Stuttering audio with DTS bitstream (1 Viewer)

[FBW]

I am having an odd problem with playback of DTS streans in MKV files. One some movies it works correctly, while on other movies that are not identifiably different the audio stream stutters consistently. Roughly 75% is then silent, with brief spurts of audio in between. When looking at the receiver the DTS stream can then be occasionally seen to drop as well.

This problem started a while ago, but because I did not remember doing anything specific to cause it I assumed that some of the changes in codecs I had done a small while before was the cause. However uninstallation and reinstallation of codecs did not fix things. The problem also exists while playing the movies with windows media player, proving it is something related to codecs and not mediaportal specifically.

I reinstalled windows from the ground up, and now the problem is still there, much to my surprise.
The fresh installation had everything installed from scratch. The only non-standard installations are DivX 7 for h264 support, and the Haali splitter, both the most recent versions. Before OS reinstallation adding or removing reclock, ffdshow or ac3filter did not remove the problem.

MediaPortal Version: Problem is identical with both 1.0.2 and SVN 24102 (included logs are from SVN)
MediaPortal Skin: Monochrome 3.1
Windows Version: Windows XP SP3
CPU Type: Core2 E8500
HDD: Multiple WD Green 1Tb/1.5Tb (5)
Memory: 2GB
Motherboard: ASUS P5QL Pro
Video Card: Nvidia 9400GT
Video Card Driver: Nvidia 195.62
Sound Card: Realtek HD Audio ALC1200
Sound Card AC3: internal digital cable to videocard for hdmi input
Sound Card Driver: R2.37
MPEG2 Video Codec: mediaportal MPV
MPEG2 Audio Codec: mediaportal MPA (spdif selected)
h.264 Video Codec: DivX 7 h.264
HTPC Case: Silverstone LC17
Cooling: Various
Power Supply: Enermax EPR385AWT
Remote: Logitech Dinovo Mini
TV - HTPC Connection: HDMI
(items mentioned in deleted fields are unused)

I have added two logs from nearly identical movies (both DTS, both with subtitles), one of them works correctly, the other has stuttering audio.

 

[esas]

I never got DTS working correctly with MPA codec. I now use Microsoft DTV-DVD Audio Codec (Win 7), and it works flawlessly.

 

[FBW]

I did not manage to find a solution, so I got an Auzentech Hometheater HD audio card, and set things up for software AC3 and DTS decoding and using LPCM over HDMI.
However after that there were some infrequent audio/video skips or speedups (depending on playing at 24Hz or 60Hz) regardless of decoder (MPA, ffdshow or ac3filter, using the latest MP SVN), but an installation of reclock fixed any remaining glitches.
It seems to work flawlessly now, and I can actually change volume settings in mediaportal as a bonus.

 

[igor_uk]

exact the same problem, any solutions/?

 

[synthdood]

I had the same problem. Spdifer solved it for me. (strangely enough ac3filter would not solve the problem... spdifer is based on ac3filter!?)

 

[edterbak]

Could be related to the screen refreshrate you are using.
If the file you are playing is a 24fps media file and you have your TV set fixed at 50 or 60 hz, a stutter can occur in either video or audio. This can happen because a digital audio signal contains a amount of sound fixed per time.
I dont know if you are already using this, but mediaportal has the Dynamic RefreshRate option available to set up. This function looks at the to be played media file and determines the amount of frames per second (fps) of the file. With that information it can adjust the refreshrate of the computer to match it as closely as possible or a multiple of it.
example.
Media file with 24fps > set computer refreshrate to 24hz
Media file with 25fps > set computer refreshrate to 50hz
Media file with 29.9fps > set computer refreshrate to 60hz

Ofcourse everything is depending on the capabillity of your TV set.
Maybe this can help you. I hope so.

What reclock does is to adjust the speed of the audio before it is passed through digitally to your receiver. It adjusts it to match the current refreshrate you are operating at.