Movie Image Hiccups

[Guest]

Hi y'all.

I'm working hard at being a Linux convert. Just made the switch from XP. I'm trying to get movies to play, and they always seem to have image hiccups. That is, the video image jolts forward slightly at regular time intervals. This happens in VLC when I try to play a DVD or a .iso file (ripped dvd). I am currently running 64 bit, but I tried 32 bit kubuntu and had the same problem.

I have already installed medibuntu, the key thingy, and the restricted extras. Also the codecs I'm pretty sure. I followed the instructions here: http://www.howtoforge.com/the-perfec...-kubuntu-10.10

I would love for my movies to play flawlessly. Any help would be much appreciated.

[The Liquidator]

Re: Movie Image Hiccups

Hi and welcome

I have read your other post so have made the basic assumption that it's not a graphics card issue. Also, I don't know your system specs but would it be a basic assumption that you have enough memory?

There are 2 ways you can attack this, you can mess about with the output settings - for example the last time I used VLC it did not like pulse audio one bit and I had to set it to OSS IIRC. Alternatively you can try a couple of the many other players available:

mplayer

kaffeine

or even the movie player that ships by default.

Thats part of the beauty of linux, they are all available from your package manager.

If these have the same issue, then the problem is most likely a kubuntu one. If they work, then it's a case of messing with VLC's settings.

HTH

Edit: From the VLC FAQ

"Video is choppy

Your system might be too slow to decode all pictures. It might be that your CPU basically is not fast enough. It can also be that the subsystem is misconfigured/misdriven, this happens for example under Redhat Linux. Here are some elements to improve speed:

Turn on DMA on your DVD device, for instance:
Under Linux:

# hdparm -d1 /dev/dvd

Under Windows, go to the System section of the control panel, and go to the Hardware manager (it is sometimes in a separate tab, and sometimes, you have to go to the Advanced tab. Then, righ-click on your DVD player, and check the DMA checkbox.
Upgrade to the latest driver for your video board.
If you are running Linux, you can additionnaly upgrade to the latest X.Org version. If supported, check that the xvideo plug-in is effectively used with:

% vlc -vv

Stop other running applications...
Try disabling framedropping. Framedropping allows VLC not to decode some pictures when the CPU is overloaded, but can result in choppier playback under certain conditions.

Framedropping behaviour can be configured in the Video preferences of VLC."