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[frani]

Hello everyone.

I bought JRiver a few days ago and can't get it right to play back videos smoothly.
I have a Pioneer Plasma with a native resolution of 720P/50hz.
On my HTPC I've set this resolution as well as in the video playback section of JRiver for all Video formats.
To my understanding JRiver should take care of setting the video to the desired resolution and play it back smoothly. However, it keeps stuttering on all the 720 and 1080p/24z files. When I check the Video clock setting, it plays smoothly for a couple of minutes and then starts stuttering for about a minute. This repeats the hole time a video is playing.
It doesn't matter, whether the files are played via the NAS or directly from harddisc.
I tried JRiver on several computers with different Resolutions. It seems as if there is no effect at all, when I enable the Automatic display settings. On all computers Hardware acceleration is enabled.
What am I missing?

Greetings

Frank

[JimH]

That sounds a lot like this problem:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=72727.0

If so, I'll merge this with that thread.

Try turning off hardware acceleration.

Try Red October Standard.

[frani]

Hello JIm,

that was  my first thought also. However, running throught that post it seems an issue of streaming or buffering(?), while in my case the stuttering also appears on running videos directly from Harddisc. I also don't have the effect of freezing. The films play but don't play smoothly.
Turning Hardware acceleration of doesn't have any effect. Red Ocotber Standard was already set.

I also deleted JRiver completely (inclusive the Library) and reinstalled it. Again the same problem. I tried various Resolutions without success.

[JimH]

What is the video hardware in the PC?  Did you try a different driver?

[frani]

Graphic card is an AMD Radeon 6570, driver version ATI Catalyst 12.6.
I didn't try another driver yet because I have the issue on three different computers with different Graphic Cards en drivers.
I was watching the Processor on my HTPC during playback, he hardly reaches 10%, mostly far beneath, around 2%.

[frani]

I deleted JRiver, installed an erlier version ...147. For a brief moment I thought the problems was solved. The videos seemed to play smooth (but only when VideoClock is enabled!).
However, after a about 20 minutes the stuttering started again.
Now what.
When deleting JRiver compelety you get the message that Registry entries and settings will be removed as well. Checking the computer with CCleaner, there are still a vew entries left. Also the licence still is valid. Is there another possibility of "resetting" the settings of the program?
All other functions work well, the sound is good so I really would like to stick to this software.
Please, I need some help here.

[BartMan01]

So playback of 50fps files is fine, it is just 24fps that gives you fits?

Have you tried playing back the same files using another program like VLC?  If not, try that just to confirm it is a MC issue and not a system issue.

[frani]

Yes I've tried that already.
Although the Pioneer Plasma has a native resolution of 720p it supports playback of 1080p/24hz.
When I set the resolution of the desctop to 1080p/24hz I can play the files with VLC or Power DvD12 without stuttering. Only MC can't handle the job.
I tried it with the higher resolution as well but after a couple of minutes the stuttering starts again.

[BartMan01]

Have you set the video options to set 24p support correctly to see if that helps?  From the help:

This subject covers the configuration of Display Settings under:

Tools > Options > Video > Display Settings

Correct configuration of these settings is key to getting smooth video playback. It is very important that the frame refresh frequency for your display matches (or is a multiple of) the frame rate (frames per second) at which the video was created. When the file is played, MC inspects the fps setting and uses it to change the refresh rate which the GPU uses to set up the communication with the display.

There are several settings:

    Enable Automatic Display Settings changing - select this for MC to automatically change the display refresh rate and resolution settings dependent on the fps (frames per second) setting of the video file and the display resolution;

For the next five options, clicking the down arrow will display all of the settings available. Each is made up of four numbers separated by an x:

- display horizontal resolution (pixels)
- display vertical resolution (pixels)
- colour depth (bits) - set to the maximum available, usually 32
- frame refresh rate (Hz) - select the rate appropriate for the fps of the video type

    FILM (23.976 fps) - select a frequency of 23 if available, otherwise 24;
    FILM (24 fps) - select 24;
    NTSC (29.97/59.94 fps) - select 59 if available, otherwise 60;
    PAL (25/50 fps) - select 50;
    Default - select the rate at which your display normally runs when not showing videos, usually 50 or 60 depending on which country you live in.

