FPS-related stutter & minimizing issues (1 Viewer)

[GWfan]

Hi, all. I've been having some trouble with MP and hope that someone can help.

First, minimizing. I get the best results when using the X button near the top of the home screen, but more often than not, the MP screen remains on top (frozen and unresponsive) despite it being pressed and I have to put the computer into standby to reset.

Second, I'm having some real trouble with FPS. Basically, my setup runs best at 1080i / 30hz interlaced. I've installed ReClock, but the only impact it seems to have on anything is with PowerDVD (which I've integrated through MP as a HD Player).

I tried changing the FPS settings through MP Config, but it won't let me. If possible, I would like to run my DVDs through MP's player, but with this FPS issue resolved.

Can anyone help?

 

[Owlsroost]

Please fill out your system specs , so people have some idea of the hardware/software setup - see the link below for how to do this...

Which country are you in - do you mostly play 50Hz or 60Hz material ?

If you press 'shift+1' (i.e. !) when something is playing in MP, rendering performance data should show up on screen (FPS, dropped frames etc) - what does it say ?

Can you describe the stuttering ?

Reclock can help with stuttering caused by differences between the video stream and display frame rates (including speeding up 24Hz material to 25Hz) but it can't fix problems caused by performance issues.

Tony

 

[GWfan]

Hi Tony,

System specs

Win XP
AMD Dual core - 5200+ (2.71GHz)
1.75Gb RAM
ATi Radeon HD 3200 Graphics
Gigabyte motherboard
LCD 32'' 1080i

Hi, Tony. I usually play PAL DVDs/HD-DVDs/Blu Rays.

There are two types of stuttering. One is a horizontal banding that occurs when there is fast motion on screen. The second is when I try to play a DVD of say, an old UK TV show, and the FPS doesn't quite match the source material.

Something else I've noticed is that I can't change the dynamic refresh rate in MP Config. There are three options: Cinema, PAL and NTSC - Cinema is permanently selected, with no other options.

Also, WMVs run so slow through MP, they hardly play at all. MPEGs and Quicktimes run fine.

I do seem to get better results when playing through PowerDVD, but if possible, I'd like to make use of MP too.

EDIT: Shift and 1 says:

last 0.00 fps (1920x1080)
VMR9 50.00
avg fps: 50.00
sync: 0
dropped 0
jitter 0

The scrolling white line is breaking up as it moves, though.

 

[Owlsroost]

See https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/mediaportal-1-talk-45/automatic-refreshrate-changer-44338/ for info on setting up dynamic refresh changer.

To get minimal stuttering, the display refresh rate must match the frame rate of the material being played - which should be 50Hz refresh rate for most of the material you listed.

Which video and audio codecs are you using (these are setup in MP config) ?

Tony

 

[GWfan]

MPEG-2 - ffdshow video decoder
H.264 - CyberLink H.264/AVC Decoder (PDVD7.x)
MPEG / AC3 Audio - ffdshow audio decoder
AAC audio decoder - ffdshow audio decoder
Audio rend - Default DirectSound Device

With regard to changing the refresh rate, in practice, displaying at ANYTHING other than 30hz interlaced, I get a black border around the edge of the screen, which I'm unable to scale despite the screen res remaining the same (1920x1080). ???

In fact, I have no option, either in Display Properties or ATi Catalyst to change to 50hz. All I have are 25, 30, 60, 75, 100 & 125 in Catalyst, and 25 interlaced, 30 interlaced, 60, 75, 100 & 120 in Display Properties.

Basically, it appears I cannot change any of the settings required if I want to remain at 1080i. Anything else drops me down to 720p. Weird. Though, the manual for my particular model TV does state the refresh rate for 1080i is 60hz, so could that be why '1920x1080 - 30hz interlaced' is the only setting that seems to work?

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1080i

So, in theory, 1080i 30hz interlaced is almost the same as 60hz which is the NTSC standard. That may be why MP Config isn't allowing me to change over to PAL at 50hz. That's what I need to figure out how to do... I think!

 

[Owlsroost]

How is the TV connected (HDMI/DVI/VGA) ?

75 and 100 Hz would be the best matches for 50Hz material, but if this is an HDMI connection I'm surprised it doesn't at least offer 720p@50Hz.

Is the TV 'Full HD' (1920 x 1080) or just 'HD ready' (usually 1366 x 768) screen resolution ?

Tony

 

[GWfan]

Yeah, it's connected via HDMI. I double checked the manual and under Supported Signal Modes, HDMI Mode is listed as:

420p - Horizontal Frequency: 31.468 KHz - Vertical Frequency 59.94 Hz
720p - Horizontal Frequency: 45.00 KHz - Vertical Frequency 60.00 Hz
1080i - Horizontal Frequency: 33.75 KHz - Vertical Frequency 60.00 Hz

I'm no expert, but my theory is the computer has discerned the available modes the LCD has to offer and has indeed found 'the best option' at 1920x1080 - 30 Hz interlaced (or in other words, 1080i).

Whenever I try to change the settings to anything other than the above, the screen just doesn't look right. And dropping down to 720p means Ati Catalyst and other windows don't entirely fit the screen (i.e. become too big), and some options become unviewable.

The question is, can I get MP to allow me to change the dynamic refresh rate from Cinema mode to PAL? If I can do that, my troubles may be over... At present, only Cinema is selected with no other options available.

BTW - Many thanks for your all help so far, Tony. I think at last, I might be getting somewhere..!

 

[Owlsroost]

Whenever I try to change the settings to anything other than the above, the screen just doesn't look right. And dropping down to 720p means Ati Catalyst and other windows don't entirely fit the screen (i.e. become too big), and some options become unviewable.

Provided the ATi CCC thinks your display is a TV, it should offer a settings page where you can adjust the zoom/scaling to compensate for the 'overscan' that TVs normally have (which is why the edges of the desktop are clipped off).

The question is, can I get MP to allow me to change the dynamic refresh rate from Cinema mode to PAL? If I can do that, my troubles may be over... At present, only Cinema is selected with no other options available.

Windows will only allow refresh rates the display supports to be selected, so if your TV only supports 60Hz in 1080i mode then the refresh rate changer can't change it....you need to sort out the basic TV+video card settings first.

Tony

P.S. Moninfo - EnTech Taiwan | Utilities | Monitor Asset Manager - will tell you more about the resolutions and refresh rates your TV supports.

 

[GWfan]

Thanks, Tony - I hear what you're saying. The thing that confuses me is that I get hardly any stutter at all when playing the same DVD through PowerDVD - which leads me to think there may be a way of solving this through my current setup.

If I could, I would go the scaling route with ATi Catalyst, but as I say, at any other resolution, the option to do so just isn't there.

If only I could just figure out how to force the above setting to PAL... :-/ I have none of the four options above the table (A,B,C,D), and the one below (E) is greyed out. ???

Interesting that on my setup, CINEMA mode is always selected, though by the look of that table, shouldn't it be NTSC at 60hz?

 

[Owlsroost]

I'm running out of ideas - I run Vista + nVidia with MP, so my ATi CCC + XP knowledge is a bit limited in the HTPC context (but I run ATi + XP on my work PC).

If you attached some screen captures of the CCC settings pages in 1080i mode and 720p mode, plus the info from Moninfo it might help someone spot the problem.

What model is the TV, and which ATi driver version are you running ?

Tony