Divx/Xvid Stuttering

[DJediMaster]

I am getting some stuttering when I play Divx/Xvid movies in wmp. It happens once every couple of minutes and there does not seem to be a pattern to when it will occur. When it happens though, the video will pause for a split second and the sound will skip for that duration. I'm running the ffdshow/ac3filter config. I have tried switching to different codec's but I get the same stuttering effect. Thanks for any suggestions.

My config is as follows:

3800+ X2 Toledo @ 2.6
Asus A8N-SLI Premium rev. 1.02 with 1008 bios
Generic 2x512 DDR400
Asus EN7800GTX
WD 160gb SATA hd
Turtle Beach Santa Cruz
NEC 3500A
Seasonic S12-430

 

[FlyingPenguin]

If you have FFDShow installed (which I recommend - I use it myself) you should have no other Divx or XVid codecs installed. Multiple codecs for the same codec type only cause problems.

On all my personal systems I have only FFDShow and AC3 installed.

You can run DxMan which shows what codecs are installed and lets you individually uninstall them: http://www.analogx.com/contents/download/audio/dxman.htm

You can also use GSpot to see what codec is being used when you run a specific video file: http://www.headbands.com/gspot/

The problem may be WMP which I personally despise and never use. Try another player just to eliminate that possibility. I HIGHLY recommend the free version of BSPlayer. It's what I use for all files except Real Media and Quicktime (I use Media Player Classic with Real Alternative and Real Quicktime instead of those two bloated adware monsters): http://www.bsplayer.org/

If it stutters in BSPlayer then I'd say it's a codec or driver issue. If it doesn't stutter in BSPlayer I'd say is a problem with WMP. May need to re-install it (or better yet, forget about it).

Are you running WMP 10? If you're still running WMP 9 I'd upgrade to 10 (just for the codecs even if you don't use it) and since it will replace practically all the WMP core files that may fix it.

If it stutters in any player you try then I'd look at video and sound drivers next. Make sure you have the latest ones from the manufacturer, and not hacked drivers.

Another possibility is that there's a background app either interfering with video playback, or just stealing a lot of CPU cycles. Watching Processes in Task Manager might give you a clue.

Wouldn't hurt to perform a thorough spyware cleaning. Please refer to my detailed spyware cleaning instructions here: http://theflyingpenguin.com/spyware-removal.shtml

Another possibility is some tweak you may have enabled for your video card may be causing problems. Also if you've changed the AGP Aperature setting I'd recommend setting it to the default of 64Mb to see if that fixes it.

Hope this helps...

 

[DJediMaster]

Thanks for your suggestions FlyingPenguin. I have removed all other codecs aside from FFDShow and AC3Filter using the DxMan tool. The stuttering is still apparent when I use BSplayer or Windows mediaplayer 10.

The codec's that are in use when the file is in play are 'ffdshow MPEG-4 Video Decoder' and 'AC3Filter'.

I forgot to note that I have installed the patch for X2 processor's and have applied the dual core processor patch for WinXP. The stutter also happens regardless of whether my system is overclocked or not. Scans for spyware come up empty. I have even tried to create a new clean profile under windows and the stuttering is still there.

Right now I'm running the 81.94 ForceWare drivers and 6.66 nForce4 drivers. I am going to try updating to the latest versions to see what happens.

 

[FlyingPenguin]

I'm stumped unless it turns out to be a driver issue. Was there a time when it did work properly? Might be worth using system restore to go back to that point and see what happens.

One experiment would be to disable your sound card and see if it still stutters (I assume it's something you can see visually?) that would at least tell you it's a video issue and not a sound issue.

Did you recently upgrade the video card? If so did you uninstall all apps and drivers for the old card? There's some driver cleaners out there that might be worth trying.

Let us know how you make out.

 

[DJediMaster]

The driver update did nothing The entire computer is a new build with a fresh install of windows so it has never played correctly. I'll try disabling the sound, but I don't think I will notice the stutter since it is very subtle.

 

[daveybrat]

Try removing your turtle beach sound card and enable the built-in audio. Then try playing something.

 

[xtknight]

Probably a problem with the demultiplexing/source filter. Try downloading Haali Media Splitter (will split MP4s also). Otherwise you can try overlay mode instead of video mixing renderer (uncheck "high quality" in WMP tools->options->performance->advanced).

 

[DJediMaster]

Thanks for the suggestions. Unplugging the santa cruz and utilizing the onboard sound doesn't seem to help the stuttering. It is also apparent when I install Haali Media Splitter or when I try to enable/disable the use of overlays.

I tried disabling all video codec's and I can tell from the sound alone that the stuttering is still there. I can't tell just by looking at the video though..