Playback stutter... Takes place every 25 seconds...exactly

[skyeclad]

Does anyone know what would cause stuttering in video playback to occur at a regular interval? I can't see anything going on that would explain why this is occurring. Could it be some kind of timing resyncing between video and audio?

I can't see any hardware reason for this such as a cpu or disk usage spike. The only thing I can think of is that it's a software issue.

[nyplayer]

You need to give more Information. Type of video resolution what type of CPU operating system. There is no way we can help without any Info it could be anything.

[skyeclad]

Sorry...

Windows 8
AMD A10-5800k APU
8GB RAM
1080p
New Seagate 3TB HDD

Codecs: Using MS DTV but all codecs(ATI, Sagetv, TMT3) exhibit the same issue.

The other problem is that it's not consistent. Last night I saw this playing back an lower resolution MP4 video but I didn't notice it on 1080p MKV.

I can't see anything going on in the client log when the stutter takes place except for....

Sun 1/6 1:20:45.174 [Fork-JREkiwi-615771@cea444] =======>Get getMediaTimeMillis0 cur:1409309 s0:0 s1:0 new:1409309.

...during playback which I assume is a timing measurement for Commerical Skip plugin.

I assume that this isn't due to hardware being taxed because the system is ample and it doesn't matter which codec I use. I'm lost as to why this is happening. Is there anything that someone would suggest I do to isolate and diagnose the problem?

[Suntan]

I noticed you stated a "new" 3 TB drive.

Might you have changed a setting?

When I last overhauled my sage server a while back I noticed random skips/pauses that weren't there before. Under power save settings I turned off the selection that would power down HDDs after a set amount of inactivity.

I turned that completely off and the skips went away.

-Suntan

[KryptoNyte]

Is the playback/stuttering occuring on the server itself, and what are the sources of the files (with regard to tuner, or some encoded video)?

What is the framerate of the files that seem to stutter?

[skyeclad]

Originally Posted by Suntan

I noticed you stated a "new" 3 TB drive.

Might you have changed a setting?

When I last overhauled my sage server a while back I noticed random skips/pauses that weren't there before. Under power save settings I turned off the selection that would power down HDDs after a set amount of inactivity.

I turned that completely off and the skips went away.

-Suntan

I hadn't changed the power savings settings but I just went in there and there doesn't seem to be an option to never let the HDD sleep. However, it is set to 40 minutes. I wonder why a sleep setting was causing you stutter?

[skyeclad]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

Is the playback/stuttering occuring on the server itself, and what are the sources of the files (with regard to tuner, or some encoded video)?

What is the framerate of the files that seem to stutter?

Yes, this is a client server so the network isn't an issue. I'll have to check to see which files are the cause of this.

[KryptoNyte]

Also, if you could tell us what viewing device you're using, specifically. Additionally, your last post makes me think that ALL files do not exhibit the skipping issue?

[skyeclad]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

Is the playback/stuttering occuring on the server itself, and what are the sources of the files (with regard to tuner, or some encoded video)?

What is the framerate of the files that seem to stutter?

I'm seeing it now on mpeg-2PS, 1080i 29.97 fps material. Stuttering every 11 seconds now.

[skyeclad]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

Also, if you could tell us what viewing device you're using, specifically. Additionally, your last post makes me think that ALL files do not exhibit the skipping issue?

I'm viewing on a PC attached to a 1080p 60hz HDTV. I don't recall this being a problem with 1080p material but I'm watching to see if this only effects interlaced video.

I should also note that playing the video through Windows Media Player shows no stuttering.

[skyeclad]

Ok, well after playing around further with Shark Codec's I have settled on a work-around(I won't call it a fix). It seems like every codec I try results in some kind of stutter on a regular basis(11 seconds or 25 seconds). I surmise that it's some sort of timing problem but I can't see anything going on in CPU or HDD performance that would suggest the problem. With that being said, I did manage to get rid of the cyclic stutter with one codec, FFDShow.

By switching to this Codec in the Shark Control Panel and setting SageTV to Default, I get the FFDshow Video Codec working which seems to be stutter free....unless I'm using Playlater, the Playon service. When I'm downloading something using Playlater, I get lots of stutter, lag, you name it and I don't know why because the CPU barely registers above 40%.

I guess my rule that PC clients suck for glitch free video playback is kind of holding true. It's so much easier to get an HD Extender working perfectly than it is to get a decently powerful PC.

[Fuzzy]

When you throw codec packs and stuff on the PC, that's where codec playback issues come up.

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

When you throw codec packs and stuff on the PC, that's where codec playback issues come up.

+1 to that. If I've said it once, I've said it 1000 times. I like TMT 5 decoders. They work much better than the TMT3 decoders for me.

[skyeclad]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

When you throw codec packs and stuff on the PC, that's where codec playback issues come up.

Normally, I agree but I was having crap luck with the basic ATI, MS and Sage Decoders. I turned to the Shark Pack only because of the "how to get rid of stutter on SageTV" blog suggested to. My first attempt didn't work out so well. I didn't see any difference in Sage and it might have killed the Netflix in Windows 8 app as a side effect.

Then I chose FFDshow and it seems to be the ONLY codec my AMD A10 works with in Sage. Netflix app seems to be working now as well.

All in all, I have to say that the integrated graphics of the AMD A10 isn't quite an obvious step up over my old ATI 4xxxx series video card, at least for HD video.

[Fuzzy]

If you are using 'ffdshow Video Decoder', then it really doesn't matter what graphics card/APU you have, as it isn't doing anything on the GPU but rendering. If it is smooth, then that would indicate the problem resides somewhere in the graphics subsystem, and not the individual decoders.

That said, there really isn't much need for hardware decoding if you have a fast enough CPU (which that A10 is).

[skyeclad]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

If you are using 'ffdshow Video Decoder', then it really doesn't matter what graphics card/APU you have, as it isn't doing anything on the GPU but rendering. If it is smooth, then that would indicate the problem resides somewhere in the graphics subsystem, and not the individual decoders.

That said, there really isn't much need for hardware decoding if you have a fast enough CPU (which that A10 is).

Interesting. So, just wondering, what about the graphic subsystem would you recommend investigating if I ultimately wanted to obtain stutter free hardware acceleration? I'm up to date on my graphics drivers. It's a relatively new Win8 install with all Windows Updates. Also, my APU and power settings are set to performance so the frequency is set high.

The one thing that I did notice when running ffdshow was that, video was very much impacted by Playlater downloading in the background. I'm not sure why as the CPU didn't seem taxed while this was happening but I wonder if the GPU would have been so effected.

[jerryt]

To test if the problem is Hardware Acceleration, you can access the property page of a video decoder and turn off hardware acceleration and see how that works.

[skyeclad]

Originally Posted by jerryt

To test if the problem is Hardware Acceleration, you can access the property page of a video decoder and turn off hardware acceleration and see how that works.

I grabbed the Sage codec and turned off Hardware acceleration and just like that smooth, stutter free video. Turned it back on just to see that I wasn't crazy and stutter starts again. So we determined it is due to hardware acceleration which explains why no codec would work.

Question is, what can I do to rectify why my new GPU's hardware acceleration blows?

By the way, thanks for this help guys. I appreciate it.

[panteragstk]

What is your driver version? 12.10 sucked big time for me. 12.08 works great.

[jerryt]

GPU drivers,

Stock up and start testing, then wait for new drivers, and hunt for beta drivers.