154 replies to this topic

[HFCG]

I was hopeing for an old CRT monitor. As long as the cables are not loose it is most likely not the monitor.

[Denise_M1]

I just checked the cable connection and they're good. Thanks for thinking of it.

[Blair]

Sorry, I haven't read all the post either, but it's my understanding the major complaint concerns video playback, and stuttering or pixelation. How are these video compressed, and what CODEC, or application is being used to play them?

[Denise_M1]

The videos are mostly .avi's with some .mpg's and mpeg's. The main video codecs are Xvid or DivX. TmPGEnc is needed also. My preferred media player is Classic Media Player but I also use VLC because it can play some things that MPC can't at times. I use G-Spot to determine which codec a video needs if it won't play and I install it. That doesn't happen very often though. The last ones I needed were mpeg-2 and OGGDS0995. The videos were compressed using a number of programs. AugoGK, GordianKnot, ImTOO, DVDx . . . VirtualDub and VirtualDubMod are also needed, along with Avisynth. Audio codecs used are AC3 (Dolby Surround) Audio Codec, AC3Filter 1.51a and AC'97 Realtek Audio Codecs. I know there's more but these are the mains ones and the ones that I think of off the top of my head. A lot of codecs come with programs and I'm not sure which ones they are.

Edited by Denise_M1, 21 November 2008 - 07:47 PM.

[Doug]

Hi Denise,

Don't forget that you have "compressed" these very same files Multiple Times during use of your MS System Tools - Cleanmgr.exe
Disk Cleanup - Compress old files. <-- possible culprit

By "multiple time" I do not mean that you've compressed the files and then compressed the compressed files even further.
That just won't happen, especially with image files that are already difficult to compress the first time.
But I do mean that you have mentioned using Disk Cleanup multiple times to Compress Old Files.

When accessing these files, windows must restore the file or as big a portion of the file as it is able, before passing it along to the display utility, for instance Media Player.

This (all by itself) could be causing the stuttering.

Now that I've made that statement, I'll have to go do some research about whether or not you have any options to uncompress the files and save them in their original uncompressed form.

As an aside I like K-Lite Mega Codec Packet (which also bundles quicktime lite and a lite version of Real Player)

Another talented Tech has been urging me to to do some additional investigation of your RAM functioning.
I've got some reading to do, but will be around a bit on Saturday, tomorrow.

Best Regards,
Doug

[tallin]

Doug,

Now that I've made that statement, I'll have to go do some research about whether or not you have any options to uncompress the files and save them in their original uncompressed form.

Yes you can, please:

• Find the file you want to uncompress or is it decompress?
• Right Click on it and choose Properties
• General Tab
• Advanced
• Untick/disable "Compress contents to save disk space"
• Apply
• OK

The above worked well for me after running Disk Cleanup and enabling Disk Cleanup - Compress old files by mistake. All the files turned blue to my horror.

regards

Edited by tallin, 21 November 2008 - 10:43 PM.

[Doug]

Thanks Tallin.

[Denise_M1]

Hi Doug,

You caught me just in time. I've always used Disk Cleanup to get rid of the junk and compress old files on my C drive. I thought that old files meant that they were no longer needed because the program that installed them had been uninstalled. It shows you how another person's mind works, lol . . . screwy.

I was planning on doing this to all of my drives. I had just finished Disk Cleanup on my D drive when you mentioned that compressing files could damage them so I stopped. All the other ext hdds weren't touched, thank God! I even unchecked Compress Old Files for my C drive. I can't imagine how many programs might have gotten messed up because of this. I'm going to uninstall and reinstall as many as I can.

When I spoke about compression of files, not with Disk Cleanup, but when they're changed from their DVD state, which are VOBs and IFOs that total approx 4Gb to 5Gb, they're compressed by a program so that it can fit on a DVD, about 750Gb per hour of the movie. A person who doesn't know how to do it can wind up with a pancake affect, where things look short and stout, or it can be elongated so things are tall and skinny. Converting from VOBs to .avi files doesn't make .avi files choppy. A decent amount of clarity is lost if the person makes a 2-hour movie into a 750Gb .avi file, otherwise, the file has good viewing quality on a computer and when burned to a DVD, it plays very nicely in a DVD player.




Hi tallin,

Find the file you want to uncompress or is it decompress?
Right Click on it and choose Properties
General Tab
Advanced
Untick/disable "Compress contents to save disk space"
Apply
OK

I tried this with one of my files. I'm going to do more of them to see if it makes a difference. I have a lot of things going on with my pc right now so playback might be choppy anyway. Thanks for the good tip
.

