Blu-Ray Drive on PC weird stuttering

[robestyles]

Hey Everyone I just bought a blu-ray drive for my HTPC set up. The Sony BDU-X10S. Currently I only have 3 discs to check with it (Helloby, Yuma and the demo disc it came with). I have both PowerDVD and WinDVD but I am experiencing some weird stuttering problems with them. The weird part is that sometimes it stutters and sometimes it works perfect pending on the movie/software.

I have been doing some research and most solutions seemed to be with the CPU specs and/or driver issues. My problem though is weird in that it sometimes does work. At first I thought I just need to upgrade my PC but if sometimes it's working now I'm thinking my PC is more than capable and its a software problem. Everything is updated to the latest drivers/software. Here is what I currently get

With PowerDVD:
3:10 to Yuma Perfect no stuttering at all

Hellboy: At first it stutters but if I close Power DVD and then restart and choose resume were it left off it works perfect no stuttering. It I dont select resume and click start from begining it stutters again.

Sony Demo disc: This one is weird if I play it by itself it stutters really bad. If i close and restart it stutters bad BUT if i play Hellboy first then put in the demo disc and choose resume playback it works perfect.

With WinDVD:
3:10 Yuma works perfect

Hellboy/Demo Disc: Both stutter pretty bad no matter how I start them up.

My current specs are:
Athlon X2 64 4200+
Nvidia 7600GT
2MB Ram
WinXP

I was thinking about upgrading the graphics card (something cheap no gaming this is just purely for movies) but I'm not sure if that is going to fix my problem. Any suggestions?

[Kirsty_Mc]

Originally Posted by robestyles

Hey Everyone I just bought a blu-ray drive for my HTPC set up. The Sony BDU-X10S. Currently I only have 3 discs to check with it (Helloby, Yuma and the demo disc it came with). I have both PowerDVD and WinDVD but I am experiencing some weird stuttering problems with them. The weird part is that sometimes it stutters and sometimes it works perfect pending on the movie/software.

I have been doing some research and most solutions seemed to be with the CPU specs and/or driver issues. My problem though is weird in that it sometimes does work. At first I thought I just need to upgrade my PC but if sometimes it's working now I'm thinking my PC is more than capable and its a software problem. Everything is updated to the latest drivers/software. Here is what I currently get

With PowerDVD:
3:10 to Yuma Perfect no stuttering at all

Hellboy: At first it stutters but if I close Power DVD and then restart and choose resume were it left off it works perfect no stuttering. It I dont select resume and click start from begining it stutters again.

Sony Demo disc: This one is weird if I play it by itself it stutters really bad. If i close and restart it stutters bad BUT if i play Hellboy first then put in the demo disc and choose resume playback it works perfect.

With WinDVD:
3:10 Yuma works perfect

Hellboy/Demo Disc: Both stutter pretty bad no matter how I start them up.

My current specs are:
Athlon X2 64 4200+
Nvidia 7600GT
2MB Ram
WinXP

I was thinking about upgrading the graphics card (something cheap no gaming this is just purely for movies) but I'm not sure if that is going to fix my problem. Any suggestions?

I'm assuming that 2Mb of RAM is a typo, and you meant 2GB.

You didn't say which version of Windows XP you are running. You also didn't say which versions of WinDVD and PoiwerDVD you were using and if they were OEM or not.

About graphics cards... if you want a decent one, you will not be looking for something cheap. An HDCP compliant (not compatible) will run a bit more expensive. I would recommend the nVidea 8800GTS.

Have you tried altering the settings for hardware / software acceleration on your graphics driver... this can dramatically affect performance too.

You did not say if you had anything like an anti virus programme running on your HTPC. These working in the background can take system resources and play havoc with things such as BD playback. IMO antivirus software is in a lot of cases nearly as bad as having a virus!!!

If your HDD is SATA as well as your BD drive, depending on your SATA controller, software accessing the HDD in the background may be affecting the data throughput.

[robestyles]

Ha yeah its definitely not 2MB of ram its 2 GB. The versions of WinDVD and PowerDVD are the latest retail ones not the OEMs. XP is SP2 32-bit. I'm not running much background stuff at all no virus or anything. It's a HTPC so the only thing it's running is stuff for that although I even shutdown that stuff and just ran the movies and had the same thing.

I do have 2 hard drives on SATA along with the BD-Drive so thats a chance. Weird thing I just looked at my CPU usage and when it played Hellboy on PowerDVD its 60-70% when it plays it on WinDVD its 95-100%. Whereas 3:10 to Yuma is 60-70% on both players.

As far as graphics card I heard that the ATI Raedon HD 3450 was good for playback and it was only 50 bucks. I'm not doing gaming on this PC so all I really need is a good HD card.

[robestyles]

Oh and yes hardware acceleration is on.

[un4gvn94538]

i have the same drive and no issues except with yuma that was solved with an update. i never have stuttering. my opinion is that it is the card. check nvidias site for compatible cards. they start at the 8400 to 8800. and i only use the oem software for playback

[Obiit]

I can recommend the ATI HD series - I have a 2600XT and it's great. Don't get any of the 2400/2600 Pro's as they are not so hot.

The ATI HD 3450 is damned good value for money http://www.pcpro.co.uk/labs/175575/a...n-hd-3450.html

[wuhan_clan]

If you are sticking with nVidia, 8500 GT is cheap and gets the job done. 8800 series cards are overkill if you just want to watch movies. Even with a strong graphics card, you will still be using a lot of CPU usage during playback though you shouldn't see 100% loads any more. Be sure to update the graphics card driver too. Seems to be a lot of driver related issues lately.

