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Stuttering/jumpy display from HTPC

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triindiglo

New Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2010
Hi, this problem has been infuriating me for quite some time and I would appreciate any ideas someone can give me.

My HTPC "jumps" every couple seconds as though it is skipping frames, or perhaps pausing on a given frame for a split second. The time between the jumps is not consistent - it varies between about 1 second to 3 seconds. However, it never goes away completely.

This does not just affect movies on the hard drive - EVERYTHING displayed on the TV through the HTPC does this. Movies on disc, recorded TV, live TV, it is even noticeable by dragging a window across the desktop with no intensive programs open.

The weirdest thing (to me) is that I used to have a video card that worked flawlessly (I believe it was an ASUS EN8400GS Silent, but I could be wrong. It was similar to this in any case) but it burned out after a long life in a regular desktop + use in the HTPC. Now nothing I seem to try will get rid of the stuttering.

I have tried (none of which has worked):

-Different operating systems (Vista, and Win7 32bit and 64bit)
-Different/updating drivers to newest versions
-Even an entirely different computer
-Although I am 99% positive it is not a codec/software issue I have tried other players and codecs just to be sure
-Endlessly messing with the Nvidia settings for the card
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Here is the current configuration:

TV: JVC HD-52G786 (The computer is connected with a DVI to HDMI cable)

CPU: AMD Athlon 64X2 4600+
Video Card: MSI NVIDIA GeForce 9400GT
Motherboard: ASUS M2N-E
RAM: mushkin 996529 SP2-6400 DDR2 (2x1GB)
Power Supply: Antec Earthwatts EA-500D

I have also tried an ASUS EN9800GT Matrix, and a cheap Biostar 8400GS card, to no effect.

I even tried hooking up a different computer to see if it stuttered as well (it did):

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+
Video Card: EVGA GeForce 9800 GTX+
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P
RAM: G.SKILL DDR2 SDRAM (2 x 2GB)
Power Supply: OCZ Fatal1ty OCZ550FTY 550W
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It seems to me that these computers are at least sufficient if not WAY overpowered just to display video correctly.

My current theory is that my TV has some strange or very specific signal requirements that the video cards are not designed for. However, I do know it is possible to get it used to work fine.

If this is the case, I thought that a nice receiver may have some impact on the stuttering by running the video through it (i.e. if the signal coming from the HTPC is, in fact, fine and the TV is messing it up - then maybe a receiver would rectify the problem). No idea about this though, mostly just running out of ideas...

I greatly appreciate any help you can give!! Thanks!
 
Lets assume its not a hardware problem. Skipping is usually not a hardware problem with HTPCs, though I have seen a couple rare cases where it was.

Given that, what is your software setup? What HTPC software are you using, what codecs do you have installed (everything, most likely you have a conflict somewhere), what kind of media are you getting skipping with? If its everything you are playing then what are you playing? You said discs, DVD or blueray or both? Downloaded or personally ripped media? If personally ripped, what format are you ripping to? If downloaded what kinds of media, mkv, avis, disc images or both? Are you streaming from a server/NAS/some backend or running everything form the local PC?
 
I am using Windows Media Center, but I have tried playing back files in WMP and with VLC. The codecs are whatever is default for Media Center on Win7Pro-64bit, I have not added any.

All video displayed through the TV skips. I have yet to see something that does not. Mainly I watch ripped DVDs, but wmv, mkv, mpeg, etc all skip. So does something streamed over my local network. You can even see it in non-video things such as moving a window around on the desktop, or the intro screen when you open WMC.
 
It is very unusual that it is skipping like you say, your machine is plenty powerful, to me this sounds like a driver problem, with the lack of hardware acceleration on your dekstop(skipping whilst dragging windows, scrolling)

Go get GPU-Z and look at the temperature tab, how hot is the card running?

and has it done this from the beginning?
 
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