When viewing an .avi file, the video stops every 5 or 10 seconds

[HartsVideo]

I have Windows XP Pro x64. I have a Dell UltraSharp 2408WFP monitor that I bought in Jan 09. I use VLC Media Player v 1.0.1-win32 when I watch .avi files (movies and tv shows) on my computer. I watch about 5 hours of .avi files a day. A few months ago, when I began to watch high def movies, the video would constantly stop, every 5 or 10 seconds. Sometimes the audio continues and the video catches up about 5 seconds later. I then noticed that it's doing the same thing when I watch non-high def .avi files. It also does the same thing when I watch the .avi files using MediaPlayer Home Cinema.

I have ASUS VGA Card ATI Display Driver v 8.60 for Windows XP 64-Bit and ATI Catalyst 9.5 Software Suite WinXP 64-bit (9-5_xp64_dd_ccc_enu) installed.

A few months ago, I also updated some drivers . . . realtek hdaudio R-229 xp, intel_inf_9111014pv, and intel_INF_allOS_9.1.1.1015_PV.

My monitor settings have always been: 1920x1200 pixels (the recommended setting and the only setting that shows the correct aspect ratio), 60 Hz screen refresh rate, Full hardware excelleration, 120 DPI. This problem has only been occurring for the past couple of months. The settings and codecs have always been the same and I didn't have this problem for the first 6 or 7 months that I had the monitor.

I don't know if my monitor is going bad or if the drivers are causing the problem. If anyone could tell me what they think, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

Denise

[redwudz]

Check your Task Manager when the problem happens and see how much CPU/RAM is being used. I have seen that problem with HDTVs when they lose the signal and the picture freezes till the signal returns. But not with computer monitors. If it's not related to CPU/RAM use, then maybe the video card drivers. You could uninstall then reinstall them.

Other possibilities are something running in the background, stealing CPU cycles. That should show up in Task Manager. Another thing you might try is turning off your video card hardware acceleration. Playback should get a lot worse, especially with HD. If it doesn't maybe it is a video card problem.

Also watch your HDD monitor LED. The HDD shouldn't have to run constantly to playback a file from the HDD. It should just flicker. If it's on constantly, maybe there is a IO problem with the drive you are using and it has to re-read the file several times before it passes the data on.

But it doesn't sound like a monitor problem.

[HartsVideo]

Another thing you might try is turning off your video card hardware acceleration.

I turned it off and the video was slightly choppy but it didn't stop. There were 6 or 7 settings that I could chose. I had it at full excelleration. When I turned it down one notch, the video no longer skips and my mouse pointer no longer drifts. My keyboard is slow though. I think this resolved the problem. Task Manager showed only 5% CPU useage when I had a number of things going at the same time, i.e., MS Word, VLC Media Player playing a high def movie, two pages open on the internet, MGI Photo Suite open, and I was downloading some large files from the internet.

Many thanks for your suggestion!

[redwudz]

You don't really want to turn down acceleration, but it's one way to test. I would uninstall and reinstall your video drivers. Sometimes with ATI, with some cards, even an older driver may work better. It sounds like your video card isn't performing properly.

[HartsVideo]

I uninstalled the ATI video driver, did a cold boot and reinstalled it. It's set at Full hardware excelleration. When I watched a high def .avi movie, it didn't stop as it did before. Reinstalling the original driver did the trick. Thanks so much.

[HartsVideo]

The problem slowly but surely returned. At first, it stopped only once in a while but it's stopping a lot again. Could it be that something is affecting the driver?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

[jagabo]

Try a different player -- MPCHC or KMPlayer.