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[Simon Chick]

I have been using JRiver for a few years now as my primary music playback program, and have been ever happier with its functionality and performance in that time.

I have also been looking forward to having a rich interface to pick video content in just the way I pick music. I wasn't very impressed with an early version for video I tried in MC (can't recall which one), so decided to wait while it matured and then have another go.

Emboldened by an email from you a few months suggesting that MC was now the best video streamer available, I figured it was time to try again.

After a pretty short learning curve I figured out how to control the movie info look-up, remove wrong data, and substitute more appropriate cover art where necessary. I also learned to overcome the initial playback preference to show a wrong aspect ratio.

What I have not been able to cure is an invariable stuttering, audio and video, when playing back DVD files (.ifo) and Blu-rays (.iso). I tried converting some of the ripped DVDs to mkv, and I also tried re-ripping the same disks direct to mkv. Neither made any noticeable difference to the problem. mpg and avi files generally do play OK.

On exactly the same PC from exactly the same source, all the dvd rips play flawlessly in both PowerDVD and VLC, and the Blu-ray isos play fine in PowerDVD too

All files are stored on an 8 drive Synology NAS, and delivered by a wired gigabit network to a Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64 bit PC, Intel i5 2.7 GHz processor, 8 GB RAM. The PC does nothing except media streaming and some internet browsing. The only antivirus is Windows Security Essentials. I am running JRMC18.0.212.

I have browsed this forum and seen others have experienced similar issues, but apparently without any particular resolution. I have already tried various permutations suggested in those threads, relating to Video Mode, hardware acceleration, video clock etc, without any benefit.

I am also aware from a hi-fi forum to which I contribute that several other MC users have given up on using the video aspect for more or less identical reasons. As they have alternative players to use, they just gave up.

I could also do the same of course, but I don't see why I should have to, and I don't want to waste the benefit of the excellent MC interface. At the moment I use it to pick what I want to watch, then exit MC, and watch it in PowerDVD 

Can anybody help clarify the problem and explain the solution? There has to be one out there.

[CountryBumkin]

First thing I would do is copy one of the stuttering movies from the NAS to your computer's (C:) drive that is running MC. This is see if the problem is due to data/network transmission or the JRiver program itself. Obviously if it plays okay from the computer but not from the NAS the issue is (probably) not going to be an JRiver settings issue. This info will help track down the issue for you. I know you said everything plays nicely when using a non-JRiver player, but I still suggest you try this test then report back.

[Simon Chick]

First thing I would do is copy one of the stuttering movies from the NAS to your computer's (C:) drive that is running MC. This is see if the problem is due to data/network transmission or the JRiver program itself. Obviously if it plays okay from the computer but not from the NAS the issue is (probably) not going to be an JRiver settings issue. This info will help track down the issue for you. I know you said everything plays nicely when using a non-JRiver player, but I still suggest you try this test then report back.

Good idea, I will try that.

[JimH]

Try both Red October and Red October HQ.  Try toggling hardware acceleration (video settings).

The antivirus program should not be checking the video files.

Search for firmware problems with Synology.  There was a problem reported on the forum about a year ago that was solved with a firmware update.

[Simon Chick]

I have tried playing a dvd folder copied to the PC's C drive. It is a rip I watched last night in PowerDVD so I know it is good. The problem was unchanged, so it is not a network issue.

As stated in my original post, I have tried changing the MC Video Settings, including Red October HQ and non-HQ, but it made no difference.

Since we now know that the problem is the same when the NAS is not involved, as identified in my last post, where next?

[CountryBumkin]

Anything odd reported in Windows Event Viewer?
Does the movie stutter all the way through or always in the same place(s) - maybe a scene with heavy visual effects, etc.?
If it stutters playing with MC set to RO-STD then it would not be a problem with MadVR (a component of RO+HQ).
I don't know how PowerDVD works - but if someone knows and can post back on the differences between MC and PowerDVD with regards to movie playback, that may lead to the solution.

[JimH]

Hardware acceleration?

Antivirus?

[Daveyravey]

whats graphics card / drivers have you got in your pc?  First obvious thing i would do is update latest drivers and check driver settings.  Is your CPU maxing out during playback?

[Simon Chick]

Thanks to all for the continuing suggestions.

The graphics are handled by the motherboard and sent out by HDMI to the screen. Sound goes to the hifi via USB. The Intel graphics drivers have updated regularly as part of Windows update. I can't see anything in the settings that I should be changing, but perhaps that doesn't mean much.

I have opened Event Viewer but cannot see any indication of errors being created during playback. I am not really familiar with Event Viewer so cannot be sure if I am looking in the right place.

