
 
I've noticed this in emails since moving up to Snow Leopard, the files take ages to load up. A way round it, perversely, is to click on QuickLook (in Apple Mail) and the movie plays almost immediately. No I don't know why either...
 
VLC is the best option for playing WMV files as Flip4Mac just seems to buffer these so can take ages to load a long video. My record was 30 mins to load a 45 min video when I was testing it out after the QT upgrade in SL!
VLC plays right away and you can move forward through it right from the off.
 
VLC is the best option for playing WMV files as Flip4Mac just seems to buffer these so can take ages to load a long video. My record was 30 mins to load a 45 min video when I was testing it out after the QT upgrade in SL!
VLC plays right away and you can move forward through it right from the off.
So by the sounds of it it's a Flip4Mac issue rather than SL or QT10?

EDIT - I'm running 32bit F4M v2.2.2.3 and my WMVs load into QT with a 'loading bar' but then they are good to skim through. I DON'T get the buffering 'issue'!
 
So by the sounds of it it's a Flip4Mac issue rather than SL or QT10?

EDIT - I'm running 32bit F4M v2.2.2.3 and my WMVs load into QT with a 'loading bar' but then they are good to skim through. I DON'T get the buffering 'issue'!

Haven't used QT to play a video since the problems so no idea if it's okay now. Just happy with VLC when I'm sitting at my iMac and Plex when watching on my Mini through the big TV.
Can't say I'll be trying any time soon as I just don't like QT, never have.
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom