Kodi Community Forum - Suddenly some videos are choppy with no audio? (New video card at fault?)

Today I noticed that when I try to play certain video files in XBMC, it will be extremely choppy and have no audio (unwatchable at about 1-4 frames per second). Many other similar video files play fine in XMBC, I'd say about 30-40% of my library seems to have this issue now.

I was able to play these video files fine one or two days ago. Since the last time I played them fine I have installed a new video card so that I can do some gaming on this HTPC. I went from i3 intel HD3000 integrated video to an XFX radeon 6670 with the latest 13.1 catalyst drivers. Since it seems the video playback problem appeared after upgrading the video card, I assume this means that is the cause.

- Here is a link to my debug log: http://xbmclogs.com/show.php?id=35450 (I tried playing The Two Towers .mkv in that log)
- I can play these same problem video files in Media Player Classic and VLC Player on the same system with no issues (The problem is specific to XBMC only)
- I can't determine what types of videos are causing this. It has happened on both .avi (xvid) and .mkv (x264) files. Some xvid files seem to work okay, but I haven't found any x264 files that don't have this problem.

UPDATE: with some more testing the audio output option in XBMC can be changed to make the choppiness go away (but lose all audio). In XBMC, system>settings, if I change the passthrough audio device to something else like SPDIF (instead of HDMI that I was using), the video choppiness goes away. This also causes me to lose all audio for everything in XBMC of course, since I am using HDMI and not SPDIF for audio.

On a similar note I have noticed that I am now only getting 2 channel audio through HDMI although I have a 5.1 system setup that was working correctly when I was using my motherboards integrated HDMI port. In Windows Control Panel > Audio Devices my HDMI is showing as a generic "Digital Audio (HDMI)" "2 - High Definition Audio Device". When I look further it shows it is a Microsoft Driver, rather than a Realtek or AMD/Radeon driver that I think it should be... I have tried uninstalling what is there for an HDMI option and, and installing Realtek specific drivers that I found, but it stays as the Microsoft 2 channel driver. When I try to configure this 2 channel HDMI option, it only shows stereo in the list of speaker setups.

Any advice on where to go from here?

System Info:
CPU: i3 2105, motherboard: ASUS P8H77-V LE, 8GB ram, Windows 8, XBMC Frodo 12.0
XFX Radeon 6670 hooked up via HDMI to Yamaha receiver which is hooked up to HDTV via HDMI

Welcome Ivan - have a look through here might be something there that will assist http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=146911, particularly the part about uninstalling Realtek drivers and ensuring you use the correct AMD ones.

That helped steelman, although the issue is not completely resolved. Here's where I'm at now:

From reading your above link and many other threads, it became obvious that the issue was Windows was using Microsoft drivers for audio, which have limited functionality (only 2 channel, etc). What eventually worked was I uninstalled all of the audio drivers Windows Device Manager, then installed "Realtek High Definition audio drivers R2.70" I found here: http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/down...wntypeid=3 . After doing that, in Control Panel > Audio Devices, it is now showing as "Realtek HDMI Output" "ATI HDMI Audio". Heres a screenshot of what I have now:

I then set up XBMC to use "Directsound: HDMI - Realtek HDMI Output"

Where I'm at now is I once again have 5.1 sound and those videos play fine. However, after reading the link you provided, I would very much like to be able to take advantage of WASAPI HDMI audio output for higher quality / "bitstreaming". Unfortunately if I switch XBMC's audio output to WASAPI instead of DirectSound, the exact same issue comes back (no audio and choppy video). I have already made sure the audio device is set to enable exclusive access / control in it's settings as recommended in the above link.

CLIFFS (Enabling WASAPI is now the issue):
• Got video / 5.1 working again by getting a Realtek HDMI driver installed, but only with DirectSound. I'd like to use WASAPI for higher quality.
• In XBMC, switching to WASAPI causes the choppy video and no audio issue to return.
• How can I troubleshoot WASAPI?
• I have read its not recommended to use Realtek audio drivers. However, what else can I use? Installing and re-installing catalyst drivers did not give me any audio drivers; it kept defaulting to generic Microsoft ones that were the initial problem. I can't seem to find any ATI/Radeon HDMI audio drivers that are not realtek...
• I've made sure exclusive audio control/access is checked already.
• HDMI Control on my receiver is set to off
• Intel management engine driver is installed - verified

Did you installed the latest AMD driver from here- AMD Driver Autodetect ? or Directly from here- Graphics Drivers & Software .....

(2013-02-14, 23:13)bluray Wrote: [ -> ]Did you installed the latest AMD driver from here- AMD Driver Autodetect ? or Directly from here- Graphics Drivers & Software .....

bluray my good friend, you've done it! The first link with the auto detection showed me having the latest drivers. I then used the second link, completely uninstalled all my audio and catalyst drivers, then installed the catalyst package that was from the AMD/ATI website. It finally installed an AMD HDMI Audio driver this time! All is working well and WASAPI in XBMC is working perfectly.

I was using the catalyst driver package from my video card's individual manufacturer's website (XFX) before. Apparently that package did not include the HDMI audio driver; thats why it was defaulting to the windows generic 2 channel HDMI driver.

Thanks so much for all the help, how do I give + reputation points in this forum? Can't seem to find that option

(2013-02-15, 00:22)ivanalbright Wrote: [ -> ]Thanks so much for all the help, how do I give + reputation points in this forum? Can't seem to find that option

I'm that you got it to work.... Nod

You are too new to see (-/+) reputation sign.....

Hi everyone, i'm bran new here and I really hope someone has an idea...

I'm experiencing exactly the same symptoms. Laggy playback, about 4 FPS, no audio. The funny thing is that it only happens on MKV encoded with Dolby digital 5.1 audio, all other types of files and encoding works fine, including MKVs.

After a lot of reading, I'm getting a feeling that it has something to do with HDMI EDID Handshake not working properly, and codecs missing, but I can't be certain, and the guides regarding EDID seem, I humbly admit, a bit over my level of computer savvyness.

I'm using an NVIDIA GTX-560 card, which is connected directly to a Panasonic viera 50", HDMI to HDMI.

I can play those same files - the ones that are choppy and laggy in XBMC - in VLC or Media Player without problem. I have a clean, fresh install of my Nvidia drivers, and I'm running out of idea... Any suggestions? Or any info needed to complete the analysis? I'm at a loss! Smile

Dave

(2013-03-25, 05:15)ulvain Wrote: [ -> ]I'm using an NVIDIA GTX-560 card, which is connected directly to a Panasonic viera 50", HDMI to HDMI.
Dave

Your Frodo audio output configs should look the same as my screenshot below (your should be Nvidia instead of AMD in my screensho)-

Hi ulvain, I was the one with the original problem here

Have you tried switching the audio output settings in XBMC's audio settings. For example, for me there was WASAPI and directsound, maybe a few others. I believe if I switched to directsound the problem went away.

The actual source of the problem for me was the wrong HDMI audio drivers. You could check in your windows control panel for the audio settings. One of my posts above has a screenshot of the window you are looking for.

If your current default / active HDMI audio driver is a microsoft one (it would probably read something like "Digital Audio (HDMI)" "2 - High Definition Audio Device") -- if it shows that, then that is probably your issue. To fix it, you need to make sure you have the specific HDMI audio drivers for your nvidia video card installed.

My issue was that I was installing a driver package that did not include an HDMI audio driver, so windows used its generic one which was not compatible with XBMC's WASAPI sound output.

Hope something from this info helps