mkv files dropping frames/choppy

[japius]

So on Sunday (3 days ago) I rebuilt my HTPC and did a complete clean install of the system to set it up to run Boxee. Previously I jsut used XBMC and Windows 7 Media Centre which both played all my content without issue.

For some reason even small (~1.2gb) mkv files are choppy and I cant work out why is there some tweaks needed for Boxee to play them properly?

Here is the current setup:

Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
AMD 4850e CPU
Asus M3N78-EM Motherboard
On Board Nvidia 8300 Graphics (Driver 8.17.11.9745)
4GB RAM
As it was only set up and updated on Sunday I assume the current flash, DirectX, etc are the most uptodate, nothing is telling me to update either in IE or Mozilla

Why are the mkv's playing poorly (either 720p or 1080p versions)

Cheers for any help?

[gmd024]

So on Sunday (3 days ago) I rebuilt my HTPC and did a complete clean install of the system to set it up to run Boxee. Previously I jsut used XBMC and Windows 7 Media Centre which both played all my content without issue.

For some reason even small (~1.2gb) mkv files are choppy and I cant work out why is there some tweaks needed for Boxee to play them properly?

Here is the current setup:

Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
AMD 4850e CPU
Asus M3N78-EM Motherboard
On Board Nvidia 8300 Graphics (Driver 8.17.11.9745)
4GB RAM
As it was only set up and updated on Sunday I assume the current flash, DirectX, etc are the most uptodate, nothing is telling me to update either in IE or Mozilla

Why are the mkv's playing poorly (either 720p or 1080p versions)

Cheers for any help?

I'm sorry I don't have an answer for you - but I 'can' guarantee you that Boxee has no trouble at all playing large BD MKVs in the 30 to 40Gb size and never hick-ups at all (at least on my W7 x64 i7 PC)

You may want to be sure you do have the most up to date versions of Flash, DirectX (and Silverlight, if needed) but the MS updates should have updated that for you

Do your files paly OK in XBMC and WMC since the rebuild

Worse case - try uninstalling/reinstalling Boxee if nothing else works - I've seen that fix a few issues (me included)

[judgeschambers]

There must be two dozen of this same post over the past 60 days.

Please read the First STop announcement link in my sig for complete details. I have listed the player types and file types that boxee currently supports GPU acceleration for. I also updated that area today to clarify some things, add info and remove some outdated info.

To Briefly quote:

Stuttering video while watching Flash, Silverlight (NetFlix) or DirectX Based Content in Boxee Beta.

To view smooth playing Flash, Silverlight and & HD content (H264 .MP4 with Vista & Win-7 only) in Boxee Beta, a video card that supports GPU acceleration for all three types of media is required. To maximize this, the following updates should be considered where appropriate for Windows, Mac and Linux machines.
Your mileage may vary based on OS, hardware, drivers, local network and ISP connection speed.

**Boxee currently supports GPU acceleration of Flash, Silverlight (netflix), and HD files that are H264 .mp4 and only for Windows Vista and Windows 7. Any other file containers (.mkv, .wmv, .mov etc) that are in 720P or 1080P format may stutter. Additional support for GPU acceleration of HD versions of .mkv, .mov, .wmv file containers may be added at a later date.

Hardware Acceleation Compatible cards:

• NVidia Cards: Geforce GTS xxx, Geforce GTX xxx, Geforce GT xxx, Geforce 9xxx, Geforce 8xxx, MCP79 (Ion), MCP78, MCP7A
• ATI Cards: Radeon HD 4xxx, Mobility Radeon HD 4xxx , Radeon HD 3xxx
• Intel Cards: X4500HD (part of G45 chipset), X4500MHD (part of GM45 chipset)

Now, if you play that HD MKV with a quad core machine, it may just power through it fine. But it will not get GPU acceleration and thus peg the CPU.

For additional info on this topic by other users, please use the search feature and look for MKV.

[japius]

There must be two dozen of this same post over the past 60 days.

Please read the First STop announcement link in my sig for complete details. I have listed the player types and file types that boxee currently supports GPU acceleration for. I also updated that area today to clarify some things, add info and remove some outdated info.

.....

Now, if you play that HD MKV with a quad core machine, it may just power through it fine. But it will not get GPU acceleration and thus peg the CPU.

For additional info on this topic by other users, please use the search feature and look for MKV.

I had searched on this topic and your post is in almost every single thread, but so are a lot of people saying that their x.264 mkv's are playing fine. And mine play fine in VLC and XBMC just not in Boxee.

Surely there is a reason that it plays fine in XBMC and not in Boxee?

@gmd024 I will give the reinstall option a go just in case.

Have tried to update flash and silverlight etc but tells me I have the current versions.

