Help for a HTPC noob

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Tue, 02/21/2012 - 5:40pm

stickers

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Joined: 21 Feb 2012

Help for a HTPC noob

Hi people,

I recently purchased a HTPC, this is what's in it....
ASUS E35M1-I Delux Mini ITX
8 GB ram
LG Blueray
Antec PSU Antec Fusion case
2 TB SATA 3.0

My question is this, When I try to view a movie it stutters rether than just play smoothly. I've watched a few 720p TV shows without a problem, everything flows smooth but a movie also in 720p stutters. I've tried viewing through VLC and XBMC but as I'm a NOOB at HTPC I don't know if there's a setting or something simple like that.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 6:04pm

Aaron Ledger

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Joined: 6 Aug 2010

What is the source of the 720p movie? Is this something you have encoded? If not, are you positive that the source file is good? What setting do you have for your output resolution and refresh rate?

Also, the E-350 is a weak processor so you will surely want to make sure hardware acceleration is used for video playback. I don't use VLC or XBMC much so I can't instruct on how to verify for those packages. Here is a link for VLC setting. It says only h.264 is using HW so if your video file is VC-1 or MPEG-2, it apparently decodes in SW.

Have you installed the latest drivers for your system from AMD?

Senior Editor | @swoon_

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 6:36pm

(Reply to #2) #3

stickers

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Joined: 21 Feb 2012

The movies are ones I've downloaded, they worked fine when I used my PS3 to streem from my Mac but now they're not working so well on the new set up. Output resolution is 1080p and the refresh rate was set up automatically by the computer. As for the drivers, I had our IT guy here where I work set up Windows 7 and all the other nessesary things so I can only assume that he did that.

I'm starting to think I might need a better mother board and processor, any suggestions?

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 7:45pm

(Reply to #2) #4

stickers

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Joined: 21 Feb 2012

Aaron Ledger wrote:

What is the source of the 720p movie? Is this something you have encoded? If not, are you positive that the source file is good? What setting do you have for your output resolution and refresh rate?

Have you installed the latest drivers for your system from AMD?

The movies are downloaded in MKV. I've watched a few TV shows also in 720p and they work perfectly. Hardware acceleration huh, no idea what that is.

Tue, 02/21/2012 - 7:53pm

(Reply to #4) #5

Aaron Ledger

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Joined: 6 Aug 2010

I wouldn't assume that the system has the latest drivers. You should download them directly from AMD.

Since the file you are having trouble with is unknown, you could try using MediaInfo to identify what type of file it is.

The E-350 can probably play back the content successfully, you just need to have the software and drivers set up properly.

Senior Editor | @swoon_

Wed, 02/22/2012 - 6:47pm

(Reply to #5) #6

stickers

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Joined: 21 Feb 2012

All sorted, installed Sharky007's codec pack and it works like a charm.

Wed, 02/22/2012 - 7:05pm

(Reply to #6) #7

Aaron Ledger

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Joined: 6 Aug 2010

You can play the problem files in VLC now without issue just by installing Shark007 codec pack?

Senior Editor | @swoon_

Wed, 02/22/2012 - 10:49pm

(Reply to #7) #8

stickers

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Joined: 21 Feb 2012

Aaron Ledger wrote:

You can play the problem files in VLC now without issue just by installing Shark007 codec pack?

MKV files open in windows media once the pack is installed, perfectly. making VLC redundant.

Help for a HTPC noob

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