MP4 audio out of synch in XP but not in Win7

[bizzybody]

From GSpot 2.70a (Is there something newer to replace this program?)

isom: MP4 Base Media v1 [IS0 14496-12:2003]
- iso2: MP4 Base Media v2 [ISO 14496-12:2005]
- avc1: MP4 Base w/ AVC ext [ISO 14496-12:2005]
- mp41: MP4 v1 [ISO 14496-1:ch13]
Recommended Display Size: 1920 x 1080
mp4a: MPEG-4 AAC LC
44100Hz 197 kb/s tot , stereo (2/0)
Frame rate is 23.976

The videos play fine in Windows Media Player and VLC in Windows 7 but in Windows Media Player, VLC, Media Player Classic and Power DVD in Windows XP the audio lags behind the video, getting progressively farther out of synch.

How can I fix this so they'll play correctly no matter what operating system and player software is used? I don't want to have to re-encode these large files.

[hech54]

Get rid of any codec packs you have installed on XP first.......
Use MediaInfo for better.....well.....info.

[bizzybody]

I have CCCP installed on Win7 and XP. Need to check if it's the latest CCCP on XP, that box is at a friend's place, connected to an old rear projection TV that only does 480p or 1080i and we can't get the PC to output 1080i. So he puts up with fat and blurry pixels.

General
Complete name                            : C:\path to the file\video.mp4
Format                                   : MPEG-4
Format profile                           : Base Media
Codec ID                                 : isom
File size                                : 819 MiB
Duration                                 : 27mn 5s
Overall bit rate mode                    : Variable
Overall bit rate                         : 4 229 Kbps
Writing application                      : Lavf54.63.104

Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : High@L4
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames                : 4 frames
Codec ID                                 : avc1
Codec ID/Info                            : Advanced Video Coding
Duration                                 : 27mn 5s
Bit rate                                 : 4 096 Kbps
Width                                    : 1 920 pixels
Height                                   : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 23.976 fps
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.082
Stream size                              : 780 MiB (95%)
Writing library                          : x264 core 132
Encoding settings                        : cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=hex / subme=7 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=3 / lookahead_threads=1 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=cbr / mbtree=1 / bitrate=4096 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / vbv_maxrate=4096 / vbv_bufsize=4096 / nal_hrd=none / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00

Audio
ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : AAC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile                           : LC
Codec ID                                 : 40
Duration                                 : 27mn 5s
Duration_LastFrame                       : -5ms
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Bit rate                                 : 197 Kbps
Maximum bit rate                         : 4 096 Kbps
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel positions                        : Front: L R
Sampling rate                            : 44.1 KHz
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 38.1 MiB (5%)
Language                                 : English

[hech54]

Get rid of the codec packs.
CCCP
NOTE! If you install all the included codecs/decoders you might get problem with other video software on your computer.

KLite
NOTE! If you install all the included codecs/decoders you might get problem with other video software on your computer.

MPCStar
NOTE! If you install all the included codecs/decoders you might get problem with other video software on your computer.

XCodec Pack
NOTE! If you install all the included codecs/decoders you might get problem with other video software on your computer.

[bizzybody]

With CCCP removed, what needs to be installed to play an MP4 with AAC audio and AVC video? XP has no native support for that, and it'll also need to be able to play Xvid/Divx, anything that can be in an MKV or AVI, all varieties of MPEG etc - in other words anything and everything there is with video and audio.

I've been searching some more and progressive AAC audio lag is a very common problem across many operating systems and hardware platforms. I see many asking how to fix it on Android, iOS, and OS X. The second model of media player device Western Digital made had it bad, after the first version was perfect, and it looks like WD never debugged the firmware to fix it.

Looks as if there's something that software has to do *just right* to keep the audio in sync, yet for years time and time again people keep doing it wrong with the software/firmware.

[hech54]

I can play or edit anything I want with this configuration:

[fritzi93]

+1 for ffdshow.

If all you need to do is play media files, you could use MPCHC or MPCBE (with internal decoders/splitter enabled) and probably be done.

Otherwise, you need a media splitter as well; it's almost certain your codec pack included one. If you see a folder in programs named Elecard or Haali after uninstalling your codec pack, delete it manually. (A corrupt splitter install can cause your sync problem, and the presence of the corrupt folder can also bugger a good re-install).

Then do a clean install of Haali Media Splitter.

[hello_hello]

For testing, I'd try the portable version of MPC-HC. It's self contained and shouldn't use any external codecs so you can test without uninstalling anything.

I'd also try opening a problem MP4 with MKVMergeGUI and remuxing as an MKV, then testing the audio sync for the MKV. I've found MP4 a bit problematic in the past, although admittedly that's been related to the splitter used by the player not respecting any audio delay specified in the MP4 file and shouldn't be a problem these days. Still changing formats for testing can't hurt.

If you're still having a sync problem, and it's still a problem with multiple players, maybe it's a hardware issue. It shouldn't be an XP problem as such.
If the PC's old and the CPU is running at around 100% to decode 1080p (assuming the video card isn't decoding) that might cause sync problems.