Choppy sound/video

[sbkurtz]

Hello, I just installed VLC 2.0.3 (actually tried a couple different versions) on my new Windows 7, 64-bit, 8GB laptop with internal SSD drive. Ive tried several types of video (avi, mp4) and music (mp3, wmv) on both the internal SSD drive and external SATA drive and I get the same output each time - the music or video output is very choppy. The file seems to start, stop, start, stop each time. Any help here is appreciated...thx

[Lotesdelere]

Try another video output module:
http://wiki.videolan.org/WindowsFAQ-2.0 ... _output.3F

Try another audio output module:
http://wiki.videolan.org/WindowsFAQ-2.0 ... _anomalies

And/or disable/enable GPU acceleration:
http://wiki.videolan.org/WindowsFAQ-2.0 ... age_errors

And/or adjust FFmpeg threads:
http://wiki.videolan.org/WindowsFAQ-2.0 ... r_laggy.29

You can also try to enable or disable some video options such as Overlay and/or Hardware YUV -> RGB conversions.

[Viggen]

This problem has been rearing its ugly head since the 2.x.x releases. I have been using VLC for many years without an issue on the same machine and many others and have run into the same problem that you are having. No matter what is suggested and tried, the problem persists. I have tried every release from 2.0.0 through 2.0.3 and they all yield choppy playback; video, audio, different media, different systems... same results. This is SO VERY FRUSTRATING! The 2.x.x versions have almost pushed me to a different app all together.

THE SOLUTION is to install version 1.1.11 until the developers isolate and resolve the issue.

http://download.videolan.org/pub/videolan/vlc/1.1.11/

Best of luck!

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

This problem has been rearing its ugly head since the 2.x.x releases. I have been using VLC for many years without an issue on the same machine and many others and have run into the same problem that you are having. No matter what is suggested and tried, the problem persists. I have tried every release from 2.0.0 through 2.0.3 and they all yield choppy playback; video, audio, different media, different systems... same results. This is SO VERY FRUSTRATING! The 2.x.x versions have almost pushed me to a different app all together.

THE SOLUTION is to install version 1.1.11 until the developers isolate and resolve the issue.

http://download.videolan.org/pub/videolan/vlc/1.1.11/

Best of luck!

Without reproduction of the issue or messages, it is very hard to track...

[ronlavoc]

I am having choppy video and audio (they are choppy in sync) and tried downgrading from 2.0.3 to 1.1.11 with exactly the same results. I used vlc 2.0.3 watching only a couple of DVDs and after getting rid of a green stripe it seemed to work fine those couple of times. Now any DVD I have tried from the last 15 years has the same choppy audio and video. It has been many months since last using it (fine) and now (choppy.)

[burningbush]

This problem has been rearing its ugly head since the 2.x.x releases. I have been using VLC for many years without an issue on the same machine and many others and have run into the same problem that you are having. No matter what is suggested and tried, the problem persists. I have tried every release from 2.0.0 through 2.0.3 and they all yield choppy playback; video, audio, different media, different systems... same results. This is SO VERY FRUSTRATING! The 2.x.x versions have almost pushed me to a different app all together.

THE SOLUTION is to install version 1.1.11 until the developers isolate and resolve the issue.

http://download.videolan.org/pub/videolan/vlc/1.1.11/

Best of luck!

Add me to the list of "tried everything from multiple threads on this issue, nothing worked, going back to 1.1.11" crowd.

With any mp4 or avi: plays fine in WMP; plays fine in RealPlayer; plays fine in VLC 1.1.11; video stutters in VLC Twoflower, with tons of "picture is too late to be displayed" errors.

DO NOT give me any suggestions; I've spent many, many hours trying every damn suggestion from this and other threads; none worked! VLC needs to reproduce the problem, and VLC needs to fix the problem.

Sign me: Long-time VLC champion and advocate, who would like to be able to once again recommend the current release!

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

VLC needs to reproduce the problem, and VLC needs to fix the problem.

VLC is a computer program without artificial intelligence. It is never going to reproduce or fix a computer bug. VLC is only what volunteer contributors make it.

Seriously though, if the users who do experience the problem give up, how do you expect the developers who do not even experience the problem to figure it out? I find your posting is self-contradictory.

[ronlavoc]

Remi - since I am not disaffected with the effort to produce VLC, yet I first did not have a problem and now I have it, even with the original (1.1.11) release, is there anything you can suggest to a layman to try to fix the problem? (I previously found, but now cannot, how to increase the buffer from 300ms to 900ms or 1sec in 2.0.3 but that change did not make a whit of difference in the in-sync choppy problem; I have not tried this in 1.1.11 but since the problem is identical in both releases - and previously with 2.0.3 I did not have it - ??? - I am not sure if increasing the buffer is going to do anything.) A strong supporter of open-source code - ronlavoc

[Slaador]

FIXED (for audio):
Tools/preferences/all/audio/output modules/select DirectX
Tools/preferences/all/audio/output modules/DirectX/tick the 'use 32-bit float output' (My VLC's in Russian so the translation is approximate; anyway, there's only one tickbox there )
Save preferences.
Restart VLC. That's it!

