My videos keep falling out of sync with the audio

Littlefoot Fan · **on:** April 08, 2010, 02:50:04 PM

I have a bunch of .mp4 videos that, when I play them, they start to fall out of sync after about 10 minutes into the show (although the time it takes seems to be random). The video starts falling way behind the audio. They're probably falling out of sync because the CPU Usage is suddenly jumping to 100%. Normally it stays at about 50%, but at some random point in the video it'll jump to 100%, and that's when the video starts falling behind. I checked what was taking up the extra cpu and it was the video player, nothing else. I play them in Media Player Classic - Home Cinema. The strange thing is I never used to have this problem until just recently. I am not sure what I did or what happened, but it seems I can't watch these videos any longer, which is really annoying me. I tried them in VLC as well, that seemed to actually make them worse. I have Windows XP in case anybody is wondering.

Mumbling · **Reply #1 on:** April 08, 2010, 02:53:10 PM

Yeah the CPU is most likely the case. What program is taking up the CPU, the video player? In that case I'd try some others. There are a whole bunch of video players out there. I bet you got quicktime on your computer as well, which will also play .mp4s.

That's the only thing I can recommend, get another player.. Maybe other members have a better solution.

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #2 on:** April 08, 2010, 04:08:03 PM

9/10 times it's the video file that's screwed up. Unfortunately, the only way to fix that is with an advanced video editor like Adobe Premier. Not to mention that it's a huge pain in the ass. Why don't you send one of the screwed up files over to me and I'll see if it's the video files or your computer.

Littlefoot Fan · **Reply #3 on:** April 08, 2010, 09:47:53 PM

I tried re-downloading the video and it still screwed up, so unless the website uploaded a messed up video file, that's not the case. Also if it was the actual file's fault, I think they would've posted an announcement or something saying that the video was not playing properly, since I'm sure a LOT of people would complain to them about it.

The thing is, I watched these same videos a while back and there were never any problems with them. To prevent any confusion, these are episodes of the anime Naruto Shippuden. I watched all these episodes some time ago without any problems, and when I went back to watch them again recently (this time with a friend who has never seen them), they started giving me problems. It doesn't matter if I re-download the episodes, the problem still persists.

I could send you the video file I had problems with (though it happened with multiple episodes which leads me to believe it's either my computer, or the player's fault). Did you want to do it over MSN or something?

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #4 on:** April 08, 2010, 10:23:20 PM

Just up the vid to my server in the Universal Upload Folder. I can easily get it from there. If the video file is indeed screwed up, I'll try to fix it.

Alex · **Reply #5 on:** April 08, 2010, 11:28:38 PM

Or you could've just downloaded it from the site he got it from.

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #6 on:** April 08, 2010, 11:36:58 PM

Quote

Or you could've just downloaded it from the site he got it from.

True I could, but it wouldn't be a valid test. Depending on your connection, video files can become corrupted or damaged during download. I'll need the exact files on his computer to determine if it's the files or his computer.

Littlefoot Fan · **Reply #7 on:** April 09, 2010, 11:41:06 AM

Alright, it's uploaded

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #8 on:** April 09, 2010, 05:43:58 PM

Yeah, it's a bit out of sync for me. I'm not in the movie pirating business, but I'm going to provide you a video file that I KNOW is encoded properly. Here it is:

http://lbtserver.co.cc/UniversalUploadFold...vs.%20Flame.avi

I removed the video file you uploaded because I don't want to pirate stuff. Let me know as soon as you've downloaded this video so I can remove it.

And a question for you....when you open the video in VLC, how bad is the lag in audio? Is it worse, better, or the same when you just skip to say the middle of the video?

Littlefoot Fan · **Reply #9 on:** April 09, 2010, 07:05:25 PM

Ok, well I forgot to point out that this does not happen with .avi's, at all. This only happens with .mp4's. I have a whole bunch of episodes from another anime that are all .avi's, and they don't give me any problems.

And which video did you want me to test in VLC? The one you uploaded or the naruto one? When I tried playing the naruto one in VLC, the video itself actually screwed up badly. It was all discolored. I don't seem to have problems with .avi's in VLC.

