Member Avatar for chaosmstr

MSI K8MM3 MB
AMD Sempron 2600
512 mb mem
20gig HD (OS) Master
250gig HD (storage) Slave
Sony DVDRW Single
Hauppauge 150 PVR MCE
PNY Gforce 5200

System works great, plays DVD's w/ Power DVD
Network, MP3 playback, Divx playback.. all works outside of Media Center.

In Media Center, DVD playback has video freeze. I can get out of it, it's not a system lockup.
TV playback froze up on me once as well, but I can't replicate that now.

Happens on all DVD movies (tried 6)
They all play outside of MEdia Center.

All updates installed, freshly built system. Ran though a 24 hour burn in with no issues.

Any ideas?

  • 4 Contributors
  • 8 Replies
  • 131 Views
  • 3 Months Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by bobbyraw

Dani AI

Generated

Several members in this thread (notably and ) saw the same symptom pattern and rightly asked for a clearer description of the freeze. The problem that appears only inside Media Center is commonly caused by three things: DirectShow/codec filter conflicts, GPU overlay or hardware-acceleration interactions, and audio-driver/renderer mismatches. Media Center uses a different playback path than standalone players, so a decoder or driver that works elsewhere can still hang the MCE renderer.

Practical, ordered diagnostics that narrow the cause:

  • Observe whether sound keeps playing when video stalls; persistent audio usually points to the video renderer or GPU overlay, while audio dropout implicates audio drivers or audio filters.
  • Check Event Viewer (Application/System) for errors at the freeze time.
  • Test with the default Microsoft VGA driver (disable the video driver in Device Manager) and with the audio device disabled one at a time to see which change affects the freeze.
  • Inspect the DirectShow graph used for DVD playback (GraphEdit/GraphStudio) to see which MPEG-2/DVD decoders and video renderer are actually loaded by MCE.

Corrective actions that commonly fix this class of problem:

  • Cleanly uninstall and reinstall the GPU driver (client-side clean uninstall, then a fresh install). If available, try a slightly older driver for comparison.
  • Roll back or try an alternate audio driver; create a System Restore point before driver swaps.
  • Temporarily reduce or disable hardware acceleration (Display -> Settings -> Advanced -> Troubleshoot on XP) to test overlay/acceleration involvement.
  • Remove or disable third-party codec packs; let Media Center use the built-in system decoder or set preferred filters with a Filter Manager tool.

Advanced step and caution:

  • Reset the Media Center database by renaming the eHome store (XP location: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\eHome). Back up first—this clears schedules/recorded-TV indexes. If problems persist after the above, collect driver versions, Event Viewer entries, and a DirectShow filter list before pursuing an OS reinstall.

Recommended Answers

All 8 Replies

Member Avatar for chaosmstr

3 weeks, over 100 views.. and nobody posts a thing.
Is this that difficult an issue, do I not have enough information, has no one come across anything remotely similar?

Member Avatar for davej00

3 weeks, over 100 views.. and nobody posts a thing.
Is this that difficult an issue, do I not have enough information, has no one come across anything remotely similar?

Have you had any success in resolving this issue ?

Im seeing exactley the same -- but I am using NVIDIA codecs. Works fine out of MCE, DVD playback freezes in MCE.

I have not had any problems with TV/record/playback etc that all works really well.

Member Avatar for davej00

Hello i have never used media center so sorry i cant offer any suggestions but have either of you searched google for a media center forum ,oops looks what happens when one does ,
http://www.google.ca/search?q=media+center+help+forum+&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

Thanks -- I appreciate your insight.

I am already a member of GreenButton etc...but I noticed the post here from "chaosmstr" and simply wondered if he had an update.

Not too many folk have seen the issue -- although there is another post in "HardForum.com" on the same theme.

Regards

- Dave

Member Avatar for caperjack

ok,good luck.
I'm working on cleaning viruses from a winxp media center edition ,right now ,belongs to my sister ,i will in a bit go to the media center and play dvd and see what if anything happens and let you know ,all will have a look around the net .

Member Avatar for caperjack

back allready ,i just put a dvd in and to my amazement my sister never setup here media edition to play dvd ,i was prompter to select things like my display type and display settings i would like to use ,like lcd reg or wide screen or reg monitor ,display settings like 1024x768 or what ever i wanted to use ,so my question would be did you and other poster ,make sure you made all the right media center Wizzard choices

Member Avatar for davej00

I certainly did. The problem seems to be related to the realtek audio drivers. I am playing around with different versions -- but it definatly seems to be the source of the problem

Regards

- Dave

Member Avatar for bobbyraw

i know why you were not getting any response. you were not specific, as to what type of freeze up you are getting, sure DVD playback freezes, but describe the freeze, is it the video, is it the sound, are video and sound out of sync, (audio not keeping up with video) video freezes and sound continue to play?. are you using an onboard sound card or a pci card.

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