Linux Choppy playback / Video stutter with Eden
#1
I have been using XBMC for over one year. I have used XBMCbuntu, XBMClive, XBMCfreak and also Openelec. All Dharma - distributions worked fine on my machine (Jetway barebones JBC231C98-525-B --- has Intel Atom D525 at 1.8GHz, NVIDIA ion2 video, 4 GB RAM). Only reason I had tried various distributions was trying to make installation easy and then trying to cut the boot time. Anyway, recently, after I upgraded to Eden, I am having choppy playback issues. I have read lots of posts and made sure the hardware acceleration is enabled. Actually all the settings are same as before. Any suggestions?

What is more interesting is I have another computer in the network - Intel core i5 based Windows 7ultimate. I have XBMC installed on this one also - for one year. I was able to play all the video off the XBMC server on this machine without issue. Even with upgrade to Eden (windows) it played fine. However, after the server upgrade to Eden, now even this machine is choppy. However, if I use PowerDVD to play the same video off the server, it plays just fine. This points the problem to XBMC Eden (linux) server rather than any hardware issues. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

BTW, my movies are all uncompressed blu ray movies in 1080p.
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#2
When you say choppy, what do you mean? Pixelation?

I've noticed that with xbmcbuntu and eden installed on an i386 ubuntu server, it seems like there is some choppy playback. I thought it was the video file at first, but doubt that it is since it happens on numerous playbacks. And, like you said, Dharma worked fine for me.

My box is a Zotac Atom ion2. It makes me think that it might be a problem with the vdpau. There was some initial issues with it on xbmcbuntu and having it lock up during playback. This is why I got rid of xbmcbuntu and reinstalled and built things by hand. Nonetheless, it didn't fix the choppy/pixeled playback on occasion.
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#3
Thanks for the reply.

The video has hesitation and will skip few frames and then play smooth as it is supposed to then again skips and so forth. When it is skipping, there is no audio.

Another odd thing I have noticed is transfer rate. I use Windows 7 computer to rip the blu rays and store on the disks attached to server. With my last setup (Openelec) I was getting about 11mb/sec, but with xbmcbuntu Eden, I am getting 6 mb/sec. (I am on a gigabit home network but have never seen transfer speed more than 11-12 mb/sec even between two wired windows 7 PCs. But, that is whole another issue.)
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#4
To make sure that XBMCbuntu registered at gigabit speed:
Code:
$ ethtool eth0

How are you accessing the file in XBMC? Is the shared folder mounted on the machine using CIFS (best method)? HTTP? FTP? Samba source?

I get 40-50MB/s from my server (samba shares) over a gigabit network mounted via CIFS.
HTPC 1 - Zotac ZBOX ID80U | 4GB RAM | 64GB SSD | Openelec | Confluence
HTPC 2 - Zotac ZBOX ID41U | 4GB RAM | 60GB SSD | Openelec | Confluence
Server - unRAID Server | 3 x 2TB WD Green HDD, 1TB WD Black HDD (Cache) | Sabnzbd | CouchPotato | Sickbeard
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#5
(2012-05-13, 07:54)Plaguester Wrote: To make sure that XBMCbuntu registered at gigabit speed:
Code:
$ ethtool eth0

How are you accessing the file in XBMC? Is the shared folder mounted on the machine using CIFS (best method)? HTTP? FTP? Samba source?

I get 40-50MB/s from my server (samba shares) over a gigabit network mounted via CIFS.

After not getting anywhere I have currently turned my server/XBMC machine off - so can not check at this time. But, yes, I did check the speed a few times before and it did show 1000 mb/s. So the hardware was recognized properly as gigabit. Also my network switch was showing the gigabit connection.

As far as the shares go, they are usual Samba mounted shares, so they are CIFS. I wonder If I need to go over each and every ethernet jack in the house to make sure the connections are good!

In regards to the choppy play by XBMC, is it possible that my computer hardware is malfunctioning without any indication as such? But that would not explain why the windows-xbmc machine was choppy too. Well, I will continue to look for support from the experienced and knowledgeable community here.
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#6
You could copy a video to the machine's local drive and see if you have the same issues with it.
HTPC 1 - Zotac ZBOX ID80U | 4GB RAM | 64GB SSD | Openelec | Confluence
HTPC 2 - Zotac ZBOX ID41U | 4GB RAM | 60GB SSD | Openelec | Confluence
Server - unRAID Server | 3 x 2TB WD Green HDD, 1TB WD Black HDD (Cache) | Sabnzbd | CouchPotato | Sickbeard
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#7
(2012-05-14, 04:21)Plaguester Wrote: You could copy a video to the machine's local drive and see if you have the same issues with it.

I have tried to playback the video from XBMC machine over the LAN, on the local machine. Although previously (before I upgraded server to Eden) I was able to play the video on windows XBMC -eden just fine, now it also has the similar stutter. However, if I use Cyberlink PowerDVD, it plays just fine. So, I do not think it is video file quality or the LAN speed or the hard drive holding the data.

