Video playback choppy/stuttering - 1440p content on current hardware

[bobbinette]

I'm playing a 1440p@30fps mp4 file directly created by a Mavic Mini using standard VLC 3.0.11 (no special configuration) on a Ryzen 3600 / GTX 1050 / 32GB ram / SSD drive.

The video is a very smooth pan from left to right and therefore it makes it very easy to notice stuttering. Every time I start the video I notice a very weird stuttering that looks like frames are dropped or delayed. This will mostly likely disappear if I replay the same content without closing VLC and will comeback if I close VLC and replay the same video again, but sometimes it works well. The glitches are not necessarily on the same frames every time. CPU and GPU usage is always very low every time the content plays. Windows video player works flawless with the same content.

In order to try and understand better what is happening I created a screen capture at 60 fps of my desktop (using OBS) while the video was playing. This then lets me playback frame by frame the full view of my monitor at the time of the problematic playback. My expectation is to get one new video frame every other desktop frame. It turns out that no frame is missing but at some point I start getting 2 or 3 new video frames one after the other at 60fps followed by a pause with 2 or 3 similar video frames. If I play in real time these groups happen exactly when I see the stuttering.

I also tried increasing the buffer setting in VLC but the issue is the exact same at 300ms, 1000ms or 3000ms.

Any insight on ways to fix this issue with VLC is welcome. Thanks.

[Keatah]

Been trying to get this addressed for over a year now. No one seems to have interest in even acknowledging the issue. So good luck!

[Hitchhiker]

Try changing the output module. See this thread: https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=155421

[bobbinette]

Try changing the output module. See this thread: https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=155421

The thread proposes to change the HW decoding option, therefore I try with disabled Hardware Decode and saw the same issue.

I also ran VLC with verbose set to 2 and created 2 log files while playing the video when the issue was noticed:
- VLC settings to default (CPU running at around 2%): https://pastebin.com/mvXjcNsp
- VLC with disabled HW decoding (CPU running at max 10%): https://pastebin.com/NAwznf8P

As mentioned, the video sometimes play with no issue and I did not see any difference in the log when the issue shows up. I can provide new logs if needed of the case when playout is fine.

I'm running Windows 10 Home edition 64 bits with all the latest updates and VLC 3.0.11
Ryzen 3600 / GTX 1050 / 32GB ram / SSD drive