mkv playback in VMC w/ 8800GT

[granturismo]

I'm having problems in Vista Media Center (VMC) playing back .mkv files. The sound is fine but the video "stutters" randomly. The same file played in Media Player Classic (MPC) plays perfectly fine.

Now some background. I originally had an ATI 1650 Pro and this played .mkv files perfectly in VMC or MPC. I uninstalled the ATI drivers and then installed an 8800GT and upgraded to the newest forceware. Now, .mkv files stutter in VMC.

I was originally using the k-lite codec pack. I tried uninstalling this and using the CCCP pack. Playback was worse with this. Then I uninstalled CCCP and tried the Vista codec pack. Playback sucked even more so I uninstalled the Vista pack and reinstalled the k-lite.

I know a lot of people are down on the codec packs but I've had good luck with them but I'm going to try uninstalling the k-lite and only installing the codecs I need manually. I'll let you know how this goes.

1. My real question is this. How can the exact same file play flawlessly in MPC and stutter in VMC? Shouldn't the same codecs be used in both programs?

2. How can I determine exactly which codecs are being used in each program?

3. Can I "force" VMC to use a specific codec?

It seems to me that the problem lies with the video card I'm using considering these files worked with the ATI card and the K-lite pack and now don't with the 8800GT. The only thing changed was the video card.

I really want to get these files to work in VMC since I built this HTPC to use VMC with my remote. I don't want to use the mouse and browse folders etc.

My configuration is:

Intel quad core
4 GB DDR2 ram
2x500 GB hard drives
Gigabyte P35-DS4 motherboard
eVGA 8800GT

Someone please help!

 

[granturismo]

Problem solved! It wasn't a codec issue at all. It was what I suspected. An NVIDIA driver issue. The fix is easy though. VMC doesn't like to use more than one core if you have an 8800GT card. Just change the core affinity in task manager of VMC to 1 and the problem's solved.

Here's a link on how to do this permanently so you don't have to do this everytime you start VMC.

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windo...windows-vista/

Here's a link to the solution on another forum where I posted the same question.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=947754

 

[alexthecamel]

a f**kin legend mate.

Wasted close on 3 hours messing with Drivers, Codecs and filters trying to solve this, nice touch on the link to how to set the affinity for good. My new Christmas Present was being sent back at one point!!

I only wish everyone would take the time to answer there own questions once they have found a solution.

Registered just to say thanks, that's how grateful I am.


Top geezer.

 

[granturismo]

Well, you're very welcome. I know how frustrating trouble shooting is. I do have another update and hopefully one more in the next week or so. My friend has the exact same system as I. Literally exactly the same, since we built them at the same time. But he has Media Center using all four cores and has no stuttering. He had stuttering before. Now he doesn't. The only thing I can see that he's changed is he's installed nvidia's Ntune. I'll install that tonight and reset the cores to four and see what happens.

Short of this working, I'll have to talk to my friend and compare any other differences we have in our software setups.

So, I'll let you know if this works or not but in the meantime, at least we can play videos in VMC without that damn stuttering.

 

[alexthecamel]

Cool, let me know if you need me to try it on my system.

Fairly irrelevant atm, but it's as follows

Core-2 Duo e6600 @ 3.3
P5N-E Sli mb
4 gig DDR2
8800 GTX
Vista Ultimate (SP1 Beta)
Forceware 169.25 (no Ntune)
CCCP Codecs but same with CoreAVC

I've noticed it seems to be a VMC maximised issue. Doesn't do it on either Windows Media Player, or VMC in any other size, even when expanded to fill the screen (but not maximised)

Cheers again for help