AVIs dropping frames, choppy, stuttering playback?

Community Archives WD TV Live Firmware
1

I have been having an issue playing some AVI files.  The picture stutters as if some of the frames are being skipped.  I purchased the player yesterday, updated the firmware and it is playing the files wirelessly off a windows share.  The connection speed or quality is not the issue, I believe, since I copied one of the problematic files to a USB thumbdrive, connected it directly to the player, and still experienced the same problem.

This is the second media player I have puchased, my first being a Klegg Mediashare which had almost no problems with every AVI (XviD, DivX) I threw at it.  The old Klegg however would not play the newer file formats.

On a PC, VLC will play the files flawlessly, across a network wirelessly or locally.

Does anyone out there experience the same problem with some AVIs?

2

Please post the full TEXT output of MEDIAINFO for such a file.

http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net

3

General
Complete name                            : I:\Media\TV\BBC\Top Gear\Season 18\Top.Gear.18x01.HDTV.XviD-FoV.avi
Format                                   : AVI
Format/Info                              : Audio Video Interleave
File size                                : 548 MiB
Duration                                 : 1h 2mn
Overall bit rate mode                    : Variable
Overall bit rate                         : 1 227 Kbps
Writing application                      : transcode-1.1.5

Video
ID                                       : 0
Format                                   : MPEG-4 Visual
Format profile                           : Advanced Simple@L5
Format settings, BVOP                    : 2
Format settings, QPel                    : No
Format settings, GMC                     : No warppoints
Format settings, Matrix                  : Default (H.263)
Codec ID                                 : XVID
Codec ID/Hint                            : XviD
Duration                                 : 1h 2mn
Bit rate                                 : 1 086 Kbps
Width                                    : 624 pixels
Height                                   : 352 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate                               : 25.000 fps
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.198
Stream size                              : 485 MiB (89%)
Writing library                          : XviD 1.2.1 (UTC 2008-12-04)

Audio
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : MPEG Audio
Format version                           : Version 1
Format profile                           : Layer 3
Mode                                     : Joint stereo
Mode extension                           : MS Stereo
Codec ID                                 : 55
Codec ID/Hint                            : MP3
Duration                                 : 1h 2mn
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Bit rate                                 : 128 Kbps
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 KHz
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 57.3 MiB (10%)
Alignment                                : Aligned on interleaves
Interleave, duration                     : 24 ms (0.60 video frame)

4

Also noticed it doesn’t like this one either, and it is an mp4?!?

General
Complete name                            : I:\Media\TV\BBC\Top Gear\Season 18\top_gear.18x07.hdtv_x264-fov.mp4
Format                                   : MPEG-4
Format profile                           : Base Media
Codec ID                                 : isom
File size                                : 575 MiB
Duration                                 : 1h 1mn
Overall bit rate mode                    : Variable
Overall bit rate                         : 1 311 Kbps
Writing application                      : Peter Bishop

Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : High@L3.1
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames                : 5 frames
Codec ID                                 : avc1
Codec ID/Info                            : Advanced Video Coding
Duration                                 : 1h 1mn
Bit rate                                 : 1 177 Kbps
Width                                    : 720 pixels
Height                                   : 402 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 25.000 fps
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.163
Stream size                              : 516 MiB (90%)
Writing library                          : x264 core 120 r2164 da19765
Encoding settings                        : cabac=1 / ref=5 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=umh / subme=8 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=6 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=50 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=21.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Language                                 : English
Matrix coefficients                      : BT.709

Audio
ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : AAC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile                           : LC
Codec ID                                 : 40
Duration                                 : 1h 1mn
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Bit rate                                 : 123 Kbps
Maximum bit rate                         : 168 Kbps
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel positions                        : Front: L R
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 KHz
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Delay relative to video                  : 80ms
Stream size                              : 53.9 MiB (9%)

5

So I note that they’re both 25fps videos.

Do you have your HDMI mode set to 50fps?  or is it 60?

6

In setup? Audio/Video Output>Video Output reads “HDMI(Auto)”

7

Bitman13 wrote:

In setup? Audio/Video Output>Video Output reads “HDMI(Auto)”

Right, but what is your TV actually doing when the WDTV is playing video?  Is it 50 or 60?

8

I must apologize, but is that something I check with the WD Live or with the TV?

The TV is a Sony Bravia 40" 1080p/60hz KDL-40V4100.

9

The TV.

… if it’s staying at 60p, then what you may be seeing is “Judder” which is caused be the conversion of 25p material to 60p playback.  

You can try setting the TV manually to 50p using the WDTV setup (instead of Auto) and see if that makes any difference.

10

I force it to 50hz, the TV goes black, and then says the signal is unsupported.

I am going to try the composite cable and see if that makes any improvement.

11

Actually, not a composite cable, but just the old yellow/red/white…

12

With the non HDMI hookup, the video plays as it should, but there is considerable loss of definition, as expected.  Does this mean that any video I play that has been encoded at 25 fps will experience the same problems?  Is there a solution to enable me to use the HDMI for all videos?

13

Sorry, I don’t really know.   I don’t have any PAL content in my collection.

14

I am getting a clearer picture now; pal is my problem.  Been doing some reading on framerates…  I guess my best option is to change the video file’s frame rates to 23.976.  Ugh.

15

I have found the cause of the problem!!!  Nothing wrong with the player, or files.  The problem was the Sony TV.

There is a option in TVs picture settings called CineMotion.  CineMotion claims to enhance film based content.  It is enabled by default.  After disabling CineMotion for my WD Player’s HDMI input, I changed the settings on the player to HDMI (Auto) and set match video framerate to on.

Viola!!  Everything is a smooth as silk so far.  I have tried avi and mp4 at 23.976 and 25 fps and they play flawlessly.

16

Awesome.  Thanks for the followup!

17

could you tell me how to switch off cinemotion, i have a similar problem ?

ps: ok i got it, it solved problem for me too… thanks

18

Hit menu on the remote, go to settings, go to picture, look for the CineMotion option and select.  Then look for the HDMI input you have the WD Player connected to, select it, then change the setting to OFF.

Hope that works for you.

19

ok i got it, it solved problem for me too… thanks

20

Bitman13 wrote:

Actually, not a composite cable, but just the old yellow/red/white…

Actually - those are indeed composite cables.  Component cables are the “other” three colors.

PS…I know you solved your issue, but if you just bought this, are you sure you were in the right forum?  This is for the previous generation Live and Live+, not the latest generation.