Korg Forums

Sharp

Hi all.

I'm reach my limit with this Shuttle PC I put together. After all the problems with the first one, they replaced it with a new one and while this one works, it has the same problems with DVD and Blu-Ray video playback.

The video shudders from time to time and no matter what I do, I can't get it to flow smoothly.

I'm so annoyed with it that I've gone off and purchased a Radon HD3650 Graphics card which has on-board hardware decoding of DVD and Blu-Ray playback leaving no load on the CPU at all.

Just my freaking look, this video card is suffering from the same problem. Which is technically not possible since it's hardware, not software decoding the movies.

Any idea on how I can solve this problem guys ?. I have all the latest drivers, and I'm running vista 64 on a quad core cpu with 1GB of ram. Way way more power than I should require.

Regards.
Sharp.

tritex4 · Platinum Member Joined: 14 Feb 2006 Posts: 1278

Hi Sharp,

On the specs of the ATI Radeon 3650, "Hardware MPEG-1, MPEG-2, and DivX video decode acceleration"
is mentioned, but "High definition (HD)" video decode acceleration is not.

Try disabling the tick box that says Enable Hardware Acceleration, within your playback software.

Good Luck!! Smile

_________________
Regards
TritEx4

JonSolo · Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 4:02 am Post subject:

This may sound odd...but 1 gig of ram seems low. Though that has nothing whatsoever to do with the Blu-ray playback it does affect Vista (which runs much smoother with at least 2gb). That could cause a hiccup.

But don't quote me.

Jon
_________________
Jon Solo

http://www.solosounds.net
http://jonsolo.me
http://www.soundcloud.com/jonsolo
http://www.twitter.com/thejonsolo

Windows 10 | Intel i9 9900K | 64 GB RAM | Scarlett 18i20 | Nektar Panorama P6
Korg Kronos - 88 | Korg Kronos 2 - 61 | Roland Fantom 6 | Push 2 | Maschine Mk2 | Slate ML1 | JBL LSR308/310
Nuendo 11 | Ableton Live 11 | Reason 12 | FL Studio 20.9

Sharp · Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 9:14 am Post subject:

georgeinar · Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 10:41 am Post subject:

I also have 2 gig of memory. ??
_________________
George Nelson is 2loose
http://www.cdbaby.com/artist/2loose for my cds
http://www.soundclick.com/2loose or follow my tweets = 2loose_buzzgoth (twitter name)

Sharp · Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 11:22 am Post subject:

Sorry I shoudl have mentioned I oringally tried 2GB of ram.
It makes no differance to video playback.

There seems to be a bandwidth bottle neck because no matter if I enable hardware accelleration or software, the problems are much the same.

I checked the IRQ channels and the card is not sharing, so that's one box ticked. The memory address is being shared though. Windows won't let me change that though.

Regards.
Sharp.

JonSolo · Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 2:05 pm Post subject:

Sharp · Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 2:35 pm Post subject:

I've tried Nero HD 8, Power DVD and Windows own Media Centre.
They all produce the exact same results.

This is very frustrating because I really can't see what I'm missing here. I've even messed around with performance settings in Vista and they make no differance. The Graphics card is at 7% usage when playing back DVD's, and 46% for Blu Ray (both at 1080p). CPU usage is between 1 and 5% always. Which shows that the graphics card is indeed taking the load as dedicated hardware should, and that it's able for much more pressure than it's currently running at.

I've even tried overclocking it. Again, no differance.

Regards.
Sharp.

tritex4 · Platinum Member Joined: 14 Feb 2006 Posts: 1278

X-Trade · Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 4:12 pm Post subject:

I actually have this exact same problem with my laptop. Except obviously you can't really interchange parts for a laptop (well, not easilly).

Have you tried lowering your desktop or DVD resolution?
I generally find this problem because I either run dual monitors OR I have extremely high (maxxed out) res. It just turns out the system bus that the graphics and/or DVD is on just can't deliver that throughput. and so it skips....

whatever data is coming from the DVD has to arrive at the CPU and/or graphics card in time for it to be processed. Its essentially a similar problem when you set your audio buffer too low - I had an older PC which could only handle latency around a seccond and couldn't process much, despite having 2GB ram. The problem lies in that the front side bus speed (FSB) isn't fast enough to deliver all the information to the memory and processor in time, thus requiring the buffer size to be increased.
But i digress....

It could be that your hardware on your motherboard isn't fast enough or has too low bandwidth to deliver the amount of video you're trying to process from your DVD drive to your processor or graphics card.

