[adamfenn28]

When I play 1080p content, it's jittery.. as if it aren't able to display ever frame. I've included a bunch of info. There seem to be a few different types of errors in the log messages. Timeouts, drops, frame rate, etc. Videos typically start out pretty bad, and xbmc buffers. They typically get better, but continue to jitter as though they aren't displaying every frame.

How can I eliminate this jitter effect?


XBMC release: r28256
platform: AppleTV w/ Crystal HD
Crystal HD driver: r26
xbmc.log: http://pastebin.com/GkZmT01S


Mediainfo:
General
Complete name : /mnt/complete/Movies/Planet.51.BluRay.x264/planet51.mkv
Format : Matroska
File size : 6.56 GiB
Duration : 1h 31mn
Overall bit rate : 10.3 Mbps
Encoded date : UTC 2008-02-23 20:27:27
Writing application : mkvmerge v2.9.8 ('C'est le bon') built on Aug 21 2009 13:21:42
Writing library : libebml v0.7.7 + libmatroska v0.8.1

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : [email protected]
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 4 frames
Muxing mode : Container [email protected]
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 1h 30mn
Bit rate : 8 602 Kbps
Nominal bit rate : 8 805 Kbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 816 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 2.35:1
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Resolution : 8 bits
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.229
Stream size : 5.46 GiB (83%)
Writing library : x264 core 85 r1442 781d300
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=5 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=umh / subme=7 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.20 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-3 / threads=6 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / mbaff=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=1 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / wpredb=1 / wpredp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=8805 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Language : English

Audio
ID : 2
Format : DTS
Format/Info : Digital Theater Systems
Codec ID : A_DTS
Duration : 1h 31mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 1 510 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Resolution : 24 bits
Stream size : 983 MiB (15%)
Language : English

Text
ID : 3
Format : UTF-8
Codec ID : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info : UTF-8 Plain Text
Language : English

Menu
00:00:00.000 : en:00:00:00.000
00:06:46.239 : en:00:06:46.239
00:11:59.510 : en:00:11:59.510
00:18:10.256 : en:00:18:10.256
00:21:23.324 : en:00:21:23.324
00:26:07.733 : en:00:26:07.733
00:31:02.778 : en:00:31:02.778
00:33:43.563 : en:00:33:43.563
00:42:59.202 : en:00:42:59.202
00:47:48.866 : en:00:47:48.866
00:53:15.275 : en:00:53:15.275
01:00:46.768 : en:01:00:46.768
01:07:15.615 : en:01:07:15.615
01:13:01.794 : en:01:13:01.794
01:17:19.093 : en:01:17:19.093
01:19:50.119 : en:01:19:50.119

Code:

top:
Processes:  45 total, 3 running, 42 sleeping... 171 threads            16:08:40
Load Avg:  1.56, 0.63, 0.26     CPU usage:  31.9% user, 16.4% sys, 51.7% idle
SharedLibs: num =  138, resident = 8.17M code, 1.00M data,  636K LinkEdit
MemRegions: num =  3262, resident =  143M + 1.95M private, 25.2M shared
PhysMem:   100M wired,  100M active, 50.2M inactive,  250M used, 5.11M free
VM: 2.78G +  123M   35287(0) pageins, 32309(14) pageouts

  PID COMMAND      %CPU   TIME   #TH #PRTS #MREGS RPRVT  RSHRD  RSIZE  VSIZE
  190 top          8.8%  0:03.67   1    19    20   752K   288K  1.20M  27.0M
  186 SABnzbd      0.0%  0:09.79  33   170   646  30.8M- 2.75M- 32.8M-  182M
  182 bash         0.0%  0:00.03   1    14    16   164K   592K   472K  27.1M
  181 sshd         0.0%  0:00.05   1    11    20  72.0K   680K   228K  29.8M
  177 XBMC        39.0%  0:51.04  12   153   672  87.0M- 17.7M   102M-  346M+
  174 sshd         0.0%  0:00.38   1    19    20     0B   680K   100K  29.8M
  172 DiskManage   0.0%  0:00.11   1    41    44     0B   532K   128K  37.2M
  165 ntpd         0.0%  0:00.01   1    11    18  52.0K   252K   164K  27.1M
  155 airtunesd    0.0%  0:00.02   3    39    25     0B   212K   100K  31.5M
  141 Finder       0.0%  0:28.13  19   243   452   900K  3.98M- 2.29M   219M
  137 crashrepor   0.0%  0:00.01   1    16    18     0B   212K  76.0K  26.6M
  124 launchd      0.0%  0:00.00   1    14    16     0B   256K- 68.0K  26.7M
  120 pbs          0.0%  0:00.05   2    39    39     0B   644K   120K  53.4M
   99 lookupd      0.0%  0:00.05   2    35    40   208K-  632K-  452K- 28.5M
   96 ATSServer    0.0%  0:00.14   2    56    57   516K  1000K   512K  47.7M
   93 WindowServ   0.0%  0:01.96   2    73    61   200K   840K   420K   125M
   91 loginwindo   0.0%  0:00.27   2    79    81   176K   692K   444K   108M
   86 mountd       0.0%  0:00.00   1     8    22     0B   500K  56.0K  27.1M

[mlp55]

Hello
i have the same problem.
please shed some light on this issue

[idioteque]

I also have the same problem with all of my Hi4.1 profiles of 1080p mkv's

There appears no frames dropped but the fps goes down to 8fps and than the CHD has to play catch-up again..
It does not appear to happen with main 3.0 profile 1080p files.