[prerich]

Originally Posted by robestyles

Hey Everyone I just bought a blu-ray drive for my HTPC set up. The Sony BDU-X10S. Currently I only have 3 discs to check with it (Helloby, Yuma and the demo disc it came with). I have both PowerDVD and WinDVD but I am experiencing some weird stuttering problems with them. The weird part is that sometimes it stutters and sometimes it works perfect pending on the movie/software.

I have been doing some research and most solutions seemed to be with the CPU specs and/or driver issues. My problem though is weird in that it sometimes does work. At first I thought I just need to upgrade my PC but if sometimes it's working now I'm thinking my PC is more than capable and its a software problem. Everything is updated to the latest drivers/software. Here is what I currently get

With PowerDVD:
3:10 to Yuma Perfect no stuttering at all

Hellboy: At first it stutters but if I close Power DVD and then restart and choose resume were it left off it works perfect no stuttering. It I dont select resume and click start from begining it stutters again.

Sony Demo disc: This one is weird if I play it by itself it stutters really bad. If i close and restart it stutters bad BUT if i play Hellboy first then put in the demo disc and choose resume playback it works perfect.

With WinDVD:
3:10 Yuma works perfect

Hellboy/Demo Disc: Both stutter pretty bad no matter how I start them up.

My current specs are:
Athlon X2 64 4200+
Nvidia 7600GT
2MB Ram
WinXP

I was thinking about upgrading the graphics card (something cheap no gaming this is just purely for movies) but I'm not sure if that is going to fix my problem. Any suggestions?

You want something cheap - get a 8500gt, that should solve your problems

[robestyles]

Thanks guys I'm going to update the video card and let you know the verdict.

[Obiit]

I have the same CPU as you robestyles and it dosn't get over 35% running blu-ray on an ATI HD2600XT so take what wuhan_clan says about CPU usage with a pinch of salt.

Get a a card with stable drivers and as long as it accelerates the blu-ray codecs you will be fine. Thats where google is your friend

[maxmcleod]

Originally Posted by wuhan_clan

If you are sticking with nVidia, 8500 GT is cheap and gets the job done. 8800 series cards are overkill if you just want to watch movies. Even with a strong graphics card, you will still be using a lot of CPU usage during playback though you shouldn't see 100% loads any more. Be sure to update the graphics card driver too. Seems to be a lot of driver related issues lately.

I have the 8500 GT and its does a lot more than just watch movies. Honestly its a great card, I play COD 4 on a regular basis, I've even played Crysis, without any trouble whatsoever, granted i didn't have everything turned on, but it still looked great...
its a good card, you'll be happy.

[robestyles]

Picked up an ATI Raedon 3450 HD for just 34.99 at newegg after rebate. Problem solved all movies now run perfectly smooth and CPU usage stays under 40%. Thanks guys.

[Obiit]

Glad to hear your all sorted

[blu-boi]

I am having similar problems with blu-ray films stuttering, some are okay & some are worse than others, at first i thought the problem was with blu-ray, but the same thing happens on the tv card, also the free game i got with the graphics card "just cause" has horizontal scrolling lines, like it is not tuned in properly.
I have two sata hard disks & norton 360 anti-virus.

my system:-
E6600 core 2 duo
P5W DH Deluxe mb
4 GB ram
ati X1950 pro
ati X1950 pro ultimate -(in crossfire)
pioneer BDC S02 bk
samsung monitor connected via DVI-D

I have the latest cyberlink & ATI drivers, both cards & monitor are HDCP compliant.

Any ideas whats causing the problem???

[Obiit]

Could be the crossfire configuration?

Also try turning off that piece of crap Norton 360 off and see if it works - Norton is not the best anti-virus solution in the world.

HTH

[blu-boi]

I think i have tried it on a single gc before (no difference).
I only got norton recently & the same thing was happening,
I will have another go & see if that makes a difference.

thanx.

[blu-boi]

My current graphics card is direct x9c & i am wondering if it's that causing the stuttering pictures, i am running vista home premium 64-bit.
Would upgrading to direct x10 or 10.1 solve my problems.

meaning new graphics card.

[Obiit]

The spec of your card is here blu-boi
http://ati.amd.com/products/radeonx1...pro/specs.html and it dosn't say it accelerates HD codecs. What is your CPU usage when your playing blu-ray?

Also Vista can be problematic with older hardware.

[blu-boi]

I have overclocked the cpu to 15% in the BIOS, & it's running at nearly 100% whilest watching a blu-ray film.
Their is also a setting in the BIOS that will let me turbocharge the motherboard (asus P5W DH Deluxe), i haven't done it yet, i am a bit sceptical.

overclock settings:-

overclock 5%
overclock 10%
overclock 15%
overclock 20%
overclock 30%

FSB 888/DDR2-667
FSB 960/DDR2-800
FSB 1200/DDR2-800
FSB 1280/DDR2-800

[Obiit]

Ah there is the problem then - no HD codec acceleration. When the bitrate of the codec gets too high the CPU max's out and you get stuttering.

Erm daft question - you do have hardware acceleration ticked on the PowerDVD your using? (even thought the specs don't say your card does it) If yes then untick it and see what you get - worth a try!

You have one of two choices then - new CPU or new graphics card. Sorry but it's more cash from the sounds of it