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #10 on:** April 09, 2010, 07:09:11 PM

Do you have the latest version of VLC?

Littlefoot Fan · **Reply #11 on:** April 09, 2010, 08:12:25 PM

Ok I want to clear a few things up here.

VLC will in fact play the .mp4 files. It seems the only time the picture really messes up is when you try to skip half-way through the video. Something important I noticed though:

The video I sent you messes up at the exact same point every time I play it. It's at about 10:40. That's when the video starts freezing up, it falls behind, and my CPU shoots to 100%. This happens both in VLC and Media Player Classic - Home Cinema. It makes sense in a way though, since that part of the video is when a lot of stuff starts happening on the screen.

I'm not sure if I have the latest version of VLC. I could check, but I don't see that really making a difference. I don't think it's going to matter what version of what player I use.

I tried downloading some fast video codecs to see if that would solve it, since I googled this problem and that was one of the recommended things to try. I tried playing the video at that exact same part and now it seems to work fine. I don't know if it's just luck, or if it really fixed it. When you download codecs, do you have to turn them on in any place on your computer, or are they just immediately in effect once you install them? I don't know much about codecs at all, so sorry if it's a dumb question

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #12 on:** April 09, 2010, 08:22:40 PM

Well yeah, codecs will definitely fix the problem if you're not using VLC. If it's not working in VLC, it's either a really old version or it's not using its internal codecs for some reason. Codecs do take affect as soon as you install them, though I'd recommend restarting the computer after you've installed codec/s.

I would have suggested codecs in the first place if it wasn't screwing up in VLC. But VLC has its own internal codecs that should work properly. Unless it's a super old version or it isn't using its internal codecs for some reason, it should work. Next time you need a codec, just download DIVX player and just install the codec. That should play almost anything. I hope the problem is fixed for ya.

I suggest just using VLC unless you really like Media Center (like me). Just make sure you're using the latest version of VLC and everything should be fine. VLC will even play those obscure 2mkx (or whatever they are) Japanese video files.

Littlefoot Fan · **Reply #13 on:** April 09, 2010, 08:48:53 PM

Well I thought it fixed it and it didn't. Though I was able to play the part that was messing up without a problem, another part ended up messing up. It's like it'll reach a certain point when it spikes to 100% cpu and won't go back down until I close the player.

I'll try downloading the latest version of VLC and see if it works, though I highly highly doubt it.

Littlefoot Fan · **Reply #14 on:** April 13, 2010, 01:27:29 PM

Well the newest version of VLC didn't help. It still fell out of sync.

Well I tried something that sounds kind of stupid but seems to have worked so far. I figured that since for some reason I have no problem playing .avi's, I would just try changing the file extensions on the .mp4 files to .avi. I ran some tests, and the video played all the way through without falling out of sync. Now I'm not 100% sure on this, I'll have to run a lot more tests, but what I want to know is: does changing the file extension actually change the entire video into an .avi, or does it just tell your computer to play the video file as if it were an .avi? Either way, that could be my solution.

The thing I don't get is the video still jumps to 100% cpu usage in the same areas it did as a .mp4, but it didn't fall out of sync. Is it possible that my computer just doesn't handle .mp4s very well?

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #15 on:** April 13, 2010, 04:01:27 PM

I must say, this is a very strange problem. My guess is it might have to do with some form of malware. Just changing the file extension does NOT change the actual file type. I suppose this could also be an issue if you're running a P4 with 512mb of ram or something but I'm guessing you've got a computer better than that, right?

Littlefoot Fan · **Reply #16 on:** April 13, 2010, 04:32:36 PM

Well after watching about 5 episodes, I found one that had so much crap going on the screen at one part, that it fell out of sync.

I do have a Pentium 4 2.40GHz, but I also have 2 gb of RAM. If that's not enough to run high quality videos, I guess I'm stuck.

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #17 on:** April 13, 2010, 05:26:20 PM

Well if it's full of enough malware and garbage, I suppose that could become an issue. You should consider a format. After formatting, just download and install the DIVX codec and VLC and you should be fine.