Rob Sherratt · Platinum Member Joined: 16 Apr 2007 Posts: 4590

Sharp,

A few things to test and report back on to help with the diagnostic:

Is there any difference in the stuttering rate or duration for any of these scenarios?

Rob Sherratt · Platinum Member Joined: 16 Apr 2007 Posts: 4590

If that fails, then install your new video card and DVD player in someone's Windows XP-32 computer with a dual core processor. I think it will work. I think there may be a problem with process distribution and inter-process communications under Vista and XP-64 with a quad core processor.

If this final test confirms that your video card and DVD player work OK under XP-32 on a different processor platform, then you will need to contact Microsoft technical support to discuss with them the failure of Vista and XP-64 in a quad core environment.

Timo · Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 7:15 pm Post subject:

First of all, run this DPC (Deferred Procedure Call) latency analysis program (it's free):

http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml

It's a very useful program, and one that is now heavily used to test the appropriateness of a PC's setup for professional audio/video work.

It will show in realtime if there are any rogue elements in the system (software or hardware) which are causing excessive/spikes "interrupt" delays to the rest of the setup that can directly affect usability for audio and video work. If there are spikes shown, you can start to disable stuff to narrow down the exact cause.

Common culprits:

Network adapters (WiFi, Ethernet (LAN), and certain firewire chipsets)
Rogue programs that run in the background
Rogue software drivers for hardware elements (graphics card, soundcard, etc.)
Windows graphics/performance (disabling Aero, etc.)
Modem (56K)
Wireless peripherals (mouse/keyboard)
Onboard audio/sound
External audio soundcards
Badly behaved CD/DVD drives
Rogue USB peripherals
CPU speed and/or fan throttling
Using the computer after waking from Standby/Sleep mode
Anti-Virus software
Floppy disk drives, and card slots (PCMCIA, etc.)
Graphics cards
BIOS

and...

...i'm afraid to say... Vista. (No, it's not Windows XP fan-boy talk, there is rock hard evidence to show Vista can be a direct cause. Unfortunately this is a common finding. I've also been on the receiving end, after paying £65 for Vista64, and ending up having to regrade back to XP-32 for pro audio where the same system worked fantastic on XP32 but poorly on V64. - The only variable was the OS!)

Anyway, run the DPC program, see what the system looks like (if there are any obvious spikes), then start doing stuff to narrow the spikes down.

The two most common causes are the Wifi and/or onboard Ethernet (LAN) hardware so check those first. Just go into Device Manager (START > SETTINGS > CONTROL PANEL > SYSTEM > HARDWARE > DEVICE MANAGER), find the hardware entries and disable them (you can easily re-enable them afterwards. Obviously if you have an ethernet based internet connection you wont be able to use the internet while you have it disabled.). After doing each tweak, look back at your DPC meter and see if there is a difference in DPC latencies/spikes. Just tweak one thing at a time, so you can strategically rule out each element, rather than trying loads of stuff all at once.
Turn the Power Options of the PC to "ALWAYS ON". This will stop the CPU and other elements wildly throttling themselves up/down, which can cause problems.
Take out all the USB and firewire peripherals, and insert them one by one.
Again, try disabling (via Device Manager) onboard sound, external peripherals, and CD/DVD/BluRay drives.
Try disabling various background programs (like anti-virus, or other programs etc.)

Loads more info here: http://www.soundonsound.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=588140&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1&vc=1
_________________

[Free Moss Set For All Workstations With Moss Expansion]

www.Infekted.org - Access Virus Community

[Infekted.org - Original Access Virus Forum & Community]
Trinity V3 PBS | Radias KB | Virus TI Snow | Virus Indigo 1 | 505 Groovebox

Rob Sherratt · Platinum Member Joined: 16 Apr 2007 Posts: 4590

Sharp,

I think Timo's approach to diagnosing the problem is more systematic and reliable than mine, it looks a very good utility that he suggests you run and I agree that it will help you identify the root cause of the fault.

Failing that, please don't throw your system out the window. I wouldn't want any passer by to have a nasty bump on their heads. So I will pay the freighting and shipping cost for you to send it to me in Corfu Smile

Sharp · Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 11:02 pm Post subject:

Thanks a million guys, I really appreciate all this help big time.

At this point I've now done everything except for trying a dual boot to XP and pulling the Graphics Card.

I think I will try for XP first as I'm confident the card can do what it's supposed to. It's getting quite a good review on HTPC websites.

I'll let you know how I get on.

Regards.
Sharp.
_________________