[Hiethen]

I recently started having a weird problem with my HTPC setup. For some reason, some movies have started skipping even though they didn't do it before. This is also happening to some movies that I have seen in the past that did not show any skipping issues at all. Here is my setup below, sorry about all the extra info but this is how I keep track of my hardware. The system is running Windows 7 Ultimate 32bit. I have upgraded the video drivers but that didn't resolve the issue. I'm not sure what could be causing this skipping, suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks

*HTPC*
CASE - apex dm-387
MB - msi ms-7267 945gm3-f pcb3 lga775, fsb 1066/800, 4x sata 3gb/s, 1x ide ata100, 1x pcie x16, 3x pci, bios 5.6 8/2/07, microatx, bought 1/25/07
MEMORY - 2x dimms ddr2 667/2gb max
CHIPSET - intel 945g
AUDIO - realtek alc883
LAN - realtek 8110sc gigabit
MB VIDEO - intel gma 950
CPU - intel core 2 duo e4700 2.6g 2mb cache 800fsb lga775 oem
MEMORY - 2x wintec(3AMD2667-2G2K-R) 1gb ddr2/667/pc5300, bought 1/5/10
VIDEO - msi(n210-md512h) nvidia geforce 210, 512mb/ddr2, interface 64bit, core 589mhz/memory 800mhz, pcie2.0, hdmi1.3a, fanless, low profile, bought 1/21/10
HD - hitachi(HD31000 IDK/7K) 1tb sata3.0 32mb cache 7200rpm, bought 2/9/10
HD - seagate barracuda(ST31500341AS) 1.5tb sata3.0 32mb cache 7200rpm, bought 4/19/10
CDROM - sony dvdr16x dvddl8x dru-800a ide

[BinaryMonkey]

I recently started having a weird problem with my HTPC setup. For some reason, some movies have started skipping even though they didn't do it before. This is also happening to some movies that I have seen in the past that did not show any skipping issues at all. Here is my setup below, sorry about all the extra info but this is how I keep track of my hardware. The system is running Windows 7 Ultimate 32bit. I have upgraded the video drivers but that didn't resolve the issue. I'm not sure what could be causing this skipping, suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks

*HTPC*
CASE - apex dm-387
MB - msi ms-7267 945gm3-f pcb3 lga775, fsb 1066/800, 4x sata 3gb/s, 1x ide ata100, 1x pcie x16, 3x pci, bios 5.6 8/2/07, microatx, bought 1/25/07
MEMORY - 2x dimms ddr2 667/2gb max
CHIPSET - intel 945g
AUDIO - realtek alc883
LAN - realtek 8110sc gigabit
MB VIDEO - intel gma 950
CPU - intel core 2 duo e4700 2.6g 2mb cache 800fsb lga775 oem
MEMORY - 2x wintec(3AMD2667-2G2K-R) 1gb ddr2/667/pc5300, bought 1/5/10
VIDEO - msi(n210-md512h) nvidia geforce 210, 512mb/ddr2, interface 64bit, core 589mhz/memory 800mhz, pcie2.0, hdmi1.3a, fanless, low profile, bought 1/21/10
HD - hitachi(HD31000 IDK/7K) 1tb sata3.0 32mb cache 7200rpm, bought 2/9/10
HD - seagate barracuda(ST31500341AS) 1.5tb sata3.0 32mb cache 7200rpm, bought 4/19/10
CDROM - sony dvdr16x dvddl8x dru-800a ide

what kinda cpu usage are you getting when you flag up debugging?

what build are you using ?

[Hiethen]

I'm using version 9.11 of XBMC with the Legacy Dark v2 skin, sorry that I forgot to mention that on my post. From what I can understand from the debug info while the movie is playing, it appears that cpu usage can range from 70% - 80% depending on the movie being played. The weird part is that I have not changed anything in this system and all movies played without any skipping until like a week ago.

[poofyhairguy]

That is way too high CPU usage. Something is wrong.

[Hiethen]

That is way too high CPU usage. Something is wrong.

What I don't get is why did the skipping start now. The only programs on the system are AVG antivirus, Dropbox, and Livemesh.

[Hiethen]

That is way too high CPU usage. Something is wrong.

What should be a normal CPU usage when running XBMC??

[ubuntuf4n]

With GPU-Accel. up to 10-25%

[Hiethen]

With GPU-Accel. up to 10-25%

My system has the Geforce 210 and I believe that it supports video acceleration. Does this happen automatically or is there a setting in Windows 7 or the Nvidia control panel that has to be enabled for video acceleration to work??

[poofyhairguy]

You have to have a newer version of XBMC.

[Hiethen]

I guess I will have to wait for Dharma to come out of nightly to try it out. In the mean time I can remove some programs from my system to speed it up a bit. Thanks to all for your input.

[Hiethen]

Ok, something weird is going. I tried one of the problematic movies with Dharma r32969 and I think that I'm getting more drops than before. Below are the two screenshots of the CPU info.

XBMC 9.11


Dharma r32969


I can completely understand if someone told me that my setup was underpowered from the beginning and the skipping that is happening now, started to happen even before my movie library size reached 25 movies. I don't get how this started to happen now with a library size of about 200 movies.

[poofyhairguy]

You are not using hardware decoding. That is what FF-H264 means.

Something is going on.

[Hiethen]

You are not using hardware decoding. That is what FF-H264 means.

Something is going on.

Would my refresh rate of 60hz have anything to do with it?

[poofyhairguy]

Would my refresh rate of 60hz have anything to do with it?

No. Something isn't working.

Go in settings and force DXVA for video playback.

[Hiethen]

No. Something isn't working.

Go in settings and force DXVA for video playback.

Ok, I turned on DXVA and the videos that used to skip no longer do it. Thanks a lot for that tip.

I did notice that with some videos, XBMC apparently changes the refesh rate to 24hz from 60hz. I'm not sure if this cuts the videos around the edges of the screen, but the XBMC interface gets cut off around the screen edges. Is there a way to have XBMC leave the refresh rate alone at 60hz and not change it to 24hz??