DVD Playback stutter - I'm about to hit something

getafix · **16th January 2006, 10:05 PM**

Hi there Guys

I am at my wits end. I have ripped my DVD's to my SATA drive and am still experiencing playback stutter.
This is what I have tried:

-Ripped a DVD to my OS drive (PATA) - still stutter
-Defragged both drives
-Tried both Cyberlink and Purevideo decoders - individually
-Tried Purevideo 77.79 and 81.0.... - no difference.
-My OS drive is on its own IDE cable - not shared with my DVD drive.
-Given my MCE box a flat hand - no difference
-Not told my wife about the problems
-I uninstalled all other software that might have caused a problem - ie Pinnacle Studio 9, TMPGEnc DVD author plus other authoring software which may have installed other MPEG 2 codecs.
-I had an IRQ conflict with my firewire capture card and display card both sharing IRQ 16, so I removed the firewire. - no more conflict.
-Oh, did I mention that I gave my MCE box a flat hand????

Do you think that I should re-install the box and if so which decoder should I use - Cyberlink or Purevideo?

The scary thing is that I don't even have a TV tuner card yet and I believe that is another kettle of fish with regards to stuttering.

My spec on my PC is sufficient.

TIA
G - a very frustrated MCE user.

mrees · **16th January 2006, 10:33 PM**

hmmm, Ive never seen the advantage or interest in ripping DVD's to the Harddrive when I can just throw the DVD in and save myself 9GB of space, or better still, rip to xvid with AC3 audio.

Have you tried playing the movies off the system drive?
have you tried playing back the movies on another PC or machine?

What are you using to rip the movies down?

arkay · **16th January 2006, 10:37 PM**

Unfortunately having had all of those other apps on your machine may have left behind the problem. The only real way to know is to re-install and do nothing to it other than try and fault find the DVD playback issue.

Once you have that sorted you can start the 8 month long trek to MCE bliss....

I'd use the cyberlink codec.

Cheers,
Arkay.

getafix · **17th January 2006, 12:12 AM**

Thanks guys for the reply

Mrees

I used DVD Decrypter in file mode and selected all. I also used DVD Region + CCS free and did a straight copy and paste onto my SATA of the VIDEO_TS folder.

I have tried running straight off the system drive with no joy.
I know that ripping DVDs to my HDD is probably a waste of space, but I don't have a TV tuner card yet. I must admit, lying on my bed with the remote in hand is quite convenient as I can scroll through my DVD list at my leisure. Call me lazy.

Arkay

I am beginning to think that a reinstall is the next step.

This is what I intend.

Re-install from CD
Update through automatic updates - a few times to ensure that Windows picks up everything.
CREATE A GHOST IMAGE.
Then try installing the necessary decoders.

Tell me what you think.

G

arkay · **17th January 2006, 09:13 AM**

getafix,

Sounds good to me. There are many posts on the board about install order.

They go like this:

1. Install MCE from base cd'a.
2. Take a ghost image.
3. Install all MB drivers.
4. Install all windows updates.
5. Take ghost image.
6. Install codecs, tv tuners etc and test.
7. Take ghost image.
8. Install hacks/mods, epg's etc etc until happy.
9. Take ghost image.

That way you can get back to any point before it all went horribly wrong within 4 minutes.

The first 2 host images can save you hours of work in future.

Cheers,
Arkay.

kane81 · **17th January 2006, 09:21 AM**

yeah do a clean install from scratch. (you seem to have tried the basics such as drivers and codecs)

There is most likely (99% sure) nothing wrong with the Ripped DVD image. There is some issue with your system.

usally video playback relates to video card driver, mpeg2 codecs, cpu usage issues with too many or maybe one program.

Next, it could be hardware fault, the SATA drive may have some fault in it result in delay in sending the data required. is your system running slow? how long does it take to boot?

benneh · **17th January 2006, 11:20 AM**

what video drivers are you running?

what chipset drivers are you running?

have you reinstalled purevideo/cyberlink since uninstalling all those other mpeg2 decoders?

checked which codec your system is set to use with deccheck utility?

flat hand some more?

GlenR · **17th January 2006, 12:34 PM**

This sounds oh so familiar. Do you also get stutter when touplay the DVD back from the DVD drive? If so, it's the same problem I see. Curiously live TV, recorded TV and videos (.avi/.wmv) don't exhibit this problem....

Like you my system drive is PATA on it's own IDE channel, the DVD is on it's own IDE channel and my data drive is SATA. I have tried most of what you have tried (didn't try givving it a flat hand though hmmm...

) and DVD stutters.

I don't have the solution, but I'll follow this thread closely.

getafix · **17th January 2006, 05:37 PM**

Wow, thanks for all the replies

Firstly, Arkay

Thanks for the install procedure - I think in the long run I will end up with a complete re-install. My problem is that I don't have access to broadband at home, so I need to put aside a day at a friends place to do the updates - WAF!!!!

Kane81
One thing, if I play the DVD's from SATA on my 17"monitor, its as smooth as silk - unless the fact that the difference between my 17" and 74cm TV is such that it is "amplified" by the size difference.
I am from South Africa and we run on PAL. I don't know anything about interlace, progressive blah blah blah. Could that have something to do with it?
I connect my PC to TV via SVIDEO through a "black box" which has the connections for HDTV (which we don't have) and SVIDEO out into my TV. What about looking at the properties of Purevideo while MCE is running - ie minimize MCE and check the properties in the taskbar?
My PC boots fine - remember my OS is on a PATA on it's own IDE cable and data (DVD's) are on the separate SATA. Isn't there supposed to be a theory that MCE doesn't like some SATA controllers?

Benneh
I am running forceware 77.79 and have tried 81.** - I think that's the latest with no effect.
As for chipset drivers, I am using the ones that came with the motherboard - GA8KNS
I have not tried re-installing the decoders after removing the others - point taken.
The decoder that I am using is Purevideo on its own.

GlenR
Yip, I do experience stutter when I play off the DVD player. It is however shared on the same IDE cable as my CDROM - maybe I should remove it?

The strange thing is that it seems to worse with some DVD's than others. Could it be my DVD drive. I am using a Giga-byte 8x reader/writer

Thanks once again for the replies.

G

GlenR · **17th January 2006, 06:22 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by getafix

GlenR
Yip, I do experience stutter when I play off the DVD player. It is however shared on the same IDE cable as my CDROM - maybe I should remove it?

Same for me. Some DVDs are worse than others. If I author my own DVDs they play OK

Anyway, my DVD-Rom is on it's own IDE bus and still has this problem, so while removing the CD-ROM may be worth a try, if you have what I have it won't help.

I'm using an LG Dual layer DVD-ROM>