I have tried going back to Openelec -Dharma, without any resolution in the problem. I can try to build XBMC - rather than use the prebuilt XBMCbuntu. However, with that I could not get my IR remote working, that is why I had gone with Openeelec and then XBMCfreak - now I remember. May be I will try XBMCfreak eden and if that does not go well, will try XBMCfreak Dharma - one of the older version, that I know it worked in past.

Thank you for the responses, keep them coming, I need all the suggestions I can get!
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#8
I appear to be having this same issue. DVDs either hard-drive rips or from the disk directly jutter. It feels like something is going wrong with the 3:2 pulldown detection as the fps keeps jumping around instead of being locked at 23.98. Note sure if a debug log would help. maybe I will do that.
How to provide a Kodi log - debug log (wiki)

HTPC SETUP: Zotac ZBOX-ID41-PLUS-U | Intel Atom D525 1.8 GHz Dual-Core | 2GB RAM | NVIDIA® ION™ (w/512MB DDR3 memory) | 128G Plextor M5P Series PX-128M5Pro 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC SSD
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#9
Both of you should post a screenshot of Settings > Video > Playback.
HTPC 1 - Zotac ZBOX ID80U | 4GB RAM | 64GB SSD | Openelec | Confluence
HTPC 2 - Zotac ZBOX ID41U | 4GB RAM | 60GB SSD | Openelec | Confluence
Server - unRAID Server | 3 x 2TB WD Green HDD, 1TB WD Black HDD (Cache) | Sabnzbd | CouchPotato | Sickbeard
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#10
(2012-05-16, 02:18)Plaguester Wrote: Both of you should post a screenshot of Settings > Video > Playback.

May be tonight.
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#11
Ok. I am posting two images. I have tried both settings as displayed and also some other configurations - video clock vs audio clock for refresh - without any help. I did capture an audio configuration error message on the second post. That message came as I played the movie. So, I think this is actually an audio problem, and that is causing some reflection in the video frame rates.

Image

Image

I did find another post http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=131361 that describes somewhat similar problem in video.

Just for fyi, all my video files are uncompressed rips from blu rays disks with highest quality audio (DTS master hd, or PCM or AC3 whichever is available in that order). Again, all these movies played fine before.

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#12
Alright, with latest openelec release, now I am able to run things seemingly better. Although I can play most of my movie collection just fine, there are a few movies that still have the video /audio stutter. These are Hancock, Ghost and Mission impossible 4. If there are others, I do not know. Interestingly, all these movies are my recently ripped movies. I wonder something was not right with ripping. But then, why would I be able to play the same movie using PowerDVD?

Anyway, if anyone has suggestions, I would appreciate. I still like to stick with XBMC or openelec, but if this continues, I may have to go with windows.
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#13
The titles don't really help much. The media info on the file would be much better. And a debug log from XBMC.
HTPC 1 - Zotac ZBOX ID80U | 4GB RAM | 64GB SSD | Openelec | Confluence
HTPC 2 - Zotac ZBOX ID41U | 4GB RAM | 60GB SSD | Openelec | Confluence
Server - unRAID Server | 3 x 2TB WD Green HDD, 1TB WD Black HDD (Cache) | Sabnzbd | CouchPotato | Sickbeard
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#14
In case it helps, here is my debug log http://pastebin.com/8m9GQtGF

Lines that are of interest to me
Code:
23:28:59 T:139682908227456 started DVD Rip via Enter

23:29:32 T:139682908227456   DEBUG: OnPlayMedia /mnt/btrfs/Movies/Hackers(1995)/VIDEO_TS/VIDEO_TS.IFO

3:29:49 T:139682447685376 hit play on DVD menu

23:30:53 T:139682422507264   DEBUG: CPullupCorrection: detected pattern
...
23:30:53 T:139682422507264   DEBUG: CPullupCorrection: pattern lost on diff 16677.777778

I see this detect pattern, lost patter a few times. Much fewer than the total number of choppiness I see. I have no other problem videos besides DVD sources. If I actually re-encode away from the mpeg2 with pulldown everything works fine.
How to provide a Kodi log - debug log (wiki)

HTPC SETUP: Zotac ZBOX-ID41-PLUS-U | Intel Atom D525 1.8 GHz Dual-Core | 2GB RAM | NVIDIA® ION™ (w/512MB DDR3 memory) | 128G Plextor M5P Series PX-128M5Pro 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC SSD
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#15
I've experienced this also. Coincidentally, my 720P videos stutter (decreased frame rate) on an i386 P4 with an Nvidia 6200. They play perfectly on the other two machines, which are both x86_64. The P4 is definitely powerful enough to decode the files because I have no problem playing them via VLC.
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