Audio playback issues; audio cuts out at regular intervals

[packzap]

I thought this problem was due to my soundcard. I bought a new soundcard, and still get random audio cut-outs with radio streams in VLC. I have been experiencing since last year in Windows 10 (now with version 1803, OS build 17134.523). VLC version is now 3.0.6. Log excerpt below:

Code: Select all

main debug: Stream buffering done (1021 ms in 117 ms) main debug: Decoder wait done in 0 ms main debug: inserting 2613 zeroes mmdevice debug: state changed: 1 http debug: New Icy-Title=Nancy Sinatra - These Boots Are Made for Walkin' main warning: playback too late (114385): up-sampling main debug: resampling stopped (drift: -634 us) main warning: playback too late (72092): up-sampling http debug: New Icy-Title=Record Bin Roulette - 204, SLEEP main debug: resampling stopped (drift: 6414 us) main warning: playback too late (64468): up-sampling main debug: resampling stopped (drift: 249 us) main warning: playback too late (62457): up-sampling main debug: resampling stopped (drift: -5603 us) main warning: playback too late (77494): up-sampling main debug: resampling stopped (drift: -4897 us)

When the audio skips, the log shows the "Warning, playback too late, up-sampling" error. What does that mean?

[ras1000]

Our organization has successfully streamed using RTSP in the past using the VLC Media Player. The stream is coming from a 1080 IP camera (Ubiquiti Networks UVC-G3). For the last few months, the audio cuts out between two and six seconds randomly - effectively disabling our ability to stream. I should point out we are using the Open Broadcast Software (OBS) Studio with VLC to stream to YouTube; however, OBS Studio is not the problem as we also use VLC to stream within the building. The problem seems to exist regardless of the laptop being used. Two of our units are Dells (different models and vintages) and the other is a MSI. All run Windows 10 Pro. One laptop uses integrated graphics while the other two have NVIDIA GPUs. I have scoured the Internet and found this forum to be the most informative, although I do not see a resolution. I can provide the dump of the message files if this would help. The downside is that we bought one of the laptops expressly for streaming.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I don't what else to do. As a recourse, would it make sense to create a dual boot on at least one of the laptops and try the setup with Ubuntu?

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Share your logs.

[ras1000]

I noticed that members' code is contained in a window. Is this done by selecting "Code", or "messages", or "logfile", or something else?

I should point out that I selected verbosity "2" under Tools>Messages and noticed that I was getting numerous timestamp conversion errors.

[ras1000]

Below are portions of the VLC Player messages log file. The audio drop coincide with "Timestamp conversion failed...." and "Could not convert timestamp <####> for faad". I noticed this issue was raised in an earlier forum message from 2015. I did not see a resolution, although statements suggested that the problem was not associated with a particular operating system. Audio dropouts often last several seconds.
This is a significant issue. Would appreciate any assistance/advice I can get.

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main warning: playback too early (-43686): down-sampling main debug: auto hiding mouse cursor main error: Timestamp conversion failed (delay 1000000, buffering 0, bound 3000000) main error: Could not convert timestamp 1956907815811 for faad main debug: discarded audio buffer main error: Timestamp conversion failed (delay 1000000, buffering 0, bound 3000000) main error: Could not convert timestamp 1956907908781 for faad main debug: discarded audio buffer main error: Timestamp conversion failed (delay 1000000, buffering 0, bound 3000000) main error: Could not convert timestamp 1956908001637 for faad main debug: discarded audio buffer main error: Timestamp conversion failed (delay 1000000, buffering 0, bound 3000000) main error: Could not convert timestamp 1956908094698 for faad main debug: discarded audio buffer main error: Timestamp conversion failed (delay 1000000, buffering 0, bound 3000000) main error: Could not convert timestamp 1956908187668 for faad main debug: discarded audio buffer main error: Timestamp conversion failed (delay 1000000, buffering 0, bound 3000000) main error: Could not convert timestamp 1957001899447 for faad main debug: discarded audio buffer main error: Timestamp conversion failed (delay 1000000, buffering 0, bound 3000000) main error: Could not convert timestamp 1957001992417 for faad main debug: discarded audio buffer main warning: playback way too early (-1326861): playing silence main debug: inserting 29257 zeroes main debug: auto hiding mouse cursor

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

The logs before.

[ras1000]

I may have got around the problem. Under Preference/All/Stream Output/Stream output mixer cashing (ms), I changed the setting to 3000. Although there is the occasional instant audio blip, timestamp conversion failed errors are no longer occurring. Things look very promising.

[rebelmusic]

Just joined to second the post about Cisco webex. I added the browser extension and from the next VLC play after the audio started cutting out every 5 mins from starting a movie.