For reference, my system is Windows 7 64-bit, I use VLC 2.0.3 Twoflower, which is, I guess, 64-bit (can't see that in 'about' windows).

By the way, here's how the problem manifests itself for me:
DirectX output no 32-bit float output: laggy sound, early notes 'stacking' on top of current sound.
Win32 wave out output, with or without 32-bit float output: choppy sound, stuttering every second or so.

[sampi26]

Hi,

I have similar problem, choppy sound. I googled a lot about this issue but nothing helped - until I found a Hungarian forum where somebody claimed that every player gives choppy audio output if there is NO USB drive connected to his netbook. I gave it a try - and it works. Now my colleauge uses VLC with an USB stick plugged in. The workstation has a Gigabyte motherboard, WindowsXP64 and VCL64 installed (with 32 bit VLC the sound is also choppy but I did not test with USB drive). An USB mouse is not enough, it seems it should be drive.

Maybe this helps to find the cause of the problem.

Regards

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

Unfortunately that means what has been suspected for a long time: the bug lies in the hardware or the hardware driver.

[RadioMan57]

Immediately after VLC 2.0.0 appeared I noticed choppy audio. Tried all tips mentioned in different threads, tried every new VLC version, but the problem is still present with my Asus mainboard P7P55D-E, VIA VT1828S audio codec, Win7 x64. Am willing to help if told what to do.

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

Try to disable power savings, or use a different VLC clock source (version 2.1.0 only), force floating point output with DirectSound, and use any computer but an Asus.

[RadioMan57]

This is an i7 gamer PC, Win7 power plan = high performance.
Gave VLC 2.1.0 a try. Found "clock source" in extended options but the drop-down list is empty. No selection can be made.

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

Hmm yeah, the selection was broken until today.

[RadioMan57]

Merci beaucoup Rémi!
Tried today's 32-bit build of VLC 2.1.0.

Good news: Choppy sound is gone, no matter what clock source I select.
Bad news: At times the sound is warbling (VLC 1.1.11 is my reference).

Markus

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

Did you exit and restart VLC completely between each tries? Does the problem occur if you force DirectSound or WaveOut as audio output in the preferences?

[59Herz]

I. Use an USB pendrive (for nothing) - everything will run smoothly.
II. Set your monitor refresh rate to 59 instead of 60 Hz - permanently will solve your troubles.

(Found on the net, tested, working both of the above solutions)

[RadioMan57]

@59Herz:
Both of your recipes don't solve my problem.

@Rémi:
Yes, am restarting VLC after every change. Have tested 30 combinations (6 clock sources, 5 output modules) and got these results:

(1) Clock source has no influence at all.

(2) There are 3 different failure modes, depending on the output module chosen. See below for details.

(3) output module = automatic / windows audio session output / audio memory:
No interrupts. Warbling starts 7...10s from start. Jump to new location in the track and again the first 7...10s are OK.

(4) output module = DirectX:
Interrupts every 3...6s. Warbling not noticeable (probably masked out due to interrupt frequency).

(5) output module = WaveOut:
Interrupts every 2s, warbling from the very beginning.

Hope this info helps you to define the next test!

[RadioMan57]

Did a Windows 8 clean install to a new partition. No additional sound drivers installed:
VLC 2.0.4 is working perfectly, no issues at all!

Therefore my assumption is that the Win7 sound driver provided by Asus/VIA for the P7P55D-E mainboard is causing the choppy sound when used in conjunction with VLC 2.x.y.

[RadioMan57]

After my success in Win8 (see above) I found a solution for my Win7 x64 environment as well:
- in device manager, uninstall VIA HD Audio device and check the option to delete the driver files
- on reboot, audio controller is detected and driver loaded from Windows Update
- device is now identified as "High Definition Audio Device" and using MS drivers

Latest VLC 2.0.5 is running fine with Microsoft drivers

[mothball]

after reading this thread - selecting directx audio output and checking the float 32 box solved my choppy avi and wmv playback on the windows 64 bit nightly version - os win8

[fly135]

On older P4 3GHZ XP computer with SB Live! I fixed the issue by changing Hardware Accel from Nonoe to Full.

[jjder]

I just updated my VLC to ver 2.1.5 and started having these problems. Just like everybody else in this post, I Googled the problem and tried every single tweek, to no avail. Then I decided to check VLC's Documentation, specifically their FAQ page under "Poor Quality Video and Audio-Video is choppy" and the 2nd last suggestion is to update your video driver to the latest version. I proceeded to update ALL my drivers (using SlimDrivers free, ver 2.2, very easy to use as it automatically searches your computer to determine which drivers you need and then downloads them for you to install), making sure to restart after each update to ensure proper configuration for each driver. When the updates were all done, I restarted one last time and started VLC again. I went to "Tools|Preferences|Reset Preferences" and my videos were playing like normal again. I am not sure what caused my videos to become choppy because along with updating my VLC version, my system also did its monthly Patch Tuesday updates the night before. Also, I forgot that I had Windows Media Player opened before I also opened up VLC.

Anyways, maybe I just got lucky that this sequence worked but for anybody who hasn't tried this option yet, it might be worth a try. Thanks to everybody who posted solutions for all of us to try. These forums have helped me out of a bind so many times.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Try 2.2.1