The point of this post is to serve as a repository for information related to stuttering. As new techniques, solutions, or bugs are posted, I will update this list
TV Stuttering is caused by several issues. Unfortunately, the vast majority of them are outside of MP's direct control. The main issues are
There are several other possibilities, but these are the main ones. To check if the problem is an actual MP problem, please download the MP CPU Monitoring Tool and run it while attempting to reproduce your problem. The log file will be created in the same directory as the tool. From the log, you can see if you have a CPU bottleneck, and whether MP is causing it. A further update may allow you to see what other processes are using CPU, but that is not planned for the immediate future.
Things you can do to eliminate stuttering in order of how much they typically help
Unverified fixes - these have helped other users, but are not obvious or intuitive (or necessarily correct). Until a wider body of information becomes available, these are "use at your own risk" solutions.
TV Stuttering is caused by several issues. Unfortunately, the vast majority of them are outside of MP's direct control. The main issues are
- An external process is using up CPU. This will be especially problematic if you are on much older hardware
- MP is using up too much CPU. This can possibly happen during imports
- You have a buggy quartz.dll - After any disruption to your CPU, or if you seek, the frames look like they are out of order.
- Video drivers are causing issues
There are several other possibilities, but these are the main ones. To check if the problem is an actual MP problem, please download the MP CPU Monitoring Tool and run it while attempting to reproduce your problem. The log file will be created in the same directory as the tool. From the log, you can see if you have a CPU bottleneck, and whether MP is causing it. A further update may allow you to see what other processes are using CPU, but that is not planned for the immediate future.
Things you can do to eliminate stuttering in order of how much they typically help
- If you have an English version of XP, download an updated quartz.dll (msoft directshow component)-
If you don't have English XP, you can downgrade to directx9.0b quartz.dll - downgrade directx quartz.dll 9.0c to 9.0b - The standard decoders used with MP are not particularly good. They are OK and free. If you want crystal clear pictures with low CPU usage, you will have to spend $20 USD and download the nVidia decoders
- Make sure you have an actual video card. If you are using on-board video, your experience will be suboptimal. MP makes extensive use of directx and therefore requires an actual video card. If you are using onboard memory, you will not get any acceleration, and all of the directx work will be done in software. This is very slow. You don't need a top of the line card, but a geforce 6200 (<$100 USD) will go very far in improving your user experience
- Update the drivers for your TV card. This is especially important if your card is relatively new
- Change the driver for your video card. As of the NVIDIA 93.71 release, I get terrible stuttering. Using the NVIDIA 91.47 release everything is crystal clear. This may involve some experimentation
Unverified fixes - these have helped other users, but are not obvious or intuitive (or necessarily correct). Until a wider body of information becomes available, these are "use at your own risk" solutions.