# Freezing video on Mac



## f0zz (Dec 1, 2011)

I have a 2011 Mac mini that I use as my media center. I have coppiced many of my bluRays and DVD for easy access of one of several Apple TV's thought the house. The Mini is located in the theater.

I find that when I play a video in the theater via the Mac Mini, often times the video pauses while the audio continues. I don't think there are any issues with the file because if I pause the video, it catches up and plays normally again for a while.

Could this be caused by a lack of RAM? I think my mini has 2gigs of RAM? 

Any ideas?


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## eyespy39 (Aug 23, 2013)

Which Model of Mac mini do you own? The one with integrated Intel HD Graphics 3000 or the one with the dedicated Radeon HD 6630? 
How is it connected to your Home Cinema? Directly via HDMI or via Network and AppleTV? Are there other displays connected to the Mac at the same time?
Are there comparable hiccups when you stream the very same video to your other AppleTVs? 
If you own the integrated Graphics Mac mini, the problem might well stem from a lack of graphics power. More memory *might* still be of help here since the Mac can then buffer more video data. The built-in hard drives aren't that fast since they're notebook models.


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## f0zz (Dec 1, 2011)

I don't know what video card is in the computer. My understanding is that it's integrated however. 
I'm using HDMI to connect to my reciever. 

My Apple TV is connected via WiFi only. We only use one at a time. This unit is also choppy but I assume it my wifi?

I've read bad video on the mini is common and it's software related.


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## eyespy39 (Aug 23, 2013)

There's a basic difference between output via HDMI and via network. When using HDMI, the graphics hardware of the mac is important and may even be the bottleneck. You may try to choose a lower graphics resolution and check if the playback is smooth, then. Do you have a Monitor connected to the Mac Mini in parallel to the AVR? If so, try to disconnect the monitor so that the graphics hardware needs not drive two displays.
Which video playing software are you using? Quicktime? VLC? any other? Which OS Version? They differ in their hardware needs.
Playback via AppleTV depends mainly on network speed. You might do an easy check: take one of your AppleTVs to your theater, connect your Mac Mini AND your Apple TV to your Network switch via ethernet cable. You have then quite stable network speed of at least 100MBit/sec. So this should not be a bottleneck anymore. If your playback runs smoothly, then, we learn that your current combination of hardware and software of your Mac Mini are not sufficient for HDMI playback and that your WLAN may be a bottleneck for your other AppleTVs.


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