[ras1000]

I had a colleague run a test using a smart phone and a laptop. Audio dropouts occurred on both devices and not simultaneously. We have found a workaround using an alternative application. I much prefer VLC and just hope the issue gets resolved.

[unidan]

Hi, we might have another access module for RTSP soon, which might also fix some of your issues or might not (depending on whether they are network issues or not I would guess).

[doraz]

Edit: branimir1999, see if a reboot fixes your problem. If it's the same as mine, it only occurs after waking from sleep.

thanks silentknyght for this advice, in my case (Win10 1809, ASRock FM2A88X-ITX+ with onboard audio, AMD A10-7800) it worked like a charm!
still confused what is the relation with sleep mode...
OFF TOPIC: I also have audio issues with emulators (e.g. DOSbox) running old games... those issues disappear after a fresh reboot, and they come back if the pc was resumed from sleep

[Mahatma]

I had the same issue, my CPU was oveclocked. After I reset the BLCK frequency to default, the problem disappeared immediately (without restart).

[Karni]

Hi Everbody

Same Problem @ AMD System 6300 with Win 10 N, Gigabyte Board, Grafik AMD 480 Asus ROG Phoebus Soundcard.
Sound Stocks all 5 Sek in Video and Music..

Driver at all Hardware updated but no Result..

This Worked for me:
The Soundcard Samplerate stand on 48 Khz.. Switched on 44 Khz and the Problem has gone

I Hope that helps you

[Howard in Toronto]

I can provide a little more diagnostic information about this problem. It appears to be a CPU contention issue, possibly related to switching context or sending internal Windows messages on interrupts.

I'm running on a not-very-new Windows 7 notebook computer with an Intel I5-2540M dual-core processor at 2.6 GHz and a solid state disk.

I created a test file consisting of just a continuous sine wave, to make it easy to hear any gaps. While I played it back using VLC, I also recorded it in GoldWave, to confirm that the problem wasn't in the audio stage. The gaps also appear in the recorded waveform, providing that confirmation. The fact that the problem occurs with both the built-in audio and an external Dragonfly DAC provides further confirmation that the problem is upstream of the audio drivers.

With both GoldWave and VLC running, interruptions to the sound are infrequent when I don't touch the mouse, but they're more frequent (sometimes around one every second or so) when I use the (hardwired) mouse to make the cursor move rapidly. That's true even if GoldWave appears idle, that is, not recording or playing back. Sometimes, the interruptions continue for a few seconds after I stop moving the mouse. Interruptions also seem to follow opening or closing a program other than VLC.

With Process Explorer also running to monitor CPU usage, I notice that the usage of the Interrupts process goes from <1% to around 6% during these rapid mouse movements. However, there may be other CPU usage triggered by the mouse that's not attributable to any process and not captured by Process Explorer.

I tried using Process Explorer to raise the priority of VLC from the ordinary 8 to 13, and that did not reduce the interruptions.

[dekibt]

I had same problem I use Edition: Windows 10 Pro Version: 1809 OS builder 17763.805 VLC media Player 3.0.8 Vetinari I had this issue only with this new version.
main warning: playback too early (-44757): down-sampling
main warning: timing screwed (drift: -95173 us): stopping resampling
main warning: playback too early (-106841): down-sampling
main warning: playback way too early (-122131): playing silence
main debug: inserting 5862 zeroes
main warning: playback too early (-50093): down-sampling
main warning: timing screwed (drift: -112342 us): stopping resampling
main warning: playback way too early (-125071): playing silence
main debug: inserting 6003 zeroes
main warning: playback too early (-49923): down-sampling
main warning: timing screwed (drift: -100364 us): stopping resampling
main warning: playback too early (-102926): down-sampling
main warning: playback way too early (-127214): playing silence
main debug: inserting 6106 zeroes
main warning: playback too early (-50089): down-sampling
main warning: timing screwed (drift: -100590 us): stopping resampling
main warning: playback too early (-112257): down-sampling
main warning: playback way too early (-124924): playing silence
main debug: inserting 5996 zeroes
main warning: playback too early (-50069): down-sampling
main warning: timing screwed (drift: -102778 us): stopping resampling
main warning: playback too early (-115445): down-sampling
main warning: playback way too early (-128132): playing silence
main debug: inserting 6150 zeroes
main warning: playback too early (-50633): down-sampling
main warning: timing screwed (drift: -112694 us): stopping resampling
main warning: playback way too early (-125467): playing silence
main debug: inserting 6022 zeroes
main warning: playback too early (-49776): down-sampling
main warning: timing screwed (drift: -102631 us): stopping resampling
main warning: playback too early (-115361): down-sampling
main warning: playback way too early (-127028): playing silence
main debug: inserting 6097 zeroes
main warning: playback too early (-50131): down-sampling
main warning: timing screwed (drift: -100424 us): stopping resampling
main warning: playback too early (-113153): down-sampling
main warning: playback way too early (-125798): playing silence
main debug: inserting 6038 zeroes
main warning: playback too early (-49275): down-sampling
main warning: timing screwed (drift: -102130 us): stopping resampling
main warning: playback too early (-114692): down-sampling
main warning: playback way too early (-127213): playing silence
main debug: inserting 6106 zeroes
main warning: playback too early (-49527): down-sampling
main warning: timing screwed (drift: -99985 us): stopping resampling
main warning: playback too early (-112611): down-sampling
main warning: playback way too early (-124258): playing silence
main debug: inserting 5964 zeroes
main warning: playback too early (-50319): down-sampling
main warning: timing screwed (drift: -102569 us): stopping resampling
main warning: playback too early (-115215): down-sampling
main warning: playback way too early (-127903): playing silence
main debug: inserting 6139 zeroes
main warning: playback too early (-49820): down-sampling
main warning: timing screwed (drift: -100299 us): stopping resampling
main warning: playback too early (-112008): down-sampling
main warning: playback way too early (-124696): playing silence
main debug: inserting 5985 zeroes
main warning: playback too early (-40467): down-sampling
main warning: timing screwed (drift: -89881 us): stopping resampling
main warning: playback too early (-102527): down-sampling
main warning: playback way too early (-127694): playing silence
main debug: inserting 6129 zeroes

