Playback not smooth when second monitor connected (logs included) (1 Viewer)

[LJG]

My main monitor is a Sony 40EX503 LCD TV, this is connected via HDMI to my Yamaha RX-A810 amp, which in turn is connected via HDMI to my HTPC's ATI HD6450 graphics / sound card. My second monitor is a 7 inch Lilliput Screen connected via USB.

I am running the TV at 1920 x 1080 @ 50hz and the Lilliput is 800 x 480 @ 60hz. I have the text and font size set to 150% in the OS (Windows 7 32 bit) which means that MediaPortal under 'Start Screen Selector' is showing them both as 1280 x 720 and 533 x 320 respectively.

The problem I have is that I cannot achieve completely smooth playback when the Lilliput monitor is connected. If I check the renderer graph and statistics (shift + 1) during playback, the red line is jumping around all over the place when the Lilliput is connected, but is relatively smooth when it isn't. It looks like the dshowhelper is trying to synch to the Lilliput monitor rather than the TV and this is causing stutter?

I have manually configured the auto refresh rate changer by using presets in the ATI CCC, and adding the links to them in the MediaPortal configuration. I have confirmed that these are working by running MediaPortal in windowed mode and checking that the the refresh rate is actually changing as it should (it is).

I have attached the logs to this post. I am new to MediaPortal so if you need any more info, just let me know.

I would really appreciate any help with this, as I have spent hours trying to fix and it is very frustrating, I use the 7 inch monitor with LCD Smartie and VirtualDLL to show MePo stats during each session and really want to keep it if I can.

Many thanks

lisa

 

[legnod]

Hi,

do you clone your screen to the small display? (is that the display you use LINK ?)
The refresh rate seems to be changed by the refresh rate changer from MP but i think the Problem is, that you second display only allows 60Hz refresh rate.
I know that there are some problems with different resolutions and refresh rate when you clone you screen and i don't know which graphic cards can handle this differences. Have you got a Video with 30 Fps/ 29.97 Fps? If so, try to play such a video file. if this is not working configure your second display as "extended desktop"...just for testing. Theres a plugin for external touchscreens connected to MP LINK / Forum Thread. Maybe that will solve your Problems

 

[LJG]

Hello, thank you so much for such a prompt response.

Yes, that is the exact display, and I do have it set as 'extended desktop' with my TV as the main monitor and the Lilliput as the second monitor. I have tried the MPDisplay plug in, and although it is very aesthetically pleasing, it is not quite as functional or as configurable as I would like. I am actually testing a MediaPortal plug in for LCD Smartie on the Lilliput, which has some really good features and is really useful to have. The developer should be releasing it soon I think.

However, I have just stumbled upon a possible fix / workaround to the video stutter problem. I have disabled Aero (just selected a non-Aero theme) and this seems to have greatly improved things. Firstly, the monitors are both now detected as their actual resolutions rather than the smaller resolutions that occurred when I enabled 150% large fonts. Plus the red line in the graph renderer stats (shift + 1) seems a lot smoother. Does this make any sense?

 

[legnod]

If the displaydriver for the Liliput Display uses GDI interface (Aero use it too)for screen capturing this can cause bad stuttering inside MP. I have the same kind of problem with an other application (AtmoWin Ambilight Software) this application uses GDI for capturing the colors and if i use the integrated live-mode i get horrible stuttering and Aero turnes off. The problem is, that MP may run bad without Aero turned on. So if thats working for you, fine!

 

[LJG]

Okay, thanks again. Well switching aero off seems to help with the presenting problem of erratic red line in the rendering stats when playing back 24hz and 60hz material, thankfully 50hz has always been okay. But.. I wonder if it will break anything else?! I'll keep testing and hope for the best

 

[legnod]

Which Skin do you use at the moment? The Skins i tested doesnt work with disabled aero so you may will have problems if you want an other skin

 

[LJG]

Oh, that sounds worrying. I use Avalon skin. Is there anything else that might break by switching off Aero?

 

[legnod]

Ok i never tried Avalon....cant tell you which kind of problems you could get without Aero. The only thing i know is that the Skins i tested (BlackGlass HD, Mustayaluca and now StreamedMP) doesnt work flawlessly without aero.

EDIT: Sorry...i dont meant flawlessly..it should be fluid/solvent...dont know which fits best here

 

[LJG]

Flawlessly is a good word! Thanks again for your help.

 

[LJG]

Okay, I have now spotted one of the problems in MP when turning off aero.

I am getting vsync problems in videos (TV and DVD seem okay).

I wonder if I can use ffdshow post processing to correct the vsync, any ideas if this is possible and what the settings may be?