Videos not Playing Smoothly

  • Thread starter Thread starter Robert Lee
  • Start date Start date
R

Robert Lee

Recently, some of my videos play in a jerky, halting fashion, rather than
being continuous. I believe this started after installing SP3, but can't be
sure. Can anyone tell me what the problem is, and the solution for it.
 
Recently, some of my videos play in a jerky, halting fashion, rather than
being continuous. I believe this started after installing SP3, but can't be
sure. Can anyone tell me what the problem is, and the solution for it.
Click to expand...

Could be your codecs or video card driver. Go and grab K-Lite Mega
codec pack and install it and then see if it plays smoothly. If not,
then it might point to your video card driver.

K-Lite is available here:
http://www.codecguide.com/download_k-lite_codec_pack_mega.htm
 
The problem seems to occur mostly with Windows Media files, and even then,
not with all Windows Media files. It doesn't seem to occur with real player
or quick time files.

With respect to my video card, I am using an ATI Radeon 9550 video card. I
hadn't updated the driver before the problem arose. After the problem arose,
I did attempt to update the driver, but that didn't resolve the problem.

Also, I increased the frame rate in my Windows Media Player 11.0. But that
didn't help.
 
The problem seems to occur mostly with Windows Media files, and even then,
not with all Windows Media files.  It doesn't seem to occur with real player
or quick time files.  

With respect to my video card, I am using an ATI Radeon 9550 video card.  I
hadn't updated the driver before the problem arose.  After the problem arose,
I did attempt to update the driver, but that didn't resolve the problem.

Also, I increased the frame rate in my Windows Media Player 11.0.  But that
didn't help.
Click to expand...

Is the problems with videos locally stored or the ones you are
"streaming" over the Internet?
 
What are the extensions of these files -- .wmv? Others?

If the file is longer, is this problem more likely?

Which media player do you use for these files? What happens when you use
a different media player? If you haven't tried it, Media Player Classic
(MPC) is worth trying:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/guliverkli/

http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Media_Player_Classic.htm

http://www.free-codecs.com/download/K_Lite_Codec_Pack.htm

(this last one -- K-Lite Codec Pack -- contains not only a large number
of codecs but also MPC and a handy utility called GSpot)

What do you do for routine maintenance of your PC? What are its specs?
How large is your hard drive and how much free space is left on it?
 
The problem is with videos stored locally, not with videos being streamed.
And the videos that exhibit the problem are wmv, not real player or quick
time. I am using Windows Media Player 11.

It bears noting that the problem is a recent development. A week or two ago,
I didn't have the problem. Thus, the problem seems to be caused by some
recent change on my computer, such as the installation of SP3, and not by the
kind of longstanding conditions which some of the posts inquire about.
 
But if you don't answer all my questions, then we won't know how to
determine the cause. For instance, installing SP3 might have resulted in
another situation where your hard drive has significantly less free
space. Or perhaps another update directly affected WMP. If your .wmv
files play well in MPC but not WMP, then this information can be useful.

Furthermore something coincidental may have happened around the time you
installed SP3 and *that* would be responsible for your performance
issue.

But if you choose not to answer my other questions, I am afraid I won't
be able to help you.
 
Check to verify nothing else is running such as a virus scanner.
A running background program can interrupt the video program.
 
Recently, some of my videos play in a jerky, halting fashion, rather than
being continuous.  I believe this started after installing SP3, but can't be
sure.  Can anyone tell me what the problem is, and the solution for it.
Click to expand...

Assuming you are using IDE and have run reasonable scans for malicious
software:

Verify the Transfer Mode setting for your IDE channels are NOT set to
or have changed to PIO. The preferred Transfer Mode DMA.

IDE is the common interface to HD and CD drives, and DMA is the faster
that PIO.

It is a quick check in Device Manager and then you will know what it
is not.

To launch the Device Manger console, click Start, run and in the box
enter:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\devmgmt.msc

Click OK.

Expand the IDE/ATA controller section to see your IDE channels. Right
click each, Properties, and for each channel that has an Advanced
Settings tab, determine the Transfer Mode.

There are usually at least 4 with Advanced Settings to check. Some
may not have enabled options. It depends on how many IDE device you
have.

Are any of the Current Transfer Modes set to PIO? Can you change them
to the preferred DMA?

If you make changes and they don't stick when you reboot (check DM
again), toggle the mode back and forth with an OK in between and try
again. You are trying to get them to stay in DMA mode on reboot.

If they will not switch out of PIO mode and remain so on reboot, plan
B is next.
 
Back
Top