VLC Media Player - "Lost Frames"

[Ancalagon]

I have a 2,20 GB MKV (Matroska) file full of HD-video content with the following media information:

Stream 0
Type: Video
Codec: avc1
Language: English
Resolution: 1280x720
Display resolution: 1280x720
Frame rate: 59.941257

Stream1
Type: Audio
Codec: a52
Language: und
Channels: Stereo
Sample rate: 48000 Hz
Bitrate: 384 kb/s

These specs were measured with VLC media player 1.0.5 Goldeneye!

Now, I should know how I can find out whether my laptop is capable of playing the HD-video "perfectly" or not and by "perfectly" I mean as smoothly as possible (i.e. as smoothly as the video specifications allow) without any frame loss and without any "jerkiness."

According to the VLC player I use, "lost frames" is zero (but if I have lots of applications running at the same time and if I play another almost similar HD-quality video simultaneously, the video isn't displayed smoothly and there appears to be many lost frames).

Do these "lost frames" simply mean the frames which could not be displayed? If screen refresh rate is as high as or higher than the frame rate of the video being played, can "lost frames" of VLC media player be used as the only indicator of whether the computer can play the video perfectly (without jerkiness)?

At least I can't notice any jerkiness with my own eyes when there are no "lost frames" according to VLC media player but I'm not sure if "human eyes" can be trusted in this case...

For "lost frames," start VLC and go to "Tools" ----> "Codec Information" ----> "Statistics," and once there, take a look at "Video" under which you'll see "Lost frames."

If "lost frames" don't reveal the truth, how can I find out if my laptop can play the HD-video as smoothly as possible?

Naturally, I should tell you what sort of laptop I'm playing the HD-video with:

Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) II Dual-Core M320 2.10 GHz
Installed memory (RAM): 4,00 GB (DDR2 if my memory serves me right)
System type: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Operating System (will install Ubuntu later on)
Graphics Chipset: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4530 Series
Memory Size: 512 MB (DDR3)

I don't know if you can infer anything from the information above but at least my graphics card drivers are up to date and if I'm not mistaken, my graphics card should support UVD 2 (Unified Video Decoder 2).

By the way, do you reckon that this laptop could play MKV files at 1080p60-i/24-p (1920×1080, i.e. full HD at 60 frames per second interlaced or 24 frames per second progressive) smoothly without any frame loss or jerkiness?

[Baldrick]

Try play with MPCHC, I think it should be able to use the ati radeon for h264 playback.

[Ancalagon]

@Baldrick

Thanks, although you seem to have wandered off the point a little! I'm not searching for any player capable of playing the file "perfectly" or capable of using the ATI Radeon for H.264/MPEG-4 AVC playback. The chief issue/main point here is to know how I can find out if my laptop can play the video in question without any frame loss (or jerkiness). The problem is that I'm not sure what VLC player means by "lost frames" which is not an unambiguos concept if you're meticulous. Secondly, it's difficult to notice if my computer displays 59.941257 fps (the frame rate of the video) or only, say, 50 fps. I need some method to find out if my laptop really plays the video so that all the frames are displayed properly.

As I wrote above, while using VLC media player, I don't know if the "lost frames" simply mean the frames which could not be displayed and I'm not sure if these "lost frames" are the only indicator of whether or not the computer can play the video perfectly (without jerkiness).

(If I had wanted some application with which I could play the video without any jerkiness, I'd have asked "Do you happen to know any good windows-compatible media players for HD content?" oslt. But thanks, Media Player Classic Home Cinema, which you recommended to me, could be the best choice for 1080p videos which I've been planning on playing for a while now.)

[jagabo]

"Lost frames" means the computer couldn't decompress and display the video fast enough. So to keep the audio and video in sync it skipped decoding and displaying some of the frames.

Look for a long, medium speed panning shot. If you are seeing all 60 fps it will be nice and smooth. Otherwise it will be jerky or flickery. Download the video in this post to get an idea of what you might see:

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/307004-Best-framerate-conversion-%28eg-23-97-to-30-...=1#post1888926

Compare the 60 fps section to the 30 and 24 fps sections.

I think the Radeon 4530 has hardware h.264 decoding but you have to use a player that supports it (DXVA). Like MPCHC. VLC does not support DXVA. DXVA does not support 1080p60. It also doesn't support every feature of h.264 (like 8 re-frames, more than 5 b-frames, etc.) so even some lower resolution and frame rate files won't play. You could switch to software decoding for those though. Your dual core CPU is probably good for up to 1080i.