[imadork8317]

Here is my problem

When i play a blu ray ISO from either over the gigabit network or directly off my htpc it will stutter form time to time, usually during high action scenes ever 40 seconds or so it seems.

Here is my setup

Motherboard: ASUS F1A75-I DELUXE

CPU: AMD A8-3870 3Ghz

RAM: 1 Dimm 4GB

Hard Drive: 80GB Solid State

Arcsoft TMT5.2.1.119 up to date

Virtual Clone Drive up to date

AMD Catalyst 12.6, Default settings


I've tried everything i can think of nothing works short of changing the mixing mode from "original primary audio only" to mix to DTS or Dolby Digital.

 

[MrZoid]

If there are older drivers available for your GPU I would try them.


My Radeon 6570 won't work with most newer AMD drivers and stutters when playing video.


I try new drivers every few months, and none seem to work.


Mr Zoid

 

[walford]

Stuttering is caused when your graphics card/chip to display can not keep up with required frame rate so it starts dropping frames and then every so often stutters to catch up with real time. High action scenes with high resolution content is more likely to cause stuttering.

 

[assassin]

I agree with trying a different set of ATI drivers to see if that improves or fixes the issue.

 

[captain_video]

I used to have that problem until I tried converting my Blu-Rays to MKVs with MakeMKV and played them back with XBMC and the HD audio patch. Now I get perfectly smooth playback with full HD audio on every PC in my house when streaming from my unRAID server. I have yet to have a single movie stutter using this playback method. There's zero lag time getting the movie to start playing. XBMC gives me full cover art with all metadata. I no longer need to use Media Browser, PowerDVD, Arcsoft's Total Media Theater, AnyDVD HD, codec packs, or iso mounting utilities for playback. Everything I need is included in XBMC. The best part is that it's absolutely free, as is MakeMKV.


Give it a shot and let us know how it affects your playback issues. You can convert your existing iso's by mounting them in VirtualCloneDrive and then converting with MakeMKV. I believe there's a guide for configuring XBMC in one of the stickys. If not, consider signing up for Assassin's guides posted on his blog (see his signature for the link). It's well worth the cost of admission.

 

[imadork8317]



Quote:
Originally Posted by MrZoid  /t/1420027/i-cannot-figure-out-why-my-blu-ray-videos-are-stuttering#post_22214384


If there are older drivers available for your GPU I would try them.

My Radeon 6570 won't work with most newer AMD drivers and stutters when playing video.

I try new drivers every few months, and none seem to work.

Mr Zoid

I'll do some testing and see what comes up.

 

[imadork8317]



Quote:
Originally Posted by captain_video  /t/1420027/i-cannot-figure-out-why-my-blu-ray-videos-are-stuttering#post_22216332


I used to have that problem until I tried converting my Blu-Rays to MKVs with MakeMKV and played them back with XBMC and the HD audio patch. Now I get perfectly smooth playback with full HD audio on every PC in my house when streaming from my unRAID server. I have yet to have a single movie stutter using this playback method. There's zero lag time getting the movie to start playing. XBMC gives me full cover art with all metadata. I no longer need to use Media Browser, PowerDVD, Arcsoft's Total Media Theater, AnyDVD HD, codec packs, or iso mounting utilities for playback. Everything I need is included in XBMC. The best part is that it's absolutely free, as is MakeMKV.

Give it a shot and let us know how it affects your playback issues. You can convert your existing iso's by mounting them in VirtualCloneDrive and then converting with MakeMKV. I believe there's a guide for configuring XBMC in one of the stickys. If not, consider signing up for Assassin's guides posted on his blog (see his signature for the link). It's well worth the cost of admission.

Thanks for the suggestion Captain, however with close to 700 movies on my server i don't think i will switch to MKV until i have exhausted all other options.

 

[imadork8317]



Quote:
Originally Posted by assassin  /t/1420027/i-cannot-figure-out-why-my-blu-ray-videos-are-stuttering#post_22216138


I agree with trying a different set of ATI drivers to see if that improves or fixes the issue.

Thank you assassin,

Do you have a suggestion to start at, AMD has drivers back to version 8.10 on 10/15/2008, or do i just roll back until its better?

 

[assassin]



Quote:
Originally Posted by imadork8317  /t/1420027/i-cannot-figure-out-why-my-blu-ray-videos-are-stuttering#post_22216752


Thank you assassin,

Do you have a suggestion to start at, AMD has drivers back to version 8.10 on 10/15/2008, or do i just roll back until its better?

Sadly I do not. Just like many other AMD users that have posted this week about driver issues you are going to have to try the old "hunt and peck" method to see if a different works for you and doesn't break something else.


