Many dropped frames during playback

[JimmyBarnes]

Recently backed-up Hulk to DivX 5.0.5 but when I played it back from CD on my recently constructed custom-built player, it showed lots of dropped frames (as many as 1 in 3).

These measures did not fix the problem:
* Used ZoomPlayer v2.9 (the usual player) or Windows Media Player v6.4
* Exited all running programs.
* Ran the file directly from HD rather than CD

Tried the movie (CD) on two other PCs and it played fine in ZP.

What did help a bit was enabling double-buffering in the DivX decoder quality settings, but there were still an unacceptable number of dropped frames (like 1 in 10).

I have played enough DivX 5.0.5 on my custom player to know that it usually has no problem with dropped frames - but why this problem now?

Other posts on dropped frames deal with video capture or encoding, not decoding AFAIK.

Any clues ppl?

thanx
JB

[Manao]

What do you get if you playback the file with ffdshow ?

What is your hardware ( processor, graphic cards ) ?

What's the bitrate of the movie, and the resolution ?

[JimmyBarnes]

Originally posted by Manao
What do you get if you playback the file with ffdshow ?

ffdshow helps with XviD, but have never needed to use ffdshow for DivX playback for the 200 or so DivX's I have. i.e. haven't tried

What is your hardware ( processor, graphic cards ) ?

Duron 1 GHz, NVidia Riva TNT2 M64 (generic)

What's the bitrate of the movie, and the resolution ?

1311 kbps, 672x360, 0.217 bpp

I may have found the problem. I backed up C: to Ghost, formatted , reinstalled the OS (Win ME, previously used Win98SE), registered divxdec.ax (DivX 5.0.5) in the Windows SYSTEM dir then tried playing the errant AVI before adding additional components. It played fine until the point where I had to upgrade the graphics drivers to NVidia Detonator FX Drivers v45.23 for Win9x/Me so that TVTool9 could be used to invoke overscan mode on the TV display.

The other PCs on which the errant AVI played OK used TVT 6.8.4 and Asus V7100 card and didn't require any graphics driver upgrade. TVT6.8.4 couldn't invoke fullscreen properly on my custom player possibly because no monitor was attached, but I can fix that by creating a monitor loopback plug (described by TVT author). I have just returned from town with the components reqd to make said plug, so here's hoping...

Thanks for your reply Manao

JB

[ppera2]

I suggest you that replace TNT2 graphic card - it is outdated, and video playback is pretty bad.

[Manao]

Is the overlay used while playbacking ? ( there is a tool to check that, but I don't remember the name. BSPlayer may help to know if overlay is used, since it shows an error message when overlay isn't available )

What happens if you don't resize your movie while playbacking ?

Finally, some advice : change your video card ( as ppera2 suggested ), and install Windows XP , or Win2k ( or come back to Win98, but don't stay with Me )

[JimmyBarnes]

Originally posted by ppera2
I suggest you that replace TNT2 graphic card - it is outdated, and video playback is pretty bad.

Your suggestions?

My old PC/monitor/TV setup used Geforce2 MX.

The few rips I have watched on my custom player (and I watch each one throughout very carefully) look good to my eyes on a good quality Sony 68 cm TV.

JB

[JimmyBarnes]

Originally posted by Manao
Is the overlay used while playbacking ? ( there is a tool to check that, but I don't remember the name. BSPlayer may help to know if overlay is used, since it shows an error message when overlay isn't available )

What happens if you don't resize your movie while playbacking ?


Doesn't resolve the prob.

The video loopback didn't fix the problem of TVTool v6.8.4.4 not overscanning to TV properly, but I found (much to my embarrassment) that the problem was that I had not selected PAL mode. With PAL selected it overscans OK - thus I can stick with that version, the older graphics drivers, and the errant AVI plays without dropped frames.

Finally, some advice : change your video card ( as ppera2 suggested ), and install Windows XP , or Win2k ( or come back to Win98, but don't stay with Me )

XP/2K seems overkill, which is why I thought 98SE would be best. If there were DOS versions for all DS filters/XCD I would use that. I trialled something which allowed DivX AVIs to run under DOS but there was no way of overscanning to TV. If you know of anything please tell me.

I know Me has very bad press but I've run 98SE and Me both for years and I greatly prefer Me. Quite stable on my own PC and on one or two others I have. Some think its a hardware issue (Me's bad press). So far it seems stable on my custom player, which will not be used all that much anyway. I have XP on my gateway PC and while it is almost always on (gets the most usage) it always seems to come up with some new problem. Not too impressive - maybe by SP2...

Thanx for your contribution

JB