"Staircase" effect when rendering - Hardware or Software?

[rohan]

I occasionally get something that I can only describe as a "staircase effect" when rendering (usually just HD) video on my system. It is only noticable when there is horizontal panning.

I've tried to recreate the appearance in an image I've attached. It's a little more prenounced in the image I created, but none the less conveys what I'm seeing.

Is this a hardware thing (graphics card) or a software thing?
If I'm using Media Player Classic, is there a preferable output setting I should be using? (ie overlay, vmr7, 9, etc)?

Thanks,
Cheers

http://www.rohanhill.com/example2.jpg

[Tagert]

I think I've seen that phenomenom sometimes when watching dvd's on the tv.
I haven't really thought about it as something wrong in the rendering as it has kinda happened very fast and you hardly even notice it :o

[rohan]

Well my hypothesis is that one portion of the frame is rendered slightly earlier/later (miliseconds). So when there is fast change, like horizontal panning, it becomes evident. Almost like the "combing" effect of interlaced video on PC monitors (though this is NOT an interlacing issue, obviously - but similar phenomina)

I just don't know whether that is a function of the software, settings, or the hardware (or even the display?)

[CWR03]

It could be tearing if you're using an LCD display. I had similar problems before I installed the display's driver, which locked it in a 60 HZ.

[RaynQuist]

It feels like a graphics card/driver problem to me. It's like your graphics card isn't powerful enough and you have a bandwidth issue somewhere. Although I guess if your computer is powerful enough to decode HD you should have at least a video card that's no more than 2 years old. You should use overlay mixer or Haali's renderer.