Topic: Playback stuttering (Read 17922 times)

jjsor48 · « **on:** September 08, 2007, 05:49:17 pm »

When I playback a song, every so often it "stutters", then continues. Is this a hardware or software issue?

JimH · « **Reply #1 on:** September 08, 2007, 06:05:12 pm »

Please try the threads in my signature below. Also a google search. There are many reasons for this. More details might help.

ken-l · « **Reply #2 on:** October 03, 2007, 11:15:21 pm »

Before I purchased Media Center 12 I tried the program, and searched for reviews and articles about it and JRiver.

The trial version experienced annoying skips/stuttering of music being played.
My research found comments and reviews indicating that this issue has plagued Media Center since its inception.

I purchased the program IN SPITE of this obvious flaw because the features and interface are better than anything else I've tried (and that's a lot)...... I was/am willing to live-with/put-up-with this.

That does not mean I am satisfied or that I won't continue to look for a "work-around" of the problem.
It is obvious to me, since I have three different WindowsXP systems of different ages, CPU speeds and amounts of RAM, that the problem is that Media Center is very unhappy about sharing resources!

Even on my latest DELL XPS 710 with 4GB RAM I still encounter the skipping when another application is running and demanding resources. With my slower machines the problem is more pronounced.

I have used many "Jukebox" and "Media Players", and have never encountered this issue on any other computer while running programs that are resource hogs, even Photoshop CS3 at the same time as music was playing.

I certainly don't claim to know everything about computers, Windows, or Media Center.
I did operate a computer consulting business for over ten years prior to taking a very early retirement.

There is no doubt whatsoever in my mind that the problem is in Media Center 12. I would hope that JRiver would be forthcoming and tell us what they may, or may not, be doing to solve this.

As I said, I continue to use the program. If at some time in the future this problem still exists and a new program is introduced by another company that gives me what I want, and it has no "glitches", such as this "skipping" I would switch.

Now, I sincerely hope that we will receive a satisfying communication about this.

rjm · « **Reply #3 on:** October 03, 2007, 11:32:27 pm »

The vast majority of users are not experiencing similar problems. We are going to need more information to diagnose your problem.

What file types are giving you problems?

prod · « **Reply #4 on:** October 04, 2007, 03:44:45 am »

I have encountered stuttering when using DirectSound for playback, particularly when the computer is under heavy load. Changing to WaveOut fixed it, been fine since.

From memory, I think the option is in Tools>Options>Playback.

Qythyx · « **Reply #5 on:** October 04, 2007, 05:34:13 am »

The only times I've had stuttering problems were when accessing media from a network share when the network was very busy. Of course, that was listening to WMA lossless tracks, that end up being about 1Mbps.

You also might was to play with the buffering setting. It's under Playback somewhere, I believe.

JimH · « **Reply #6 on:** October 04, 2007, 06:51:15 am »

There are many possible sources of that kind of problem. A virus checker, for example. Please take a look at the thread called "Weird Problems" in my signature for ideas.

tunetyme · « **Reply #7 on:** October 04, 2007, 04:19:59 pm »

Regarding skips, you may want to check and see if you have a good rip. The method I have adopted is after I rip and convert to APE I make a copy to another directory. I use monkey audio to decompress the files. If there is an error during decompression then I can usually spot it with MC media editor. I will rip that defective track again and that takes care of it 99% of the time. I attribute most of my skips to my mouse.

I too have experienced some amplitude fluctuations on playback. I have kept playing with all the options under player/playback options until I found a combination that seems to work. However, I will point out that it seems to me that this amplitude issue started for me with the latest release I have 12.0.318.

I have to admit I have some issues with my Intel board and it may be the source of my problem.

ken-l · « **Reply #8 on:** October 25, 2007, 12:59:15 pm »

Okay. Thanks for all the tips.

I've looked at and tried/done all the tips.....before reading them here.

Maybe I wasn't clear:

I will continue to use Media Center - until something better (in my opinion) comes out.

