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[Stream_HD]

Hi All,

How can I smooth out playback when I change chapters?  The movies run perfectly fine.  But when I change a chapter, the sound is right on queue, but the video is stuttering for 3-4 seconds to catch up.

How can I fix this?

Thanks!

[6233638]

If you are using Red October HQ (i.e. madVR) there is a preference to delay playback start, and one below that for seeking, until the render queue is full.
This may pause the video for a second if you have large queue sizes.

[Stream_HD]

Is MadVR a seperate application?  I have in JRiver -> Playback Option -> Video -> Red October HQ

This is what I already had setup.  Maybe I am missing this other application because I don't see anything that looks like that.

Thanks!

[6233638]

To access the madVR configuration you need to play a video (it might be best to then pause playback) right click it and select DirectShow Filters > madVR.

[Stream_HD]

Thanks so much.  I made those two checkboxes and it still does it.  I then closed out, relauched the application, it still does it (even though I verified those settings are checked).

Any other idea possibly?

Thanks!

[6233638]

Thinking back, there's currently a bug where you might experience dropped frames if the CPU queue size is larger than the GPU queue size.
Could that be it? I'm not sure if it also affects seeking.

[Stream_HD]

I noticed that it stated a GTX 570 video card in the problem.  Not sure that this is saying it only happens to that GPU or not?  I have an ATI HD 6570.  Sure is interesting though that it completely ignores that setting.  It's exactly the same behavior with it on or off which sure is strange.  Sure hope this can be resolved.

[Stream_HD]

Additionally if it even matters, it works perfectly with PowerDVD when changing chapters.  I get absolutely no glitchy video during the initial playback.  Not sure it means anything but at least I know the PC is capable of doing it.

Any ideas Matt on what I could do about this?

**For the record, all my movies that I am using right now are Blu Ray .ISO files.  I haven't tested any other format and don't intend to use any other format at this point.**

Also, if it's any help, here is my TV (Plasma).  I have done absolutely no setup inside JRiver as far as video settings etc.  Not sure if it requires modifications of display settings etc.:

http://shop.panasonic.com/shop/model/TC-P55GT50

Thanks

[Stream_HD]

Well I have found that it seems to be audio related.  Because if I set the audio -> output -> null output, then the video works perfectly.  I have tried a few combinations and none seem to work without the slight lag and delay.  Knowing that this seems to be audio related, any ideas how to fix it?  Combos I have tried:

1.  M-Audio SPDIF (WASAPI) - lags on chapter change
2.  M-Audio SPDIF (Direct sound) - Lags on chapter change
3.  M-Audio Firewire (ASIO) - Lags on chapter change
4.  M-Audio SPDIF setup as windows default, then choosing Default Audio Device (Direct Sound) - Lags on chapter change
5.  M-Audio SPDIF (Kernal Processing) - lags on chapter change

**All of these are with Bitstream turned on and off with the same result**

Any ideas how to fix this issue?  Soundcard is M-Audio Firewire Audiophile with the latest drivers.

[Stream_HD]

So I installed TMT 6 last night and it works flawlessly without the stuttering.  However, it does wait a second or two more before it plays back the video which is helping I am sure.

Any help on this from the admins or should I just consider this something I need to live with, because it's only happening in JRiver.

[Matt]

Any ideas Matt on what I could do about this?

My ears are burning

My guess is that this is being caused by using an (overly) large audio buffer size.  After a seek, audio and video are delivered to the audio renderer mostly in sync.  If the audio hardware then needs a large drift (due to the output latency), the audio renderer must issue clock corrections to establish sync.  This will look like video lagging for about the length of the audio output latency.

To test this guess, in Options > Audio > Device settings..., try a smaller buffer setting.  With a good computer and a locally connected sound device (like your PCIe video card), you should be able to use something like 10ms.

I should add that DSP processing that adds latency can also cause this.  The worst offender here is Convolution, which routinely adds a second of latency or more.  The other stock DSP processing in the program is much lower latency, on the order of a few milliseconds total.  

MC19 improves this from earlier versions, because it helps Loopback and the new ASIO driver output.  For example:

19.0.5 (6/25/2013)
Changed: The input stage of the playback engine has one fourth the latency (now about 1.5ms at 44.1kHz, down from 5.8ms).

[Stream_HD]

Hi Matt,

I did the test and it didn't affect anything at all.

I changed the windows buffer size from 512 to 256, 128, 64 and all the way to 2048 and it had no effect.

Then I changed the driver from Direct to WASAPI SPDIF output and made sure there was no DSP etc (I have never setup any).  Then I changed the buffer size to every possible option, one at a time and it didn't fix the problem.  In fact many of them made not only the video late, but now the audio was chopping as well.

At the recommended 100MS, the audio comes in right on time with no issues at all and the video plays hell to catch up which takes about 3 seconds to do.

If I turn off the audio it's flawless video.

If I use TMT 6 and do the same tests, TMT 6 simply pauses for much longer lengths of time between channel changes.  JRiver doesn't pause at all.  Even though I have MadVR set to delay until it's ready, it doesn't pause at all.  The second I hit change chapter, it locks over, audio starts, and video plays catchup.

Additionally I changed the video settings to Red October standard, HQ and tried them both with video lock and hardware acceleration.  The video still always lagged.

Any other ideas?

Thanks!

[Stream_HD]

**ADDED SIGNATURE WITH COMPUTER SPECS**

[tie_breaker]

Hi Stream_HD,

Were you able to resolve this problem? I have the same issue and very similar equipment. Although I am able to get high-res audio from my Bluray discs I have a lot of stuttering with my video playback, especially while pausing, starting, or changing chapters.
Thank you..

