Media Center playback issue...

Tee Hee Johnson · 26 Apr 2013 at 23:04

Hey!

I have a wee issue with my HTPC and playback.

All works ok, any file type, sound, etc

The issue is that sometimes it goes blank for 2 seconds. Basically in the middle of films, tv shows the screen goes black and sound cuts off for 2 seconds. Mildly annoying!

It's an E8400, 4GB with an HD5450 in Windows 7... all drivers up to date. I do run XBMC and have tried older versions, beta versions but I am currently using the most recent stable.

Any ideas?

Thanks

R088ieS86 · 26 Apr 2013 at 23:12

Where are you playing your movies from? locally or across a network?

Tee Hee Johnson · 26 Apr 2013 at 23:48

Just locally, both hard drives are in the machine using sata... not even using usb devices!

CaptainCrash · 27 Apr 2013 at 00:33

I had a very similar problem a year or so ago... after days of headscratching, I finally twigged that the blackouts were happening at exactly the times when the thermostat on our fridge-freezer cut in or out. A surge suppressor fixed it in the short term, but it turned out that there was a known defect with the thermostat in this particular fridge-freezer which presented a significant fire risk, so needless to say we got rid pronto.

Possibly (well, probably) completely unrelated to your issue, but it could be worth checking any domestic appliances that might be chucking interference down your mains wiring before you go any further.

ArchAnGeL · 27 Apr 2013 at 07:58

craig_kennedy83 said:
Hey!

I have a wee issue with my HTPC and playback.

All works ok, any file type, sound, etc

The issue is that sometimes it goes blank for 2 seconds. Basically in the middle of films, tv shows the screen goes black and sound cuts off for 2 seconds. Mildly annoying!

It's an E8400, 4GB with an HD5450 in Windows 7... all drivers up to date. I do run XBMC and have tried older versions, beta versions but I am currently using the most recent stable.

Tried another HDMI lead?

Have you tried another HDMI lead?

Any ideas?

Thanks

Is there any pattern to the file type or bit rate that the problem occurs on? Dxva is active or do you have some bad encodes? Have you tried other software such as mpc-hc to rule out a xmbc issue?