Video Stuttering = Annoying

[Guest]

Fresh install of VLC and Tiger 10.4.2, 2.0 ghz + lots and lots of ram, but VLC still stutters on a XVID 24fps/MP3 128kbps movie at 640*480.

I mean, come on.

What's the deal? The video files are perfect.

[Guest]

Why does the video stutter?

Is this a know bug with decoding XVID files? There's more than enough RAM and processor power to cover everything...so is there a prefence to fix it maybe?

[Guest]

Looking at the release notes here: http://developers.videolan.org/vlc/NEWS

It looks like there's a video bug:

$Id: NEWS 12417 2005-08-28 20:08:26Z hartman $

Changes between 0.8.2 and 0.8.4-svn (not yet released):
-----------------------------------------------------

Video output:
* Fixed problems with OpenGL output

Anyone with some more knowledge know if this OpenGL output fix will corrent my problems? How soon until an update is released?

[fresh]

I should say that it doesn't stutter so much as every 20-30 seconds or so it freezes for about 5 secs, then continues on so I have to rewind a few secs back to see what I missed.

I tried it on several different movies...avi, mpg...same result.

[zed]

When you mention stutter, is it like the whole screen goes fuzzy in a horizontal way? Mine is doing this freqently even when the program is not running. Also, some screen areas remain corrupted. Same for you?

[The DJ]

You are probably trying to play MKV files which had a problem with certain types of DivX/XviD video within them.

[fr3sh]

No, this is occurring with AVI files.

The video plays normally, no distortion, but will freeze up for a second or 2 then play normally again and it happens every 30 seconds to a minute.

I have tried it with multiple files from multiple sources to make sure it's not the files that are the problem (oddly enough MKV files work fine for me).

At the moment I am viewing a DivX/AC3 file and it also happens. I noice it occurs more often when I try to skip to a part in the middle of the movie, but it can happen if I just watch all the way through as well.

Thanks.

[The DJ]

I'm not aware of such issues. Are you perhaps playing the avi files from CD/DVD drive ??? (bad idea)

[Josh]

I have the same problem on my mac. The problem only seems to occur when I am playing movies files stored on network drives. However, the problem is consistant for all movie types I play via VLC.

I am using Samba to share the files. But I have had the same problem when using NetTalk to share the files. My file server is a linux box.

-jpb

[The DJ]

Trying to play any form of movie on a network share with VLC is a bad idea. Mac OS X handles the small reads that VLC does very badly. So far only NFS shares have worked for me. You can enlarge VLC's file cache to prevent hickups due to the slow response of the file reading, but this introduces delays in play/pause/stop commands.

[koushiro]

this happens to me too. im trying to stream video using a livemedia server using divx5 codec and mpg4 encapsulation. the stream plays fine on mplayer but jumps to a frame 5 secs ago then resume playing for another 5-10secs before jumping again. sometimes it doesn't recover and just freezes. when i look at debug output it says that the frame is late then drops it.

[uop17]

No, this is occurring with AVI files.

The video plays normally, no distortion, but will freeze up for a second or 2 then play normally again and it happens every 30 seconds to a minute.

I have tried it with multiple files from multiple sources to make sure it's not the files that are the problem.

I have the same problem on a iMac G5 2.0Ghz with 1.5GB RAM.
Sometimes the avi files run just normal (all the files are stored on the local HDD), but very often I have those 1-3sec freezes during playback. In worst cases the movie freezes like every other minute.
Is there any way to prevent that behavior of vlc, or is it a known bug that maybe will be fixed in an upcoming release?

Any tips/help would be musch appreciated!!

[Guest]

i get this too.

[Guest]

hi there,

i've been getting massive amounts of this while joined to a 2.5 mbit/s multicast stream using my powerbook 15inch 1.67mhz with 1.5gb ram. it works peachy-keen on my XP machine, but i've been struggling to get it working under this new mac. i've tried upping the buffer to around 3 seconds and this just causes the whole program to crash.

i've tried it off my wireless router and also hardwired into the lan but to no avail, yet the XP machine that sits right beside me here can join the stream and the viewing is flawless.

i've tried reinstalling mac os x completely, with VLC being the very first thing installed and attempted on the machine...so no firewall, pref changes, etc.

sorta grasping at straws...any ideas would be lovely!

[Guest]

I get this also. I have a 1.67ghz pb 15" w/1 gb ram. My avi files will stutter for a split second every few minutes. VERY annoying, completely disrupts the flow of whatever I'm watching.

It's not a problem with my video files, because mplayer osx plays them fine. However, I don't like mplayer's interface...

[JustAnotherNobody]

I'd like to try enlarging the file cache, but I can't seem to find the option anywhere. Where is it in the UI?

TIA!

[cellplex]

If you go to preferences, enable advanced options, Input / Codecs, Access Modules and then file and increase the cache size. Make sure to save and restart VLC.

[JustAnotherNobody]

I still have some tuning to go, but just upping it to 6 seconds has made it MUCH more consistent.

Thanks!

[photorikki]

hi-
I'm having the same problems with my playback stopping.
The error mesage says: Computer to slow?
I've tried everyting but a file that works on my work computer won't work on my home computer.
But I cna't figure out how to slove this problem!

[fixxer]

I loved VLC on Wintendo but i'm having the playback choppiness too playing of shared network SMB drives. I increased the buffer on access_ files to 5000 millisecs. Seems a little bit better now.

I wish the developers would fix this. No use for a choppy mac mini hooked ut to a 50" DLP TV with crappy vid playback...

[fixxer]

..also: Is there some way to force VLC to buffer ahead while reading/streaming files from shares? Like forcing it to buffer all it can?

[Guest]

On my G3 iBook I was having this problem too (I think I was running 0.8.2). I was disappointed that several PCs played movies I ripped with MacTheRipper over the network better than my iBook played them from its own hard drive. Of course some of the PCs were 2.4GHz to my iBook's 800 MHz.

After playing with OpenGL vs. Quartz, and buffer size, to no avail. Then I deleted 0.8.2 and its preferences, and installed 0.7, and there's at least a 90% improvement - not perfect, but at least watchable now.

Now if my iBook didn't take 22 hours to make a 700MB DivX...

[jesterpaul]

G4 733 with 1 GIG RAM. Some AVI files (most larger ones) get the stutter, and missed frames. I get an error mesage stating that 5 second delay had occurred (CPU to slow?) I don't think it ought to be too slow. I hope some help with this problem gets posted here soon.

[jesterpaul]

This is the error message correctly relayed described in the last post: "ffmpeg: more than 5 seconds of late video -> dropping frame (computer too slow ?)". I really don't think my system is too slow. There must be a bug, or a setting that can be changed

[Guest]

I encounter this problem too, quite regularly. When playing .avi files, the movie will freeze for a moment every couple minutes, then pick up a few seconds later. There is no audio or video during the freeze, then they pick up fine afterwards. Rewinding to that point and playing again doesn't experience the same problem.

The key thing I've found is that I get the error consistently while playing files from my internal (Serial ATA) drive, but never when playing from my external (ATA by Firewire) drive. My computer is a dual 2.0GHz desktop with 2.5GB RAM, lots of drive space and not much else running when the problems occur.

I will try increasing the cache size as someone mentioned. Thanks for the tip.