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[aknuds1]

Howdy

I'm currently evaluating Media Center, with the prospect of using it as my video and music player in the living room. So far it's looking pretty good, in comparison to the competition I've played around with (Windows Media Center, XBMC), but I have a few niggles.

1. Does it support HW video decoding on the Intel Sandy Bridge processor (I have an ASRock CoreHT 231D PC)? I understand many players have problems with HW decoding on Intel.
2. I experience severe jerkiness when playing back HD H.264 material, whether it's from a local hard drive or from a network share, unless I enable "VideoClock" in the video options. Why is this?
3. Even after enabling VideoClock, I still see some slight glitches (pretty rare, maybe once a movie) when playing back from a Windows network share (gigabit-networked). Is this to be expected? Can I increase the buffer to avoid this?
4. I notice the media center will update the tags of my MP3s, how can I disable this functionality?
5. I notice that after adding files to a directory monitored by Media Center, it may take some time before they are available in the Media Center library. Can I trigger a sync manually?

[Matt]

Welcome to Interact.

1. Does it support HW video decoding on the Intel Sandy Bridge processor (I have an ASRock CoreHT 231D PC)? I understand many players have problems with HW decoding on Intel.

If you enable hardware acceleration in Options > Video, DXVA will be used with a Sandy Bridge.  However, it doesn't work well with the current Intel drivers (and actually uses the same or slightly more power at the wall), so it's not very interesting.

2. I experience severe jerkiness when playing back HD H.264 material, whether it's from a local hard drive or from a network share, unless I enable "VideoClock" in the video options. Why is this?
3. Even after enabling VideoClock, I still see some slight glitches (pretty rare, maybe once a movie) when playing back from a Windows network share (gigabit-networked). Is this to be expected? Can I increase the buffer to avoid this?

What frame rate is your display and what frame rate is the movie?

Make sure you have the latest video drivers.  Also, get audio setup nicely (I recommend WASAPI - Event Style with 50 or 100ms of buffering for Sandy Bridge).

4. I notice the media center will update the tags of my MP3s, how can I disable this functionality?

Media Center is a very well-respected tagger, so there's nothing to be nervous about.

With that said, you can disable all tagging here:
Options > General > Update tags when file info changes

5. I notice that after adding files to a directory monitored by Media Center, it may take some time before they are available in the Media Center library. Can I trigger a sync manually?

Menu > Tools > Import > Run Auto-Import Now

[aknuds1]

Thanks for helping out.

1. I have enabled HD decoding.
2/3. It's connected to a Panasonic plasma TV, G20 series, which supports a number of frame rates. I didn't check which frame rate the videos were at, but I recall at least one was a TV show which I think has an FPS of 23.976. Now that you mention it, I notice in Media Center's video options that it applies desktop settings to all video formats :/ Should I pick 23 FPS for 23.976 videos? WASAPI hogs the sound card though am I right, so that only Media Center can access it? Does it matter much when playing back video (using DirectSound atm)?
4. Thanks.
5. Ah, there it is.

[Matt]

It's worth doing a full audio setup, especially since audio controls the clock for video playback:
http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Audio_Setup

As for the stutters without VideoClock, some may be normal since 60 Hz / 24 Hz isn't a perfect multiple.  That's why VideoClock exists.

But even with VideoClock, you could enable switching to 24 Hz when watching 24 Hz material (if your Panasonic supports it) as this will require less work from the graphics card than drawing at 60 Hz.

You could also try Red October HQ, which will use madVR for renderering.

Thanks.

[aknuds1]

It's worth doing a full audio setup, especially since audio controls the clock for video playback:
http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Audio_Setup

Thanks.

As for the stutters without VideoClock, some may be normal since 60 Hz / 24 Hz isn't a perfect multiple.  That's why VideoClock exists.

But even with VideoClock, you could enable switching to 24 Hz when watching 24 Hz material (if your Panasonic supports it) as this will require less work from the graphics card than drawing at 60 Hz.

You could also try Red October HQ, which will use madVR for renderering.

I have now switched the display modes to avoid framerate conversion, for instance 23.976 fps to 1920x1080x32x23. Is that the correct display mode for 23.976 fps material though? Does it mean the video will actually be played back at 23.976, or will it be 23.0?

The Panasonic supports 24 fps yes, no problem there.

I switched to the Red October HQ as well, didn't notice that alternative.

Thanks!