Choppy video playback in full screen

[Josh]

I am wondering if anyone else has experienced choppy playback in Windows Vista while the video is full screen. My videos play fine in windowed mode maximized to full screen, but they play very choppy in actual full screen mode. Any ideas?

[Ralf Maximus]

So much depends on the player and codecs.  Some codecs require tons more horsepower to decode than others, for instance.  Some players take advantage of hardware overlay while others default to software emulation.  Also, if your media is recorded at (say) 640x480 and you're stretching it to 1280x1024 that requires additional juice.

To complicate matters further, Vista introduced a new model for the desktop window, so if you're using an older player it's being forced through additional hoops to get anything on the screen.

So what kind of media are you playing back, at what resolution, and with what player?  I personally can't hep much since I'm an idiot about video nuts and bolts, but anyone who knows their stuff will require at least this information to start with.

[Josh]

These are standard xvid encoded files in winamp, wmp, mplayerc, zoom player and vlc.

[f0dder]

So any player has crappy performance, not just Windows Media Player? Tried Media Player Classic?

[nosh]

I've given up on breaking my head over common/external codecs. Try using something like KMPlayer with internal codecs only, I suppose the latter two you mentioned fall in that category...
Do the dxdiag.exe tests run smooth? I've also noticed that having certain apps running (non-minimized) behind the player can hit performance badly.

[lanux128]

try a player with built-in codecs, such as KMPlayer and see if it makes any difference..

[nosh]

Nice coincidence. Just read about a new (final) KMPlayer release on 9down.
http://www.9down.com/KMPlayer-2-9-3-1428-Final-20348/

[Nighted]

Since it's Vista, it's probably your video card drivers.

[lanux128]

Since it's Vista, it's probably your video card drivers.

yes, maybe Vista drivers may be the missing link..

[Josh]

FYI,

I thank all of you which have replied. I found the problem and it was an outdated ffdshow codec. I updated to the 20071207 release and everything plays smoothly now!

[Nighted]

Yay!!!!!!! [attach]

[lanux128]

cool! that's good to hear.. just curious, how did you drill down to the ffdshow codec?

[Lashiec]

ffdshow tryouts, ffdshow 'fork', but become the main branch as Milan Cutka has long stopped all development on the normal ffdshow.

[Armando]

So is ffdshow tryouts the solution ?? Is that what you use for your multimedia playing, Lashiec ?

[Lashiec]

Not exactly, I used ffdshow exclusively in the past, but now I use a codec pack, the CCCP one, which uses ffdshow tryouts as the main decoder, but I understand it has some changes in comparison with the official build.

And if everything fails, VLC

[Armando]

ok, thanks Lashiec. And merry Christmas to you and those who celebrate Christmas ! 

[Lashiec]

Thanks! Same to you and the rest!