VLC 2.0.0 - HD Video Stuttering

[CybrHwk]

Having updated from V1.x to 2.0.0 I am finding that HD content is stuttering. I've tried all the suggestions in other threads, but I am sure this is a VLC bug as I am running a very high spec PC:

Core i7 3930 Six Core
16GIG Quad Channel Memory
nVidia GeForce 580 3GB
Windows 7 64 bit Ultimate

My CPU is sitting at around 7% when the stuttering is happening with GPU Accel switched off. Playing the exact same .ts file in V1.x and it plays fine. What logging do I need to turn on to help debug the issue? I am a Software Engineer, so I am willing to do as much debugging as necessary to help resolve the issue as I have been using VLC for a very long time

Cheers
~Hawk

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Can you go in preferences, advanced, search for threads and in FFmpeg module, set it to 4 or 6 and please report.
Testing http://nightlies.videolan.org/build/win ... 0225-1847/ might help too.

[CybrHwk]

Upping it to 6 threads from 4 has made it marginally better. It still stutters badly, but the gap to continue playing is reduced. Looking at the progress bar, it constantly buffering which is should be doing on a Gigabit ethernet to my NAS.

I tried upping the Network Cache to 5 secs which also improved it, but its still no where near what I'd consider smooth playback, particularly considering running 1.x with default settings is perfectly smooth.

Nightly build had zero effect, the issue is still there. Any other settings you want me to try?

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Logs?

[CybrHwk]

main debug: Stream buffering done (1051 ms in 1472 ms)
main debug: Decoder buffering done in 0 ms
main debug: audio output is starving (-211625), playing silence
main warning: resampling stopped after 6083884 usec (drift: 2938)
main error: ES_OUT_SET_(GROUP_)PCR is called too late (pts_delay increased to 1010 ms)
main error: ES_OUT_RESET_PCR called
main warning: early picture skipped
main debug: End of audio preroll
main debug: Buffering 0%
main debug: Buffering 9%
main debug: Buffering 18%
main debug: End of video preroll
main debug: Received first picture
main debug: Buffering 28%
main debug: Buffering 37%
main debug: Buffering 47%
main debug: Buffering 56%
main debug: Buffering 66%
main debug: Buffering 75%
main debug: Buffering 85%
main debug: Buffering 94%
main debug: Stream buffering done (1056 ms in 1575 ms)
main debug: Decoder buffering done in 0 ms
main debug: audio output is starving (-200793), playing silence
main error: ES_OUT_SET_(GROUP_)PCR is called too late (pts_delay increased to 1018 ms)
main error: ES_OUT_RESET_PCR called
main warning: early picture skipped
main debug: End of audio preroll
main debug: Buffering 0%
main debug: Buffering 8%
main debug: Buffering 18%
main debug: Buffering 28%
main debug: End of video preroll
main debug: Received first picture
main debug: Buffering 37%
main debug: Buffering 47%
main debug: Buffering 56%
main debug: Buffering 65%
main debug: Buffering 75%
main debug: Buffering 84%
main debug: Buffering 94%
main debug: Stream buffering done (1056 ms in 1503 ms)
main debug: Decoder buffering done in 0 ms
main debug: audio output is starving (-243590), playing silence
main warning: audio output out of sync, adjusting dates (-48497 us)
main warning: not synchronized (-48496 us), resampling
main warning: buffer too early (-48496), down-sampling
main error: ES_OUT_SET_(GROUP_)PCR is called too late (pts_delay increased to 1022 ms)
main error: ES_OUT_RESET_PCR called
main warning: early picture skipped
main debug: End of audio preroll
main debug: Buffering 0%
main debug: Buffering 9%
main debug: Buffering 18%
main debug: Buffering 28%
main debug: End of video preroll
main debug: Received first picture
main debug: Buffering 37%
main debug: Buffering 46%
main debug: Buffering 55%
main debug: Buffering 65%
main debug: Buffering 75%
main debug: Buffering 84%
main debug: Buffering 93%
main debug: Stream buffering done (1056 ms in 1537 ms)
main debug: Decoder buffering done in 0 ms
main debug: audio output is starving (-272172), playing silence
main warning: resampling stopped after 6447720 usec (drift: -3145)
main error: ES_OUT_SET_(GROUP_)PCR is called too late (pts_delay increased to 1046 ms)
main error: ES_OUT_RESET_PCR called
main warning: early picture skipped
main debug: End of audio preroll
main debug: Buffering 0%
main debug: Buffering 9%
main debug: Buffering 17%
main debug: Buffering 27%
main debug: Buffering 36%
main debug: End of video preroll
main debug: Received first picture
main debug: Buffering 45%
main debug: Buffering 55%
main debug: Buffering 64%
main debug: Buffering 73%
main debug: Buffering 82%
main debug: Buffering 91%
main debug: Stream buffering done (1053 ms in 1498 ms)
main debug: Decoder buffering done in 0 ms
main debug: audio output is starving (-230686), playing silence
main debug: auto hiding mouse cursor

[CybrHwk]

It seems to be limited to some .ts files (even though it played correctly on 1.x). I wonder if its specific bit rates it having trouble with? Tried an MKV and MP4 at 1080p and they are playing fine...

[VLC_help]

Are those TS files rips from Blu-ray or from digital TV?

[CybrHwk]

Digital TV... but they worked perfectly fine in V1.x

[VLC_help]

Yes, but the TS demuxer was update between 1.1 -> 2.0 to support timecode calculation, so something might have changed big time.

Did you try FFmpeg demuxer

Code: Select all

vlc --demux ffmpeg

[CybrHwk]

That works VLC_Help, how do I configure it to use that demuxer? Shouldn't the TS demuxer not have backward compatibility?

[VLC_help]

It should, with valid TS files. But I would guess your files aren't fully TS compliant, and that breaks them.

You can set that option as permanent one via Tools -> Preferences (Show settings: All) Input / Codecs -> Demuxer

[CybrHwk]

ffmpeg doesn't seem to be listed in the demuxer list. It currently has Default set

[VLC_help]

It might be libav something.

[CybrHwk]

Nope, no luck I'm afraid. No mention of libav in the list

[VLC_help]

Avformat demuxer?

[CybrHwk]

Thanks VLC_help, that fixed the problem. Does that mean I lose some features or hardware decoding?

[VLC_help]

It doesn't matter to hardware decoding, but some files might not work.

[davelindsay]

This thread solved the same problem I was experiencing with my HD 50Mbit TS that would buffer, play a few seconds, stutter, play a few more seconds, etc. Thanks for the tip on Avformat demuxer!

My transport stream files are created with either Manzanita TS muxer or MainConcept's TS muxer so I would assume those would output a compliant stream! I would be able to provide samples or logs if that helps the dev team at all. Let me know if I can assist.

[davelindsay]

Oh bummer, it seems as though the Avformat demuxer doesn't support closed captioning in the MPEG streams. Switching back to "auto" shows the closed captions, but stuttering continues. I'd love to provide test files if those will help!