Windows 7 Media Center - Video Stutter after Cyberlink PowerDVD 11 install

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CaffeineFixx

26 posts

Geek

#90339 20-Sep-2011 07:05

Have had my Windows 7 Media Center box running smoothly since its build in February this year.

System has had a LiteON Bluray drive running the bundled Cyberlink 8 software and all was good for playing Bluray movies.

Had the opportunity to use a 3D television and watch a 3D Bluray movie so downloaded trial version of Cyberlink PowerDVD 11 to get 3D functionality.

Strangely - and possibly related to the video stutter problem which I am coming to - at 4 different points through the movie, playback stalled (wouldn't describe it as a freeze as there was no video signal through to the TV) but recovered by itself after a period of between 15 and 30 seconds.

Frustrating - and something that I did want to investigate - but any such investigation has been superceeded by issues with video stutter in the rest of my system.

Ever since installing the version 11 PowerDVD software and watching the Bluray movie, my system now has a video stutter issue.

It is most pronounced for live and recorded TV. In a 2 second cycle (approx) the video of a tv signal will (in roughly equal proportions) run OK, run fast, then run slow in a repeated cycle. The audio is not affected. Overall the video and audio remains "in sync" - so the fast and slow video sections appear to cancel each other out.

CPU usage during tv playback hovers around 5%.

Something also appears out of whack with stored video files. Xvid and DIVX files also have a slight but noticeable video stutter. Much less pronounced than for line / recorded tv - although appears to be in a similar 2 second cycle - the video will "flick" forward slightly, almost as if it's trying to catch up.

I also happen to have a straight DVD rip stored (not compressed) and this has a similar issue to the Xvid/DIVX files above when playing back.

My first step was to uninstall the PowerDVD software, but to no avail. The problem remains. Did a system restore to take me back prior to the PowerDVD install - but still no joy.

I'm thinking perhaps that the PowerDVD install has changed video codec settings - but I have no idea on how to 'reset' them. Also - how would it affect so many codecs? (H.264, Xvid, DIVX)

So perhaps it's something else - some general video setting. But I can't see anything in the Intel video configuration that relates to this.

Hesitant to do a system rebuild if I don't understand the issue - as I would like to get back to having the ability to watch 3D movies on my system, and I really wouldn't want to be "back to square one" with a video stutter issue again afterwards!

I would be very grateful for any suggestions that forum members could make - my hair is growing even more grey...

System specs:
MB: Gigabyte H67MA-UD2H-B3
CPU: Intel Sandy Bridge Core i3-2100 2nd generation
Video: Using CPU
RAM: 4B
Tuner Card: Hauppage HVR2200
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
System drive: Kingston 32GB SSD
Data drive: 2x Seagate 2TB in RAID1 using MB RAID

Kraven

729 posts

Ultimate Geek

#523357 20-Sep-2011 08:23

Try disabling CPU C-states in the BIOS. Software shouldn't have changed anything here but it might be worth a shot - the "stuttering" issue sounds very similar to the problem I had with my HTPC build and disabling this setting cured it for me.

CaffeineFixx

26 posts

Geek

#523363 20-Sep-2011 08:33

Many thanks Kraven - I shall give that a try.

CaffeineFixx

26 posts

Geek

#523742 20-Sep-2011 20:32

Unfortunately changing these BIOS seetings has had no effect. Thanks anyway for your suggestion.

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
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Geekzone

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#523747 20-Sep-2011 20:44

Kraven: Software shouldn't have changed anything here but it might be worth a shot - the "stuttering" issue sounds very similar to the problem I had with my HTPC build and disabling this setting cured it for me.

I'd say the PowerDVD install messed up CODECs. I'm sure someone will know how to check those and how to restore to defaults.

Kraven

729 posts

Ultimate Geek

#523857 21-Sep-2011 08:13

Sorry my solution didn't work for you. As Mauricio says, it does sound like a codec issue.

You could try something like Win7DSFilterTweaker which should be able to show you which codecs are being used for each media type and allow you to change them. I've only used it once many months ago to reset things on my HTPC after a bad codec install and it worked OK for me, YMMV.

CaffeineFixx

26 posts

Geek

#524412 22-Sep-2011 08:42

Thanks for this Kraven. Unfortunately the codec check reveals only Microsoft decoders.

I compared the results to those on a 2nd computer which has a PowerDVD 8 install on, so I can see what you were describing - a Cyberlink (PDVD8) item listing as a secondary option for one of the decoders.

But on my 'problem' HTPC, alas, only Microsoft ones.

CaffeineFixx

26 posts

Geek

#525279 24-Sep-2011 11:56

I have kept on the track of with trying to diagnose a codec issue. The Shark codec pack seemed to be an option to try and open up codec analysis/configuration at a 'novice' level. However, even adjusting the wider range of options this provided, still the stuttering occured.

There has been a nagging thought in the back of mind as to why the blu-ray 3D movie cut out during playback and whether: a) this was more of an issue than just a passing, one-off annoyance; and b) it was related to a 'bigger picture' issue on my machine.

Also, I could understand a single codec issue having been caused by the PowerDVD installation - especially impacting the H.264 codec, but the impact on files encoded using DivX and Xvid was more difficult to explain.

So I thought about what might have an impact across the board. As a consequence, I put a GTS 8600 video card from another computer into the problem HTPC. Now I know this won't do blu-ray 3D, but should be OK with handling the other videos codecs in play.

Lo and behold, video playback is back to normal! So the problem seems to be with the CPU handling the video. But why has this suddenly become a problem after the PowerDVD install? Or is it an issue with the Core i3 handling the workload of playing that one blu-ray 3D movie and crapping out in some permanent way?

An option is to whack in a suitable video card that can do what I want - but that's another $100+ - and I really want to try and figure out what has lead to this issue.

Also, is something else stuffed with the CPU? Does that need replacing?

Any thoughts would be most welcome.