I just installed kdenlive on Snow Leopard using MacPorts. I have a MacBook with Intel GMA x3100 graphics. The performance in editing x264 HD .MTS files from the camera is basically unusable. I know there are options for Linux on computers with discrete graphics controllers like VDPAU and VA API. Does anything similar exist for Mac? Or is there maybe just a way to disable a bunch of the slower decoder features during editing (equivalents of mplayer's skiploopfilter and such)? It's frustrating that VLC can play the files flawlessly, yet ffplay from the command-line or just dragging the clip to the timeline in kdenlive are painfully slow and choppy.

Adding the actual name of the codec, H.264 or h264, for search-friendliness.

Update - I can't even edit DNxHD converted videos smoothly. The best I can do is with these ffmpeg settings: -i 00867.MTS -r 30000/1001 -s 1920x1080 -b 45M -threads 2 -vcodec dnxhd -acodec copy .

Even then, it still plays slowly - like not even real-time; a second takes a little more than a second to pass and the audio is a little choppy to compensate - but it's more usable than with the x264 files. I could go to 720p, but I really don't want to do that.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

OS X now has H.264 decode acceleration, but Kdenlive via MLT and FFmpeg can not yet take advantage of it. Maybe VLC does now. Otherwise, the speed is what it is. Hopefully, while DNxHD is not smooth, it is usable. Also, you want to ensure you have installed yasm prior to installing FFmpeg to get the SIMD assembler optimized versions of FFmpeg code.

VLC could not possibly be using Apple's Video Decode Acceleration Framework, as it requires an NVIDIA graphics controller. I have an Intel GMA x3100. http://xbmc.org/davilla/2010/05/03/osx-gets-h-264-accelleration/

Yet somehow, VLC works flawlessly for 1440x1080 content, which I'm trying to use in kdenlive (I'm not using 1920x1080). Kdenlive struggles with 1280x720, while VLC does not even remotely have a problem.

I know that using video at a different resolution than the project is set to impacts performance a whole lot, so I tried the 720p with 720p project settings.

I am sorry FFmpeg and Kdenlive/OSX are not up to your standard of excellence and approval. If you hire me full time at USD $200000/year to work on it, I will try to make it better for you.