Video player stutters

[pic_viewer]

Hi there,

on my SSD equipped machine I can look any video with Windows 7 Media Payer without any kind of hang, micro-stutter or small stop. You might be familiar with the effect that when starting a video after one or two seconds there is at least one small stop where some buffers seem to need to keep track or whatever.

Now my problem is that despite this powerful machine and the fact that Windows Media Player shows no signs of performance problems, XnView's own video player continues to show that old behaviour. Whenever I start one of my videos (mostly from a Fuji Digicam with 30 fps, 640 avi), no matter what size on my monitor, it will produce an instant stop after about 2 seconds, sometimes some more later.

So: is there a way to change that? I did not find any settings for the video player in XnView.

[pic_viewer]

Come on guys, somebody must know where to change the buffers for the internal video player. That is currently my biggest bet in how to optimize this one.

Sure I can use F3 to look the videos stutter-free via WMP, but it is not as comfortable because outside the browser...

[marsh]

With linux emulator, I could play video in details view (not thumbnails). So perhaps how file is launched can have some influence on Win2k+. Just a guess...

[pic_viewer]

Thanks marsh. The way how to play and open with XnView seems to make no difference. I usually have XnView browser in one window, the video will open in the other. If I change to single window, the video becoming a tab - same same. If I open and play directly via Explorer - same same.

I did some more testing: the first and most obvious stop happens after exactly one second. If I jump back to the beginning during playback via the left arrow button it will run smooth. As soon as the video is stopped and started again (without closing the file or player window) the stop at 1 second is back.

I think there is something wrong with the internal buffering. Maybe the player preloads its buffers on start and when finished causes this disruption to itself. That's why I ask about changing the buffer settings. Thanks to my SSD I might be able to minimize them and this way get rid of that behaviour...I am not expecting Pierre to fix this as - most probably - he just can not reproduce...

[marsh]

Turning off Options... View>Misc>Read-ahead/keep-current (cache) makes a difference?

[pic_viewer]

Not at all. IMHO this setting is for pictures only anyway.

More ideas?

[marsh]

More ideas?

Not about program. A utility like AVIcodec can identify codecs installed. I wouldn't know about the performance of various ones against those built into OS.

[pic_viewer]

I can assure you that I have no codecs installed other than the ones coming with Windows. I check this with InstalledCodec from Nirsoft http://www.nirsoft.net. So this is not the problem.

[marsh]

MediaInfo is also useful for examining movie (in case we find some types are worse than others).

[pic_viewer]

Valid argument. I played around a little bit to see on what movies the effect occurs. Unfortunately I am not a movie guy. The few I have are either not playable in XnView (DVD) or simply contain no usable information within the first seconds (typical for any commercial), so if there would be stutter it is impossible to see!

The videos doing this are 640x480 30 FPS mpg-2 as avi, all from a Fuji Digicam. I have others from a Casio, but they are so bad, and only 320x240 at 14 FPS...I think they don't do it, but even if I wouldn't notice...

Interestingly I found out that the time until the first big stop/stutter occurs depends on the picture content. A nearly still movie where only a little bit moves (my son sliding down a big sledge in holiday filmed from the front. Perfect to see the effect when he brakes on his way down...) causes a stop after 1 second. Another movie where the camera had been switched on too early and therefore is first moved away from him during the first second shows the stop after 3 seconds, when he jumps into the air and hangs there for a small moment.

Ok, guys, smile at this, but the problem remains: all these movies can be played without any problem by Media Player.

[helmut]

... Ok, guys, smile at this, but the problem remains: all these movies can be played without any problem by Media Player.

Just a note: Be sure that we take any problem seriously. But sometimes it's not possible to reproduce s problem and thus its impossible to fix.

[marsh]

Interestingly I found out that the time until the first big stop/stutter occurs depends on the picture content. A nearly still movie where only a little bit moves (my son sliding down a big sledge in holiday filmed from the front. Perfect to see the effect when he brakes on his way down...) causes a stop after 1 second. Another movie where the camera had been switched on too early and therefore is first moved away from him during the first second shows the stop after 3 seconds, when he jumps into the air and hangs there for a small moment.

Sometimes I get videos that are too high resolution for my cpu to handle. Usage peaks at 100% There are so many formats available... it is an awful mess! These days, I transcode them to another format instead of trying to discover an ideal combination of codecs to install. Perhaps you can find a video site on the interweb giving some indication of one versus another. Also, Win7 beta used far more resources than others when I tried it. Turning off effects, running services and applications, updating video drivers might give enough extra performance to get by. I'm not a video guy, so maybe one who is can offer a better starting point or player review.

[pic_viewer]

This is not about computer performance. See my first posts about what I have and what I try to play, 640x480 30 FPS mpg-2 as avi. Quite ridiculous on my machine, and the CPU doesn't care as well...

[marsh]

XnView uses DirectShow, but can it be known if those are the same components in use while playing your files on Windows Media Player? MS has another kind according to Wikipedia:

Support for any media codec and container format using specific DirectShow filters or Media Foundation codecs (Media Foundation codecs only in Windows Vista and later).

And according to the FFmpeg FAQ:

Windows does not support standard formats like MPEG very well, unless you install some additional codecs.

ffdshow can play such files for comparison.