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  1. Member
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    My PC configuration is:

    Intel Core i5 750 @ 2.67Ghz
    2x2Gb RAM
    ASUS ENGTS250 1GB

    But I have a choppy DVD playback in VLC player. What can be the reason?
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  2. Member
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    No one is really sure. Most people claim it doesn't have choppy playback but on every computer I ever owned it was choppy with any kind of video no matter what settings I tried. Like when the camera moves around you really notice it studdering every couple seconds. It seems to work fine otherwise but I'm using a powerful computer and it even does it. Just switch to potplayer, media player classic home cinema or anything for most and just use VLC when you don't care about quality too much.
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  3. Member hech54's Avatar
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    Works perfectly on my computers.
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    Lots of people seem to have this problem, though apparently not all. I suspect it's just vlc being buggy, as it is well known to be.

    I've seen info that the last version of vlc that played dvd files properly was 1.0.5, and I found that was true. Only problem there, that one's no longer secure for net streaming.

    For the record I don't have non microsoft codec packs that could conflict with vlc and I only use programs like smplayer and vlc that don't need them. I can play 1080p mkvs just fine (as long as they're properly encoded) ... it's not a hardware issue.

    I still have vlc installed, though my default video player is smplayer. It's a gui for mplayer, which is an extremely robust linux port. Everyone things vlc is the "play anything" one but smplayer is much better at that. It has a much better menu structure, and you can adjust file stream cache size easily. For some idiotic reason you can't do that at all in vlc 2.x.

    If you do try smplayer get 0.8.0.4316. The latest beta (0.8.0.4322 as of this writing) doesn't work well. Or just get the alpha 0.8.0 ... I usually don't do betas myself. I blame myself for that as much as the smplayer writers.

    I do use vlc as my music player ... I got sick of foobar's pitiful interface and documentation, and the fact that you can't even use a tree structured playlist without a 3rd party plugin and the possibile compatiblity problems with those. Vlc does have a decent interface and good playlist tools.

    PLus, best of all for me, they're finally adding wasapi driver support for audio. About time. If you want to use an external usb dac for audio in windows you need that. Windows has an annoying habit of wanting to resample your audio without it.

    Bottom line, after all that, I guess is that you should have more than one media program. SMplayer plays dvd files just fine but actually I find powerdvd9 the best dvd software I've used. It just came with both my laptops. It works better with dvd menus, which still aren't well supported by many players even after all this time. That's not much of an issue for me because I usually just rip the main movie.
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  5. Member
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    check for updated video drivers ... everything you see must pass through gpu ... poor drivers can be at fault.

    rip a dvd to hd and use vlc to play it ... if alls fine then fault is with either dma/pio mode, data cable, and or optical drive.
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  6. ZepHead, is DVD playback choppy when you use another media player or is it just VLC? Is it just DVDs or other video type too such as AVI or MKV etc?

    Originally Posted by Hoser Rob View Post
    For the record I don't have non microsoft codec packs that could conflict with vlc and I only use programs like smplayer and vlc that don't need them. I can play 1080p mkvs just fine (as long as they're properly encoded) ... it's not a hardware issue.
    I've got non Microsoft codecs installed and VLC works fine (although I don't use it very often). How would a non-Microsoft codec pack conflict with VLC which uses it's own codecs? Isn't that kind of the point of a player using internal codecs rather than system ones?
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    Originally Posted by hello_hello View Post
    ZepHead, is DVD playback choppy when you use another media player or is it just VLC? Is it just DVDs or other video type too such as AVI or MKV etc?

    Originally Posted by Hoser Rob View Post
    For the record I don't have non microsoft codec packs that could conflict with vlc and I only use programs like smplayer and vlc that don't need them. I can play 1080p mkvs just fine (as long as they're properly encoded) ... it's not a hardware issue.
    I've got non Microsoft codecs installed and VLC works fine (although I don't use it very often). How would a non-Microsoft codec pack conflict with VLC which uses it's own codecs? Isn't that kind of the point of a player using internal codecs rather than system ones?
    DVDs work fine on other players. In VLC, I think it is the fault of deinterlacing. I use Yadif (2x). Any other suggestions?
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  8. For me, solution to VLC not playing some - esp. higher res. vids (after I upgraded my GPU drivers) was its setting of "Default" under Preferences/Video/Video Output Modules. I don't know what it was set to before graphics driver update, but I chose OpenGL (other players show just "GL") & problem immediately solved.

