Choppy video playback in iTunes...

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Just wondering if anybody here may have encountered this. Issue isn't with my rig, but my buddy's. Hes got a Phenom X4 9550 (stock), 6GB DDR2 800, and an HD 5770 running Win 7 HP x64. I'm at a loss for why videos regardless of resolution (SD, 720p, or 1080p) are choppy after ~ 5 minutes of playback.

He is using two displays, one is his HD tv (not sure the exact size and model but it's a 120Hz Vizio at 55" I believe) and the other is a Sammy 23" monitor. The monitor is using a DVI cable, the TV is using HDMI. I've got it set to duplicate the displays, and CCC is all at defaults.

From the get go the playback is choppy if 1080p is selected. 720p runs better, and SD seems to run best yet all of them get to the point where the audio is far ahead of the video. I've synced the iTunes and Windows audio settings, I've tried everything from the lowest all the way up to the studio setting, no dice. He's using the onboard audio with Logitech Z4 speakers. The mobo model # escapes me but it's an ASUS.

Any input appreciated. I've thought of throwing my old 5870 or even the 6950 my boss gave me into his rig, but I'm skeptical that'd change anything. I'm hard pressed to believe that a 5770 would struggle with SD playback in iTunes. I'd think it'd be far above and beyond capable of running 1080p. He CPU never goes above 50% usage, usually hovers closer to 25% during playback, RAM usage is minimal as well (maybe around 2GB).

And this is a fresh OS install as of... maybe 3 weeks ago.

Thanks ya'll!. :)
 
Dr. Zhivago said:
Are the hard drives running in PIO mode or Ultra DMA mode?
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:confused: They're SATA, AHCI is enabled in BIOS. Two identical 500GB Seagate HDDs that are less than 3 years old. There are no chipset/SATA controller drivers on ASUS website, and AMD only finds display and audio drivers for the HDMI on the 5770.

Oh, and apparently SD mode the audio stays in sync with the video, but it is a little "choppy".

Something else that is puzzling, is SD sure looks like 1080p to me. I'm wondering if there are settings elsewhere that maybe impacting this, like overriding whatever is set in iTunes.

EDIT: Just brushed up on what PIO/UDMA was. :o As they're SATA in AHCI UDMA doesn't apply (correct?), but I'm not certain about PIO, I believe by default that's what is selected, even if AHCI is selected. Will double check when I get the chance (probably tomorrow after work).

Thanks Doc! :)
 
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Is this a new problem, or has HD playback always been an issue?

i don't know iif HDD throughput would even be an issue here as 720p/1080p bitrates on iTunes media is probably pretty low (5-10 Mbps)

I would start with codecs and try a different player like MPC or VLC to see if the problem continues.

find yourself some demo 720p/1080p videos and see how they play.
 
t3hl33td4rg0n said:
Is this a new problem, or has HD playback always been an issue?

i don't know iif HDD throughput would even be an issue here as 720p/1080p bitrates on iTunes media is probably pretty low (5-10 Mbps)

I would start with codecs and try a different player like MPC or VLC to see if the problem continues.

find yourself some demo 720p/1080p videos and see how they play.
Click to expand...

1080p youtube vids play fine, doesn't have a BD-ROM so I cannot test that. Is there a way to watch youtube videos in VLC? If not, is there a safe site I can DL some 1080p videos from to test in VLC?

This is a new issue, or so I think. Never used iTunes on this rig before. Originally he just used it for light gaming (mostly LoL) and web surfing. FWIW I haven't had a chance to look into PIO yet for the HDDs, I'll be getting in late from work tonight so I'll have to try that tomorrow afternoon. In the meantime, I'm willing to DL some 1080p videos to test if there's a safe site I can get them from. Need to be longer than 5 minutes as that's usually when the "choppiness" starts, after 15 minutes it is completely out of sync (you'll hear a character talking, and a few seconds later their mouth moves :lol:).

Thanks again guys! :)
 
It sounds like a CODEC issue really now that you've described it better. Make sure he's never installed a CODEC pack. If so, remove it, or install Windows Advanced Codec Pack and then uninstall it. It will remove all other codec packs and clean things up.
 
caveman-jim said:
Are the videos locally stored or streaming from itunes? If locally stored can you play them with VLC without issues?
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They are stored locally. I don't know if VLC can play them. Can VLC play movies purchased off the iTunes store? That's where I bought them, and they are tied to my iTunes account... aren't they?

Dr. Zhivago said:
It sounds like a CODEC issue really now that you've described it better. Make sure he's never installed a CODEC pack. If so, remove it, or install Windows Advanced Codec Pack and then uninstall it. It will remove all other codec packs and clean things up.
Click to expand...

No CODECs have been installed, at least not manually. iTunes was never on the computer before I attempted to set this up for him. His wife is reading the LotR books, and so I installed iTunes so they (him, his wife, and their daughter) could watch the movies. That's when this playback issue was discovered. Again, I did a fresh OS install all of ~3 weeks ago.

The earliest I'll be able to fiddle with it is probably tomorrow after work, thanks to my work schedule. But ya'll have given me a proper list of things to look into- I very much appreciate it and will report back with my findings.

Thanks again. :)
 
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