Blu-ray occasional stuttering

[Hooloovoo]

Antec Black Fusion V2
Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H
Crucial 2GB DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 Memory
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4850e 2.5GHz Socket AM2
Seagate ST3500320AS 500GB Hard Drive SATA II
LG Electronics Blu-Ray & HD-DVD-Rom Combo

XP Pro
All latest drivers from Gigabyte website.

Connected to Optoma HD65 projector using HDMI.
Audio out through SPDIF.

Occasionally when watching blu-ray from disc (or ISO) the video will stutter for a second or so. The audio keeps going just fine. CPU usage during playback at 1080p24 is showing at around 30%. The hardware acceleration box is ticked in PowerDVD8 Ultra, but I'm not convinced it's actually using hardware acceleration.

As far as I know everything is up to date, and the hardware is pretty much what everyone else is using on here so I don't think it's underpowered.

Any ideas?

 

[Stephen Neal]

Is it tied to particular Blu-ray - and are they all H264, VC-1 or MPEG2 encodes? (I think the Information option in PowerDVD will tell you)

I have near-identical hardware to you (same mobo, same CPU, 4Gb of Corsair RAM - though only 3 and a bit gig is used by Vista 32 and it is probably overkill) and am running Vista Ultimate 32bit with version 7 of PowerDVD.

Am using HDMI audio out to an Onkyo 606 rather than SPDIF, and have used both Sony 40W2000 and 40W4000 displays.

I don't get stuttering with most discs. One or two stutter with AnyDVD (used for R1 and R2 DVD playback) running but don't when it is disabled. I get occasional stuttering when I chapter skip for the first second or so - but then it settles down.

I do ensure that my Antivirus software doesn't scan when I'm watching movies though, and have Windows Update set to manual rather than automatic.

Until very recently I've been watching 1080/60p - but have now configured 1080/24p output from my PC to my display.

 

[Hooloovoo]

Is it tied to particular Blu-ray - and are they all H264, VC-1 or MPEG2 encodes? (I think the Information option in PowerDVD will tell you)

It does it on all blu-ray discs. Standard DVDs never stutter, but I do get image tearing instead.

I don't get stuttering with most discs. One or two stutter with AnyDVD (used for R1 and R2 DVD playback) running but don't when it is disabled. I get occasional stuttering when I chapter skip for the first second or so - but then it settles down.

Hmm. I do have AnyDVDHD running in the background. I have to because I've never been able to get it to work otherwise despite everything claiming to be HDCP compliant.

I do ensure that my Antivirus software doesn't scan when I'm watching movies though, and have Windows Update set to manual rather than automatic.

Everything is on automatic, but as far as I know nothing has been kicking in when I've been watching a movie. Certainly, the CPU usage never maxes out.

 

[Stephen Neal]

It does it on all blu-ray discs. Standard DVDs never stutter, but I do get image tearing instead.

Hmm... I don't get any image tearing on DVDs in either PowerDVD or Windows Media Center (though I do have an annoying black level issue in Media Center - but not apparently in PowerDVD)

I have noticed that when I watch Blu-rays my desktop switches to Windows Basic mode, but this has happened on all computers I've watched Blu-rays/HD-DVDs on.

Hmm. I do have AnyDVDHD running in the background. I have to because I've never been able to get it to work otherwise despite everything claiming to be HDCP compliant.

Ah - that is a difference - I've never had any HDCP errors. Are you running the latest version of Any DVD HD?

Also - are you running Vista or XP, and are you running the latest ATI drivers downloaded from the ATI site?

Have you tried routing directly from the PC to the display if you are currently routing through an AMP?

Also worth checking you have all the Gigabyte drivers installed and up-to-date - there is an app on their site that checks this for you.

Finally - have you tried a complete re-install? (Apologies if you have) I've found that this sometimes helps.

Everything is on automatic, but as far as I know nothing has been kicking in when I've been watching a movie. Certainly, the CPU usage never maxes out.

My Anti-virus scan - AVG Free - causes stuttering when it is doing a full system scan.

 

[saltyzip]

I've got the same jerky/stutter issues with almost identical kit, although I am using Vista 64 and TotalMedia Theatre.

The panning shots are the main problem and although I have only a small collection of Blu-rays the problem is apparent on all of them.

