The VideoLAN Forums

I have the latest Nightly build of VLC that I update every week, but I can't get a truly smooth playback in VLC, no matter if I play a DivX-avi or a real DVD movie.
I have done all the things that you are recommended to do - updated my sound card/graphic card drivers, deleted the vlc preferences directory and unchecked skip frames option. Also updated DirectX. And my DVD drive has DMA on. And everything else for that matter.

My computer is a truly fast one in general, and I'm having NO troubles whatsoever with ultra-smooth playback in Windows Media Player, or any other DVD program. But dammit I want to use VLC because of its versitality considering zoom/subtitle configuration.
In "Messages" I don't get anything wrong, it all seems alright, everything
s loading up just fine.

What can I do? My un-smooth playback in VLC can be described as like it's dropping a frame or two every second or something. It's not perfectly noticeable, but if you look closely and compare the same scene played in another player, you can see it's not perfectly smooth.

I just resolved a similar problem.

I know you have the latest drivers.Yet, check if you have Hardware acceleration set to max in windows graphics properties.

I just resolved a similar problem.

I know you have the latest drivers.Yet, check if you have Hardware acceleration set to max in windows graphics properties.

It's set at max already

I'm assuming as I write this that you have looked at CPU usage while playing a commercial DVD and the result is less than 1 or 2%

If it isn't I would be looking at AGP or PCIe drivers.

Another area is some sound cards just don't take control or control the video well. Leaving the picture with jitter. You can try new drivers and or changing the audio from the default DirectX to "Win32 waveOut extension output" in Preferences, Audio, Output modules to see if there is a change. Don't forget to press Save and restart VLC for the changes to take effect. From what you described there should be a difference because the timing is a bit better specially for A/52 (ac3) or DTS. Thus leaving the picture with less jitter. This is NOT however a VLC problem but is a known issue with DirectX. But ultimately the problem would be the sound card. For a few people that come here with Sound Max sound cards or chip sets for example the problem is not resolvable unless you toss it.

Ya! but why don't other players show this problem? That's because all programmers have a different way of using DirectX and they have no way of knowing how this will effect all the hardware that has ever been made. They just know that the numbers are better for their program and it works better on their machine. Please note the extraordinary low CPU usage for MPEG 2 for example.

You can also try MPlayer for a while as this player does not enforce sync well and may appear very smooth, perhaps more so than any other player but you will notice after a period of time that subtitles and lipsync are not always correct and other players are.

Hope this helps resolve your issues!

Thank you for your help DJ,

My cpu is maximum 1-2% while running a movie in VLC, and I have a Sound Blaster Audigy (high performance stuff) sound card with the latest drivers. Same for my display drivers.

It still is less smooth than in Windows Media Player

I have the same problem, choppy playback of all media. Doesn't matter if it's DVD,divx,xvid or wmv, it's still choppy. In WMP or MPC, everything is ok.

My specs:
Sempron 3000+ (socketA)
VIA KT600
1,5 GB RAM @ 333Mhz, CL2
Radeon X800Pro, 256MB (agp)
Audigy 2ZS
WinXP pro SP2
Latest drivers for everything.

I've played with probably all possible settings that could have something to do with this problem that VLC player offers, but still no luck. Right now I'm in work (yes, on sunday,gee), but when I get back home, I'll try just disbaling the sound output and see if it helps, if even this will not help than I'm totally stuck, anyone else having this problem? Did u solve it?

It is my understanding that the Sound Blaster Audigy also has problems. Try looking at this:

http://kxproject.lugosoft.com/index.php?skip=1
Replacement drivers for Creative sound cards

It is my understanding that the Sound Blaster Audigy also has problems. Try looking at this:

http://kxproject.lugosoft.com/index.php?skip=1
Replacement drivers for Creative sound cards

Thanks, but a quick look and I see that the latest time the KX-drivers were updated was 2004. I just can't download an almost three year old driver and replace my 1 month old original Creative drivers without knowing the _exact_ cause of my problem

Check out ReClock on the web. This is not an endorsement for the program and is suggested here for information only.

