The VideoLAN Forums

I know this is an issue that has been brought up a lot and I've tried many of the solutions but none of them work.

I have tried disabling Accelerated video output/Overlay video output, changing the GPU decoding setting, altered all the caching settings under Input/Codecs, and I updated to 2.2.6 Umbrella. After each setting change I restarted VLC and the grey pixels remained.

Specifically with the problem:
-I'm watching shows that I've downloaded and it occurs pretty rarely, to the point that I ignore it for the 2 seconds that it happens and then it's all good.
-There's no chance that it could be missing information because when I rewind the episode to just before the pixelation occurs, it will continue playing perfectly fine over the area that was pixelated.
-For the first time ever, the pixelation lasted about 30-40 seconds straight.
-I noticed that if I pause it at regular intervals during the pixelation period, the pixelation will not occur.
-But these intervals of pausing are at max 1 second between pause/unpause, so the video is basically still unwatchable.

This sounds a likely candidate for being a power management issue. You can easily determine this my installing some free RamDisk software (I use ImDisk), copy a known problematic media file into ram and then open it with VLC. If it plays fine, then you are likely affected by the AHCI power management features HIPM & DIPM. Please see this post https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.ph ... 9&start=60 for some potential solutions to HIPM/DIPM.

That link you gave doesnt lead to anything. It says the page doesnt exist. I think you may have copied the link incorrectly
If you could repost the link in full so I can check it out, then please do.
But anyways, I'll look into the ramdisk software you mentioned to see if it makes a difference in the playback.
Also, my computer is running on windows 7 and idk if it matters, but the video in question is only 560mb and is playing at 1080p.
Which is unusual that the pixelation occurs so heavily with it since I only ever watch 1080p videos on my computer and many of them are actually larger than 560mb.
Actually, since this incident occurred, I went on to watch another series at 1080p and each episode 560+mb with zero pixelation.

Ah yes the link seems busted. Here it is again in quotes "https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.ph ... 9&start=60". And again in brackets (https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.ph ... 9&start=60). Hell, why not some square brackets [https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.ph ... 9&start=60]. Can't imagine what went wrong before but it seems to have pasted in correctly before I hit the 'submit' button. The link is to a discussion of the problem in the MacOS part of the forums. Don't let that put you off though, as this has been an issue on my last two rigs, both running Windows 7. If your problem is truly intermittent, another poster over at the link provided suggested it maybe an "overheat" problem too which I can't testify.

Before I submit, and if the links somehow bugger-up again, you should be able to search it's title "VLC pixelated gray screen". I weigh in on page 4. If HIPM/DIPM does turn out to be the issue, may I humbly ask you post a confirmation as there has only ever been 1, and it was posted immediately after I weighed in on page 4. I only ask this so as others may see that AHCI's HIPM/DIPM is guaranteed to cause this problem and that there is a fairly painless solution for Windows 7 users at least. Cheers.

Got the link
I got the ImDisk, but I have no idea how to use it.
I also got the HIPM/DIPM .reg files and was able to change those settings for my power management options.
I went and changed the option from HIPM to HIPM+DIPM, and there was no change in the pixelation. I also changed the setting to Active, with no changes as well.
I'm pretty sure it's not a power management issue.
And I doubt it's an overheat issue too because my computer does not get hot when playing videos of any kind.

Then I don't know what to tell you mate. I can only offer the story of how I know this 'grey pixelation' is in fact a power management issue, at least on my rig's it is the only cause and indeed the only true solution that you have now tried. When I built this new rig late last year I got this problem on the first movie I tried to watch. A problem I had solved about 8-9 years previous on my old rig, but I couldn't for the life of me remember what the problem was. Which inevitably took me to the thread I linked you to. My old rig still had "and still has" an old 120gb IDE hooked up via ribbon cable and played everything perfectly fine. The newer 250gb SATA AHCI drive however gave grey pixellation at very frequent intervals. Another clue was that I could actually hear the SATA drive enter and exit HIPM/DIPM PM states whilst playing a movie, something that isn't possible on the 3tb Toshiba in my new rig as it's very quiet indeed. So when it all came flooding back I made the post on the other thread with absolute certainty and I remain absolutely certain there is a singular cause and a singular solution on both of my rigs, and remain convinced mixed ssd/mechanical rigs using AHCI over SATA will invariable run into this problem with VLC.

Now I don't want to come across all patronising and such, but have you looked at page 1 of the thread I directed you too and confirmed we are actually discussing the same problem? The pic displayed is indicative of the issue. Also, is your rig using the newer nvme standard? Is the problem you are experiencing sourced from an ssd or mechanical disk? With regards to ImDisk if you simply open "RamDisk configuration" from the ImDisk folder in the start menu, you can then specify the size of the disk you wish to create whilst taking note of the proposed drive letter.Forget about all the other settings, you don't need them. Since your playing with 560mb files just create a 1gb ramdisk and then copy the file over to the new ramDrive as you would any file in file manager, then open from the ramDrive location with VLC. Good luck.

The image on the first page is the same issue that I'm having.
And to be honest, man, other people have been solving their pixelation problems through various other means. Which says that the VLC pixelation is not always a PM issue.
If it was a PM issue, then I would be getting grey pixelations consistently on ever video that I watch. But I don't. In fact it's actually an uncommon occurrence on my computer. And I watch videos that have FLAC, BD quality rips, 256 and 320 bitrate audio, and everything is standard 24 fps.
I'm using a store bought laptop, not built for gaming but can still hold it's own with a few titles. It's 5 years old but has no apparent issues. AFAIK it shouldn't have an SSD.

Anyways, I really appreciate your suggestion, and I'm glad it works for you, but unfortunately the problem I'm having is of a different nature.

I hear ya. The fact that yours is an intermittent issue, together with your changing HIPM/DIPM to 'active' clearly points to other causals. I merley offered the solution that I myself have experienced and confirmed.

I believe the underlying issue is that a read request cannot be fulfilled in a timely manner, and as discussed over on the other thread, basic IO contention can also cause the problem. If you witness the issue just once whilst streaming from the ramDrive, then it will offer key evidence that your instance of the problem runs much deeper, maybe a codec or lib issue. If your files play flawlessly (always) off the ramDrive however then the evidence will point back to that which I have asserted (read request).

Edit: forget the "codec or lib issue" bit. I just re-read it and realised there is no evidence to support it. Pfft.

@thesandvolcano - I tested RAMdisk and for me at least, you're dead right, it's a disk power management issue. I made the change to the registry as per your instructions and the ACHI - Link Power Management - HIPM/DIPM option appeared in the Power Options / Advanced Options screen. I was expecting to be able to disable it (as I thought that if this was the problem, that's what I should do - perhaps I misunderstood you?), but that option wasn't available. So instead, I chose "Active" and voila, the video is running smoothly again....at least for now. I've no idea if this is the opposite of what you were recommending, but thanks either way.