[JimH]

Hi Stream_HD,

Were you able to resolve this problem? I have the same issue and very similar equipment. Although I am able to get high-res audio from my Bluray discs I have a lot of stuttering with my video playback, especially while pausing, starting, or changing chapters.
Thank you..

Could you provide more details?  What kind of files?  Local?  Any network involved?

[tie_breaker]

Hi JimH,

I have a Dell Vostro PC with Windows 7 SP1, Core Duo 3Ghz processor, 2GB RAM, LG Bluray internal drive, Asus Xonar Essence STX audio card and NVidia GeForce 210.  I am able to play high-res files such as Flac with no problem and am able to output bit perfect audio using the Asio driver that comes with Xonar.  I have some Bluray discs that have audio formats of 96/24. I would like to be able to watch these using MC 19 while getting the best audio and video quality.  I am able to output 96/24 by changing the Stream settings in MC 19 while playing the disc using my LG drive. However there is stuttering while playback of video especially when pausing and skipping chapters. There is also a large drift between audio and video, audio being "on time" and video lagging.

Thank you...

[Matt]

There is also a large drift between audio and video, audio being "on time" and video lagging.

You can adjust for audio / video sync using Options > Video > Advanced > A/V sync correction

To calibrate, this test clip works pretty well:
http://files.jriver.com/accessories/test_clips/audio_sync_test_25hz.vob

[tie_breaker]

Thanks that helped, audio / video are in sync. However video seems to be dropping frames as well as stuttering. I can also hear clicking in audio.

[tie_breaker]

When I play audio only (for ex flac files) there is no problem. Audio is outputted bit-perfect to my external DAC.

[JimH]

Run the benchmark in MC's Help menu and paste the result here. 

[tie_breaker]

=== Running Benchmarks (please do not interrupt) ===

Running 'Math' benchmark...
    Single-threaded integer math... 4.025 seconds
    Single-threaded floating point math... 2.396 seconds
    Multi-threaded integer math... 4.047 seconds
    Multi-threaded mixed math... 2.411 seconds
Score: 1475

Running 'Image' benchmark...
    Image creation / destruction... 0.275 seconds
    Flood filling... 1.211 seconds
    Direct copying... 2.177 seconds
    Small renders... 1.913 seconds
    Bilinear rendering... 2.254 seconds
    Bicubic rendering... 1.570 seconds
Score: 2341

Running 'Database' benchmark...
    Create database... 0.631 seconds
    Populate database... 2.220 seconds
    Save database... 0.507 seconds
    Reload database... 0.123 seconds
    Search database... 1.766 seconds
    Sort database... 1.354 seconds
    Group database... 0.912 seconds
Score: 2862

JRMark (version 19.0.32): 2226

[JimH]

It's a reasonably good machine.  Not high powered.  Not bad though.

2GB of RAM isn't much though.

[tie_breaker]

I have been watching RAM and CPU usage while playing Bluray discs, the CPU is fluctuates between 30%-50% and RAM is at about 1GB.

The stuttering gets worse if i set ROHQ so I have it set at standard.  I ripped the disc to my internal HD and played from the HD, slight difference but still lots of stuttering.  Is my PC not strong enough to play DVD and output bitperfect audio using MC 19?

I also installed latest version of PowerDVD to test and I have no stuttering while playback or skipping chapters. PowerDVD doesn't seem to have Asio audio output so it probably downsamples to 48/16.

Any ideas?
Thx

[tie_breaker]

JimH, is there anything else I can try?
Thx..

[Matt]

JimH, is there anything else I can try?
Thx..

tie_breaker, I don't think your problem is the same as the thread starter.

It sounds like it stutters during all HD video playback for you (not just on chapter changes like the OP). 

In your case, updating video drivers might help.  Trying DirectSound instead of ASIO would also be a good test.

[tie_breaker]

Matt, I set to DirectSound in Audio section and that certainly helped. But my Dac is now showing 48/16 so audio is getting downsampled.  But then I tried the WASAPI driver (Asus Xonar's Wasapi) and stuttering is almost gone.  Not sure why Asio stutters and Wasapi does not. 

[Matt]

Matt, I set to DirectSound in Audio section and that certainly helped. But my Dac is now showing 48/16 so audio is getting downsampled.  But then I tried the WASAPI driver (Asus Xonar's Wasapi) and stuttering is almost gone.  Not sure why Asio stutters and Wasapi does not. 

The point is to see if the problem is audio related at all.

So run with DirectSound for a few days.  If it solves the problems, let's circle back and try to get ASIO working better after that.

[tie_breaker]

Matt, I have done lots of testing.  In the end I found that while playing Blu Ray discs, if I use Wasapi I don't have any problems. When I use Asio, if the screen is about half the size of my tv it plays fine, but when I maximize the screen so that it fits the size of my tv the audio starts to clip and the video starts drifting.  The cpu and memory usage on Wasapi versus Asio is about the same during playback.  I updated my Asus Xonar driver to the latest version, no difference. My Asio driver is provided by Asus.  If I play music such as high-res flac files using the Asio audio output I have no problems.

[Stream_HD]

I just wanted to come back and respond to my thread and update with my results.  After I proved the issue was with audio I bought a new USB DAC and now the problem is gone.  So the problem is with that sound card and most likely due to the fact that the company no longer provides updates to drivers for it.  Even though it's compatible with Windows 7 64-bit my hunch is the driver is just to old to support the newest technology and software.

None the less, the new USB DAC works perfectly.  When I change chapters, the movie pauses for 1-3 seconds before playing and then plays perfectly.  This is exactly the behavior TotalMedia Theatre always had (even with the older sound card).  Knowing that I much prefer JRiver I am happy to say it's working flawlessly now with an updated device and driver.