VLC’s next major release will include support for the VDA decoder API on Mac OS X thanks to Sébastien Zwickert, who added the needed code both to VLC and libav.
So, what’s the use? This adds hardware acceleration to H.264 video decoding on Mac OS X 10.6.3 and later! This way, VLC’s CPU load is reduced by up to 40 per cent on supported devices! These include Mac models equipped with the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, GeForce 320M, GeForce GT 330M, ATI HD Radeon GFX, Intel HD Graphics and others.
More technical information is available on Sébastien’s github page.
You can find an initial pre-release build here, based upon VLC’s current development branch. Please note that this build is not made for production environments, could hurt your kittens and could do all the other bad stuff pre-alpha software is known for to your Mac and its surroundings.
Note that VDA decoding isn’t enabled by default. To enable it, go to Preferences (VLC menu), click on “Show all” on the bottom left, choose “Input/Codecs” -> “Video codecs” -> “FFmpeg” on the left hand side and scroll down on the right until you see the checkbox labelled “Hardware decoding”. Check it. That’s it. Make sure to restart the playback, if applicable.
really surprised this took so long, but better late than never I suppose
I’m using 2.1.0-git and while it’s nice that VLC can play mp4s without sucking as much CPU, it still pales in comparison to VLC for bigh bit rate h.264 videos.
This is highly unfortunate, because I wouldn’t use Plex if I could use ANYTHING ELSE! Unfortunately, VLC still chokes although I will continue to use it for other formats.
Example video:
http://www.auby.no/files/video_tests/h264_1080p_hp_4.1_40mbps_birds.mkv
Sorry, obviously I meant pales in comparison to Plex (in terms of playback smoothness).
C’mon VLC, how some you use less CPU on most videos, but high bitrate 264 videos are CHOPPY?!
Thanks for filing ticket https://trac.videolan.org/vlc/ticket/7622 and giving VLC’s vdadecoder implementation a try. We will definitely have a look at the file and improve VLC until the release to match other players.
I’ll be elated when VLC catches up!
I tried another high-bitrate video and some other players including QT 7 and X. VLC is still the worst, and in fact if I don’t pause the video before going full screen to play it, the player will crash 100% of the time