stuttering video watching full screen video on HULU on HTPC

[stockjock]

Here is my rig: AMD dual core processor, 2gig ram, 512mb 8600 gt with HDMI out and Vista Pro 64 bit version. My television is a 60" Mitsubishi DLP. Here's the deal, I had a 6600 video card on this pc before and was running composite video and I had no stuttering what so ever...so I buy this new video card with HDMI out. Ever since putting this new card in when i watch full screen videos on HULU or ABC.com I get bad stuttering. I'm running 1080p native with the card. What is causing this? And why does his happen using HDMI and not composite? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Schmide]

Download Driver Sweeper and follow the directions. (which means uninstalling the video driver, booting in safe mode then running Driver Sweeper there)

http://downloads.guru3d.com/Guru3D---Driver-Sweeper-%28Setup%29-download-1655.html

Get the latest nvidia driver.

Then install flash 10.1

http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flashplayer10/

 

[rodrigu3]

Windows 7, possibly flash 10.1, cured all of my hulu stuttering issues on my laptop

 

[postmortemIA]

Windows 7, possibly flash 10.1, cured all of my hulu stuttering issues on my laptop

yep, flash 10.1 uses multi CPU for rendering.

 

[Schmide]

yep, flash 10.1 uses multi CPU for rendering.

Don't you mean flash 10.1 uses the CPU and to GPU to accelerate video decoding?

 

[stockjock]

ok did what ya'll said to do and its better but still have some stuttering...not as bad as before but its still noticeable....any more ideas?

 

[Sylvanas]

yep, flash 10.1 uses multi CPU for rendering.

10.1 is offloaded to the GPU.

 

[postmortemIA]

10.1 is offloaded to the GPU.

Yep, it is true for H.264 video, it does. Still my GeForce 7300 Go is not on supported list, and I see CPU utilization much over 50% when playing Hulu, unlike 10.0.

 

[yh125d]

Yep, it is true for H.264 video, it does. Still my GeForce 7300 Go is not on supported list, and I see CPU utilization much over 50% when playing Hulu, unlike 10.0.

gf7300 is a very old GPU, and doesn't have the tech to enable GPU acceleration of most video stuff (aside from games of course).

 

[stockjock]

so why did my older 6600 card work better on Composite (red, green and blue cable) with no stuttering and this newer card has this problem using HDMI out?

 

[stockjock]

So has anyone got any ideas for me on why I'm stuttering watching video on Hulu or ABC.com etc... at full screen. My processor by the way is an AMD FX-55. guess I'm wondering why I can run composite video out to my TV works just fine but when running an HDMI it stutters

 

[Genx87]

Which AV are you running? I have had issues with Microsofts Security Essentials and video playback. The real time scanner is causing the video to stutter. Turning it off while watching video's fixes it.

 

[VirtualLarry]

so why did my older 6600 card work better on Composite (red, green and blue cable) with no stuttering and this newer card has this problem using HDMI out?

Composite is 1024x768 MAX, generally 800x600. HDMI at 1080P is 1920x1080. BIG difference in resolution.

 

[v8envy]

This is very easy. Composite (not even s-video) is limited to 800x600 resolution if you're lucky. More likely you were pumping out 640x480. With HDMI (read: DVI) you are driving your screen at 1920x1080. With composite your TV was upscaling, with HDMI your video card is now trying to render the video stream at its full resolution.

You should be able to set your desktop resolution to 800x600 (or 640x480) and have the same performance you had before using HDMI.]

EDIT: R/G/B is component, not composite video. Still, I doubt you were pumping out 1920x1080 with that.

 

[NoQuarter]

Well, component can do 1920x1080 so if he really meant R/G/B (component) and not s-video (composite) then he coulda been at 1920x1080, which makes it strange since it should run the same as the HDMI even though it's a different video card.

You might want to try it in a different browser, like Google Chrome, or a clean os install on another partition or Ubuntu live cd or something, just to see if the problem is hardware. It should be able to handle the Hulu stream with just CPU decoding though, you can also try right clicking the flash window and disabling hardware acceleration, make sure no other tasks are abusing the CPU, update nvidia drivers, etc.

Also check the cpu usage in task manager when you are playing a stream in full screen.

 

[stockjock]

You guys are right...I think...I was using the Svideo out on the video card which had a component adapter which I ran the R/G/B to my TV. Last night I shut down everything in the background and I was still getting the stuttering. i'll try a different browser as suggested...my question to you guys, is the video card I have capable of doing what I want?

