Aaron Ledger
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Aaron Ledger
I’m not sure if Clarkdale has been fixed to allow 23.976 Hz when 23 Hz is selected. When I used to have a Clarkdale board, this was not a reality.
TMT5 will use the desktop refresh rate setting. If the desktop supports 24p, some versions of TMT5 will change the rate to 23/24 Hz depending on version and source material and then change back to the desktop refresh rate when it is finished.
Your TV may not support 24p at all or it may support it in at least a couple of ways. If your TV accepts 24p input, it may simply telecine to 59.94 Hz. This is common on lower-tier TVs for the past few years. Many TVs also now support “proper” 24p playback which means playing the 24p frames in an even cadence.
There can be many causes of “judder”. First, there is telecine judder (AKA pulldown judder). This is when 24p material is displayed with uneven cadence. You may or may not notice this and is also more apparent in certain types of scenes. Second, there is a specific issue with Intel graphics that may exist in some circumstances where 23Hz is selected, but the hardware actually displays at 24Hz which creates a repeated frame about every 45 sec. or so which may or may not be noticeable depending on content. Third, there is a specific issue with TMT5 where some versions select 24Hz even if 23Hz setting is available. It is probably best to rule out the above causes and then see if there is some other cause.
1. Regarding your BIOS, I just want to make sure you have an Intel branded board. If it’s not manufactured by Intel, I am not sure if manufacturers have implemented the same fixes for 24p as Intel has for SandyBridge graphics.
2. It may depend on your version of TMT5. I know in the original release of the feature, you had to disable by a registry entry. I have not tried the latest. TMT5 does “take over” when it begins playing and WMC is no longer responsible for what TMT5 chooses to do with the refresh rate.
3. 59.94Hz to be exact. You can have different display settings between Windows desktop and WMC, but if you don’t have any good reason for doing so, it’s probably best to leave them the same. If you’re interested in some more info on refresh rates and frame rates, this article is a good starting point.
4. Before Intel implemented the fix in their BIOS and graphics drivers for SandyBridge processors, the graphics engine would only output 24p appropriately if UAC was disabled. On a non-updated system with UAC enabled, a 23Hz setting would be the same result as a 24Hz setting (24.000Hz), but enabling UAC would allow the 23Hz setting to approach the proper 23.976Hz. I do not know technically why this was the case.
Your TV may be able to help you determine if TMT5 is changing the refresh rate if it displays information about the incoming video so you may want to check your TV manual.
To learn a little more about 24p, read this. For video sources, you should use 59Hz, not 60Hz though it will probably be difficult to perceive the difference due to the small error introduced by 60Hz. For Intel boards, you not only need the driver update, but you also need the BIOS update as mentioned earlier in this thread. It may be possible that you have downloaded a version of TMT5 that is automatically setting a 24Hz setting while watching BD. You will want to verify that this is not occurring. You either should watch at a 23Hz rate or 59Hz rate (with accompanying telecine judder).
Either way, it is hard to go wrong. It’s your choice really, a little better power consumption/heat dissipation requirements vs. a little better performance. Unless you are doing something processor intensive (commercial skip analysis, software-based video encoding), there’s not much use to the slight improvement in performance of the i3-2120 for HTPC applications. The i3-2100t is better suited to smaller and thinner chassis as well as quieter system.
You probably do not want to use xvYCC as the last time I tested it, the colors were way off. Intel hasn’t quite gotten YCbCr right yet.
For the other settings, it more or less comes down to personal preference.
You can set up a scheduled task (look under administrative tools in the Control Panel) to execute “shutdown.exe /r”. I believe that it will respect the recording and not shutdown while recording, though I am not 100% certain so you might want to test it out first.
If you open a command prompt and type “shutdown /?” you can see all the possible flags available. I believe that if you added the /f flag that it would force the reboot even if recording.
Your proposed parts will bitstream HD audio without issue. You can find a rundown of more recent GPU bitstreaming capabilities in our GPU Comparison guide.
You can try using Andrew Van Til’s Standby Helper to close eshell.exe (WMC) on standby and open eshell.exe on resume.
I think everyone that has purchased the HDMI Detective from Gefen has eliminated their strange HDMI synchronization issues.
Glad you are back to non-stuttering viewing. If you happen to have a Ceton InfiniTV, the current driver package will allow WMC to have 30 tuners.
I’m glad you got it sorted out. Thanks for reporting the solution.
Assuming that your receiver accepts SPDIF (AKA optical audio, TOSLINK), make sure the motherboard you purchase has this capability. This will allow you to bitstream Dolby Digital and DTS audio sources to your receiver for true 5.1 surround sound.
Another option would be to use multi-channel analog into the receiver if the receiver supports it. If you plan to do this, you need to make sure you purchase a motherboard supporting 5.1 or greater analog outputs. The possible advantage of this over optical audio is that you can fully decode HD audio soundtracks found in Blu-ray and send them to the receiver. The possible downside to this is that the DAC on the motherboard may not be as good as that of your receiver.
A third option would be to use only the stereo output of the motherboard. This is the worst option and will not give you true 5.1 surround sound. Every audio source will only be output as stereo.
If you’re happy with your receiver capabilitites and performance, there’s no reason you need to upgrade to a new one. It will work the same with an HTPC as any other source device.
No. I mean that I do not recommend installing Klite at all. I don’t know what state it leaves codecs in and I have read horror stories from other users of codec packs. I only install what I need and for me that is only LAV Splitter, LAV Video and LAV Audio. I do not recommend installing anything if you find the performance of WMC and TMT satisfies your needs. There should not be a case that those cause stuttering so it probably is best to start over with a clean install since it will likely take less time than trying to figure out what is going on. At least that way, you’ll have a known starting point and if you still have stuttering, you’ve eliminated a lot of potential guesswork.
If you can, go with Intel-branded board. They are stable and have an Intel network interface. Many people often overlook this and get a board with a Realtek NIC which can end up causing headaches for many users. If you want Micro-ATX, you should consider their H67 or H61 boards. If you want to go cheap and don’t need more than client functionality or hardware-based transcoding, you can get away with something like a SandyBridge-based Pentium or even Celeron.
4GB RAM is acceptable for most cases.
Save a few bucks and get the 380W version of the EarthWatts power supply. You save initially and a bit more on your monthly power bill. Even 380W is overkill for your system. More is not better with power supplies (unless you truly do need it e.g. running a monster gaming GPU).
40GB will work for the SSD, but consider 60GB because it gives a bit more flexibility. You can potentially run into issues installing service packs with smaller SSD sizes depending on what applications you install.
If you decide to perform a clean install (and after installing KLite, it may be the best course of action), you will not have to re-pair your CableCARD. You only would need to do that if you obtained a different CableCARD or a different CableCARD tuner.
As far as restoring your guide settings and recording schedule, you can try mcBackup.
It doesn’t matter if it only supports 24p by applying 2:3 pulldown because if it accepts it, it can be vulnerable to the frame repeat issue. If you are confident that TMT5 is not outputting at 24Hz rate, you should use 59Hz and not 60Hz. You probably won’t be able to perceive frame repeats at 60Hz since the difference is small, but they are there and it is not correct for video sources.
Pull up the Windows resource monitor and look for anything suspicious while watching.
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