Solved iTunes 10.5 Video Choppiness

[djsmmcp]

Hi Folks. New here. I like it.

I've got a brand new Dell PC XPS 9100. The basic specs are below, but it's configured direct from Dell, so I'm not aware of the brand of RAM, who made the mobo, etc.

What I do know is that the machine runs flawlessly except for one annoying problem. iTunes video, whether purchased or my own, will have brief but noticeable choppiness. Sometimes, it will pause for a second or two, and be choppy, like it's skipping frames. Audio is unaffected and there are no audio/video sync problems and no crashes.

Strangely, other times it's completely smooth. Even during the same video it will be smooth, and not smooth.

Even more strange, moving the mouse around and causing the OSD to appear on screen actually smooths it out.

This began the day I got the PC with iTunes 10.4.1. The 10.5 upgrade after a reformat has not helped. The video did NOT do this on Quicktime or WMP, however, with protected files, you can now ONLY play them in iTunes. QT won't play them anymore now that iTunes 10.5 doesn't require it. So that option is out.

What I have tried so far...

*Uninstalling and reinstalling iTunes and QT
*Updating all video drivers
*Disabling DirectX use in QT prefs
*Disabling the sound card temporarily (read somewhere this might help)
*Reformatting and reinstalling Windows from factory state.

That's what I've done. Can anyone offer any other ideas?

Mainly, it's the TV shows I've bought from iTunes that I am concerned about. I HAVE to use iTunes to view those.

Anything else, I'm happy to just use other software if needed.

Thanks.

 

[Bearcatrp]

Can you provide specs of your PC (ram, processor, GPU, etc) and what version of win 7 your using? I'm using win7 pro 64 and only see a little stuttering if I have other programs hogging the system, otherwise it works good. Sounds like either memory or graphics card issues. Insure you have the latest updates. Let us know what you have.

 

[djsmmcp]

Thank you. The specs are listed in the "My System Specs" below my post but here is what I've basically got.

Windows 7 Home Premium x64
Core i7-930 (8MB L2 Cache, 2.80 GHz)
9GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz
AMD Radeon HD 6670 1GB DDR5
M-Audio ProFire 610 Firewire (Sound Card)
Dell ST2320L (Monitor)

The HDD is a Seagate 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0 GB/s - it's an ST model but not sure which one. Seagate 1TB 7200RPM SATA 3GB/s ST31000528AS

The computer is a week old.

The RAM is whatever Dell puts in. Have not opened the case to see who the manufacturer might be.

All drivers are updated and the OS is fully updated and patched.

This video behavior ONLY happens in iTunes, both 10.4 and now 10.5

Can you provide specs of your PC (ram, processor, GPU, etc) and what version of win 7 your using? I'm using win7 pro 64 and only see a little stuttering if I have other programs hogging the system, otherwise it works good. Sounds like either memory or graphics card issues. Insure you have the latest updates. Let us know what you have.

 

[Bearcatrp]

Next question. What version of iTunes are you using? Hope 64 bit as your running 64 bit windows. Your system specs look pretty good. How are you connecting your computer to your monitor/tv (HDMI, VGA, etc)? Are you running any programs in the background when the slugginess happens? Sounds like a program running in the background. Does this happen at random times or around a particular time of day? Try this, bring task manager in front of your movie playing the movie that this happens on. Click on processes. Click on top bar (memory) so that the highest amount is on top. When your movie starts acting up, see if there is a program using allot of memory, thus choking your system. That's one possibility. What version of catalyst control center are you using for your ATI GPU? If you do have this, have overdrive on?
Am leaning toward the cable your using to hook up to the monitor but will wait on your reply before going further.

 

[djsmmcp]

I got tired of "The Dell Experience" so I wiped the Hard Drive and installed Win 7 Ultimate. I installed iTunes 10.5 64-bit again and the problem persists.

This is an issue even when there are no other apps running or significant processes such as a virus scan or a Windows Update happening.

I'm connecting the monitor via DVI, so the next step is to try HDMI. I have one on order from monoprice and will report my results once I get it.

I also just enabled Overdrive on Catalyst 11.9 (the latest as of today). Thanks for the tip. I did not know that existed.

I appreciate you taking the time to try to help.

 

[Bearcatrp]

Glad to help. Pretty sure the HDMI cable will do the trick. Couple other questions though. Are these purchased movies, or ripped? If ripped, what program did you use? Presuming your using max settings on you HD monitor, you could check your settings. Have you tried VLC to play the same movie to see if your having the same issue?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Are you totally opposed to earlier versions of I-tunes?

I am using version 4.9--it must be nearly 10 years old---on Windows 7 64-bit, with no problems.

Quicktime is hopeless. I always uninstall it and use Quicktime Lite or Quicktime Alternative instead.

 

[djsmmcp]

thought about it. No iCloud or Home Sharing, though. But it is an option.

Got a link on where to get an old one?

10.5 no longer requires or uses Quicktime, hallelujah

 

[djsmmcp]

They are purchased. Otherwise, I'd just abandon iTunes entirely and use something else.

On the non-"protected" vids, they play just fine in WMP, VLC and Divx Player -- even Quicktime

The wiggling of the mouse to stop the choppiness seems weird to me, but wanna see what the cable will do for me.

Thanks again.

