MKV video play skippy in MP, but works fine in other programs? (1 Viewer)

[stounedi]

Hello!

I am experiencing some problems with MediaPortal h264 .mkv playback. The video seems skippy. I am experiencing sort of "skips" or "speed-ups" every few seconds. The skips are very short and fast, maybe less than second but still very annoying especially if there is a lot of movement on screen. Only video seems to "skip", sound plays normally and stays synced too.

I have tried both ffdshow and coreavc codecs. Both turn out with same kind of skipping.

The problem seems to be with MediaPortal player, Windows Media Player and Media Player Classic do not have the same problem with either of the two codecs (ffdshow / coreavc).

Anyone else ever had this kind of problem and knows where I should start looking for an solution?


The solution: Skipping video was caused by ffdshow audio codec. I changed the codec to AC3Filter.
The solution: AC3Filter was giving sound on all .mkv's. I had to reset my AC3Filter setting and set SPDIF/AC3 to auto.
Everything works fine now.
Thanks to everyone who helped me.


MediaPortal Version: RC4
MediaPortal Skin: Default
Windows Version: XP PRO SP3
CPU Type: Intel Core2Duo E7300
HDD: 160GB Seagate SATA
Memory: 2GB DDR800
Motherboard: Asus P5E-VM SE
Video Card: Ati HD2600 Pro
Video Card Driver: Catalyst 8.11 (lastest)
Sound Card: Integrated Realtek HD Audio
Sound Card AC3: S/PDIF
Sound Card Driver:
MPEG2 Video Codec: ffdshow
MPEG2 Audio Codec: ffdshow
h.264 Video Codec: ffdshow / coreavc
HTPC Case: Zalman HD160
Cooling: 2x80mm noiseless case fans, Noctua cpu cooler with noiseless 92mm
Power Supply: 400W Nexus
Remote: IRTrans, included with Zalman HD160
TV: Samsung 50" Plasma
TV - HTPC Connection: HDMI-DVI

 

[Sh4nn0w]

Shouldn't be a problem looking at your hardware. I use ffdshow with an E6750 in my desktop and have no problem with 1080p mkv's. (files are on a server also, not local) so seems like something's not right.

You won't get much help without posting your logs though: How to start a support or bugreport thread

Use the log collector thing, clear your logs, load MP, play mkv, run log collector and post logs; quite often there's something obvious in there

 

[stounedi]

Here are my log files.

 

[Dr Tone]

If they work properly in windows media player, tell media portal to use the default directshow decoders/filters. That little check right below the decoder drop down boxes. The one with the merit warning.

Are you doing any post processing?

 

[stounedi]

If they work properly in windows media player, tell media portal to use the default directshow decoders/filters. That little check right below the decoder drop down boxes. The one with the merit warning.

Are you doing any post processing?

Thanks! This solved the issue in MediaPortal.

Though I'm still wondering what might have caused the skipping.

I wasnt using any post-processing.

 

[Dr Tone]

If they work properly in windows media player, tell media portal to use the default directshow decoders/filters. That little check right below the decoder drop down boxes. The one with the merit warning.

Are you doing any post processing?

Thanks! This solved the issue in MediaPortal.

Though I'm still wondering what might have caused the skipping.

Apparently the default decoders/filters aren't the same as the ones that you had chosen in media portal. If you want to find out what's happening behind the scene by default, open your media file in graphedit.

 

[stounedi]

Ok I did find out the reason but not any solution yet.

Media Portal was using ffdshow audio decoder for audio, apparently that was causing the skipping.

After I changed it to ac3filter the skipping is gone. BUT... Now I am not getting audio from all of my .mkv files.

Both .mkv files have the seemingly same 6-ch 48k AC3 audio. One plays fine, another gives no sound at all.

Is there any other audio codecs I should try, or anyone got any other tips how to solve this issue? I think ffdshow audio would be great, without the skipping video issue.

EDIT: I also tried to update my audio drivers to the latest version, no help there.
CPU load is very low, so its not that either.

 

[Dr Tone]

Ok I did find out the reason but not any solution yet.

Media Portal was using ffdshow audio decoder for audio, apparently that was causing the skipping.

After I changed it to ac3filter the skipping is gone. BUT... Now I am not getting audio from all of my .mkv files.

Both .mkv files have the seemingly same 6-ch 48k AC3 audio. One plays fine, another gives no sound at all.

Is there any other audio codecs I should try, or anyone got any other tips how to solve this issue? I think ffdshow audio would be great, without the skipping video issue.

EDIT: I also tried to update my audio drivers to the latest version, no help there.
CPU load is very low, so its not that either.

Have you messed with any AC3Filter settings? I had the same thing happen to me, I had to reset the AC3Filter settings to default and then just turn on SPDIF and set DTS to auto and everything started working fine.

 

[stounedi]

Have you messed with any AC3Filter settings? I had the same thing happen to me, I had to reset the AC3Filter settings to default and then just turn on SPDIF and set DTS to auto and everything started working fine.

I tried to reset the settings but for some reason I got 2.0 PCM output after that in both videos. (With SPDIF passthrough enabled).

Well, I guess I have to play around with AC3Filer settings later today, when I get out of work.

EDIT: I did what you suggested and everything works perfect now. Thanks.

 

[nabster]

Many many many thanks have had this skipping video problem on my HD files for months, had just about given up finding a solution didnt think for a minute it would be audio codec , previously used cccp which uses ffdshow for audio then installed seperate ffdshow video, core avc and ac3 filter every thing is perfect, can't tell you how many hours and how many things i have tried ,was almost starting to believe it was a refresh rate problem with my £1000 TV.

Many thanks