    Other output module selections that may work (can experiment) are Direct 3D, Direct 2D & others.
    If you've messed around w/ so many other options trying to cure the problem, that some of the non default settings may now be part of the problem, you could hit the "reset default" button in prefs UI. Click Save, then close VLC. Then experiment w/ diff Video Output Modules.
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    Problem solved. Thanks for you replies. The main problem was deinterlacing. After turning it off, interlaced video is played smoothly.
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  10. Good to hear. I see deinterlacing is off by default, thus my suggestion of resetting all prefs to default. You seem to have found the problem quickly, but if various settings are wrong, it can take days to experiment, if you're not an expert (I'm not).

    I swear sometimes settings get changed that I never touched, but it could be my memory going!

    You may also want to look at Media Player Classic - Home Cinema (MPC-HC) & SMPlayer - both open source & popular.
    MPC-HC is simpler & not as many options but seems to play most vids just fine.
    SMPlayer has more options & configurable toolbars, but doesn't seem as complex to me as VLC.

    IF you're doing heavy duty stuff, maybe VLC is better choice. I can't say for sure - haven't used MCP-HC of SMP that long, but they both seem to play all vids. Users MAY still have to change their video output module (or not), depending on their GPU & drivers - whether integrated graphics or discreet card. A built in or available user manual or Help File is something all are lacking.
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  11. I've been using VLC Player for some time now, and have similar problems with DVDs. It's not so much 'choppy' I'd say, as 'hesitant'. Picture a car driving at a standard speed from the right of the screen to the left. The picture behaves as if the driver is gently depressing the brake as he drives without taking his foot off the gas. It's especially noticeable when the camera zooms out from a location, and the zoom isn't smooth. The reason that I have kept VLC player is that I like the features, and above all - the sound. I can get good volume with VLC, while WMP is too quiet, even at max.

    Changing the settings using the suggestions here hasn't made a difference for me. I also have a high-end computer and a high-end video card.
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  12. 1) VLC had some issues w/ DVDs in past - not sure what all. Some of those may /may not be fixed. Could search their fourm or post there.

    2) I don't play DVDs w/ VLC, but settings must be correct for DVD to play well. You'd think default settings would work & mostly they do, but I've had to change a few default settings for to play vids off HDD, time to time.
    I have fast quad processor & plenty free RAM. Sometimes get hesitation playing files. Mostly on higher res, but not always. On some, could just be slight file / frames corruption. If it does it on most all vids (is it all, or just some?), then either wrong setting(s), possible VLC corrupted file (could COMPLETELY uninstall / reinstall), or VLC has bug / known issue w/ that type file or media. MAYBE someone on VLC forum could pinpoint.

    For Vista, W7, VLC says suggested video output type is DirectX 3D, but I've also used OpenGL. What works can depend on your graphics drivers & capability.

    3) You could try playing in WMP to see if have same issue. Also, depending on your graphics card (or integrated graphics) - need a pretty good GPU that is capable of playing the format & resolution/ data rates of newer, hi res vids. Plus have drivers that ALSO handle these types of files, resolutions, etc. Meaning, may have to update drivers. Release notes say what changes are.

    4) MPlayer2 (win version here mplayer2_lachsOr's Index of downloads )
    may do better on some vids. It also supports newer Open GL3 video output that I think makes a difference on some HIGHER res vid. Either way, I like it, but I use the SMplayer GUI w/ it (not SMPLayer2 GUI), though either will work. All you do is copy / extract the mplayer or mplayer2 files into the correct folder in the SMPlayer GUI / front end. They have installer or portable /zip versions. I use the portable, even though just extract them to my HDD. I'd suggest using latest beta / Unstable versions. They're really not unstable & if you use portables, not much risk.