Glad to help. Pretty sure the HDMI cable will do the trick. Couple other questions though. Are these purchased movies, or ripped? If ripped, what program did you use? Presuming your using max settings on you HD monitor, you could check your settings. Have you tried VLC to play the same movie to see if your having the same issue?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Got a link on where to get an old one?

Yep:

Old Version Downloads - OldApps.com

Dating back to 4.1, from 2003.

I think 8.1.1 is the first 64-bit version, not that it should matter.

 

[djsmmcp]

will check it out -- muy apreciada

Got a link on where to get an old one?

Yep:

Old Version Downloads - OldApps.com

Dating back to 4.1, from 2003.

I think 8.1.1 is the first 64-bit version, not that it should matter.

 

[Bearcatrp]

It almost sounds like your PC is trying to sleep or the monitor, when you move the mouse it quits. What are your settings for sleep on monitor, PC and hard disk?

 

[djsmmcp]

PC set to never sleep - monitor turn off after one hour, no screen saver.

The behavior is as follows. Play an iTunes video, go to full screen, the OSD with the skip and volume/closed captioning controls disappears, and eventually, sometimes right away, the choppy missed-frame-looking behavior begins, especially noticeable on camera pans and zooms.

Wiggle the mouse, make the OSD re-appear, and things look smooth, save for the cursor moving around on the screen. Stop, the OSD disappears, and the choppiness resumes.

It's important to point out, it does not ALWAYS do this, but does so most of the time. Every once in a while I can get thru 10-15 min of video with no choppiness. Even then, it sometimes goes away for a while.

Reducing from full-screen does not help.

More info than you bargained for, but I'm becoming more and more convinced iTunes 10 is the issue. Before 10.5, you could use Quicktime to play purchased TV shows, and it did NOT exhibit this behavior. Now, these iTunes-bought videos will ONLY play in iTunes itself.

I'm gonna try the HDMI cable and see, but I may have to downgrade to an old version, just live with it, or simply limit my viewing of these shows to my iPad only.

It almost sounds like your PC is trying to sleep or the monitor, when you move the mouse it quits. What are your settings for sleep on monitor, PC and hard disk?

 

[djsmmcp]

OK, I got the HDMI cable and that didn't work either. However my assumption about QuickTime not playing these files was wrong. It WOULDN'T play them before but the install must have been bad.

So, I will just play them in QT 7 and move on with life.

Thank you for the help!

 

[Bearcatrp]

That bites. Is everything on one disk? I have iTunes on the OS disk, but my iTunes folder is on a separate disk. If your library isn't to big, might try moving that folder to another drive and point iTunes to where it's at. Could be the disk not able to keep up but kind of doubt it. Do you know the cache size of the disk? Something is causing iTunes to choke. Just need to figure out where. I'll get back to you after I check out a few things.

 

[djsmmcp]

Cache size is 32MB. Pretty modern drive, so I kinda doubt it. No other software gives me issues, including QuickTime playing the exact same files.

I've heard rumors that iTunes x64 really is 32-bit? Don't know if that's true, or if that makes a diff.

I've also tried playing a file off a flash drive in iTunes and the behavior was still there.

I appreciate the time.

That bites. Is everything on one disk? I have iTunes on the OS disk, but my iTunes folder is on a separate disk. If your library isn't to big, might try moving that folder to another drive and point iTunes to where it's at. Could be the disk not able to keep up but kind of doubt it. Do you know the cache size of the disk? Something is causing iTunes to choke. Just need to figure out where. I'll get back to you after I check out a few things.

 

[Bearcatrp]

Was looking at processes today and saw iTunes with a asterisk 32 associated with it while checking the settings. Will be emailing apple about this to see what they say. Am a bit stumped on your issue. Have you tried apple's forum to see if someone has an answer?

 

[Bearcatrp]

Was just looking on apple support forum. Don't update to 10.5 from what I have read. Looks like allot of issues. BTW, in iTunes, are you logged in on your iTunes account when using iTunes? Just a shot in the dark.

 

[djsmmcp]

Yeah, can't really seem to find anyone dealing with the exact same thing.

Was looking at processes today and saw iTunes with a asterisk 32 associated with it while checking the settings. Will be emailing apple about this to see what they say. Am a bit stumped on your issue. Have you tried apple's forum to see if someone has an answer?

 

[asmarti08]

I have the same issue on my laptop. Windows 7 64-bit (Core i3 processor).

I'm getting ready to try an old version of iTunes (8.1 or so, when 64-bit iTunes was first introduced) to see if it solves the problem.

Edit:
K, apparently something in the old iTunes installation is pulling a newer file from the web and it cannot read the file because it was created for/in a newer version of iTunes. So.... I guess I can't run iTunes 8.1('ish). Maybe I'll try a bit of a newer version...

Edit 2:
Ahhh, all I had to do was trash the old ("newer") library file that was sitting in the iTunes music folder.

Running iTunes 10.2.1 (64-bit) and trying all DirectX options for QuickTime settings. Still choppy. ARGHHHH.

Yeah, can't really seem to find anyone dealing with the exact same thing.

Was looking at processes today and saw iTunes with a asterisk 32 associated with it while checking the settings. Will be emailing apple about this to see what they say. Am a bit stumped on your issue. Have you tried apple's forum to see if someone has an answer?