I've ordered another 2GB to see if that helps, as my memory is 82% utilised during playback. Both Network (I stream from a seperate server) and CPU usage are well within tolerances so I can't see that being the problem.

I haven't tried disabling AnyDVD or seeing if the problem still exists when playing directly from disk, both I will try today and report back.

I've also thought about overclocking the onboard graphics, but will try the above options first.

BTW I am running on the latest ATI Catalyst Graphics Drivers 8.9.

 

[Stephen Neal]

Blu-ray content is encoded at 24fps. If you are watching at 50 or 60Hz then you will get judder on motion.

If you don't have a 24p capable TV then when watching 24p content at 60Hz you will get 3:2 pulldown (where one 24p frame is shown for 3 60Hz refreshes, and the next 24p frame is shown for just 2 refreshes) This is obvious on motion, but not on static content.

It isn't this you are seeing is it? If it is - then it is a fact of life if you have a 60Hz display. Are you able to compare with a PS3 or Blu-ray player feeding the same display?

Our first HD display was 50/60Hz only and we had to watch Blu-rays at 60p with 3:2 judder. It was the main reason we upgraded to a new HD display with 24p facilities - as this means you get smoother motion with 24p material. (This isn't a 100/120Hz display though)

ALSO I discovered that a couple of titles stuttered REALLY badly with AnyDVD HD running.

 

[saltyzip]

I've got a Pioneer PDP-LX5090 which thankfully has 24p. I have just had a little bit of time to try the 1920x1080/24p resolution change, however even though I can set this option via Catalyst control panel, when trying to emulate the same change within Vista MCE under the TV setup option it doesn't list that resolution. It only shows the 50 and 60hz options.

It doesn't list any resolutions whether full HD or not at 24p, is this a limitation of Vista MCE?

Why is nothing simple....

I have to admit using TotalMedia Theatre standalone does provide a smoother picture than playing it through the integrated MCE/MyMovies route, which is why I thought the extra memory might help. It didn't arrive in the post today, hopefully tomorrow.

 

[Stephen Neal]

The Vista MCE setting is, I believe, only fired up when Vista MCE is running full-screen. If you are using PowerDVD for Blu-ray replay it will ignore the Vista MCE desktop resolution and frame rate and use the standard Windows settings instead I believe. As there is no broadcast TV at 24Hz it isn't an MCE option?

Might be wrong.

I use Catalyst with three hot keys (ALT + 5, ALT + 6 and ALT + 2 to force 50, 60 and 24p respectively) just to be sure!

 

[saltyzip]

it will ignore the Vista MCE desktop resolution and frame rate and use the standard Windows settings instead I believe.

I hope this is true...

One thing I discovered last night, is that even though via Catalyst I was selecting the 24p format for the display, I discovered that by going through the vista->personalize->display settings->advance settings the monitor tab still showed 50 hertz, WHY!

I have now changed this also to 24 hertz, and even though the desktop is a wee bit jerky to use, the movies play a little better, but still not to my satisfaction.

I have switched off AnyDVD HD to see if it helps but it wasn't the silver bullet.

My last resort is to add in the additional 2GB of memory, when it arrives, still nothing in the post this morning

I tried disabling the virtual memory just to see how the PC would cope in playing a movie, but to my surprise I couldn't even operate the MyMovies screen in MCE without it barfing into a flashing screen frenzy, let alone load up a movie.

So having 2GB for a HTPC based on the following kit:

1. GA MA78GM-S2H
2. Vista 64 MCE
3. MyMovies
4. TotalMedia Theatre
5. AnyDVD HD
6. Blu-ray DVD Drive

I would say is not enough, and 4GB should be the norm.

I don't have any other software running, other than what came with the drivers, no virus checker either. MyMovies Server runs on seperate hardware.

I am a bit shocked that it needs 4GB, at this rate my HTPC will be more powerful than my gaming rig, heaven forbid.

Will report back once the memory has arrived, please let it be good news.

 

[saltyzip]

Memory arrived a few days ago and the results are as follows:

[setup]
Desktop Resolution 1920x1080 24Hz
Vista MCE Resolution 1920x1080 50Hz
Playing Blu-ray movies via MCE->MyMovies->TMT are now very smooth, no stutter at all, which is the result I was hoping for.

However... trying to keep the desktop and MCE resolutions different seemed problematic. Sometimes MCE managed to change the desktop resolution to 50Hz which then resulted in the blu-ray movies stuttering again.

