MP1.2 Beta + CoreAVC - MKV Playback jerky, not smooth. (1 Viewer)

[luci5r]

Hi,

I'll try to give as much details as possible.

Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
MediaPortal 1.2 Beta
CoreAVC 2.5


I just built a brand new Sandy Bridge HTPC and I'm using MediaPortal 1.2 Beta as my frontend. I have StreamedMP / Moving Pictures plugins installed and all my libraries setup. Things seems to be running fine.

The problem I'm having is that my MKV's are not playing smooth. There is a slight jerk in motion. It's not every second - seems to be every 4 or 5 seconds; but it's very evident. This is with both 720p & 1080p MKV's. I've already tried the "Dynamic Refresh Rate" setting turned ON or turned OFF - the result is the same. The thing to note is that these same MKV's play absolutely fine on the same machine in any other player - Windows Media Center, ArcSoft Total Media Theatre 5. It's *Only* in MediaPortal that they have this jerk in motion.

I'm using CoreAVC as my decoder and I've already checked (using a took I found) that it's the decoder being used to play the MKV's.

I don't know what's causing this jerky motion. Any help/guidance would be really appreciated.

Thanks!!

 

[mm1352000]

Lots of questions:
1. Is your version of CoreAVC using hardware acceleration?
2. Since you're on W7, have you tried using the Microsoft codecs instead?
3. What refresh rate does the content have and what refresh rate is your display running at?
4. How hard is you HDD working when you're watching these MKVs?

It might be useful to use shift+1 (hold shift, press the 1 key) to know what is happening with the renderer. You're looking for "spikes" in the graph (it should be a smooth line)...

 

[luci5r]

Lots of questions:
1. Is your version of CoreAVC using hardware acceleration?
2. Since you're on W7, have you tried using the Microsoft codecs instead?
3. What refresh rate does the content have and what refresh rate is your display running at?
4. How hard is you HDD working when you're watching these MKVs?

It might be useful to use shift+1 (hold shift, press the 1 key) to know what is happening with the renderer. You're looking for "spikes" in the graph (it should be a smooth line)...

mm,

Thanks for the response. Some answers ...

1. I believe CoreAVC is using Hardware Acceleration. "DXVA" is checked under acceleration.

2. I actually did not try using the MS Codec. I will give that a shot.

3 (a). My display runs at 1080p, 60Hz. I have Samsung PN63C8000 3D Plasma TV which supports 24p.
3 (b). How can I find out what "refresh rate" my content is? If you mean Frame Rate, then it's most 23.976 fps.

4. This is a dedicated HTPC; Sandy Bridge platform - Z68 Motherboard / i5-2500K CPU / 8GB 1600 DDR3 RAM. The main OS drive is SATAIII 6.0Gb/s, the media drivers are SATAII 3.0Gb/s. I don't think the hard drives are the issue; especially considering the same videos play fine when played in any other software - even with multiple applications running.

I will certainly give the renderer graph a shot & report back.

Thanks!!

 

[mm1352000]

1. I believe CoreAVC is using Hardware Acceleration. "DXVA" is checked under acceleration.

Cool.

2. I actually did not try using the MS Codec. I will give that a shot.

I await your testing results...

3 (a). My display runs at 1080p, 60Hz. I have Samsung PN63C8000 3D Plasma TV which supports 24p.
3 (b). How can I find out what "refresh rate" my content is? If you mean Frame Rate, then it's most 23.976 fps.

Yeah, sorry I did mean frame rate. I've heard that 23.976 fps material on Sandy Bridge is a problem (-->link<--). I'm not sure if it would lead to the type of issues that you're seeing, but perhaps it would be a good idea to try some other content to double check.

4. This is a dedicated HTPC; Sandy Bridge platform - Z68 Motherboard / i5-2500K CPU / 8GB 1600 DDR3 RAM. The main OS drive is SATAIII 6.0Gb/s, the media drivers are SATAII 3.0Gb/s. I don't think the hard drives are the issue; especially considering the same videos play fine when played in any other software - even with multiple applications running.

Point taken. You may or may not want to ignore what I said about point 3...

 

[luci5r]

1. I believe CoreAVC is using Hardware Acceleration. "DXVA" is checked under acceleration.

Cool.

2. I actually did not try using the MS Codec. I will give that a shot.

I await your testing results...

3 (a). My display runs at 1080p, 60Hz. I have Samsung PN63C8000 3D Plasma TV which supports 24p.
3 (b). How can I find out what "refresh rate" my content is? If you mean Frame Rate, then it's most 23.976 fps.

