Playback sometimes choppy

[Ahku]

I want to start out by saying that this issue occurs in only one media file i have while the rest play back just fine, so the issue is not to be found in my hardware.

I am trying to play back a 1080p, x264 copy of In the Shadow of the Moon, and it would play the audio, but not the video. So i went ahead and updated VLC to the newest release and now it mostly plays fine, but the audio and video are slightly choppy, hickupping once every 30 sec or so. Here is the information from the file i am trying to play:

In.the.Shadow.of.the.Moon.HDDVD.1080p.DTS.mkv

Format : Matroska
File size : 16.8 GiB
Duration : 1h 39mn
Overall bit rate : 24.1 Mbps
Encoded date : UTC 2009-04-28 08:50:44
Writing application : gdsmux
Writing library : Haali DirectShow Matroska Muxer 1.9.42.1

Video
ID : 1
Format : VC-1
Format profile : AP@L3
Codec ID : WVC1
Codec ID/Hint : Microsoft
Duration : 1h 39mn
Bit rate : 22.1 Mbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16/9
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Resolution : bit0
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : Progressive
Scan order : Top Field First
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.356
Stream size : 15.4 GiB (92%)
Title : PID 4113

Audio
ID : 2
Format : DTS
Format/Info : Digital Theater Systems
Codec ID : A_DTS
Duration : 1h 39mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 1 536 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Surround: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Resolution : 16 bits
Video delay : 33ms
Stream size : 1.07 GiB (6%)
Title : PID 4352

The movie plays fine with MPC and the K-Lite codec pack, but i much prefer to use VLC. If anyone has any idea what would cause the sputtering, please let me know and maybe upload the fix to the newest release.

[paintball9029]

Basically your computer is not fast enough, the other players use a slightly more efficient decoding process but lack some of the enhancements that are used in VLC, the problem can either be tied to your CPU or your Hard Drive and VLC's horrible buffering setup in the new version. To play the file properly i reccommend no less than a dualcore 2.6 ghz but a quadcore would be what you should have to playing 1080p video. as for the hard drive you would want a transfer speed of no less than 60 MB/s to allow for other applications that need pagefile access while playing the video. if you have low amounts of ram (less than 2-3 GB) you could run into problems with that as well. oh and by the way that file is not x264 it is a Windows Media Video file. just put into a MKV. MKV does not nessecarily mean x264. i would lean more to the buffer being your problem based on what i see. try downgrading to 1.0.3 and see if that helps. the majority of the buffer problems seem to be on 1.0.5

[Ahku]

So my core 2 quad at 4.0 Ghz is not fast enough to decode it? Or is my 320Gb Velociraptor the weakest link? I specifically said in the post that it's not my hardware, but no matter what, the first post always tries to call out the person on their hardware.

I tried to use version 1.1.0, but the playback was still choppy and it wouldn't go into full screen mode.

[paintball9029]

What about 1.0.3 or in windows media player seeing as it is a windows media video

[Ahku]

It works in WMP, but WMP is using the K-Lite codec pack to play it, and there is no video at all in version 1.0.3

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Do you have a nVidia card?

[Ahku]

Nope, ATI 4870.

Also, it's not just me that's having the issue with this file, on the website i downloaded it from, everyone says it either doesn't play with vlc or is choppy.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Can you share the file, please?

[Ahku]

The file is 18gb in size and it's off of a privite torrent site, so unless you're a member of PtP, then i can't, sorry.

[paintball9029]

he just wants a section of it. just cut like 20 mb off and upload that somewhere.I also believe that filesharing discussion is not allowed in this forum

[Ahku]

Well, if you know how to get a clip off of it without re-encoding it, let me know.

[paintball9029]

well if you don't have any software that allows you to split it then try reincoding small sections with handbrake until you make a file that is close enough in specs that also causes the problem. you should be able to figure out the encoding settings from the information you listed on the first post

[Ahku]

Figured out what was up. The analog output on my sound card was going bad, causing ripples of failure throughout my computer.

[paintball9029]

Interesting, integrated card or pci? did using digital fix it? because its possible that the dts encoding was just too much for your computer. it seems to be a common problem with dts, i guess the only way to decode it is with hardware and that only works if you have the right hd audio. i personally havn't worked with a whole lot of digital audio but that could be it/

[Ahku]

It was a pci card, actually a fairly high end card (B-gears B-enspire). And it started glitching with digital audio (Over toslink). 2 days ago, before i figured out the issue, the analogue outputs were starting to die as well. The analogue outputs dieing is what tipped me off to it going bad.

[paintball9029]

Check your powersupply for over-voltage. its possible your card was fried by improper voltages coming through the system. also make sure your surgeprotector is working properly. i've seen a few suspicious problems like this that linked back to brownouts in the power. even 15 volts incorrect either way could cause problems like this.