Video stutter problem

[teg]

Hi all,

Does anyone has this same problem as me?
I notice whenever I play back any DVD on my PC, there is a slight stutter of the video. It is more noticeable when I look carefully at the moving oject in the video. And it is even more obvious when I am using other programs on the background in my PC...

My PC is quite new (6 months old) and powerful:
AMD Athlon 64 3000+
1 GB merory
128Mb graphic card 6600GT
Window XP SP1

I tried a few different softwares to play the DVD but the results are the same...

My CPU load before launching any software DVD player was around 5 to 10%, and should be around 20 to 40% depends on how many background programs it is processing...

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks.
Teg

[Baldrick]

Match the monitor HZ to the video framerate for smoothest playback,
for ntsc film use 48hz,72hz,96hz
for pal use 50hz,75hz,100hz
for ntsc use 60hz,120hz

if that wont help it could be a codec problem. Try play with VLC.

[teg]

Hi Baldrick,

I am using a 20" Apple cinema display on PC, output resolution is set at it's native 1680x1050, refresh rate set to 60 (I only can choose 59 or 60, no other option available)...

I just tried the VLC, same problem...

[redwudz]

Does it do it with a regular MPEG or AVI or only DVDs on disc? If only DVDs, maybe a player problem? Or if any MPEG but not AVIs then a codec problem? If any video filetype, then I don't have any ideas.

[teg]

All DVDs on disc have this problem only when play on my PC, no problem when play on TV with my stand alone DVD player.

[redwudz]

Check your DVD drive. It may be set in PIO mode.

Control Panel>System>Hardware>Device Manager>IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers, then to 'Properties' of the channel that the DVD drive is on. Then 'Advanced Settings'.

All your drives should show 'DMA if Available'. If the DVD drive shows 'PIO', that may be your problem.

If you've already checked this, sorry.

[teg]

Checked and they are right!
Btw, This same problem happens if I play Video_TS folder of a DVD stored in my HD...

[Bjs]

The obvious thing here is the video resolution you are viewing the dvd in , at 1680x1050 , you will notice such artifacts , as the poor old graphics card has to be quite fast at drawing this to screen .

I would , if its possible for the monitor type you have , set its max resolution to no greater than 1280x1024 , and see how that performs .

Also note , dvds will always look far better in playback on tvs , on pcs , its a mixed bag and depends on video card type , pc speed , screen res , and software player being used .

[nbarzgar]

Got a similar problem here, quite strange, IMO:

Have an mpeg1-file, plays really well without stutter on MPC, PowerDVD and WMP ( ), but bsplayer and VLC get a noticable (although slight) stutter. What could be the problem? Filters and codecs are installed properly, ASPI as well (Nero Info Tool)...

Of course I could just fall back on MPC, since I don't like using WMP (who does), but I'd like to know the reason for this strange behaviour.

[teg]

Hi, I just confirm that it is a decoder issue!

After installing the PureVideo decorder from Nvidia and the video play back has no more stutter problem.

So, now the remaining issues are:
1. This PureVideo decorder only works in the windows Media Player. And when in "full screen" mode, stutter badly. However, no problem when viewing HD content in full screen!?!?
2. How do get this decoder to work in either PowerDVD or WinDVD?
3. How to update decoder in these software players?

[racasiple]

I tried a zillion other suggestions to no avail in trying to fix my audio/video stuttering problems. I did the following suggestion that you offered and it fixed it perfectly! Thanks soooooo much!

Check your DVD drive. It may be set in PIO mode.

Control Panel>System>Hardware>Device Manager>IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers, then to 'Properties' of the channel that the DVD drive is on. Then 'Advanced Settings'.

All your drives should show 'DMA if Available'. If the DVD drive shows 'PIO', that may be your problem.

[redwudz]

Glad an old thread was of some use. It's fairly common that optical drives can be reverted to PIO mode in the controller software. It happens when there are about six read failures in a row. This is usually caused by a damaged disc. The OS reverts to PIO to enable the drive to continue to operate, but at a very low data rate. You will also see a lot of CPU % being used. If you have a lot of difficulty reading a disc, then the drive slows on all other discs, it's a likely cause.

The real problem is that the OS won't automatically reset the controller when the read problem is corrected. And worse, it doesn't notify you that it's in PIO mode. But if you are experiencing a slow optical drive, one of the first things to check.

And welcome to our forums.

[peterbj7]

I've just discovered this forum and this old thread. I'm searching for a problem of constant video stuttering, whether playing DVDs or playing video of any format from hard disk. I'm using Win7 on a Toshiba laptop L305-S5920 a couple of years old. I looked at the remedies suggested above and none applies. My software of choice for playing music is VLC (latest version) but I believe stuttering isn't restricted to that software. When playing video ISO files from HD, which is what I usually do, VLC is the only software I've found that offers that capability anyway.

I've just realised that the problem is VLC. It also stutters when playing audio. Anyone any ideas?

[nbarzgar]

@peterbj7
It seems to me you chose the wrong thread...
There are a number of threads on this forum dedicated to Win7-playback problems. Try to unearth those... I solved my problems on Win7 with them.

Good luck!

[peterbj7]

Trouble is I don't know whether it's a Windows problem, a VLC problem, or related to hardware. This computer originally ran Vista, which was so unredeemingly awful I can't remember whether there were video/sound playback problems as well.

I am though forming a view that it's related to VLC, though possibly not the software itself but rather the way the hardware/OS interfaces with it.

[peterbj7]

After searching I've not been able to find any useful information on this problem. Assuming (as I've been told) that it's a Win7 problem and not a VLC one, can someone explain just what is happening and point me to a usable solution? I was about to buy a new computer, but I'm reluctant to buy anything using Windows if I'm going to be stuck with this problem - I'll go to Mac instead.