The VideoLAN Forums

Hello,

I'm still getting rhythmic stuttering and drop-outs on .mp3 files of the past Coast to Coast AM radio show broadcasts that I've downloaded off of their website, which they call "Streamlink". As far as I know, it's not streaming media in the strict sense of the word, as the files are being fully downloaded from their archive of past shows before I open them in VLC. This problem started w/ VLC 1.1.0. No other types of files seem to be affected. Video files, and mp3 song files all seem to play fine. The Coast to Coast AM files play fine in Windows Media Player.

Here's my computer specs:

Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R motherboard
Intel Core i7 2.83 GHz OC'd to 2.93 GHz
12 GB Corsair DDR3 1033(?) MHz OC'd to 1600 MHz using XMP
80 GB Hard Drive for Operating System
260 GB Hard Drive for programs
1 TB Hard Drive for Photographs
500 GB portable external USB 2.0 hard drive for storage of other media and misc. files. My mp3 and video files all play directly from this drive (they're not transferred to internal drive before use).

Any help or suggestions are welcome.

Thanks,
Brad

No issue from .mp3 files playback?
Does it fixes the issue if you force it to be mono in the audio menu ?

Same here (in 1.1.0 and 1.1.1), I had no problems in 1.0.5 and before.

rhythmic stuttering every 10 seconds in almost all files.
all mp3. flv. wmv files

Cpu usages = 5-10%

windows xp pro sp3

PS: the problem is fixed when I forced it to play in MONO

Ditto as everyone describes. Two systems, AMD and Intel. Started with 1.1.0-RC.

I fiddled with blowing away configurations and some cache files. It *can* magically disappear for complete sessions. If I had to guess, skipping around seems to aggravate it. It's like a buffer corruption somewhere. MP3s and TWIT streamed FLVs (videos) mostly. I do see a corresponding but subtle video jump, too.

I swear more "continuous" content, like music, is unaffected. Speech productions get horribly annoying.

I would be delighted to help any way I can on this great app with this nasty problem.

EDIT: I'll have to fiddle with mono - but original is already mono on the talk-netcasts that are badly affected here.

Any idea how to resolve this problem?

I'm thinking to going back to 1.0.5.

Did you try to force mono ?

Did you try to force mono ?

I didn't find an option to force mono mode.
Now when I play a mp3 file I have to change it in every song.

How do I force VLC in mono mode?

Thanks for the suggestion of forcing mono. That seemed to fix it. I just assumed that VLC would auto-detect whether the file being played is mono or stereo and adjust accordingly. I guess not?

UPDATE: Just after typing this message, the problem started up again after jumping to the next track in my playlist so I checked whether VLC was set to stereo or mono. It reverted itself back to stereo after skipping to the new track. I was about half way through the first track when I jumped to the second one. That's when VLC went back to stereo and the problem started again. So it appears to be a conflict with VLC trying to play a mono file in stereo mode?

Brad

I don't know if it is a bug in the stream being mono or a work-around that works, since I am unable to reproduce.

j-b:

I updated my most recent post on this thread while you were replying. I've included new info that may be helpful to you.

Thanks,
Brad

j-b:

I updated my most recent post on this thread while you were replying. I've included new info that may be helpful to you.

Thanks,
Brad

Do you have a link to the audio stream?
Do you have a screenshot of VLC's codec info dialog?

I don't know if it is a bug in the stream being mono or a work-around that works, since I am unable to reproduce.

Maybe a codec question?
It started at 1.0.x

can you tell me how I can force VLC in mono mode?

Menu->Audio

So it appears to be a conflict with VLC trying to play a mono file in stereo mode?

No, I checked my files in Gspot.
They are stereo files.

UPDATE: you're right Bsteinagel.
The problem is only when playing mono files.

UPDATE: you're right Bsteinagel.
The problem is only when playing mono files.

Can you confirm this?

UPDATE: you're right Bsteinagel.
The problem is only when playing mono files.

Can you confirm this?

yes, I checked another 25-30 files.
Every flv mp3 file with mono sound has this problem.
No Stereo file has it.

Just a followup/confirmation:

I get the same dropouts when streaming mp3 audio. Bug ticket #http://trac.videolan.org/vlc/ticket/3813 and #http://trac.videolan.org/vlc/ticket/3749, I believe, talk about this issue, however, switching to Mono mode is new to me. I can confirm that switching VLC from stereo to mono stopped the audio dropouts.

A good test site is the TWiT network live audio stream at http://twit.am/listen. If left in Stereo mode, VLC will start dropping out in 15-20 seconds, then repeat approx every 10 seconds. Switching VLC to Mono results in uninterrupted playback. Also, VLC 1.0.5 can playback without changing modes.

Hope that helps track down the issue....

Forcing Mono seems to do it here. But I'm cautious - making changes can bury the problem for quite a while.

A good test site is the TWiT network live audio stream at http://twit.am/listen. If left in Stereo mode, VLC will start dropping out in 15-20 seconds, then repeat approx every 10 seconds. Switching VLC to Mono results in uninterrupted playback. Also, VLC 1.0.5 can playback without changing modes.

Hope that helps track down the issue....

In fact, yes, it did. This stream is great to test. I believe we have fixed it in 1.1.2:

Try it yourself:
http://nightlies.videolan.org/build/win ... 0726-2106/

A good test site is the TWiT network live audio stream at http://twit.am/listen. If left in Stereo mode, VLC will start dropping out in 15-20 seconds, then repeat approx every 10 seconds. Switching VLC to Mono results in uninterrupted playback. Also, VLC 1.0.5 can playback without changing modes.

Hope that helps track down the issue....

In fact, yes, it did. This stream is great to test. I believe we have fixed it in 1.1.2:

Try it yourself:
http://nightlies.videolan.org/build/win ... 0726-2106/

Yes it is fixed in 1.1.2.
Thank you

I think I found the answer. It has its own issues, possibly. Tools-Preferences [all] - Input/Codecs - Access Modules - File. Increase the buffering ms to at least 800. I use 1000 and no more drop outs.

I think I found the answer. It has its own issues, possibly. Tools-Preferences [all] - Input/Codecs - Access Modules - File. Increase the buffering ms to at least 800. I use 1000 and no more drop outs.

This is a work-around, not a fix
1.1.2 will fix it.

In fact, yes, it did. This stream is great to test. I believe we have fixed it in 1.1.2:

Try it yourself:
http://nightlies.videolan.org/build/win ... 0726-2106/

Woot! My initial testing of the nightly build sounds good! Thank you --SO-- much for looking into that.

-Matt

PS - If I'm running a nightly build (from above), will I be prompted to update to official 1.1.2 or do I need to keep my eye out for it manually?

Warner I think you can check here over the next week or so and get the release, it won't hurt you to check in if it doesn't prompt you to update

In fact, yes, it did. This stream is great to test. I believe we have fixed it in 1.1.2:

Try it yourself:
http://nightlies.videolan.org/build/win ... 0726-2106/

Woot! My initial testing of the nightly build sounds good! Thank you --SO-- much for looking into that.

-Matt

PS - If I'm running a nightly build (from above), will I be prompted to update to official 1.1.2 or do I need to keep my eye out for it manually?

You will need to run manually.