I also found that when I had the blu-ray movies working fine, the normal DVD movies stuttered consistently every couple of secs.

Also you would think that switching between 24Hz and 50Hz running at the same resolution would not effect the picture size on my TV. Well on my pio plasma it does, don't ask me why.

If I use 24Hz the full screen is used, if I use 50Hz the screen shrinks, implementing black borders on top, bottom, left and right of screen. BTW the TV is set to dot to dot mode (1:1, full scan)

After much playing round, thankfully I found a solution.

I set both the desktop and MCE resolution to 1920x1080 50Hz. As this resulted in a smaller screen, I used the catalyst overscan feature to maximise the display to the fill the panels full screen.

Next I installed a little util called ReClock, this can be found at:
ReClock 1.8.1.8 beta - SlySoft Forum

After some tweaking with ReClock parameters (will try and post my settings later), and changing TotalMedia Theate audio output from SPIDIF to 5.1 Surround, both Blu-Ray and DVD movies now play sweet with fantastic sound through MCE in beautiful full screen.

I wish there had been an instruction manual for all this, as a number of times the HTPC nearly went out the window.

If anybody has a similar setup to mine, by all means drop me a line and I might be able to help.

 

[Hooloovoo]

Well it turns out the solution to my stuttering problem was to simply upgrade my version of AnyDVDHD. I did that, and now everything seems to playback just fine.

But ONLY with AnyDVDHD running. I still can't get it to work without that. I've even upgraded to Vista, got the latest PowerDVDHD, all the latest drivers, everything I can think of. My system is now thus:

Antec Black Fusion V2
Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H
Crucial 2GB DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 Memory
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4850e 2.5GHz Socket AM2
Seagate ST3500320AS 500GB Hard Drive SATA II
LG Electronics Blu-Ray & HD-DVD-Rom Combo

Vista 64-bit Ultimate
ATI HD3200 drivers version 8.10.

Connected to Optoma HD65 projector using HDMI at 1080p24.
Audio out through SPDIF.

Basically the same hardware that most people are using! When trying to play a Blu-Ray disc using PowerDVD I get a "Cannot detect graphics connector type" error. It gives me the rather unhelpful suggestion of making sure the connecter is pushed fully into the socket.

CPU usage during playback is also running around 50% so I'm not convinced the hardware acceleration is doing anything either. Either ticking or unticking the box in PowerDVD doesn't seem to make any difference.

Any ideas???

 

[Stephen Neal]

I have the exact-same set-up as you (albeit with a Samsung 1Tb drive) and am running Vista 32.

I am feeding either a Sony 40W4000 or 40W2000 either direct or via an Onkyo 606 AVR. I have no HDCP problems playing discs without AnyDVD (though a couple of discs were really problematic with AnyDVD - luckily HD-DVD so no need for region-free stuff)

I am running PowerDVD Ultra 7 (Retail, not OEM) and the latest Catalyst ATI drivers.

The main differences in our systems are the display and the OS I guess?

 

[Hooloovoo]

I just don't get it. I guess I could try going back to PowerDVD7.3 OEM that came with the drive now that I've changed the operating system. I don't see as there's anything else I can try.

 

[saltyzip]

Have you ripped the movies using AnyDVD HD with it's default settings, as that should have removed the copy protection?

If you ripped them with the copy protection left in place, you will need AnyDVD HD to be enabled in order to play them back, perhaps this is the case.

At least that's my understanding of how this brilliant bit of software works.

 

[Hooloovoo]

Yeah, I rip them with AnyDVDHD, create an ISO with ImgBurn, and mount the ISO with Daemon Tools. Works fine.

But what I would like to be able to do is actually put a real genuine Blu-Ray disc into my HTPC, and have it play totally legitimately just as it should. As far as I can tell everything should work. The only thing I haven't been able to try, is my HTPC on another HDMI display, or my projector on another HTPC. But either way, I know others have got this hardware working.

It would be nice to have the disc play totally legally without having to rip out the copy protection.

Would changing my HD player software help? I'm tempted to try WinDVD but apparently the trial version doesn't actually support HD, and I'm not about to buy it just to find that it doesn't work.

Maybe I just have to resign myself to the fact that I have to resort to illegal methods to play my legally owned blu-ray discs.