 

[stockjock]

I give up! I'll just go back to the 6600 video and use component...this is not worth it....I thought going HDMI would be so much better but all its been is a waste. I tried Chrome and still the same thing. Anyone want a 8600? lol

 

[azev]

I noticed similar issue... Playing facebook flash games on my dell D820 with T7000 cpu and NVS120 video card is unbearably slow. I think flash just sux !!

 

[Arkaign]

Hey, I've had this issue pop up under certain builds, across various OS'es/GPUs/etc that are obviously more than up to the task of flash video.

My solution (this has worked several times, even if it seems unintuitive) :

Right click the video, get the flash options, uncheck 'enable hardware acceleration'.

The last system I ran into this was a brand new laptop with ATI 4200 IGP video, 4GB Ram, 2.2Ghz Dual Core, lol. It would play 1080p MKV like butter, but flash video was choppy.

 

[taltamir]

so why did my older 6600 card work better on Composite (red, green and blue cable) with no stuttering and this newer card has this problem using HDMI out?

red green and blue is COMPONENT not COMPOSITE.

composite is yellow (video), red (audio) and white (audio) and is limited to 800x600 as you said.

Component video can easily output 1080p
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Component_video

My guess is the DRM, component video is DRM free, HDMI comes with HDCP, HDCP is a piece of feces that ruins everything it is involved in. Count yourself lucky it even works at all. (my brothers Xbox doesn't work with his TV over HDMI due to an HDCP... I had a projector which I had to randomly reboot every few hours because HDCP failed, etc) For a time in 2006 they managed to make it illegal to sell something without HDCP and as a result EVERYTHING integrated it... the law was later struck down as unconstitutional but by then the damage was done, nowadays you cannot buy a monitor, TV, or video card without HDCP
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hdcp

The reason companies want to use HDMI over Composite (red,green and blue) is because they want to saddle you with said crappy DRM.
HDMI is digital data (encoding) in a format not suited for streaming (errors cause the entire stream to fail rather then lose individual pixels) sent over an analog protocol/cable (compare it to Ethernet cable for example); HDMI is downright retarded... its not actually any better than composite, and composite can actually get a image at a much greater distance of cable.

PS, an 8600GT should have a component out connection, use it.

 

[Arkaign]

Hah, yeah HDCP does suck, and really the whole HDMI standard was sort of messily put together. It doesn't always work very well when trying to use PC on large LCDs/Plasmas due to the irritating problem when the thing wants to overscan or underscan and the image won't line up, so you have to tweak this and that to get it going. Nicer sets like most Samsungs have PC mode and better detection for proper results with less hassles.

I don't think HDCP is causing the hulu stuttering for the OP though. A good test would be to pop open VLC and play some downloaded FLV files and see if it's smooth. If it is, and other local-media files like divx/mkv/dvd play fine, then it's definitely a flash web plugin issue. In my experience with those situations (hardware more than powerful enough, but choppy flash video), disabling the 'hardware' acceleration fixed it. Perhaps something in the hardware acceleration causes it to get choppy if it doesn't sync up right? I don't know the technical reason, but it's something to try, only takes a few seconds. I was pulling my hair out over the same problem for quite some time before stumbling upon that.

 

[taltamir]

I have found that there isn't a problem in video that isn't at least partially mitigated by getting rid of the DRM

do keep in mind that HDCP involves CPU intensive encryption, and the OP has a pretty old machine. Even if the CPU is up to the task, the software stack implementation could result in many wasted cycles on the HDCP drek which could cause adverse effects. Or maybe memory bandwidth issues or any number of other possible issues.

 

[Arkaign]

Yep, I hate it when DRM is so cumbersome that it goes far beyond protecting IP/etc, but actually makes the product difficult to use. Blu-Ray on PC is like that, constant updates to make things work, and then sometimes you have to wait a while after buying a new film just to make the damned thing play. PS3 at least hasn't failed me ever in playing a disc (knock on wood).

Component HD at 1080p is usually pretty good, but it varies a bit card to card and tv to tv. It would be another decent troubleshooting option for the OP to check out at least.

Anyhow, here is a troubleshooting list for flash video, the disable hardware acceleration tip is about midway down. FWIW, it doesn't seem to affect image quality, and it's smooth as butter after disabling this, even on pretty old stuff like Nvidia 6000/7000 series and Intel GMA.

http://www.ghacks.net/2009/11/18/youtube-videos-playback-problems-and-fixes/

 

[taltamir]

heh... Actually, I recall having some problems with GPU accelerated video (frame dropped) and disabling GPU acceleration and sticking with CPU only solved it (with a nice fast intel C2Q9400)