Absolutely unable to get smooth reproduction in Win10 - pls help!

[eremic]

Hi,

I just ran out of ideas and I need your help! I spent 2 days trying to make my new HTPC play movies smoothly but without success.

My HW setup is HTPC with i5 7500 with Intel 630 Graphics, MSI Z270i motherboard with HDMI (4k@30Hz) and DP (4k@60Hz) connectors connected to a Samsung TV able to decode DTS and Dolby Digital formats.

From all players I've tested so far (MPC all editions, VLC,...) Windows 10 default player "TV & Movies" gives me the best image quality and it plays large 30-50gig MKV videos smoothly with CPU usage less than 5%. But unfortunately I CANNOT make DTS sound work when playing any type of video files from Windows media player.
What I've tried so far:
a) to install software filters (AC3 filter, LAV, ...) but the "TV & Movies" app is not able to use any 3rd-party filters and at the same time it doesn't seem to be able to decode DTS using its internal filters
b) in Windows sound playback setting I cannot enable "passthrough" for DTS because it just displays that the Samsung TV supports DTS and I can't deselect it.
c) Connecting the TV to HDMI port, Connecting the TV to DP using passive cable, Connecting the TV to DP using active adapter - NO DIFFERENCE in terms of sound transport

Eventually I gave up from the Windows media player and moved to MPC-HC but...

Out-of-the box MPC is quite unusable when it comes to MVK files with higher bitrate and/or resolution, the reproduction is just too choppy. After disabling all internal video and audio filters in MPC-HC and installing LAV 0.69 I got a decent reproduction quality for almost all video files I have (mkv, mpeg, mp4 in HD or UHD, with AAC or DTS etc). The only remaining issue I'm facing is that video reproduction in MPC-HC is a bit jerky. To be clear, the video is totally watchable but when I compare it to Windows default player it just doesn't look that smooth and that is especially noticeable in panning scenes (sound is NOT affected, only video). Setting wise: DXVA native is enabled (in LAV) with EVR rendered set to bilinear resizing in MPC. When playing CPU usage is <5% and SSD M.2 drive is not occupied with anything else. LAV splitter and audio filter are also set in MPC with DTS passthrough enabled.

Any idea how to fix this and make video playback smooth(er) in MPC-HC? Also I'm OK with using Windows default player if there is any fu*ing way to make DTS sound work.

[teodz1984]

try potplayer

[eremic]

Potplayer? OK, here we go baby, one more night of my life playing with settings

Should I deinstall LAV? Would you recommend any specific steps to setup Potplayer for playing 30+ gig MKV BR disc copies with DTS/TrueHD sound?

[eremic]

Just tried the pot player and it's almost the same as with MPC-HC, it's not smooth, it's jerky with a higher frequency but smaller "jumps".

Couldn't find LAV in Pot, so I just checked DXVA coz otherwise CPU is 100% constantly and video is choppy.