Occasional jerky/choppy playback

I'm very sure temperature is not the issue here although it has to be said that high temperatures can cause unexpected behaviour.

My box is on 24/7 and temperature on the case top is always around 25C.

 

I had mine Z9X pro for 5 month know and have tried every new beta, factory and stable versions including the test version of 1.0.70.
Still stuttering in every video file i play, no matter the video quality SD HD 4K , or sound type.
When the stuttering starts: Pause the video and then resume and the stuttering stops for a couple of minutes.
It happens after 10 minutes or 20 minute or 1 minute and does regardless if played from network or local disk.


The same video files plays flawless with nvidia shield pro or on my TLC tv.

If I record the stuttering, where is the best place to store it and make a link in this forum?

 

The issue is not getting the recording, we all can record it. The issue is how to replicate the issue in order to fix the issue and test if it has been fixed.

 

From the descriptions I read so far, it seems pretty easy to replicate. It seems like it's just gonna happen for sure in any rather long video like a movie?

Is there somebody to which it doesn't happen even in a 2 hours movie?

I never watched a complete movie only some small parts of videos left and right so far with the Z9X Pro because my main is the nvidia shield pro on Plex.

I think 1.0.70 will come out soon this week so I'll test it more for that particular problem after I upgrade (I don't want to use the internal beta firmware).

 

Me ,for one ,i havent seen anything close to stutter since before .60 at least ,on any content

Just had a quick look at the recommended settings thread just to see how i differ

Only 2 obvious ones are i use 24hz rather than recommended 23hz (24 to me always just seems closer to the 23.97hz stuff comes in ,than 23hz)
and i run it permantely in VS10 DV for HDR SDR

Dont know if thats why my box has run so trouble free ,but maybe worth a try for those actually having stutter issues ...cant hurt either way

 

I am on 1.0.70 and this issue is not solved for me on 1.0.70.

 

It's very easy to replicate. Just play a movie any movie... and after a couple of minutes the picture stutters, missing frames but the sound is fine.

Or do you know that there are working Z9X pro in existence?
That would be fantastic

In that case I want mine repaired or replaced.

Is there a RMA procedure?

 

What are you playing the movies from? There are still occasional issues in 1.065, but nothing like this.

 

You got a working Z9X pro, thats great news!
I have tried all settings possible, yours one extra time but mine still stutters in all movies.

That implies that there is a hardware error on mine.
I have already got it replaced a my local reseller ones but the new one had the same problem.
I guess I can try replace it one more time.

 

I tried from my network SMB server, from USB stick and from USB hard drive.
Same result.

Very frustrating since the picture quality is much better on the Z9X pro then on my nvidia shield pro. But the nvidia shield does not stutter so that is still the best media player.

 

I got exactly the same problem. Thanks for sharing this drives me crazy.

 

Nope - you can go days without seeing it. It's a very very occasional thing and generally occurs when you start a video although as I say I have seen it midway through, but only once or twice.

 

Whatever this is, it's not this issue - if you have these issues on every file, every time, you need to look at the files, the delivery method, or consider that the box is faulty. 99% of the time, playback is perfect.

(I assume you have auto framerate on!!!)

 

Hi
How long did you have it for?

 

I see it everyday with movies longer than 90 minutes. It starts to happen after 1 hour. It is not very very occasional. I never saw it when starting a video but always midway. It happens twice per movie. Never saw it on files that are shorter than 1 hour.

 

I know communication is hard and English is not my native language but please bare with me.

Occasional jerky/choppy playback is exactly my issue.

It varies from movies to movie but after 1 to 30 minutes all movies stutter, like missing frame rates but audio plays fine.
A pause and resume and all plays fine again, then after 1 to 30 min stutter again.

Judging from this thread I'am not alone having this issue.

My guess is that certain TV's/projectors and amplifiers have a smoothing function that can mask this issue.
That's why not all can see it.

Regarding: (I assume you have auto framerate on!!!)
I have match frame rate on, a movie shall be played in the same fame rate as it is recorded.
If that is what you are asking?

I have once again tested a couple of movies
Z9X pro:
Lucy 4k with TrueHD = Stutter/frame drops several time during the duration of the movie sound intact, must pause and resume to stop the stutter.
Tenet 4k with DTS-HD = Stutter/frame drops several time during the duration of the movie sound intact, must pause and resume to stop the stutter.

Nvidia shield pro
Lucy 4k with TrueHD = Perfect playback the entire movie
Tenet 4k with DTS-HD = Perfect playback the entire movie

I believe it is a software error within the Z9X pro. A coding error in the base programming of the player, memory leak , timing issue or similar.

Do you still think there is a hardware error on this my Z9X pro?

If yes, where can i get it replaced or repaired?
It's under warranty for another 7 months.

 

As i mentioned, similar to Erling above. Framerate slowdown (or frames getting droped) at random intervals. I will not go so far ahead and try to pinpoint it down to every 30 minutes or stuff like that. It can happen twice in a movie or 10 times in a movie. It looks very random.
But i will stand with what i said before that it happens pretty much in every movie and me and the family watch every day.

Yesterday night i went ahead and raised the zidoo to see if it is thermal related. I find it strange that the main ventilations are at the bottom of the unit, and a couple left and right and no ventilation on the top. I can't say that my unit is running hot to the touch or even warm, but hey worth a try I will report once i test this a little more.

I used to think that this bug was related to my External hard drives been connected with USB to my main PC upstairs. This is why i overlooked this "bug". Also other "bugs" were getting in the way causing framedrops etc. Now that most of the other stuff have been corrected and other users are reporting same "bug" it should be easier to eliminate this

The fact that instant pause/unpause fixes the framedrops points to software in the player (?) maybe buffering issue ??

If the developers use a Frame monitor software (like with computer games) and log the framerate, frametimes etc for the duration of a movie they should be able to see that it is not stable.

 

What we really need is a debug log.

I've been trying, but it never happens whenever I've had the debugger running.

If someone manages to capture this is a debug log I'm sure that will enable the devs to find the issue.

I haven't reported this issue yet as I wanted to gauge the reaction, but I think I'll sticky this thread now, report it, and see if the devs can find the problem...

 

This has happened to me to on my Z2600 quite a few times, totally random as far as I can tell on both high and low bitrate files.

However, after setting my menu output to 30hz, forcing it change on film start, this hasn't happen to me.

 

Hmm strange, I didn't noticed any stutter although I'm sensitive to it.
My hdr settings are on auto and afr is set to framerate only. I play my files from usb.
My Samsung OLED don't support dolby vision, only hdr10 and hdr10+

Edit: I'm on test firmware 1.0.70