I tried ReClock now, and also checked "Force ReClock to be loaded in place of default DirectSound/Ware renderers", but it made absolutely no difference in VLC. I also tried to find ReClock renderer in VLC sound output settings without luck.

Well, I can confirm that the "choppy playback" problem is gone when audio output is disabled, every media I play is absolutely smooth then
I tried possibly every combination of audio settings, no luck and I'm really not willing to watch any video without sound. I wonder wtf is this sound (creative?) problem...

Well, I can confirm that the "choppy playback" problem is gone when audio output is disabled, every media I play is absolutely smooth then
I tried possibly every combination of audio settings, no luck and I'm really not willing to watch any video without sound. I wonder wtf is this sound (creative?) problem...

I need to bump this
We want a solution!

Come on, lets fix this soon!

I'm sorry to say that, but I'm back to my old good MPC, plays everything I throw at it perfectly. I' really like to use VLC, I like it, but with this problem that is probably not solvable (at least in the near future) I can't use it. I also tried latest nightly, but still the same. I tried to play something on my work computer which has totally different HW specs than the one I've got at home, but it has the same problem too, and that is with the onboard VIA audio, not Creative stuff. Sorry I just have to have something to play media without problems, because........my sig

I tried ReClock now, and also checked "Force ReClock to be loaded in place of default DirectSound/Ware renderers", but it made absolutely no difference in VLC. I also tried to find ReClock renderer in VLC sound output settings without luck.

I really can't explain this but every time I suggest looking at ReClock for more info someone has to down load and try the program and then come back and say it didn't work. ReClock will work with VLC, if you have a few days to play with it to get it to do so, but this requires pooring through the documentation and truly understanding the problem and if this were true you wouldn't be here saying it didn't work. So now I simply say READ the documentation and you will understand the problem without the need to install ReClock. So this is not an endorsement of the program considering most people will never be able to get it to work with VLC.

This however does not negate the real problem which 99% of the time is hardware!

Well, I can confirm that the "choppy playback" problem is gone when audio output is disabled, every media I play is absolutely smooth then
I tried possibly every combination of audio settings, no luck and I'm really not willing to watch any video without sound. I wonder wtf is this sound (creative?) problem...

I find also that someone will shut of audio and say that it's fine now so the problem must be VLC. All Digital video is sync to audio and this should give you a clue as to the real problem and state that your test is not valid in leading to a solution other than hardware.

Come on, lets fix this soon!

It's very difficult to fix something that's not broke. So you will need to do this from your end at the source of the real problem!

Hmmmm, hw problem? I really tried everything possible at "my end", but with no luck and only after the sound output is disabled, it "works" fine. Of course, VLC must be perfect, because it's the only player having these problems, now on 3 computers I tested and WMP and MPC is crap that compensates the sync for the playback to be smooth. You are a true genius, thanks. I just think that it's still under heavy development and it will take a while till it's REALLY usable for most people. Please stop telling others here that it's a hw problem, just because you don't know how to fix it, thanks in advance.

All Digital video is sync to audio and this should give you a clue as to the real problem and state that your test is not valid in leading to a solution other than hardware.

Yes and that led me to the final conclusion that if other players are syncing AV the way it's actually smooth (and, really NO out-of-sync-lips syndrome here) that it's a problem of VLC.

This may be part of your problem:

"Don't take life too seriously, it doesn't have a very happy ending after all"

My cup is half full and I'm happy with what I have, not saying that I never look for something better, but then again I don't have your problems. I do a fair amount of video editing so I'm always comparing players. If the video is not smooth or the lip sync is not dead on I'm the first to complain about the issue and seek a resolve.

So do us both a favor and speak for YOU and not the rest of the people you believe share your problem!!!

Come on, lets fix this soon!

It's very difficult to fix something that's not broke. So you will need to do this from your end at the source of the real problem!

Uh, no, it is "broke". I'm another person with the same problem: have no trouble playing media on other players, but VLC plays back VERY choppy. Make sure to let the world know when the program is all growed up!