[ChallengerDefeated]

I'm having this same issue. Has anyone thought of a fix?
One day it stopped and I thought maybe I had gotten some update, but it's back to doing it again.
It's driving me batty because I can't for the life of me figure out what's wrong. It just started suddenly doing this and hasn't stopped, doesn't matter what version or what settings I mess with, and of course nothing has changed about my hardware. This is my main audio player because it can go louder than the others, so it's frustrating.

Message log:

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main debug: toggling pause mmdevice debug: state changed: 1 main warning: timing screwed (drift: -88238 us): stopping resampling main warning: playback too early (-96839): down-sampling main warning: playback way too early (-129060): playing silence main debug: inserting 6194 zeroes main warning: playback too early (-43224): down-sampling main warning: timing screwed (drift: -86905 us): stopping resampling main warning: playback too early (-98758): down-sampling main warning: playback way too early (-130837): playing silence main debug: inserting 6280 zeroes main warning: playback too early (-41184): down-sampling main warning: timing screwed (drift: -85157 us): stopping resampling main warning: playback too early (-96781): down-sampling main warning: playback way too early (-120031): playing silence main debug: inserting 5761 zeroes main warning: playback too early (-46758): down-sampling main warning: timing screwed (drift: -96408 us): stopping resampling main warning: playback too early (-105447): down-sampling main warning: playback way too early (-128068): playing silence main debug: inserting 6147 zeroes main warning: playback too early (-45294): down-sampling main debug: toggling resume mmdevice debug: state changed: 0

I've seen a couple of threads about this issue throughout the years and multiple versions while trying to find something, and as far as I can tell there hasn't really been an answer...? No way to fix it once it's started happening?

[seanparent]

Same problem - Hades Canyon NUC - same issue with the MS player. On a hunch, I disabled the microphone (Settings -> Microphone -> Allow access to the microphone on this device -> Change) and the problem was resolved. I've had issues with the microphone driver and Cortana filling my SSD with temp sound files, that wasn't happening at the time but I was wondering of Cortana "listening" could be the issue. Just a hypothesis but disabling the microphone fixed the sound output issues.

[Anonymous375298]

Hi, I also have this problem with the audio that keeps stopping. I have noticed that it happens when the computer is not being used for a while because when I'm using it and listening music it doesn't happen. It only happens when I leave the computer with the music playing. I thought the problem could be the screen been put in stand by mode after some minutes but I deactivated that and it keeps happening. I hope some developer or mod reads this and knows how to fix it. I have been using VLC for many years and I'm very used to it and I don't want to be obligated by this to find another media player.

[plapplap123]

OMG! Started my computer this morning and now I have VLC audio cutting in and out. So did all the usual, tested other players (played fine), did virus scan (clean), driver updates, reboots, uninstalled and reinstalled VLC.. No change!! the only change yesterday was installing Discord to play some online games with friends.. Discord was horrible and we could not get it to work properly so we ended up using Google Hangout instead. Note I did uninstalled Discord. During uninstall I also noticed windows updates had happened yesterday too, including [3D Viewer], [Get Help], [Paint 3D], [English Local Exp..], [Mixed Reality Portal] and [Sway] all by Microsoft Corporation. Love how I don’t ask for this stuff!