Yeah, sorry I did mean frame rate. I've heard that 23.976 fps material on Sandy Bridge is a problem (-->link<--). I'm not sure if it would lead to the type of issues that you're seeing, but perhaps it would be a good idea to try some other content to double check.

4. This is a dedicated HTPC; Sandy Bridge platform - Z68 Motherboard / i5-2500K CPU / 8GB 1600 DDR3 RAM. The main OS drive is SATAIII 6.0Gb/s, the media drivers are SATAII 3.0Gb/s. I don't think the hard drives are the issue; especially considering the same videos play fine when played in any other software - even with multiple applications running.

Point taken. You may or may not want to ignore what I said about point 3...

mm,

More answers!

2. I actually tried every available option in my Decoder Settings; MS Decoder, ArcSoft Decoder, DivX h.264 decoder, and finally the CoreAVC decoder. Every single decoder produced the exact same result. The video jerks every 6 ~ 10 seconds. I'm not sure how many seconds between the jerks - but they seem to be consistent. Between the jerk the video plays smooth. But then you get the jerk. *Note: Still, the same videos play absolutely fine in all other players on the machine.

3. Yes, I'm aware of the 24p issue on Sandy Bridge. This is not that though. That's something different and evidently not a big issue for most people. Most common people will never notice it. Most importantly, that issue is not pertaining to a player or codec - it's global in the sense that it would affect playback in any player using any codec. I'm experiencing this jerk only in MediaPortal, not any other player on the machine.

Here's a screen of the graphical chart you spoke about:

Let me know if you see anything of importance in this.

Thanks!!

 

[ravenrocks]

I have too experienced this since 1.2Beta. Although, not with every video, only some. I don't have any logs cause I havent seen it in a while. Just my 2 cents...

 

[luci5r]

I have too experienced this since 1.2Beta. Although, not with every video, only some. I don't have any logs cause I havent seen it in a while. Just my 2 cents...

I have to use 1.2Beta because of Hauppauge Colossus.

I'm going to try removing CoreAVC completely. What is the codec that most people are using?

 

[Owlsroost]

Are you using multiple monitors or just one ?

Can you attach some logs please ?

From the render stats graphs it *looks* like it's some sort of performance problem - the render time (green line) is quite variable towards the right hand side, and it's dropping a lot of frames.

Does this happen with other video files i.e. not MKV's ?

Tony

 

[luci5r]

Are you using multiple monitors or just one ?

Can you attach some logs please ?

From the render stats graphs it *looks* like it's some sort of performance problem - the render time (green line) is quite variable towards the right hand side, and it's dropping a lot of frames.

Does this happen with other video files i.e. not MKV's ?

Tony

Tony,

Thanks for writing. Just a moment ago I realized that I'm perhaps in the wrong forum - that there is a dedicated MediaPortal 1 forum for Codec & External Player problems - can a mod possibly move this?

I will try to give you as much details as possible as this problem is driving me nuts!! It is ruining an otherwise excellent setup.

i. Using single monitor (Samsung PN63C8000 63" 3D Plasma) w/ HDMI 1.4a connection.

ii. Logs attached (Zip file)

iii. This is happening in any HD Video I play using MediaPortal's internal player. I only have 2 kinds, MKV's & M2TS files - and it is happening in both. It does not happen when I use ArcSoft's TMT5 as external player to launch ISO's. I can play SD AVI's & MPEG's without any problems.

Please do note that the same machine is able to play the same files in other media players like MC7 & TMT5 without any problems. The jerk is only visible in MediaPortal's internal player.

PS: I updated my System Specification in the Control Panel; Not sure how to get those inserted in this post! Thanks.

EDIT:

CORRECTION

I apologize. After thorough further inspection, it appears that this jerk is *ONLY* happening in MKV's, not any other file, including M2TS. In fact, quite honestly, at this point it seems that the problem is confined to H.264, because all my M2TS files are VC-1 and they are playing fine. All my MKV's are H.264. I don't think this is a container issue, I think it's an H.264 issue. All other codecs are playing just fine.

 

[Raytestrak]

Setting the dxva option in CoreAVC doesn't mean dxva is actually used, only if the video supports it. Alt-Tab to see if dxva is enabled (the tray icon will say so if it is). CoreAVC won't accelerate VC-1, only x/h264. You can check if mediaportal is using different codecs than in i.e. mediaplayer classic with graphedit. I see no stutter when using core avc, only when hardware acceleration isn't working properly.