Problems using vlc on mac, doesn't look as good as quicktime?

[Ilikebreadsticks]

Hey guys! As the title suggests, I'm having problems with the way video files look when using my macs. Up until a few months ago I didn't even know there WAS a problem, then I got an iphone 6 plus and started recording 1080p 60fps video and the video just looked choppy and bad on my computer yet silky smooth on my phone. A few days ago I accidentally opened a file using quicktime and wow, everything was smooth! There was far less blockieness in color gradients, I always thought that was just part of the video file itself but apparently VLC introduced it.

Comparison screenshot is below, you can see on the vlc part of the frame all the distortion in the sky, how the colors are super blocky. On the quicktime version it's much more natural looking. I also am able to play 1080p 60fps video smoothly using quicktime or itunes whereas on vlc it's choppy and often times gets very blocky looking.



Notes that may help. I already tried the whole "skip loop filter decoding" and set to "all", I've turned on and off "hurry up", "drop late frames" and various other easily googlable tips on how to help video run better.

My system,
Macbook pro 13"
2.4 ghtz intel core i5
8 gb ram
SSD

I don't see how the issue could have anything to do with my laptop not being fast enough, like I said, it runs smoothly and correctly when using quicktime. I just like the playlist function of VLC and I'm wondering what I can do to perhaps fix this? Thanks tech guys!

[Baldrick]

Yep. That doesn't look good.

Does it happen with all video files?
Latest VLC Media Player?

Or try a mplayer based media player like smplayer.

[jagabo]

Disabling the (deblocking) loop filter is the cause of those blocky artifacts.

Make sure the Use Hardware YUV -> RGB Conversion option is selected. And make sure the video post processing filter is disabled.

[Ilikebreadsticks]

@Baldrick
I know. lol. It's pretty consistent across the board, I have a bunch of music videos in .mp4 form (along with that man of steel trailer I had ripped from youtube.) Also I believe the .mov files from iphone 6plus in 60fps that had similar issues. Latest version of VLC of course. Haven't heard of those other media players, do they support playlists?

@jagabo
Ah ha, taking that part on and off made a difference in a big way with artifacts so thanks very much for that! The framerate issue is still there. For things like the music videos it's not really an issue but for home videos at 60fps from iphone, it's still more studdered than running it from itunes or quicktime. It's not a huge difference but enough to be noticeable. I'd personally be totally fine running video playlists through itunes but I'm usually playing them on a second screen and unfortunately itunes forces your other screen to go black if you enter full screen (and from my internet searches, there's not a way to fix that)

Quick follow up questions if you have time. "Hardware YUV -> RGB Conversion option" where do I find this? I looked through settings, do you know which section it's under is selected. And "Video post processing filter" where is this box? And does "drop late frames" and "skip frames" cause this framerate issue? Thanks so much guys for the help!!

[jagabo]

"Hardware YUV -> RGB Conversion option" where do I find this?

Maybe it's not in the Mac version? In the Preferences dialog of the Windows version:

And "Video post processing filter" where is this box?

I couldn't find that setting in the Preference dialog. On the Video menu (Windows version again):

"And does "drop late frames" and "skip frames" cause this framerate issue?

Those settings will cause the player to skip decoding (and display) of frames when a new frame isn't available in time. Late Frames probably has more to do with network streams. Skip Frames is used when decoding of the source is too slow to deliver the desired frame rate. When VLC sees that it can't decode frames fast enough (every 1/60 second in the case of 60p video) it can skip the docoding (and the display) of some frames to catch up. When it skips a frame the last frame is displayed again. That causes the jerkiness you are seeing.