Audio hiccups every 6 or so seconds

[sharpnova]

I'm using Windows 7 64-bit Ultimate. My version of VLC is 2.05.

I had version 2.02. I uninstalled it and deleted all cache and preferences and installed 2.05 but the issue persists.

I have a slight audio hiccup every 6 or so seconds regardless of:

-what file is being played
-what drive the file is being played from

I have a powerful computer and have been using vlc without any issues for months. All of the sudden this started and won't go away.

Also, it doesn't occur with windows media player.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Try this http://nightlies.videolan.org/build/win ... -win32.exe and select waveout in audio preferences, and restart VLC.

[unRheal]

Try this http://nightlies.videolan.org/build/win ... -win32.exe and select waveout in audio preferences, and restart VLC.

Hi,

I have the exact same problem, VLC and Windows versions.

Since you suggested selecting waveout, I tried changing my output to Direct X (just to try something other than what it was already set to) and restarted, and that stopped the hiccups/skipping. Switching it back to waveOut, which is what it was set to originally, gave me back the audio hiccups.

So I tried the download version you linked to, and it did not skip at all when I played a file... and was set to waveOut by default. However, it is very touchy in that when I even minimize or maximize a window from another program it skips audio.

My computer is also decent - 6 core i7 with 12 Gigs of RAM so not sure whats up with that - v2.0.5 and all previous versions I've used never had such issues. (except the hiccups ever 6 or so seconds lately)

I guess I'll go back to 2.0.5 and switch to DirectX ... but do you (or anyone) have any other suggestions?

Thanks!

edit: PS - the vlc-cache-gen.exe came up detected as a virus by comodo when I was installing from the link you gave.. not sure what's up with that, just thought I'd mention it.

[sharpnova]

I had already rebooted three times before making my initial post here. But another reboot later (for something unrelated) appeared to solve the problem.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

So what worked?

[PhredE]

I had similar trouble recently with the last couple of versions until I found that Samsung's Kies and its background loaders were demanding extraordinary CPU time.
I had been warned about Kies - even with the latest updates - but I persisted, until this discovery. I uninstalled it completely and the problem with VLC, and RadioSure stream playing, disappeared.
This solution may not be directly relevant here but it's an indication of how badly written software can seize resources.

[sharpnova]

The problem returned tonight.

Same hardware/software/settings. Same symptoms.

It can't be a cpu/ram issue. I'm using a 3930k with 16 GB RAM.

It just comes out of nowhere and my CPU usage is never spiking.

Very frustrating. I came back here to review what solved it for me last time and apparently just incessant rebooting fixed it. Let's see if it fixes it this time.

This has to be some VLC flaw. Googling this issue just turns up a bunch of people being given bizarre suggestions about changing output formats that most of the time do not help the person resolve the issue.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Use VLC 2.1.0 nightly builds.

[PhredE]

And you could try the performance monitor to look for anything that's blipping every six seconds or so. perfmon.msc
(If you add too many counters, ctrl-select them in the lower panel, rghtclk and hide. Or rghtclk individual lines.. Not easy to find.)

I'm running 2.0.6 and it seems to have settled down.
Tools, Messages, Verbosity up to 1. Only a few inaudible warnings every 10 or 20 seconds.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Use 2.1.0 nightly build too.