MediaPortal playback issues (delays/stutter/etc) (1 Viewer)

[RoChess]

This info can be added to wiki later once it is confirmed to help enough users out. Please reply to the thread or mark this post as informative if that is the case.

After helping some individual users with playback issues, figured it was time to address things more directly.

Symptoms:

• Start playback, but then a serious delay occurs before you are able to watch the media
• Stuttering of audio or skipping video frames
• Slow response to obtain MediaPortal/OSD

Source of problem (with solution):

1) Video codec is not using hardware acceleration. MediaPortal now uses LAV Filters by default, but this codec does not enable hardware acceleration by default.

Solution: Start button/screen -> All Programs -> LAV Filters -> Video Codec Properties -> top right corner, configure at least "DXVA2 (native)". For Intel video solutions with QuickSync support you might get better results with that option, the same with CUDA for nVidia cards. Test/try and use whatever gives you best results. Please respond back, to help other users.​

2) System is not fast enough to keep up with all the tasks performed. Mainly meant for the E-350 type of users, but keep in mind that this might even happen on a Core i7 with SSD for certain situations. For example the MediaPortal thumbnail generator might interfere if a non-concurrent filter/splitter is used, such as LAV.

Solution: Disable the offending task(s) (which would be visible in log files if you enable debug log mode verbosity).

Thumbnails: To disable thumbnail generation in MediaPortal v1.5.0 open MediaPortal configuration -> GUI -> Thumbnails -> uncheck "Autocreate thumbs".

MediaInfo: A crude test way would be to rename the "MediaInfo.dll" file that resides in your MediaPortal program folder (64-bit Vista/Win7/Win8 = C:\Program Files (x86)\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal) to something like "MediaInfo.dll.disabled" and test to see if problem is gone. Before you go to that extreme, right click on it, goto properties -> Details and check what version you have. Always check to see first if the MediaInfo development team might not already have fixed it by downloading an updated version (remember to always get the 32-bit DLL, even for a 64-bit OS) @ http://mediaarea.net/en/MediaInfo/Download/Windows​

3) Database corruption. In all cases this will reveal itself inside the log file, but might not always be the plugin that you experience the symptoms in. For example a corruption in the FanartHandler database might only reveal itself inside MP-TVSeries plugin, as the latter requires a lot of SQL tasks itself which would then be impeded/stalled by the corruption on another one.

Solution: Scan your databases to see if any are corrupt and replace it with a working backup. Or delete and rebuild it.

Check the following post for a batch script that will scan all your databases before it launches MediaPortal and auto-backup the valid ones that pass SQLite PRAGMA test and auto-restores the corrupted ones. On my SSD system it adds less then a second to the launch time of MediaPortal, but well worth the peace of mind: https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/threads/corrupted-database.120376/#post-1014075​

4) Slow or misconfigured sources/shares. Some plugins might need write access to finish their task.

Solution: Enable write access to the NAS/share/etc, and see if that solves your problem. Consult the respective manual on how to do so. For Unix based sources try chmod 777 first and scale down from there once problem is gone.​

Enjoy!

 

[RoChess]

(reserved for future use)

 

[W4ATL]

I experienced stuttering when trying to watch recorded TV with a Quantum Byte computer running Windows 10 and Media Portal 1.12 on a WiFi network, I had to set the Codecs and Renderer/Video Renderer tab to Video Mixing Renderer 9. It has seemed to clear up the stuttering.