'Adjust refresh rate' now working for Windows

Hitcher, dropped frames have not anything to do with smooth playback. You can have stutter or judder with zero frames lost. Frames get lost because the CPU isn't capable of decoding frames fast enough. Judder/stutter happens because the presentation of the already decoded frames is not consistent with the refresh rate of the monitor/clock of the soundcard/clock of the videocard.

Maybe you fully knew already, but I think it's importat to make the distinction. You could get stutter/judder even with a 5GHz CPU, with (obviously) no frames lost at all.

Also, it's pretty much impossible that you get silk smooth playback at 60Hz. If it's 24fps material, you can't escape the 3:2 judder. Maybe you are not really sensible to this kind of judder (lucky you, in that case ).

ashlar Wrote:Also, it's pretty much impossible that you get silk smooth playback at 60Hz. If it's 24fps material, you can't escape the 3:2 judder. Maybe you are not really sensible to this kind of judder (lucky you, in that case ).

That's what i was thinking too. Lots of people think it's smooth until they see what smooth really is. (had the same thing with some friends)

ashlar Wrote:On what hardware? With custom resolutions?

TV: Pioneer KURO Plasma PDP-LX5090
HTPC: Intel Core2 DUO 8500 (3.16Ghz) / 4gb 1600Mhz DDR3 / Ati 4870 / X-fi soundcard using spdif / Vista 64-bit SP1
(I have to uninstall my beta2 again and reinstall the svn version and i'll post the resolutions i can choose in xbmc)

ashlar Wrote:Hitcher, dropped frames have not anything to do with smooth playback. You can have stutter or judder with zero frames lost. Frames get lost because the CPU isn't capable of decoding frames fast enough. Judder/stutter happens because the presentation of the already decoded frames is not consistent with the refresh rate of the monitor/clock of the soundcard/clock of the videocard.

Maybe you fully knew already, but I think it's importat to make the distinction. You could get stutter/judder even with a 5GHz CPU, with (obviously) no frames lost at all.

Also, it's pretty much impossible that you get silk smooth playback at 60Hz. If it's 24fps material, you can't escape the 3:2 judder. Maybe you are not really sensible to this kind of judder (lucky you, in that case ).

I wasn't 100% sure whether dropped frames had anything to do with it.

Anyway, I played the sample with XBMC locked at 1920x1080@25Hz (50Hz) and I could clearly see it stuttering but playing it with XBMC locked at 1920x1080@60Hz I couldn't see any but my son could.
I played it once more with 'Adjust refresh rate' on so it played at 1920x1080@24Hz and my son said it looked much better. Must be down to my old eyes.

Hitcher Wrote:I played it once more with 'Adjust refresh rate' on so it played at 1920x1080@24Hz and my son said it looked much better. Must be down to my old eyes.

Don't worry, as I mentioned you are actually lucky if 60Hz is smooth for you.

ashlar Wrote:With custom resolutions?

In xbmc i can choose between these refresh rates @ 1920x1080:

1920x1080 @ 24
1920x1080 @ 25
1920x1080 @ 29,97
1920x1080 @ 30
1920x1080 @ 50
1920x1080 @ 59.94
1920x1080 @ 60


Ashlar, are you able to play 24Hz material smoothly?
If yes, on witch version?
If no, did you try the beta2?

Zyrex Wrote:In xbmc i can choose between these refresh rates @ 1920x1080:

1920x1080 @ 24
1920x1080 @ 25
1920x1080 @ 29,97
1920x1080 @ 30
1920x1080 @ 50
1920x1080 @ 59.94
1920x1080 @ 60


Ashlar, are you able to play 24Hz material smoothly?
If yes, on witch version?
If no, did you try the beta2?

Were these resolutions available directly from the EDID of your TV or did you need to program them in the control panel of the graphic card?

And regarding playback, no I am not able to play 24Hz smootly. It's better than it once was but still far from the silk smooth that I get with Reclock in ZoomPlayer.

Beta 2 was no better for me.

I have the same problem. For 1920x1080 resolution in XBMC i can only see the refresh rate which is set for desktop despite that in nvidia control panel all refresh rates are shown what my TV can do (24, 25i, 30i, 50, 60)

Strange is that on my Samsung LCD monitor which can show 60 ot 75 hz it is working 100% properly, both refresh rates are shown in xbmc, but not with the Samsung 42" LCD with a different nvidia hardware.

Maybe it has something to do with nvidia driver. In linux it is Twinview feature that stops xbmc to properly detect refresh rates. Maybe we can find in the driver settings fo nvidia control panel something to trun of this feature in windows as well.

this might be a silly question, but:

how can i find out which refresh rates my tv supports? shouldn't every tv be able to use 24hz? it's an "orion" hd-ready tv with a max resolution of 1366x768 (720p/1080i max)

i have to stick to vga connection from pc to tv unless i get a hdmi cable. am i right that will stay at 60hz whatever i try to do? i thought i read that earlier in a console connection discussion-

and finally: i have an ati radeon 3650. in control center, when i go to the specs of the connected tv (which appears to be a standard crt monitor and not a hdtv there) the only available refresh rates are 50hz and 60hz. is this due to the fact that it is connected via vga (dvi2vga adapter used)?

thanks for your answers.

cheers
azido

alanwww1 Wrote:I have the same problem. For 1920x1080 resolution in XBMC i can only see the refresh rate which is set for desktop despite that in nvidia control panel all refresh rates are shown what my TV can do (24, 25i, 30i, 50, 60)

Strange is that on my Samsung LCD monitor which can show 60 ot 75 hz it is working 100% properly, both refresh rates are shown in xbmc, but not with the Samsung 42" LCD with a different nvidia hardware.

Maybe it has something to do with nvidia driver. In linux it is Twinview feature that stops xbmc to properly detect refresh rates. Maybe we can find in the driver settings fo nvidia control panel something to trun of this feature in windows as well.

I'll investigate further. But one thing I know for sure: Windows *knows* about these custom resolutions. They are available not only through the Nvidia control panel but through the standard Screen properties control panel too.

ashlar Wrote:I'll investigate further. But one thing I know for sure: Windows *knows* about these custom resolutions. They are available not only through the Nvidia control panel but through the standard Screen properties control panel too.

That's absolutely true at also at my case.
In the Linux version when it is not showing in xbmc it ialso not there at Linux refresh rate setting page.

So i think on the windows version it is some other problem what is blocking xbmc to propperly detect ALL the available refresh rates.

Maybe Devs know how the available refresh rates are detected in the win version.

Or in the worst case it would be good to make an advanced settings option where one could set the available resoulutions and refresh rates for his screen.