VLC, 720p mkv video, using all RAM? Slow iMac

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I have the 21,5" iMac i3 3.2ghz with 4gb of ram and I have som problems after playing back HD-movies.

My iMac goes really slow after watching movies in HD. Applications take a really long time to quit or start and it feels almost unusable. A restart of the computer seems to bring everything back to normal.

I managed to run Activity Monitor today after watching a 720p mkv file with VLC with a couple of others apps running, like Firefox and iTunes.
It shows that I use up almost all of my RAM, 3,8 gb and it seems to still use it even after I manage to quit the applications.

I ran a Hardware Test and it says everthing is fine.
So what can cause this problem? Havnt found an answer to it. I feel like it shouldnt use up all RAM like that.

/Joakim
 
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MacBook Pro | LED Cinema Display | iPhone 4 | iPad 2
I've moved your post to a more proper forum; please be sure to check the forum descriptions in the future to find the best place to post.

By posting in the right forum you help people not only find your question faster, but it helps others looking for the same information in the future.

Thanks for understanding!
 
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Is your hd full? When mine does this it's because my HDD is cram packed and moving stuff to a external fixes it right up.
 

robduckyworth


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15" MBP, 2.5GHz i7, 750GB, 6770M 1GB, iPad 3, iPhone 4, custom PC
what state is the ram? go into AM, and take a look at the pie chart under system memory. if the majority of it is inactive, this is normal and should not be worried about. the OS has simply reserved the memory for use later. if its active or wired however, these are being used currently and you will have to figure out what they are assigned to.

also take alook at your Pageouts in particular: this is when the system runs out of memory and writes to hard drive. this will cause slow downs in performance.
 
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Thanks for the answers!

Im no where near of filling up the HD at the moment, so thats not it.

robduckyworth
I'll have a look next time in AM and see what it says.

Also I managed to find a thread in a VLC forum where they said to try and uncheck MMAP (use file memory mapping) under settings. So I'll try this also and see how that goes.
 
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20" Intel iMac 2.4 Ghz/3G Ram/320HD, Snow Leopard. PBook G4, 1.5Ghz/1.5 Ram/250 HD, Leopard 10.5.6.
I would recommend you download PLEX and use that for HD playback. Smooth as silk. VLC isn't yet up to the task IMO.
Plex is free, and amazing.
 

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