Figured that since I had tested everything in XBMC before rebuilding the system that I would have no issues switching to Boxee (using the same hardware) is there really no fix for this its not like the files im playing are rare they are quite common AFAIK?

So if the reinstall doesnt work there is nothign that can be done? (surely a h/w upgrade isnt needed just for Boxee?)

[crackle]

There must be two dozen of this same post over the past 60 days.

Please read the First STop announcement link in my sig for complete details. I have listed the player types and file types that boxee currently supports GPU acceleration for. I also updated that area today to clarify some things, add info and remove some outdated info.

To Briefly quote:

Stuttering video while watching Flash, Silverlight (NetFlix) or DirectX Based Content in Boxee Beta.

To view smooth playing Flash, Silverlight and & HD content (H264 .MP4 with Vista & Win-7 only) in Boxee Beta, a video card that supports GPU acceleration for all three types of media is required. To maximize this, the following updates should be considered where appropriate for Windows, Mac and Linux machines.
Your mileage may vary based on OS, hardware, drivers, local network and ISP connection speed.

**Boxee currently supports GPU acceleration of Flash, Silverlight (netflix), and HD files that are H264 .mp4 and only for Windows Vista and Windows 7. Any other file containers (.mkv, .wmv, .mov etc) that are in 720P or 1080P format may stutter. Additional support for GPU acceleration of HD versions of .mkv, .mov, .wmv file containers may be added at a later date.

Hardware Acceleation Compatible cards:

• NVidia Cards: Geforce GTS xxx, Geforce GTX xxx, Geforce GT xxx, Geforce 9xxx, Geforce 8xxx, MCP79 (Ion), MCP78, MCP7A
• ATI Cards: Radeon HD 4xxx, Mobility Radeon HD 4xxx , Radeon HD 3xxx
• Intel Cards: X4500HD (part of G45 chipset), X4500MHD (part of GM45 chipset)

Now, if you play that HD MKV with a quad core machine, it may just power through it fine. But it will not get GPU acceleration and thus peg the CPU.

For additional info on this topic by other users, please use the search feature and look for MKV.

Hi, Judge Chambers. I've read quite a few of your posts as I too have a Revo. I have noticed you are very vocal on points regarding Flash and GPU acceleration, and wanted to ask you: Have you ever tested your videos with subtitles enabled?

MPC-HC is indeed very, very good (I would say "perfect", really) when it is in EVR on Windows 7. But for movies that require subtitles, where you have to switch to say VMR9, problems arise. It is not perfect.

Furthermore, I know from your posts you feel there is a huge technological advantage between an Acer Revo 1600 and the 3610. However, I do not believe this advantage exists whatsoever when playing back video. The 1600 has CPU to spare when properly running GPU-accelerated video. The extra core isn't necessary one bit.

From my experience with the Revo, Boxee in Ubuntu is flawless (VDPAU). But play the same file in Boxee in Windows 7 (DXVA), and it struggles. I'm just not sure you're looking for the same things others may be looking for? Are you going just by eye?

As an example, do you run a frame counter? Have you ever observed how many frames are dropped during your tests? I'd be interested in hearing your reply, in addition to an answer regarding the previous subtitles question.

Again, Flash through Boxee in Ubuntu? Flawless. Engadget Show plays perfectly. But in Windows 7? No. Hulu? No. Close. Very close. But no. Not perfect. I'm just trying to gauge your level of scrutiny, you see.

Strangely enough, the new (as of this writing) VLC 1.1 runs amazingly well on the Revo. Especially with subtitles. There's no convoluted extra codec management, DirectShow video swapping, or DirectVobSub mess. In fact, it has become my deault Winodws 7 media player. So there is still hope for Boxee on the Revo, looking at what VLC has accomplished (and MPC-HC, to a lesser extent). I don't know what they're doing, but I hope Boxee takes a look.

If you have an Acer Revo, want to playback flawless 1080P MKVs with or without subtitles, go with VDPAU on Linux.

If you don't want to go the Linux route:

Acer Revo + Windows XP? Go with MPC-HC and internal renderers (no extra coecs).

Acer Revo + Windows 7? Go with VLC 1.1.

[japius]

If you have an Acer Revo, want to playback flawless 1080P MKVs with or without subtitles, go with VDPAU on Linux.

If you don't want to go the Linux route:

Acer Revo + Windows XP? Go with MPC-HC and internal renderers (no extra coecs).

Acer Revo + Windows 7? Go with VLC 1.1.

Unfortunately I dont have an acer revo, and would have been happy to upgrade my hardware when I was doing the rebuild, except I had been running x.264 mkv's fine under win 7 media centre and xbmc so I, obviously stupidly, assumed Boxee could also handle them.

I still cant see what makes boxee so difficult to run x.264 mkv's when vlc and xbmc do it without a problem.

