Video playback issue [Archive] - XBMC Community Forum

krisco750

2008-09-27, 22:59

So I just built a machine with the following specs:

Motherboard: Intel G45ID
CPU: Intel C2D E8500 Wolfsdale (3.16ghz)
RAM: 4GB G. SKILL DDR2 800
HDD: Samsung 250gb SATA 3.0gb/s
OS: Windows XP Pro (SP3)

Due to the fact that it's using the G45 chipset, I have decided to go with Windows until the Linux drivers become more stable.

I have installed all the latest drivers and installed all updates in Windows. XBMC is running fine.

However, when I go to play videos, I am having serious issues. The video goes slow and then speeds up and then slows again, etc. The audio plays at normal speed over this.

My normal setup is going to be streaming the videos from a file server, but for testing purposes I also tried playing them locally from the XBMC machine and had the same issue. I've tried a video that was encoded with DivX and also a straight DVD rip (ISO).

The AVI (DivX) file plays without any problems in Windows Media Player, but has the stutter issues in XBMC.

Is there any suggesitons anyone might offer? I've already turned off VSYNC and I've checked the task manager while playing in windowed mode and the CPU usage maxes out at about 12% (not high def). I'm confused as to what else to try. I've seen mention that log files are helpful, but I don't know where to find them tbh.

Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated as right now my HTPC is completely useless :(! Thanks in advance!

krisco750

2008-09-27, 23:00

Forgot to mention... I'm running the XBMC Atlantis (Beta 1) build for Windows.

krisco750

2008-09-30, 00:44

Shameless bump.

Anyone have any ideas? This is rather frustrating :(

igsolt

2008-09-30, 16:54

I had something similar when I first installed XBMC
Check if video display setting in XBMC matches your Windows display resolution.
After I fixed that all videos started playing flawlessly (including 720P and 1080p with just 20% CPU usage)

dapex

2008-09-30, 19:34

I have had a problem with XBMC being stuck towards the bottom left corber for months, no one on here could help.... Just checked the resoluiton and it was set to AUTO, set it to 1024x768 and its pefect now...

Thanks

krisco750

2008-09-30, 21:58

Thanks for the suggestion! I'll give it a whirl when I get home. I believe I had it set to Auto, not the windows resolution.

I had something similar when I first installed XBMC
Check if video display setting in XBMC matches your Windows display resolution.
After I fixed that all videos started playing flawlessly (including 720P and 1080p with just 20% CPU usage)

krisco750

2008-10-01, 07:53

I've made sure that my resolution matches my desktop (1920x1080) and the issue persists.

This is rather frustrating, as I am able to play the same files in full screen without any problems using Windows Media Player.

Any other suggestions? :(

UPDATE: I just installed MediaPortal to test, and this also has no problems playing back the same clips - it has to be an XBMC setting or bug.

althekiller

2008-10-01, 21:58

Try disabling video upscaling. Also, make sure you video driver is from Intel, not MS.

krisco750

2008-10-01, 22:54

Try disabling video upscaling. Also, make sure you video driver is from Intel, not MS.

Thanks for the tip. I am definitely using the Intel driver. Where do I find the upscaling option? I've been poking around different settings menus and don't remember seeing an option to disable/enable that.

krisco750

2008-10-02, 03:15

Try disabling video upscaling. Also, make sure you video driver is from Intel, not MS.

Ok... got home and checked the settings. This was already disabled. I tried also running with it enabled and the same results. It's back to disabled now.

Another thing I found out when toying around today was that when I minimize the video playback and go back to the menus with the video still playing in the little box in the lower left corner, there is no jitter at all. It appears to only happen when the video is playing in the main focus (windowed mode or fullscreen).

zAo_OSX

2008-10-02, 12:42

I have the same setup and had some problems with the older Intel VGA drivers and Alpha 3 of XBMC.

Be sure that:
- XBMC is set to the native resolution of your desktop (so not "Auto")
- You have the latest chipset, VGA and sound driver (updated regularly)
- You run at least Beta 1 of XBMC

Now mine works fine.

krisco750

2008-10-03, 01:26

krisco750

2008-10-03, 05:58

Well, I just updated all my drivers to the most current versions available on Intel's support web site and the problem is still occuring.

Can I ask what your setup is exactly as well as your configurations, Zao?

Also... it should be noted that it's not just the video playing back that slows down but the OSD as well (including the mouse pointer)

zAo_OSX

2008-10-03, 12:36

My exact config:
-Intel DG45ID
-E7200 CPU
-2x 1GB 800mhz OCZ memory
-1TB Samsung disk
-MCE 2005 remote
-Sony 32D3000 connected with HDMI @ 1360x768

-Win XP SP3
-Latest Drivers
-Beta 1 of XBMC @ 1360x768

Did you try to turn off the mouse pointer and just use your keyboard?

krisco750

2008-10-03, 18:49

Hmmm... I have the resolution set to 1920x1080. No I didn't try turning off the mouse pointer, I guess I can give that a go as well.