My files are nearly all MP3.

The only program that has this problem is Media Center.
NOT:
Windows Media Player
Foobar
Audacity
Yahoo! Music Jukebox
Musicmatch
....or several others I have played with, EVER, on any of my systems.

AND:
The same "stutter" issue occurs on three (3) different computers.

KingSparta · « **Reply #9 on:** October 25, 2007, 01:25:24 pm »

I had a stuttering issue once it was caused by Norton Anti-Virus

JimH · « **Reply #10 on:** October 25, 2007, 02:01:13 pm »

Quote from: KingSparta on October 25, 2007, 01:25:24 pm

I had a stuttering issue once it was caused by Norton Anti-Virus

And there are many other possibilities. Some of them can be found here:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=24031.0

glynor · « **Reply #11 on:** October 25, 2007, 02:26:35 pm »

Ken, I can certainly understand your frustration. Unfortunately, we are somewhat at a loss trying to diagnose these issues without a lot more detailed information.

I also can understand how it might seem that the issue is "common" since you have it on 3 different machines, and have apparently seen it referenced elsewhere (though you didn't provide any links, and I haven't seen similar issues reported in reviews I've read). I use MC on a wide variety of different machines, and I have only ever seen a similar issue once (and it turned out to be related to a network hardware issue). One problem with saying "I see the issue on all my machines" is that most people configure all of their machines with similar software.... So if you have a "problem application" running on one machine, there is a good chance you might have the same problem with every computer you try it with! Rest assured, the vast majority of users are NOT experiencing these types of issues. We have seen sporadic reports, and most can be solved by the issues and tips Jim linked to.

Here are some things that we would need to help diagnose these types of issues:

1. System info. Contents of Help --> System Info.

2. File types that cause issues, including format (and codec if appropriate), bitrate, and file size. Similarly, are there any file types that do NOT cause the issue?

3. File location. Drive type, connection method (SATA, ATA, Firewire, USB, Network, etc).

4. If the issue occurs on network or external drives, does it also occur with files on a fast, local drive?

5. If the issue occurs on network drives only, all relevant network details (router, network cards, firewalls, cables).

6. What steps have you taken to ensure hardware and software stability and reliability? Memtest86 results? Prime95 results? Network testing?

7. Anti-Virus software installed, Disk Utility software installed (particularly encrypting systems and "on-the-fly" defrag systems), Anti-Spyware software installed, and other similar "resident" applications.

8. Any pattern to the issues? Do you see CPU usage spike (via Task Manager or Process Explorer) when the stuttering occurs? If so, what process is sucking up the cycles (MC or System or something else)?

9. Does disabling Podcast auto-downloading and/or disabling Auto-Import have any impact?

10. Does manually building Thumbnails overnight and then attempting playback ease the issue or have any impact?

11. Have you attempted to ensure that you are using the latest available drivers for your Soundcard? Have you tried the different Sound output methods (Wave Out vs. Directsound, etc)?

12. Is anything active in DSP Studio?

13. Any and all plugins that are installed into MC?

ThatAdamGuy · « **Reply #12 on:** January 27, 2008, 06:57:06 pm »

I'm also experiencing rather weird playback stuttering. Had no problems in MC11, WMP9,10, Yahoo! Music Jukebox, etc.

I have a pretty fast system with 4gb RAM.

Should I post specs/details in this thread to see if Ken-l and I have the same cause, or should I start a separate thread or...?

JimH · « **Reply #13 on:** January 27, 2008, 09:03:36 pm »

Can you be specific? What are you playing? Vesion of MC? Settings? Third party programs, plug-ins?

Did you try disabling your virus checker?

Network drive or local drive?

lordhong · « **Reply #14 on:** January 29, 2008, 02:15:00 pm »

When I started using MC12 on my laptop, I had weird stuttering problems. After a little research, I disabled the 802.11a protocol (not the b/g/n) on the wireless adaptor and the stuttering went away.

Don't ask for explanation, it still confuses me, but it worked.