[Denise_M1]

Find the file you want to uncompress or is it decompress?
Right Click on it and choose Properties
General Tab
Advanced
Untick/disable "Compress contents to save disk space"
Apply
OK

This did the trick. I first started noticing it about 2 weeks ago, when I started to collect The Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and they were choppy. Then I checked out other videos that I remembered were choppy and I checked out some others. Only the ones that were compressed are choppy. The ones that were choppy were compressed. As soon as I removed the tick to "Compress contents to save disk space," the files play well, no choppiness at all. I also noticed that the amount of reduction was approximately 2Mb . . . it's not worth compressing files to save that little bit of space. It would add up over time, but removing 2Mb from every file on a 750Gb drive wouldn't save enough space to add a 1 hour tv show.

That discovery was great tallin!

Edited by Denise_M1, 22 November 2008 - 12:47 AM.

[Denise_M1]

Find the file you want to uncompress or is it decompress?
Right Click on it and choose Properties
General Tab
Advanced
Untick/disable "Compress contents to save disk space"
Apply
OK

This did the trick. I first started noticing it about 2 weeks ago, when I started to collect The Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and they were choppy. Then I checked out other videos that I remembered were choppy and I checked out some others. Only the ones that were compressed are choppy. The ones that were choppy were compressed. As soon as I removed the tick to "Compress contents to save disk space," the files play well, no choppiness at all. I also noticed that the amount of reduction was approximately 2Mb . . . it's not worth compressing files to save that little bit of space. It would add up over time, but removing 2Mb from every file on a 750Gb drive wouldn't save enough space to add a 1 hour tv show.

That discovery was great tallin!

Edited by Denise_M1, 22 November 2008 - 12:47 AM.

[Doug]

WooooWhooaa!

[tallin]

Denise,

Denise wrote:The ones that were choppy were compressed. As soon as I removed the tick to "Compress contents to save disk space," the files play well, no choppiness at all.

That is good news. Glad to be able to assist you.

Denise wrote:I also noticed that the amount of reduction was approximately 2Mb . . . it's not worth compressing files to save that little bit of space. It would add up over time, but removing 2Mb from every file on a 750Gb drive wouldn't save enough space to add a 1 hour tv show.

Agreed, but the sad thing is you have to take each file and decompress it singularly.......takes ages, so I resorted to doing mine just as I needed them and that way it is not a chore at all. Takes but a moment really. Maybe this link may assist you, but I have not tried it.

Decompress
to cause to undergo decompression
verb (used without object)
__________
Uncompress
verb
restore to its uncompressed form, "decompress data"
_________

That discovery was great tallin!

Thank you Denise,

decompressing all your files .

Best regards to you,

[Denise_M1]

I just went through all the programs that I installed: video, security, audio, computer, cd progfams, etc, and many of the files had been compressed and I fixed them all, but I still have to go through all the other folders to see if files in Programs (x86), Windows, etc, have been compressed. It makes sense, now, why programs seem to work so well after a format and then they start having little problems. I'll never use the compress option on Disck Cleanup again. . . i might never use Disk Cleanup again. Many thanks for bringing this up. I, and probably most other people, don't realize what that little option does. Shame on Microsoft!

[HFCG]

Thank you Denise_M1, I have learned something that may keep some one else from going through 140+ post to resolve.

[Denise_M1]

Hi HFCG . . . Yea, the post started with some dust bunnies and wound up with file compression. One thing led to another, people mentioning things that rang a bell with someone else, posts spent having fun to relieve tension, time spent thinking . . . it was all great! I just checked all the files on the new ext hdd that I got last week. All of the files that I transferred to it were compressed. I don't know if it's the drive that compressed them when I moved them over or if it was Windows Defragger. Windows Defragger also "compresses" files. If that's the case, I'm afraid to look through the rest of my ext hdds until I absolutely have to. I'll still be decompressing files when I hit 100. If they're all compressed, it would have to be Windows Defragger that compressed them. I thought compressing them was a good thing, getting them together so there aren't any spaces between them where pieces of other files are put in all the gaps . . . NOT! I won't use Windows Defragger anymore either. Power Defragmenter GUI does a very good job of defragging so that's all I'll use from now on. Shame on Microsoft again! Gotta tell ya, tallin. That was a terrific thought you had and it solved the problem. I still have overlays but I think it's because I push my computer to the limit, or past its limit, graphics-wise. Maybe a faster graphics card wouldn't have that problem but the one I have is good enough to watch videos. I really do hope that this thread and its solutions help other people.