My exact config:
-Intel DG45ID
-E7200 CPU
-2x 1GB 800mhz OCZ memory
-1TB Samsung disk
-MCE 2005 remote
-Sony 32D3000 connected with HDMI @ 1360x768

-Win XP SP3
-Latest Drivers
-Beta 1 of XBMC @ 1360x768

Did you try to turn off the mouse pointer and just use your keyboard?

krisco750

2008-10-04, 18:30

Disabling the mouse didn't do the trick, nor did using a lower screen resolution. Grrrrrrrr.

brownstein

2008-10-05, 21:58

I am having the same issue, all drivers are up to date.

Hitachi 42HDF39
XBMC atlantis beta 1
XP pro
athlon 64 3700+
k8v se deluxe
sb live! 5.1
512 mb
geforce 5500
vga out
res 720p on xbmc and video, desktop is set at 1280x720 and tried 1280x768
am using remotexbmc 3.1

stijn406

2008-10-06, 14:34

I am not able to help you with this issue, since I am having this exact same problem. Playing files with for instance mplayer2 works absolutely fine, but when playing them in xbmc, it goes slow, too fast, slow again, ... during al this, audio plays just fine.

I am posting this because we might find a pattern in system specs or something.

My specs :

Intel DG45FC motherboard with onboard Intel Video and Intel Audio
Video : Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X4500HD onboard graphics subsystem with integrated HDMI + DVI-I display ports
Audio : IDT 92HD73E audio codec
CPU : Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHz 6MB L2
RAM : 2GB OCZ memory
OS : Windows XP pro

I have all latest drivers and firmwares running. I'm running XBMC Beta1, for the moment on a LCD computer screen with native resolution 1280x1024.

stijn406

2008-10-06, 17:16

I just experienced the weirdest thing and you probably won't believe me, but I can reproduce it perfectly and each time with the exact same result:

If I try to play a movie (whatever type, be it 1080p, 720p or SD content) WITH a USB stick attached to my computer (which is empty, just containing an empty FAT32 filesystem), it works like a charm! From the moment I unplug the USB stick, it starts stuttering again!

:edit: I tested this with different types of USB stick and with each type it works :/edit:
:edit2: I noticed a very quiet, but annoying beeping sound from my computer when not having the USB stick attached. When attaching a USB stick, the beep stops (and xbmc works). Must be something power related :/edit2:

I presume it has something to do with power settings or powersaving and will look further in that direction.

Please comment if you have similar or additional findings.

Regards,
-Stijn-

krisco750

2008-10-06, 23:07

Wow... that's quite bizarre - hah. I'll give it a whirl tonight when I get home and see if I have the same results.

Thanks for the replies btw.

I just experienced the weirdest thing and you probably won't believe me, but I can reproduce it perfectly and each time with the exact same result:

If I try to play a movie (whatever type, be it 1080p, 720p or SD content) WITH a USB stick attached to my computer (which is empty, just containing an empty FAT32 filesystem), it works like a charm! From the moment I unplug the USB stick, it starts stuttering again!

:edit: I tested this with different types of USB stick and with each type it works :/edit:
:edit2: I noticed a very quiet, but annoying beeping sound from my computer when not having the USB stick attached. When attaching a USB stick, the beep stops (and xbmc works). Must be something power related :/edit2:

I presume it has something to do with power settings or powersaving and will look further in that direction.

Please comment if you have similar or additional findings.

Regards,
-Stijn-

andyg8180

2008-10-08, 17:01

I have your answer:

I was having the SAME exact issue as you... Mostly because im playing the Raw VOB files... and sometimes my AVI's would do the same thing...

What you need to do is head over to your settings and increase the Hard Disk Video Cache to like a meg or higher... It's defaulted to 256K, but the moment i Increased it, the picture came out smoother and less choppy...

good luck! and let me know if that orked for you

stijn406

2008-10-08, 18:08

brownstein

2008-10-08, 19:17

The USB stick trick did not work for me but it definitely only happens when I have digital out enabled (I am using an old SB Live! 5.1 I had with SPDIF out). I also had to configure AC3Filter properly in order to get 5.1 to passthrough.

When I set the audio to analog out there is no problem and all the videos I had issues with are fine, as soon as I set it to digital it starts the video speed up/slow down problem. I have read that there are some known audio issues with the windows build and from what I understand there is only one dev available on the windows side so I hope a workaround becomes available soon.