I would recommend taking 1 of your problematic iso files and converting it to something like MKV to see if that makes a difference at all. I would do this prior to going on a driver hunt as a baseline.


BTW a new driver may or may not fix the issue. But its a start.

 

[assassin]

BTW what are you bitstreaming to and how?

 

[walford]

When you have stuttering what is your CPU utilization? if it is very high that would imply that hardware acceleration is not being used by your graphics card/chip.

 

[captain_video]



Quote:
Originally Posted by imadork8317  /t/1420027/i-cannot-figure-out-why-my-blu-ray-videos-are-stuttering#post_22216735


Thanks for the suggestion Captain, however with close to 700 movies on my server i don't think i will switch to MKV until i have exhausted all other options.

I had well over a 1000 Blu-Rays and DVDs when I decided to switch. I have since converted them all to MKVs and never regretted it for an instant. Try it with one or two movies and see if you're happy with the results. I think you'll find that the effort to convert them to MKVs is far less annoying than watching your entire movie collection stutter and freeze.

 

[LordWombat]



Quote:
Originally Posted by imadork8317  /t/1420027/i-cannot-figure-out-why-my-blu-ray-videos-are-stuttering#post_22214339

Here is my problem

When i play a blu ray ISO from either over the gigabit network or directly off my htpc it will stutter form time to time, usually during high action scenes or so it seems.
Here is my setup

Motherboard: ASUS F1A75-I DELUXE

CPU: AMD A8-3870 3Ghz

RAM: 1 Dimm 4GB

Hard Drive: 80GB Solid State

Arcsoft TMT5.2.1.119 up to date

Virtual Clone Drive up to date

AMD Catalyst 12.6, Default settings

I've tried everything i can think of nothing works short of changing the mixing mode from "original primary audio only" to mix to DTS or Dolby Digital.

I understand what you've been going through having spent many months battling the same issue i.e. playing blu-ray ISO without stuttering. I actually registered on the forum so I could answer your post

I'm VERY happy to say that I resolved the issue (for my setup) and have since played > 50 blu-ray ISOs without any stutter including concurrent blu-ray ISOs. Hopefully this works for you.


My setup is somewhat similar:


HTPC-01

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA880GMA-UD2H v2.2

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955

RAM: 4 Dimm 8GB

Hard Drive: 60GB Solid State

GPU: ATI 5570 1GB

MediaPortal 1.2.3 with StreamedMP (Moving Pictures, MyTVSeries)

Arcsoft TMT5.3.x (note: 5.3.x has just been released, although I was working fine with 5.2.xx.119)

DaemonTools Lite (although I was using Virtual Clone Drive)

AMD Catalyst 12.6 - for chipset/ahci

AMD Catalyst 11.4 - for graphics card

Onboard Audio - disabled in BIOS and no drivers installed

OS: Windows 7 64bit Ultimate


HTPC-02

Motherboard: Asus M4A785TD-M-EVO

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955

RAM: 2 Dimm 4GB

Hard Drive: 60GB Solid State

GPU: ATI 5570 1GB

MediaPortal 1.3.0 alpha with StreamedMP (Moving Pictures, MyTVSeries)

Arcsoft TMT5.3.x (note: 5.3.x has just been released, although I was working fine with 5.2.xx.119)

DaemonTools Lite (although I was using Virtual Clone Drive)

AMD Catalyst 12.6 - for chipset/ahci

AMD Catalyst 11.4 - for graphics card

Onboard Audio - disabled in BIOS and no drivers installed

OS: Windows 7 64bit Ultimate


Server Storage:

UnRaid 5.0rc5 plus a few 5400rpm HDDs


Network:

Gigabit wired (including switches - DLink DGS-108


note: that in my circumstance there was no hardware issue, I kept thinking it was a network related issue however from checking the bandwidth usage it was all ok. My CPUs are at around 5-6% usage when playing ISOs (using hardware acceleration or around 20% when not)


If you are able to reformat your PC and start again it will provide a consistent baseline, otherwise make sure you make use of CCleaner and other utilities to clear out the old drivers (particularly ATI). There are plenty of instructions on the WWW.