When video has jitter the issue is always the sound card. The easy test is take away or shut off sound then there is no sync or control for the video. All digital video is sync to audio. If the audio is not excepting control or is not controlling the video well there will be jitter.

Have you tried updating your audio drivers?

Have you tried changing the audio output module?

If it works well with windows older method of rendering audio, generally points to the drivers, but it may also be DirectX related. Try updating DirectX runtime.

All players use DirectX differently thus accounting for variances in payers. But if you haven't noticed CPU usage is the lowest of all players using VLC. Try playing a commercial DVD (NOT sitting on a menu ) then look at CPU usage. Then do the same thing with MPC or WMP. This should be the picture worth 1k words. For the user that can't get anything good enough, use MPlayer as it's does not enforce sync well at all. Then you can complain to them when you have lipsync problems.

I would suggest searching ReClock on the web for more information on this topic, but some fool will always come back and say the program doesn't work which is NOT why I sent them there. Yes it will work with VLC if you have 2 or 3 days to play with it or really understand what you are doing, but the majority of users will never get this far. So I don't recommend the program. Beside this really shouldn't be necessary if you have a decent audio card with recent drivers.

DJ thank you so much for your help! WMP10 played .WMV files correctly, but my MPC was experiencing very jittery playback with .WMV files.

I used your suggestion and changed the Directshow Audio to use waveOut. The .WMV file plays PERFECTLY in MPC now!

This problem has been driving me nuts for a while now and i'm glad you knew the answer

When video has jitter the issue is always the sound card. The easy test is take away or shut off sound then there is no sync or control for the video. All digital video is sync to audio. If the audio is not excepting control or is not controlling the video well there will be jitter.

Have you tried updating your audio drivers?

Have you tried changing the audio output module?

If it works well with windows older method of rendering audio, generally points to the drivers, but it may also be DirectX related. Try updating DirectX runtime.

All players use DirectX differently thus accounting for variances in payers. But if you haven't noticed CPU usage is the lowest of all players using VLC. Try playing a commercial DVD (NOT sitting on a menu ) then look at CPU usage. Then do the same thing with MPC or WMP. This should be the picture worth 1k words. For the user that can't get anything good enough, use MPlayer as it's does not enforce sync well at all. Then you can complain to them when you have lipsync problems.

I would suggest searching ReClock on the web for more information on this topic, but some fool will always come back and say the program doesn't work which is NOT why I sent them there. Yes it will work with VLC if you have 2 or 3 days to play with it or really understand what you are doing, but the majority of users will never get this far. So I don't recommend the program. Beside this really shouldn't be necessary if you have a decent audio card with recent drivers.

Really WMV3 or WVC1 is a different issue. Playback of these formats is Windows only and uses the Direct Show codecs. VLC is a packet based player that uses its own libraries to decode media files. At the request of many users an accommodation was made and it has never worked as well as WMP for these formats.

Starting with VLC 0.8.6 WMV3 and WVC1 will be supported in VLC directly, using ffmpeg. As of Oct 31 06 this is still not working properly.

Actually i was referring to WMV playback inside of Media Player Classic v6.4.9.0 (sorry i wasn't specific). Changing the sound output (to wav) fixed the video freezing and poor looking display (it would be all blurry and wierd).

However, i still have issues when attempting to seek on some avi files inside MPC (video frame freezes for a while but audio keeps playing). I don't seem to have those issues with VLC

-Stonebraker

Really WMV3 or WVC1 is a different issue. Playback of these formats is Windows only and uses the Direct Show codecs. VLC is a packet based player that uses its own libraries to decode media files. At the request of many users an accommodation was made and it has never worked as well as WMP for these formats.

Starting with VLC 0.8.6 WMV3 and WVC1 will be supported in VLC directly, using ffmpeg. As of Oct 31 06 this is still not working properly.

MPC also uses the Windows codecs for WMv3 and WVC1. Really I haven't experienced a difference between WMP 10 and MPC in this regard. While WMP 11 may be a whole different issue as the final version is causing lots of problems for quite a few users and players.