[BartMan01]

Another thing to look at:
In the audio settings the default is Direct Sound.  If using HDMI, try changing this to WASAPI (either regular or event style).

[frani]

At the first try-out I had the following settings:
Native resolution of the desktop 720p/50hz
Video settings in JRiver: Automatic Display settings enabeld
For all video files it was set to desktop settings, thus 720p/50.
Audio is set to ASIO. WASAPI is not supported via my soundcard. The soundcard is connected via 6 channels analogue to a Denon AV receiver as it has no HDMI support.
During this test videos of 24hz didn't play smoothly. With Video clock enabled they played smoothly fo a few minutes and then started stuttering.
These settings, by the way were first tested at the shop, where I bought the HTCP and worked fine, even if the display settings didn't match fps of the videos. As a matter of fact, during the demonstration it seems as if you could play all videos at all display settings without any problem.

At the second try-out I changed the following settings:
Native video resolution of the desktop still at 720p/50hz
JRiver: automatic display settings enabled.
Videos with 23 and 24hz set to 1080p/24hz. This is supported by my Pioneer Plasma although its native resolution is only HD Ready.
Videos with 50 set to display settings, thus 720p/50hz
Videos with 60 set to 720p/60hz
At this settings 24hz videos played smoothly a couple of minutes, then stuttering again.
With Video clock enabled I got the same results as described in the first test.

At the third try-out I had the desktop settings at 1080p/24 hz
JRiver: automatic display settings enabled.
Videos with 23 and 24hz set to display settings.
Videos with 50 set to 720p/50
Videos with 60 set to 720p/60
Again the same effects. Stuttering after a few minutes. With Video clock enabled it just takes a little bit longer before the stuttering begins.

In other words: no matter what I try I can't get a smooth playback at 24hz so far.

Playing videos with VLC at a desktop resolution of 1080p/24 works fine. At 23hz videos you can notice a small "hickup" two or three times during a hole film which I believe is due to the fact that I can't set the desktop to 23hz.
So it seems that the problem can't be found in the fact that the Plasma is only HD Ready.

[frani]

I would really appreciate some more reactions - also from the developpers side - as I still have this issue. 

[BartMan01]

I would really appreciate some more reactions - also from the developpers side - as I still have this issue. 

I can only offer these additional thoughts and beyond that I am out of suggestions:
Is there a reason you are not setting your display resolution to match the native 720p of your set?  Seems pointless to feed it 1080p if it can't handle 1080p.  Have you tried setting 720p max resolutions for the different video formats?

Does your set truly display at 24 frames per second, or does it convert 24 to 25 or 50?  Many 720p sets I have seen don't actually display at 24, they convert it to their native 50 or 60.  Note that supporting 24 fps as an input does not mean that it displays it at 24 fps.  If you manual only shows support for 24fps when discussing INPUT formats, and never explicitly states that it displays at 24 fps then it likely does not.

Basically, make sure you are setting MC to output formats that your set natively displays instead of formats that it must first convert to display.  That would be 720p/50 for most everything, and 720p/24 if your set truly displays that.

[frani]

Hello Bart,

That is just exactly what I try to achieve with JRiver: playing all the videos on the native resolution of the Plasma, thus at 720p/50hz.
See also the first settings of the three try-outs.
The reason of trying it also in the 1080p/24hz resolution lies in the fact, that VLC and Power DvD doen't have a conversion tool. It was also a test whether the videos paly smooth or not, which they do, except via JRiver.
As a matter of fact, JRiver doesn't play the Hig def. Videos smoothly at all, regardless which configuration I choose.