Tips for a Newbie Mac User?

[reggie14]

I've been a long-time Windows user, and I've dabbled with Linux over the years too. I just got a Mac, mostly for work, but I'm playing around on it a little too. Oddly, considering Macs are suppose to be a good multimedia platform, I can't get video playback working on it very well. I can't figure out any good options for mpeg2 playback. I'm only aware of what is, allegedly, a buggy mpeg2 codec for Quicktime, and VLC. I don't want to pay for the Quicktime codec, and VLC can't seem to play back my HD recordings consistently (the audio frequently doesn't play back). Even if the audio worked, the 2.5Ghz Core 2 Duo can't seem to keep up with 1080i mpeg2 playback after turning on deinterlacing.

I assume people have gotten good mpeg2 playback on these machines. And, it really seems like a 2.5Ghz Core 2 Duo ought to be enough power to play back nearly anything. Does anyone have any pointers for me? What media players and decoders do you use?