Next I did a Google search for this issue and came across this forum, I have read everything and no one seems to have an explanation to why this is happening and any reliable fix, from what I can see.

I have used VLC for as long as I can remember and love this little tool, I would be really upset if I have to give it up due to this issue.

Version: VLC media player 3.0.8 Vetinari
Computer is: Intel Core i7 4.0GHz Processor, GeForce GTX 1080, Memory 64GB DDR4 2400MHz, Kingston 240GB SATA 6Gbps SSD, Motherboard MSI Z170A-SLI, Audio Focusrite Scarlett 6i6.
Running: Windows 10 Home, 64-bit

Does anyone have an explanation and or a solid fix for this problem?

Full VLC log using [vlc.exe -vv --logfile=c:\vlclog.txt]
Used ‘Pastebin.com’ as instructed if log was too long:
VLC Log can be found here: https://pastebin.com/R6rBUJF7

Standard VLC log:

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-- logger module started -- main: one instance mode ENABLED main: Running vlc with the default interface. Use 'cvlc' to use vlc without interface. avcodec: Using D3D11VA (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080, vendor 10de(NVIDIA), device 1b80, revision a1) for hardware decoding main error: Timestamp conversion failed for 5833001: no reference clock main error: Could not convert timestamp 0 for FFmpeg direct3d11 error: SetThumbNailClip failed: 0x800706f4 -- logger module stopped -- -- logger module started -- main: one instance mode ENABLED -- logger module started -- main: one instance mode ENABLED -- logger module started -- main: one instance mode ENABLED -- logger module started -- main: one instance mode ENABLED -- logger module started -- main: one instance mode ENABLED -- logger module started -- main: one instance mode ENABLED main: Running vlc with the default interface. Use 'cvlc' to use vlc without interface. avcodec: Using D3D11VA (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080, vendor 10de(NVIDIA), device 1b80, revision a1) for hardware decoding avcodec: Using D3D11VA (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080, vendor 10de(NVIDIA), device 1b80, revision a1) for hardware decoding avcodec: Using D3D11VA (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080, vendor 10de(NVIDIA), device 1b80, revision a1) for hardware decoding avcodec: Using D3D11VA (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080, vendor 10de(NVIDIA), device 1b80, revision a1) for hardware decoding avcodec: Using D3D11VA (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080, vendor 10de(NVIDIA), device 1b80, revision a1) for hardware decoding avcodec: Using D3D11VA (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080, vendor 10de(NVIDIA), device 1b80, revision a1) for hardware decoding direct3d11 error: SetThumbNailClip failed: 0x800706f4 -- logger module stopped --

[labeille]

I've had the same problem on my 64 bit Windows 10 PC. I just reinstalled the audio drivers and the problem went away. I am using the ASUS ROG drivers.

[Apex]

Problem solved, it's the audio buffer's problem. Increase the audio buffer would help. Different version of VLC player have differnt way to adjust the audio buffer, for 3.1.20 you has to go to command line to adjust the files. In case of linux, the file should at /etc in a folder of "pipewire", the folder can be differnt due to different output modual you use, recommended is ALSA which use pipewire in background. Then there should be a .conf file in there, change the content to something like this:
context.properties = {
link.max-buffers = 128 # Increase max-buffers for more buffering <--- increases from 64 to 128
default.clock.min-quantum = 2048 # Optionally increase quantum size
}

context.objects = [
{ factory = adapter
args = {
factory.name = api.alsa.pcm.source
node.name = "alsa-source"
node.description = "PCM Source"
media.class = "Audio/Source"
api.alsa.path = "hw:0"
api.alsa.period-size = 2048 # Increase period size for more buffering <-- doubled
api.alsa.headroom = 2048 # Increase headroom accordingly <-- doubled
api.alsa.disable-mmap = false
api.alsa.disable-batch = false
audio.format = "S16LE"
audio.rate = 48000
audio.channels = 2
audio.position = "FL,FR"
}
}

{ factory = adapter
args = {
factory.name = api.alsa.pcm.sink
node.name = "alsa-sink"
node.description = "PCM Sink"
media.class = "Audio/Sink"
api.alsa.path = "hw:0"
api.alsa.period-size = 2048 # Increase period size for more buffering <-- doubled
api.alsa.headroom = 2048 # Increase headroom accordingly <-- doubled
api.alsa.disable-mmap = false
api.alsa.disable-batch = false
audio.format = "S16LE"
audio.rate = 48000
audio.channels = 2
audio.position = "FL,FR"
}
}
]

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

Pipewire on Windows? Come on...