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Author Topic: Paging APS Tech Support....  (Read 862 times)

seeker_two

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Paging APS Tech Support....
« on: September 23, 2012, 04:37:18 PM »
Here's my problem:

My church has a Dell Inspiron 1545 running Windows Vista 32-bit. I have Windows Media Player and RealPlayer installed, and I'm using PowerDVD as my DVD codec. For anti-virus/malware, I'm running Microsoft Security Essentials and Advanced System Care. I'm also running Malware Bytes on a trial basis now, but my problems started before then....

When I do any type of video playback (DVD, RealPlayer download from Youtube, etc.), I'm experiencing a "stutter". If this were a reel-to-reel projector, I'd say the film wasn't feeding right on the teeth. It starts mild at first; but, as time goes on, the "stutters" get more pronounced. I've run every anti-virus protocol I know. I've even taken in to a computer repair shop....they wiped the machine and reloaded Windows & Office. The "stutter" stopped for awhile....then it came back with a vengeance. The troubleshooter doesn't cover anything like this, and checking the drivers came up with nothing. I'm tempted to uninstall WMP and rely solely on RealPlayer....but I don't want to do that if it won't make a difference.

I lay my problems on the altar of the APS IT Elite....what should I do next?....preferably nothing involving detcord or orbital-launched nukes.....though bacon is always a welcome option....

Thanks in advance....
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Ben

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Re: Paging APS Tech Support....
« Reply #1 on: September 23, 2012, 05:46:38 PM »
How much memory, and more importantly, video memory does this computer have? I'm guessing an Inspiron is using shared memory for video vs discrete. And are there many prgs running in startup that are stealing memory? Belarc Advisor can spit out info on memory and other stuff that could be useful in diagnosis. I'm assuming these are all downloaded videos on the computer. Otherwise if you're getting them from the web, then your connection comes into play for diagnosis.
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seeker_two

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Re: Paging APS Tech Support....
« Reply #2 on: September 23, 2012, 06:04:24 PM »
Quote from: Ben on September 23, 2012, 05:46:38 PM
How much memory, and more importantly, video memory does this computer have? I'm guessing an Inspiron is using shared memory for video vs discrete. And are there many prgs running in startup that are stealing memory? Belarc Advisor can spit out info on memory and other stuff that could be useful in diagnosis. I'm assuming these are all downloaded videos on the computer. Otherwise if you're getting them from the web, then your connection comes into play for diagnosis.

No internet connection at the church, so all my videos are downloaded at home and played on either hard disk or flash drive.  I'll try the Belarc Advisor.

Nevermind....downloading it now....

« Last Edit: September 23, 2012, 06:08:17 PM by seeker_two »
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never_retreat

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Re: Paging APS Tech Support....
« Reply #3 on: September 23, 2012, 06:34:15 PM »
Not enough ram on the video card, or in the computer if shared.
Or a crap load of bloat in the background.
Download and run rkill. It will kill anything else running in the back. Try the video again, if still jumpy put in more memory.
Don't reboot or touch anything else besides the video player after running rkill. Once you reboot that crap will come back.
This is just a temporary test solution.
Also you can try vlc media player. Free download and is thin.
http://download.cnet.com/1770-20_4-0.html?query=video+lan&platformSelect=Windows&tag=srch&searchtype=downloads&filterName=platform%3DWindows&filter=platform%3DWindows
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zxcvbob

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Re: Paging APS Tech Support....
« Reply #4 on: September 23, 2012, 06:40:49 PM »
Could it be a flashdrive speed thing?  Does it stutter just as bad if you copy the file to the HDD first?

If you have no Internet connection anyway, try temporarily turning off Microsoft Security Essentials real-time protection and see if it makes a difference.

+1 for VideoLAN's VLC
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Re: Paging APS Tech Support....
« Reply #5 on: September 23, 2012, 07:11:21 PM »
Defrag the HD if you haven't already.  Video sourced from the HD will stutter if the drive is badly fragmented.
Add memory if you are below a gig.  Two gigs would be better because the laptop video memory is shared main memory.
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seeker_two

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Re: Paging APS Tech Support....
« Reply #6 on: September 23, 2012, 07:14:34 PM »
never_retreat: Will VLC play .flv videos downloaded by RealPlayer? RP is pretty much my go-to for most of my videos.

zxcvbob: The "stutter" occurrs whether I use videos on the HDD, flash drive, or DVD. But I will try deactivating all the anti-virus stuff before I playback.

RocketMan: Defrag on a regular basis. Just changed my HDD settings to compress everything to see if that helps, too.

Keep the suggestions coming....and thanks!
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never_retreat

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Re: Paging APS Tech Support....
« Reply #7 on: September 23, 2012, 07:51:53 PM »
Quote from: seeker_two on September 23, 2012, 07:14:34 PM
never_retreat: Will VLC play .flv videos downloaded by RealPlayer? RP is pretty much my go-to for most of my videos.
Yep plays flv and almost everything else. The only video file I have found it could not open was a ".3gp".
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Harold Tuttle

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Re: Paging APS Tech Support....
« Reply #8 on: September 23, 2012, 08:40:15 PM »
Try QuickTime player
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