Some tips:

1. Install Windows 7 and sp1 and update via Windows Update (except for audio/video device drivers)
2. If using HDMI output for audio/video then disable on-board audio for motherboard and don't install the drivers
3. Only install the minimum drivers needed. i.e. AMD AHCI/Chipset (12.6), AMD Catalyst/Vision Control (11.4). Network driver (e.g. Realtek 7.058)
4. Change the following registry key to ensure that Windows (I assume 7) doesn't throttle ISO network throughput as it doesn't recognize ISO as a valid multimedia format
   [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Multimedia\SystemProfile\]
   
   "NetworkThrottlingIndex"="FFFFFFFF"
   You can read more here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/948066
5. Once OS installed, with correct drivers, then install TMT and check whether everything is working (i.e. no stutter). If it is working fine then take a backup of the system - I usually use the "Create a System Image" that comes with WIndows 7.
6. note that for TMT you want to have (and note that there are separate settings for TMT standalone and the TMT MCE player):
   
   a) Hardware Acceleration On
   
   b) SimHD set to CPU as other it probably will crash - but try and see. SimHD is used for Standard Definition e.g. DVDs
7. The last part of the puzzle is to look at refresh rates. I'm assuming you are outputting to a flatscreen TV - if so then:
   
   a) open up screen resolution (right click on desktop background), click "Advanced Settings", select "Monitor Tab" - you should see a list of refresh rates in a drop-down combo box
   
   b) open up catalyst control center and go to the Scaling section (should be under My Digital Flat Panels if you have a TV connected).
   
   c) Go back to a) and select the first refresh rate in the dropdown - this may be 23; go back to b) and select the scaling to be 0% so the picture is fully taking up the screen. click Apply
   
   d) repeat c) for each refresh rate - note: You should check your tv manual to ensure the modes listed are supported
8. For now revert back to the default refresh rate (for me this is 60); however you'll be able to play with refresh rate switching later on to ensure that blu-rays are optimized to either 23Hz or 24Hz
9. Once the system image has been created, you can then fiddle to your heart's content, and if you mess it up just revert back to the original system image

note: Do not install codec packs for now e.g. Sharks etc. If you are using TMT then they are not needed. While codec packs work for many people I find they can introduce a lot of unknowns. The only codecs I install by default these days are LAV Filter (v 0.50.5) as they now come with MediaPortal which is the software I use for my HTPC. LAV filter works fine for bitstreaming Hi-Def MSTR audio etc. In my setup Non blu-ray ISO material (e.g. DVD ISO, mkvs, avis etc) play within the inbuilt MediaPortal player (including 1:1 MKVs of blu-rays e.g. for TV Series which I keep as MKVs rather than ISOs); while Blu-Ray ISO movies play are played in TMT MCE which is launched by MediaPortal. While off-topic - if you haven't checked out MediaPortal then I can highly recommend trying version 1.2.3 with StreamedMP skin installed as this gives MovingPictures and MyTVSeries plugins by default.


I'm by no means an expert - however I have now built/rebuilt my HTPCs multiple times and played > 50 blu-ray ISOs in the last few weeks due to family visiting without any stutter. I narrowed down my original issue to drivers/codecs rather than anything hardware related and am pleased it has all been resolved.


@Assassin - feel free to include any of the above in your guides if it is not already covered.


hth


Alex

 

[imadork8317]



Quote:
Originally Posted by assassin  /t/1420027/i-cannot-figure-out-why-my-blu-ray-videos-are-stuttering#post_22216807


BTW what are you bitstreaming to and how?

DTS HD and Dolby True HD, is that what you are referring to?


The HTPC is connected to my Pioneer VSX-1019AH


TMT5 stats

MPEG-4 AVC

1920x1080

Dolby TrueHD Pass Through

 

[imadork8317]



Quote:
Originally Posted by walford  /t/1420027/i-cannot-figure-out-why-my-blu-ray-videos-are-stuttering#post_22217042


When you have stuttering what is your CPU utilization? if it is very high that would imply that hardware acceleration is not being used by your graphics card/chip.

When i play a bluray iso my cpu load is between 20-30% even through a stutter.

 

[assassin]



Quote:
Originally Posted by imadork8317  /t/1420027/i-cannot-figure-out-why-my-blu-ray-videos-are-stuttering#post_22221426


DTS HD and Dolby True HD, is that what you are referring to?

The HTPC is connected to my Pioneer VSX-1019AH

TMT5 stats

MPEG-4 AVC

1920x1080

Dolby TrueHD Pass Through

Okay. Connected via HDMI?


You wouldn't believe some of the hardware miscues I have seen.

 

[imadork8317]



Quote:
Originally Posted by assassin  /t/1420027/i-cannot-figure-out-why-my-blu-ray-videos-are-stuttering#post_22221438


Okay. Connected via HDMI?

You wouldn't believe some of the hardware miscues I have seen.

Sorry, Yes HDMI

 

[imadork8317]



Quote:
Originally Posted by LordWombat  /t/1420027/i-cannot-figure-out-why-my-blu-ray-videos-are-stuttering#post_22220101


I understand what you've been going through having spent many months battling the same issue i.e. playing blu-ray ISO without stuttering. I actually registered on the forum so I could answer your post

I'm VERY happy to say that I resolved the issue (for my setup) and have since played > 50 blu-ray ISOs without any stutter including concurrent blu-ray ISOs. Hopefully this works for you.