TabulaRasa

2008-10-14, 10:11

This worked for me. Two out of the three thumb-drives I tried worked. Would love to know why this works.

-Intel DG45ID motherboard
-core2duo E7200
-2GB PC6400 G.Skill ram
-eVGA 7600GT (component out)
-using onboard optical out for audio

I had tried that also, but for me it did not solve the problem.

I'm curious if anybody else would have the same problem and solution as me (I'm sticking to my USB-stick solution, since this works perfectly for me)

XIYL

2008-10-15, 05:21

I have been having the same problem on my rig. What I do to solve it is to minimize the video and go back to the menu, press stop (for you keyboard users its X) and then restart the video. After that it works fine but I have to do it every time.

BTW the rig I'm using is:
Vista 64
1Gb RAM
AMD Athlon 64 1.95GHz
NVIDIA 6200 128Mb PCI Express

Plus I am using 2 monitors, the one I'm running XBMC on is 1600x1200

Here is my most recent log which also has a fatal error at the end because it crashed while I was watching something.
http://xaxas.servebeer.com/xbmclog.txt

desertoak

2008-10-26, 15:38

I have tried:
* Set resolution to 1366 x 768 (Full screen ) instead of auto.
Resolution matches my desktop.
* Disabled video upscaling.
* Installed latest driver and updates
* Disabled mouse pointer
* Increased the Hard Disk Video Cache to like a meg or higher
* minimize the video and go back to the menu, press stop (for you keyboard users its X) and then restart the video.

-with no success.

But with usb-stick attached to computer it works!

Motherboard: Intel G45ID
CPU: Intel C2D E8400
RAM: 4GB.
HDD: Samsung 750gb SATA 3.0gb/s
OS: Windows XP Pro (SP3)
XBMC: Atlantis Beta 2

base698

2008-11-24, 17:33

I just built a similar setup and that also worked for me. I kind of think it's a motherboard issue perhaps?

Ashex

2008-11-24, 20:33

Take a look at this video (http://www.chipnick.com/Bucket/XBMC/stutter.3GP). Is this the problem you guys are experiencing?

artik

2008-12-03, 06:35

I had tried that also, but for me it did not solve the problem.

I'm curious if anybody else would have the same problem and solution as me (I'm sticking to my USB-stick solution, since this works perfectly for me)

Good night everybody. I'm so happy, you gave me temporaly solution : USB KEY !
I installed my DG45FC motherboard, VLC played all videos like a charm, but XBMC didn't .. until i put an USB key !

like desertoak

I have tried:
* Set resolution to 1366 x 768 (Full screen ) instead of auto.
Resolution matches my desktop.
* Disabled video upscaling.
* Installed latest driver and updates
* Disabled mouse pointer
* Increased the Hard Disk Video Cache to like a meg or higher

But nothing solved my issue. i hope solution will appear soon on this topic ;) and thx for the usb key trick again

WiSo

2008-12-03, 10:30

But nothing solved my issue. i hope solution will appear soon on this topic ;) and thx for the usb key trick again

There won't be a solution until we can't reproduce it.
I absolutely have no clue why this should be connected.

chaddc

2008-12-03, 21:20

I'm having the same issue on my classic xbox running 8.10 t3ch install.

james141

2008-12-04, 13:57

can you press o on the keyboard and get up the codec information while playing, it might give you some hint ie buffer running out or high cpu usage?

eQUIV

2008-12-14, 14:16

I have the same motherboard as you guys, and have the same problem. So my question is who would be responsible for fixing this problem... intel, or XBMC?

artik

2008-12-16, 20:34

I have the same motherboard as you guys, and have the same problem. So my question is who would be responsible for fixing this problem... intel, or XBMC?

XBMC =)
If you run Atlantis beta 2, your Intel chipset will work like a charm ;)

TheRipper

2008-12-19, 15:56

Thanks for the tip, I'm going to give this a whirl when I get home. Some USB sticks can be used as virtual memory in Vista, so it's possible that having the increased memory is correcting your problem.

FieldMouse

2008-12-19, 20:08

Thank you so much, putting a USB memory stick in the computer actually solved TWO problems for me! =D
After having problems with xbmc and not solving it, I noticed that I had problems using a free video service here in sweden, called www.playprima.se. Its very good service that plays in HD, but it lagged and freezed on this computer (not netlag), the sound as well.
The problem I had with xbmc was that the speed of the playback was changing and sort of lagging, just as described by the thread creator in the first post.

Also this MIGHT be a video card problem, I have a HD2600pro and im 90% sure playprima worked well with the x1950 I had borrowed before I got the 2600 (didnt have xbmc back then).

Anyways, the problem is NOT isolated to xbmc!

Everything solved with the USB stick! Thanks!
I cant believe it but it actually works!