[Duke999R]

G'day humans,

I'm having an issue with the Matrix builds concerning framerate dropping.
The issue isn't happening on 18.9, or with any other video player, all smooth as butter.
On Windows 10 with it and all drivers up to date. Xeon 3.6ghz processor, 32GB DDR4 RAM, AMD RX580 8GB GDDR6

The issue presents when I run certain apps on my main screen (maximized ONLY! partly maximized windows are fine) whilst Kodi is running on my second screen.
It only happens with certain programs, while others don't affect playback in Kodi at all. eg. Firefox, Directory Opus cause frame drops, whilst edge, photoshop don't.
I've been trying to figure this out for quite a while with no progress at all.
Any help would be appreciated.
Also, I can play the same files full screen with VLC or MPC-BE with no frame drops at all.
Been doing it both with clean, and upgrading a working 18.9 config.
All local files, no network involved.

I've seen a couple of people post similar issues on the forum, but usually when asked for a log they give up, lol.

Here's my log.
https://paste.kodi.tv/atezayacun.kodi

I've also posted twice in the Matrix channel over the past week but no luck there.
Any help would be really appreciated, I don't know what to do next.

Cheers, Pete.

[PatK]

Thanks for the log: is that a laptop? Desktop Resolution 1920x1080 32Bit at 75Hz the refresh is a bit odd. Primary mode: Generic PnP Monitor #2: 1920x1080 @ 59.94Hz a better choice at full screen.

certain programs, while others don't affect

Might have something to do with priorities, process explorer might help show what is going on.

same files full screen with VLC or MPC-BE

Truly apples & oranges. Going down this road you could use these examples as an external player.

main screen (maximized ONLY! partly maximized windows are fine) whilst Kodi is running on my second screen.

You might be running into gfx engine strain, Kodi doesn't like to multi-task with multiple screens open on two different monitors. Suggest you set desktop 1920x1080x60 on the monitor of choice, changing direct sound to wasapi & pass-through (if possible)will take some of the strain off the gfx department. launch Kodi full screen with only one display (switch to software rendering to see if that makes any difference) and let's see if there is a solve in that.

[Duke999R]

Thanks for the log: is that a laptop? Desktop Resolution 1920x1080 32Bit at 75Hz the refresh is a bit odd. Primary mode: Generic PnP Monitor #2: 1920x1080 @ 59.94Hz a better choice at full screen.

certain programs, while others don't affect

Might have something to do with priorities, process explorer might help show what is going on.

same files full screen with VLC or MPC-BE

Truly apples & oranges. Going down this road you could use these examples as an external player.

main screen (maximized ONLY! partly maximized windows are fine) whilst Kodi is running on my second screen.

You might be running into gfx engine strain, Kodi doesn't like to multi-task with multiple screens open on two different monitors. Suggest you set desktop 1920x1080x60 on the monitor of choice, changing direct sound to wasapi & pass-through (if possible)will take some of the strain off the gfx department. launch Kodi full screen with only one display (switch to software rendering to see if that makes any difference) and let's see if there is a solve in that.

Thank you for your reply PatK.

It's a desktop with a 27" monitor (now set to 60Hz - no change to issue, and in windows display settings it's listed as 8 bit not 32?) 2nd is a 32" samsung led tv.
 Thanks for the log: is that a laptop? Desktop Resolution 1920x1080 32Bit at 75Hz the refresh is a bit odd. Primary mode: Generic PnP Monitor #2: 1920x1080 @ 59.94Hz a better choice at full screen.

certain programs, while others don't affect

Might have something to do with priorities, process explorer might help show what is going on.

same files full screen with VLC or MPC-BE

Truly apples & oranges. Going down this road you could use these examples as an external player.

main screen (maximized ONLY! partly maximized windows are fine) whilst Kodi is running on my second screen.

You might be running into gfx engine strain, Kodi doesn't like to multi-task with multiple screens open on two different monitors. Suggest you set desktop 1920x1080x60 on the monitor of choice, changing direct sound to wasapi & pass-through (if possible)will take some of the strain off the gfx department. launch Kodi full screen with only one display (switch to software rendering to see if that makes any difference) and let's see if there is a solve in that.

Thank you for your reply PatK.

1. This is a desktop, main monitor is new and was set at 75Hz from the box, now set at 60 with no change to this issue. Also, the monitor is listed as 8bit bit depth in windows display settings, I can't see 32 bit listed anywhere.
My secondary which is what I use Kodi on is a 32" Samsung led TV.

2. I've been running process explorer for a while today, all I can see during the frame drops is dwm.exe spiking the CPU, which I understand is a process dealing with windows GUI? GPU usage does not seem to change at all while the issue presents. I am a noob with that software though, so I'm not sure what else to do with it.

3. I did try using MPC as an external player, which fixed the framerate issue, but I cannot control that with Kore, which is a deal-breaker.

4. I tried all of these things (bar audio passthrough - n/a) to no avail.

While doing all this I noticed that the drops occur even if no video is playing in Kodi, according to the logging OSD.

I really have no idea what is going on here.  I will go back to Leia, which works fine in all scenarios, it would be nice to go to the newer version.

If you have any other suggestions or can help me use process explorer in a better way, I would be grateful.

Thanks again,

Duke.

[Duke999R]

I just tried having Kodi full screen on my main monitor (27" acer monitor) with the TV screen used for other tasks.

the issue still occurs, but according to the fps osd counter in Kodi, it's only dropping about half of the frames whem monitors are swapped. Don't know it this is significant at all.

BTW the TV is set up without any frame interpolation/smoothing or dynamic crap if you catch my drift.