Playback glitches when using VMR & MPC Video Decoder (1 Viewer)

[Thats Me That Is]

Hello

I'm having some playback problems with video files - all sorts of stuff divx, xvid, x264 etc in container formats avi or mkv but I'm getting what look like decoding errors or glitches when playing them. It looks like there's an error in the file or something (but I'm sure there's not) - that kind of smearing, pixellated effect you get as the player works through the error and continues to play. It happens about every 5 - 10 secs but isn't regular. The audio plays fine and remains in sync. The files all play fine using Media Player Classic-HC. HD 1080p h264 mkv files seem to be the worst.

I've installed Haali splitter and registered the MPCVideoDec.ax decoder. MPC is the only player I've found that reliably plays 1080p content - my HTPC isn't great (P4 3.2Ghz + ASUS AH3450 AGP graphics card) but I'm not in the mood to upgrade it especially as MPC plays this stuff fine.

In MediaPortal config, I've set rendering to VMR and unticked "Use exclusive mode". If this is left ticked the playback errors are worse. Switching to EVR removes the errors but playback is slow and choppy - probably my low powered system. Likewise, a different decoder will remove the errors but slow playback.

Oddly, the little preview window in MP plays the videos fine.

I've installed the latest 1.2 beta but no change. Running on Win XP SP3.

I've run out of ideas. Can anyone help?

 

[petecallaghan]

I found this thread helpful: Stuttering Playback - MediaPortal Wiki

My problems with playback were caused by a codec that prevented hardware acceleration by the GPU, over-riding other codecs. I only solved the problem by reinstalling Windows7 OS from scratch, and then carefully adding the bare minimum of codecs required. I'm running on a v weedy PC (IntelD525 with 2GB RAM and NVidia graphics) but correctly configured it now runs fine.

 

[Thats Me That Is]

I've been tinkering with this but without success. Instead I found a compromise. I've reduced my screen resolution so my 1080p films now play at 720p. I found that when MP is windowed the files play ok but gradually get worse as I enlarge the window.