StFeder · « **Reply #15 on:** February 29, 2008, 07:24:12 am »

Quote from: lordhong on January 29, 2008, 02:15:00 pm

When I started using MC12 on my laptop, I had weird stuttering problems. After a little research, I disabled the 802.11a protocol (not the b/g/n) on the wireless adaptor and the stuttering went away.

Don't ask for explanation, it still confuses me, but it worked.

Odd thing: I had the same... I didn't know how to disable just one protocoll and didn't even think of this possibility, but disabling the wireless adapter completly solved the same problem for me two months ago... "Stuttering" for me only appeared if I was NOT connected to any WLAN. I have an IBM ThinkPad with no 3rd Party Wireless Software.

bob · « **Reply #16 on:** February 29, 2008, 09:45:09 am »

I'd guess that the card was generating interrupts while receiving packets from whatever networks that are around. It doesn't actually have to be connected to a router to see the packets and generate interrupts. It could also be that the card uses dma to move the data to main memory which could increase the probability of troubles with the sound card which most likely does the same.

802.11a is the old 2mb/sec protocol (used mainly by the Nintendo DS these days). It's also a fallback for wireless connections where the signal isn't strong enough to do 802.11b or g. Of course since the speed is slower the packets take longer to be received. I suppose a poorly written wlan card driver could case trouble in this case as well.

JimH · « **Reply #17 on:** March 03, 2008, 08:37:51 am »

I added a couple of new solutions to the "Weird Problems" thread (in my signature). At the bottom of the thread.

tgrounds · « **Reply #18 on:** March 03, 2008, 09:54:19 am »

I looked through the thread and didn't see any reference to Disc Defragmenting. I had stuttering in my audio once-upon-a-time and found that the drive that I was ripping to had become fragmented. Once I ran defrag, they have played well ever since. This made me re-think where I was storing my media files. They are now on drives by themselves (one for audio and several for video) so that once I have ripped, I defrag and know that the contents on the drive are not changing. This also worked very well for my video.

JimH · « **Reply #19 on:** March 03, 2008, 09:58:53 am »

Quote from: tgrounds on March 03, 2008, 09:54:19 am

I looked through the thread and didn't see any reference to Disc Defragmenting.

Thanks. I just added a link to your post.

Frobozz · « **Reply #20 on:** March 08, 2008, 03:42:22 am »

Seeing this topic bumped, I figured I ought to add my experience and solution to an audio stuttering problem to the collective.

I have a desktop PC that has a GeForce 6150 LE onboard video chipset. The onboard video uses system memory for video memory.

I have an M-Audio FireWire 410 for audio.

When I used the FW410 on the desktop PC I would get audio stuttering or dropouts. The stuttering would happen when certain types of video was processed. For example, I could reliably reproduce it when viewing certain Flash animated online games, or when viewing 3D visualizations in Windows Media Player. When there was no fancy video processing stuff going on the screen there was no stuttering. It did appear to be some sort of conflict with the FW410 and the onboard video.

Fix was to disable the onboard video and use a video card (GeForce 7600 GT) that has it's own video memory and doesn't share any system memory. No more audio stuttering.

I suspect the problem was/is a conflict with DMA use in the video drivers and the FW410 drivers. FireWire has the option of using DMA and I assume the FW410 is using it. The FW410 and the video could have both been trampling over the others memory.

This was all over a year ago. I haven't checked to see if it is still a problem with the current drivers. I sent in bug reports to both Nvidia and M-Audio way back then.

My conclusion from the experience is that video that shares system memory is a potential bad thing for a computer that plays with fancy audio cards/interfaces and wants glitch free recording/playback.

ThatAdamGuy · « **Reply #21 on:** March 30, 2008, 04:53:04 pm »

Many apologies for the belated reply.

It appears as though the Total Recorder sound drivers might have been responsible. I tried specifying others in MC to no avail, but when I changed the default drivers with QuickTime, MC started to play music without stuttering. Possibly a coincidence, though.

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