Am I wrong? is mkv format really not that mainstream, I have a lot of content in this format becuase that is waht was most available to me

[BobbyVan]

I have Boxee running on an Acer AspireRevo 3610 running Windows 7 64-bit, and I still have intermittently jumpy playback of HD, h.264 encoded .mkv files. The frame counter doesn't show a frame dropping, but the hiccup is clear as day on panning shots, for instance. I don't think it's a resource issue, and the problem is about the same regardless of the bit-rate or resolution of the video (a tiny jump ahead about every 15 seconds).

What is happening here? Is this Boxee trying to sync the video with the audio by skipping ahead by a tiny fraction of a second?

I should note that Boxee's playback of xvid encoded HD files is error free. And in Windows Media Center, live and recorded OTA HD content is also very smooth.

Judging from other posts here this is not an uncommon issue. Any tips on resolving? Or is this something that will be addressed in a future build?

Thanks.

[judgeschambers]

The thing is that not all .mkv files are created equal. Both in the encoding program, method or codec. So, there are times certain "cocktails" of the .mkv container may not play well in boxee like it does in other players. Some produce video corruption or tearing in boxee. So we read a lot of posts that say, "boxee won't play .mkv files!" when in fact it just does not support certain mkv creation methods. And there are A LOT of ways to rip an MKV file.

Here is a guide put together by Prospero424. He has outlined what works and how to rip them. There's a ton on info here and it may help you with creating x264.mkv files that do play. Plus a two other posts about corruption and outdated encoding methods that cause issues. Hope it helps give insight, though it may not give you a solution with your current mkv file and make it play.

Prospero424 MKV How To (Huge Post):
http://forums.boxee.tv/showthread.ph...467#post124467

Corruption Post:
http://forums.boxee.tv/showthread.ph...520#post125520

Certain X264 encoding methods that don't work with boxee:
http://forums.boxee.tv/showpost.php?...72&postcount=4

For troubleshooting, MediaInfo is nice to determine "How" your video files were made- post the tree view in your posts:
http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net/en

[BobbyVan]

Thanks Judge. I think it's great to have a guide on how to rip h.264 so that files play back perfectly in Boxee, and big kudos to Prospero for putting up such quality information.

I guess what's frustrating is that there needs to be such a guide in the first place. Should users really need to re-encode their existing h.264 media collection so it will play back perfectly in Boxee? For newly encoded media, of course, you follow the guidelines, but wouldn't it be easier to update Boxee itself? (Maybe easier said than done...)

So what I'm trying to understand is 1) why it's so difficult for Boxee to playback certain h.264 media when other programs do it without breaking a sweat on the same hardware, and 2) is expanding the universe of Boxee-compatible h.264 media something the dev's are actively working on?

[Prospero424]

japius

Boxee should play HD h.264 .mkv files on your hardware just fine if everything is set up properly.

Make sure you've installed the latest Nvidia drivers for your Geforce 8300 chipset straight from Nvidia's website. And as noted above: make sure you have a clean installation of Boxee by doing a clean uninstall and then a reinstall from scratch. Then, make sure that "Enable hardware assisted decoding when possible" is checked in the Boxee settings under Media->Advanced.

Your hardware is actually way more capable than the hardware in a Revo.

Should users really need to re-encode their existing h.264 media collection so it will play back perfectly in Boxee? For newly encoded media, of course, you follow the guidelines, but wouldn't it be easier to update Boxee itself? (Maybe easier said than done...)

So what I'm trying to understand is 1) why it's so difficult for Boxee to playback certain h.264 media when other programs do it without breaking a sweat on the same hardware, and 2) is expanding the universe of Boxee-compatible h.264 media something the dev's are actively working on?

Let me make this as clear as I can: for the purposes of local HD h.264 media playback on a personal computer, Boxee has almost exactly the same hardware and software requirements as VLC or MPlayer. This is because Boxee actually uses the same ffmpeg/Mplayer decoding libraries that VLC does. 99% of the time, when someone has an h.264 .mkv file (for example) that will play on other software under Windows but not under Boxee, there's something wrong with their software environment. I've seen this over and over and over again on these forums.

Boxee is capable of playing almost any .mkv that VLC can under Vista and Win 7.

The purpose of the guide is to maximize quality and compatibility with hardware acceleration, not to optimize for Boxee in particular. The biggest concern it was designed to address is that of the Boxee Box, which, unlike the desktop software, is 100% reliant on hardware acceleration and cannot fall back on software decoding because it doesn't have the horsepower of a desktop PC. The Boxee Box is actually, FAR more lenient and flexible as far as HD h.264 content than almost every other set-top device out there. It supports roughly the same specs as GPU acceleration for an Nvidia or ATi card does.

Hope this clears things up.