    If want to try mplayer2 (w/ GL3 video output), if d/l the smplayer pkg from sourceforge (that includes mplayer), just del mplayer files from its folder inside SMPlayer, then copy / extract MPlayer2 (windows vers. from lachsOr's) to same folder where MPlayer was. Inside SMPlayer prefs, (if necessary) browse & point it to the proper path / file name of MPlayer2.exe. so it knows it's looking for mplayer2, not mplayer. The log outputs on mplayer2 are also more helpful than most (to me) for giving actual problems/ errors it encountered during play, so you can see what's causing poor play, etc. It's really no more difficult than copying / pasting files in Explorer.
    MPlayer Forum Index page
    http://sourceforge.net/projects/smplayer/files/Unstable/

    Should add, MPlayer (SMplayer / SMPlayer2 GUI) have more options to change settings to make use of multi core CPUs & also to set the performance level (resources)the player will use. On newer, 1920x1080, high KB/s vids, it can make a diff. Point is, you get to decide. Though VLC will handle many of these vids just fine; but w/ a good (not WAY expensive) GPU & an HD monitor, I often get better quality out of MPlayer2/ SMPlayer, using GL3 - playing same vid in each to compare. There are some settings tweaks I do in SMPlayer (that controls mplayer), but not a lot. But, if you're advanced, you can tweak all U want.
    Last edited by natalia25; 16th Sep 2012 at 14:37.
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  13. Originally Posted by Diolacles View Post
    I've been using VLC Player for some time now, and have similar problems with DVDs. It's not so much 'choppy' I'd say, as 'hesitant'. Picture a car driving at a standard speed from the right of the screen to the left. The picture behaves as if the driver is gently depressing the brake as he drives without taking his foot off the gas. It's especially noticeable when the camera zooms out from a location, and the zoom isn't smooth. The reason that I have kept VLC player is that I like the features, and above all - the sound. I can get good volume with VLC, while WMP is too quiet, even at max.
    It could be a frame rate/refresh rate thing. What are you using to view the video? What's the monitor's fresh rate? What type of DVDs do you generally watch (PAL or NTSC)? Does it only happen when playing DVDs? Does it happen using another player, or just VLC?

    That kind of stutter can happen if the frame rate and refresh rate of the monitor don't match. It can also be caused by the telecine used on some NTSC DVDs.
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  14. Originally Posted by natalia25 View Post
    Should add, MPlayer (SMplayer / SMPlayer2 GUI) have more options to change settings to make use of multi core CPUs & also to set the performance level (resources)the player will use. On newer, 1920x1080, high KB/s vids, it can make a diff. Point is, you get to decide. Though VLC will handle many of these vids just fine; but w/ a good (not WAY expensive) GPU & an HD monitor, I often get better quality out of MPlayer2/ SMPlayer, using GL3 - playing same vid in each to compare. There are some settings tweaks I do in SMPlayer (that controls mplayer), but not a lot. But, if you're advanced, you can tweak all U want.
    Sounds like mplayer doesn't have DXVA playback abilities, which uses the video card to do the decoding rather than the CPU. I don't know if that's the case, but as long as you've got a video card which supports it, you should be able to get it to decode HD video while the CPU does very little.
    VLC only supports DVXA 2.0, which I'm pretty sure requires at least Vista. With the right player you can use DXVA with XP though. MPC-HC supports DXVA using XP.

    The types of video a card will decode probably varies. Mine only seems to support h264 (AVC), but it's a few years old now. That's generally the type of HD video you'd be playing anyway, and the type which would tax a CPU the most.
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  15. I have some issues with VLC being choppy with certain versions and not others. If all else fails, try one of the previous versions or a newer version than the one you have. It seems like it has been that way for a couple of years too, I think I am just going to stick with the version I have unless they add some new functionality that I can't live without.
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  16. Member lacywest's Avatar
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    VSO ... the maker of ... ConvertXtoDVD ... has a media player and if you use it to play a DVD ripped to your hard drive it will start from the first VOB and move on to the next one. Link >>> http://www.vso-software.fr/products/vmp/vso-media-player.php

    Most of the time I use ... MPCStar ... but mostly I really use ... most of the time is ... Media Player Classic - Home Cinema x64 ... mainly because it starts faster ... MpcStar ... seems to dilly dally before it starts playing a video. My main reason for using these media players is because I can use the arrow keys to jump forward or backwards ... 5 seconds ... VLC wont do that.
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