Some tips:

1. Install Windows 7 and sp1 and update via Windows Update (except for audio/video device drivers)
2. If using HDMI output for audio/video then disable on-board audio for motherboard and don't install the drivers
3. Only install the minimum drivers needed. i.e. AMD AHCI/Chipset (12.6), AMD Catalyst/Vision Control (11.4). Network driver (e.g. Realtek 7.058)
4. Change the following registry key to ensure that Windows (I assume 7) doesn't throttle ISO network throughput as it doesn't recognize ISO as a valid multimedia format
   [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Multimedia\SystemProfile\]
   
   "NetworkThrottlingIndex"="FFFFFFFF"
   You can read more here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/948066
5. Once OS installed, with correct drivers, then install TMT and check whether everything is working (i.e. no stutter). If it is working fine then take a backup of the system - I usually use the "Create a System Image" that comes with WIndows 7.
6. note that for TMT you want to have (and note that there are separate settings for TMT standalone and the TMT MCE player):
   
   a) Hardware Acceleration On
   
   b) SimHD set to CPU as other it probably will crash - but try and see. SimHD is used for Standard Definition e.g. DVDs
7. The last part of the puzzle is to look at refresh rates. I'm assuming you are outputting to a flatscreen TV - if so then:
   
   a) open up screen resolution (right click on desktop background), click "Advanced Settings", select "Monitor Tab" - you should see a list of refresh rates in a drop-down combo box
   
   b) open up catalyst control center and go to the Scaling section (should be under My Digital Flat Panels if you have a TV connected).
   
   c) Go back to a) and select the first refresh rate in the dropdown - this may be 23; go back to b) and select the scaling to be 0% so the picture is fully taking up the screen. click Apply
   
   d) repeat c) for each refresh rate - note: You should check your tv manual to ensure the modes listed are supported
8. For now revert back to the default refresh rate (for me this is 60); however you'll be able to play with refresh rate switching later on to ensure that blu-rays are optimized to either 23Hz or 24Hz
9. Once the system image has been created, you can then fiddle to your heart's content, and if you mess it up just revert back to the original system image

note: Do not install codec packs for now e.g. Sharks etc. If you are using TMT then they are not needed. While codec packs work for many people I find they can introduce a lot of unknowns. The only codecs I install by default these days are LAV Filter (v 0.50.5) as they now come with MediaPortal which is the software I use for my HTPC. LAV filter works fine for bitstreaming Hi-Def MSTR audio etc. In my setup Non blu-ray ISO material (e.g. DVD ISO, mkvs, avis etc) play within the inbuilt MediaPortal player (including 1:1 MKVs of blu-rays e.g. for TV Series which I keep as MKVs rather than ISOs); while Blu-Ray ISO movies play are played in TMT MCE which is launched by MediaPortal. While off-topic - if you haven't checked out MediaPortal then I can highly recommend trying version 1.2.3 with StreamedMP skin installed as this gives MovingPictures and MyTVSeries plugins by default.

I'm by no means an expert - however I have now built/rebuilt my HTPCs multiple times and played > 50 blu-ray ISOs in the last few weeks due to family visiting without any stutter. I narrowed down my original issue to drivers/codecs rather than anything hardware related and am pleased it has all been resolved.

@Assassin - feel free to include any of the above in your guides if it is not already covered.

hth

Alex

Alex,


Thank you for the detailed list of help,


I'm not quite ready to do a full wipe, however i did go through your recommendations, unfortunately the blu-ray is still skipping. It actually seems to be pretty consistent every 40 seconds or so. Which i would assume means there is a timing issue somewhere? Maybe?

 

[imadork8317]

Here is an example of when the stutter / skipping occurred. The occurrences change each time i play the disc, but the intervals are always very close to the same time.


Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol


0:28

1:10

1:52

2:34

3:14

3:57


Average 41 Seconds

 

[imadork8317]

I think i found the issue!


Arcsoft TMT5 has an option for "Automatic refresh rate switching" I unchecked it, and it seems the stutter has completely disappeared, going on 6 minutes and it looks good so far.


I found this post on the arcsoft website http://www.arcsoft.com/Forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9708&PID=43988&SID=26f5faff-a3c7-25c45ad5-974dd1d9-z935e1d5&title=bluray-stutter-pause-issue-every-3040-seconds#43988 which seems to explain the issue.


Thank you everyone for the help. This topic can be marked as solved.