While playing back a DVD in MC I have also kept Resource Monitor open. It shows minimal network load, and up to about 25% Physical Memory usage. CPU usage is mainly in single figures but occasionally creeps up to 20%. The only indicator which I can see which is high is Frequency which is most of the time in the 75% to 79% range, occasionally in the 80s. It is pretty stable at that level, but it seems to max out on the graph, maybe once in 2 minutes and then only momentarily. Nor can I see any correlation between stutters in the playback and the readouts. The stutters are every few seconds, very frequent, and unrelated to the particular video content as far as I can see.

I'm not sure what point JimH is trying to make. As already mentioned, I just use MS Security Essentials for antivirus, and I already tried turning on and off hardware acceleration in MC, without it making any difference.

I think all we know at the moment is that the issue is in some way connected to how MC plays the video or to how it uses some other component in the process.

I hope that the above data helps more knowledgeable people identify it. If there are any specific things to look at in the wealth of Event Viewer data or other diagnostic techniques, please guide me.

[Boltron]

I can tell you that I have run MC18 on two PCs one of which is an I3-540 but with discrete graphics though (HD7770 and GTX660) and I have no issues. Playback is perfect. I also use a file server (Linux and/or Windows) and all my movies are Bluray rips with no compression. I use the highest quality settings (LAV Filters and madVR) and won't tolerate anything but excellent playback with no dropped frames or hiccups.

The difference between our setups is that 1) I use discrete graphics and 2) I send audio over HDMI. You need to try and see which of these two is the cause. You can test the audio over USB easy enough. Just set MC18 to no audio Options > Audio > Null Output. This should remove audio from the stream, let's see if this gets rid of issue.

Start with this easy test and we can go from there. Aside from the above the only other thing which can be quite possible is your refresh rate/resolution/interlace which has to match your AVR/TV.

[Hendrik]

The Intel graphics drivers have updated regularly as part of Windows update. I can't see anything in the settings that I should be changing, but perhaps that doesn't mean much.

For Graphics, thats usually not a terribly good idea.
I would recommend to go to Intels website and get the latest driver for your GPU directly.

I would then also go into the Intel Graphics Control Panel and disable all the so-called "Enhancements" under Video, as they can have rather odd effects at times.

[Simon Chick]

Thanks everybody for further ideas.

I will try them all, but may be delayed a day or two as I have to deal with some other things right now. I will report back later.

[gworrel]

I tried watching the Blu Ray rip of Jack Reacher last night and I was seeing and hearing an unwatchable stuttering effect. I had watched a few minutes of a rip of The Hobbit earlier in the day and didn't notice any problems.   On Jack Reacher, it affected both audio and video. I tried changing video settings to no avail. I was getting the same problem when I tried to watch a newly downloaded Blu Ray reference demo disk from AVS forum. I could usually get a few seconds of good playback before the stuttering started. I was still seeing it when I set audio output to null. When I changed from wasapi to direct sound, the problem went away. I am using the latest version of J River 18, 212.

[Simon Chick]

First of all sorry for the long time taken to follow up. I had some time today and followed the various suggestions.

It had nothing to do with the Intel graphics driver, which was up to date, and had no special features activated that I could see.

The issue is definitely sound related, and I could see when sound was set to null that there was no jerkiness.

gworrel is the star here though, as I found switching to Direct Sound solved the problem, immediately and completely.

So the problem is coming from use of WASAPI. This would explain why friends on a hi-fi forum were also having the same problem, because like me they would use WASAPI as a matter of course as they use MC first and foremost to play music.

So problem identified, and it is not particularly onerous to switch to Direct Sound when I want to watch a movie.

However, it is still irritating, and it seems to me that the problem should not exist in the first place.

So can it be solved? is it a fault in the WASAPI implementation, or a fault fundamental to WASAPI itself?

[Hendrik]

You could try to change the WASAPI buffer size. The default is 100ms, but maybe this doesn't work properly for your setup.

[Simon Chick]

Sounds like a good idea to try. However, I already have it up to 500 ms. How much higher is it reasonable to go?

[Hendrik]

Did you try lowering it instead? Some drivers can be particularly picky.
You could also try setting the bitdepth to some specific value instead of auto, maybe something is wrong there.

For HDMI i usually use 24-bit (in 32-bit package), but it may depend on your hardware.

[Simon Chick]

Thank you. The issue is now fully resolved.

I cannot remember why I had the buffer set at 500ms. I think it was because of an issue with audio playback which it seemed to solve, years rather that months ago and with different hardware.

I reduced it to 250ms and it made no difference. I then reduced it to the (recommended) 100ms, and lo and behold, problem apparently solved, after successfully playing bits of several DVDs and a Blu-ray too.

I left bit depth set to automatic.

So after all that, it was just the WASAPI buffer setting that had caused the issue.

I hope this will be useful information for any other users who encounter the issue.

[Hendrik]

Glad we got it figured out.