High CPU usage when watching youtube videos (HTML5)?

Question

When I watch a youtube video, especially in HD, the browser I'm using (chrome) will use in excess of 200% of the CPU. This causes the video to stutter and also makes my laptop very hot. Is it normal for it to use this much CPU? Also, it's even worse when I watch it fullscreen.

I'm on a Dell Studio XPS1645 with a first generation i7 and a ATI radeonHD 4670 graphics card (With the latest proprietary drivers). Running Ubuntu 12.04 (but the same thing happens with earlier versions). Also I'm using the HTML5 version of youtube as flash performs even worse..

Can anyone help me resolve this issue or at least tell me if this is normal?

Thanks

Solution

This is something I had to deal with as well and I came to the conclusion if I use a desktop application like Miro, Totem, VLC, or MiniTube it makes my system run much better and cooler.

I prefer Miro, but it still needs some more development until it is perfect and crash free. I hear MiniTube is great, but it is a paid app. Totem works, but isn't as convenient.

I know this might not be your preferred method, but using Miro has opened up a lot of great content I wouldn't have found otherwise like free and creative commons audio books, music, and video series/episodes.

Also if you go this route check out Fluendo Codec. It improves video quality and works with Gstreamer. Only costs about $30 bucks.

Comments

[Admin]

Have you tried a different browser such as Firefox? Or if you prefer Chrome there is a lighter version called Chromium in software center.

[Admin]

FYI not all videos work with HTML5 on youtube.

[Admin]

@Lord: There is a trick for the cases when there appears to be no HTML5 option available on YouTube: use the "embedded" variant. (For example: <youtube.com/watch?v=3SacL219sic&html5=True> appears to be not watchable in HTML5, but <youtube.com/embed/3SacL219sic> plays in HTML5!) -- askubuntu.com/a/218612/19753

[imz -- Ivan Zakharyaschev]

Why is the Nightly browser better w.r.t. CPU usage?