*** MediaInfo Mac // Plain text file report
2010-04-05 10:13:01 +0200
Information for File: Earth 2007 1080p BluRay x264 [email protected]

General / Container Stream # 1
Total Video Streams for this File -> 1
Total Audio Streams for this File -> 1
Video Codecs Used -> AVC
Audio Codecs Used -> DTS
File Format -> Matroska
Play Time -> 1h 30mn
Total File Size -> 7.96 GiB
Total Stream BitRate -> 12.7 Mbps
Encoded with -> mkvmerge v2.9.8 ('C'est le bon') built on Aug 13 2009 12:49:06
Encoding Library -> libebml v0.7.7 + libmatroska v0.8.1
Video Stream # 1
Codec (Human Name) -> AVC
Codec (FourCC) -> V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Codec Profile -> [email protected]
Frame Width -> 1 920 pixels
Frame Height -> 1 080 pixels
Frame Rate -> 23.976 fps
Total Frames -> 129504
Display Aspect Ratio -> 16/9
Scan Type -> Progressive
Colorimetry -> 4:2:0
Codec Settings (Summary) -> CABAC / 4 Ref Frames
QF (like Gordian Knot) -> 0.234
Codec Settings (CABAC) -> Yes
Video Stream Length -> 1h 29mn 56s 0ms
Video Stream BitRate -> 11.6 Mbps
Video Stream BitRate (Nominal) -> 11.9 Mbps
Bit Depth -> 24 bits
Video Stream Size -> 7.32 GiB (92%)
Video Encoder -> x264 - core 68 r1183M f21daff
Video Encoder (Settings) -> cabac=1 / ref=4 / deblock=1:-2:-2 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=umh / subme=9 / psy_rd=1.0:0.0 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=32 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=12 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / mbaff=0 / bframes=4 / b_pyramid=1 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / wpredb=1 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=40 / rc=2pass / bitrate=11900 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / vbv_maxrate=50000 / vbv_bufsize=50000 / ip_ratio=1.40 / pb_ratio=1.30 / aq=1:1.00
Video Stream Language -> English
Audio Stream # 1
Codec -> DTS
Codec (FourCC) -> A_DTS
Audio Stream Length -> 1h 30mn 1s 398ms
Audio Stream BitRate -> 754 Kbps
Audio Stream BitRate Mode -> CBR
Number of Audio Channels -> 6
Audio Channel's Positions -> Front: L C R, Surround: L R, LFE
Sampling Rate -> 48.0 KHz
Bit Depth -> 24 bits
Audio Stream Size -> 486 MiB (6%)
Audio Stream Title -> English DTS
Audio Stream Language -> English

[interceptor121]

Are those files being played over the network or locally?

[adamfenn28]

mine are played locally.

[interceptor121]

Try setting the ATV to 720p. Go into settings set resolution and then restart finder before launching xbmc again or reboot the atv
Try then to play your file and see how it goes

[mlp55]

Are those files being played over the network or locally?

mine are playing through a Local Network (SWITCH)

[idioteque]

mine area all locally storred but it makes no difference if i play then via AFP

I play my files on a CRT tube tv until my plasma arrives. So the resolution is pal 576i

[adamfenn28]

I set the ATV to 720p HD and it seemed to resolve the majority of the performance problems. The first 30 seconds are still pretty choppy, but after that time is passed, things look good.

What does that tell me? It doesn't seem to be an I/O performance issue. Is it an issue with the Crystal HD performance? Can I get 1080p out of this thing with decent performance?

[davilla]

I set the ATV to 720p HD and it seemed to resolve the majority of the performance problems. The first 30 seconds are still pretty choppy, but after that time is passed, things look good.

See 2) http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=69384

[mlp55]

I set the ATV to 720p HD and it seemed to resolve the majority of the performance problems. The first 30 seconds are still pretty choppy, but after that time is passed, things look good.

What does that tell me? It doesn't seem to be an I/O performance issue. Is it an issue with the Crystal HD performance? Can I get 1080p out of this thing with decent performance?

I did the above, but my video is still fairly choppy.
This is weird.
Any ideas?

[davilla]

I did the above, but my video is still fairly choppy.
This is weird.
Any ideas?

Move a video to the local disk and try there to eliminate any network issues. Also are you sure you are using the 1.0.3 driver/lib. I still see many downloads other the older version.

[mlp55]

Move a video to the local disk and try there to eliminate any network issues. Also are you sure you are using the 1.0.3 driver/lib. I still see many downloads other the older version.

how do i verify the driver version?
I will move it to a local disk and try.

[adamfenn28]

I thought the change to 720p HD relieved the symptom at first. However, I think it must converting my 1080p content to 720p, which isn't the desired solution. Do I understand that correctly?

After playing the same movie I included in this post a couple times, it continues to be jittery, and it seems like all content continues to be jittery. However, there seems to be a small percentage of time that 1080p content that usually plays jittery, plays fine. I haven't noticed the trend yet, but I have seen that at least some content plays "mostly" clean, once in a while.

I know it doesn't sound like I'm narrowing things down or making good progress. Any ideas?

[mlp55]

I thought the change to 720p HD relieved the symptom at first. However, I think it must converting my 1080p content to 720p, which isn't the desired solution. Do I understand that correctly?

After playing the same movie I included in this post a couple times, it continues to be jittery, and it seems like all content continues to be jittery. However, there seems to be a small percentage of time that 1080p content that usually plays jittery, plays fine. I haven't noticed the trend yet, but I have seen that at least some content plays "mostly" clean, once in a while.

I know it doesn't sound like I'm narrowing things down or making good progress. Any ideas?

I have the exact same symptoms and problems with y ATV.
Please someone shed some light on this.