# (Solved) Media Player too fast



## Al Peabody (Mar 7, 2003)

I use my PC (P4 2.4 GHz, 512 MB RAM, 2 HDDs) to create movies, using Adobe Premiere 6.5. It has been working fine for months (since I assembled it in November). 

For the past couple of weeks, when I play back one of the movies through Windows Media Player, it runs at 150% speed (the timer clicks off 15 seconds in 10 seconds real time), causing many frames to be skipped, both video and audio. 

This same problem happens with WMP 7.1 and WMP 9. 

Real Player plays the .mpg files in question just fine, in correct time. 

Any idea what's going on?

Al


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## $teve (Oct 9, 2001)

hi al....
<img src=http://forums.techguy.org/attachment.php?s=&postid=757853>

although it looks like a video problem it could be the audio drivers causing this.......try updating both audio and video.
post back with the result.


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## RSM123 (Aug 1, 2002)

Hi,

Searched here - http://www.google.com

And the consensus does indeed seem to be that a reinstall of soundcard drivers is required. Although one person got it fixed by clicking on the CD Audio tab and selecting 'Digital Audio' option.

If unsuccessful post back here.


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## Al Peabody (Mar 7, 2003)

Updated the audio and video drivers, and that didn't fix it. 

It looks like WMP is playing the file as fast as it can--when I play a .WMV file of the same movie, it goes even faster than it does with the .MPG -- almost double speed, skipping frames merrily. 

As before, Real Player does just fine, playing at the proper speed.

Any more ideas?

Thanx,

al


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## eddie5659 (Mar 19, 2001)

Hiya

Which version of DirectX do you have?
Go to Run and type DXDIAG
In the first tab will be the version.

Also, do have the latest version of DivX:

http://www.divx.com/divx/

Regards

eddie


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## Al Peabody (Mar 7, 2003)

Thanks for DXDIAG. Lots of information.

I have DirectX 9.0, DivX 5.0.3 (Just downloaded it). 

The problem is the same.

More ideas?

Thanx,

al


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## The_Egg (Sep 16, 2002)

Hi

What is your Windows OS?
Are sound & video both onboard chips?
If so, what is the make/model of the motherboard?
If not, then what is the make/model of the sound & video cards?

RealPlayer uses its own engine/drivers/codecs to decode movies,
whereas WMP uses DirectX and your sound+video drivers.

Have you tried turning hardware acceleration down a notch?

For video:

In WinXP:
Display Control Panel -> Settings -> Advanced -> Troubleshoot

In other OS'es:
System Control Panel -> Performance tab -> Graphics

For Sound:

Sounds & Audio Devices (WinXP) / Sounds & Multimedia (Win2k/ME) / Multimedia (Win98SE) Control Panel -> Audio tab -> Playback -> Advanced -> Performance tab

Also:
DXDIAG -> Sound tab -> Hardware Sound Acceleration Level

Experiment with these settings.

btw, are the .mpg movies using standard MPEG-2 compression?
Or are they MPEG-4/AAC?

Useful links?
http://www.apple.com/mpeg4/
http://www.inf.ufpr.br/~rja00/programs.html
http://www.pcsupport.dk/support/codec.htm
http://www.divx-digest.com/software/mpeg4codec.html


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## Al Peabody (Mar 7, 2003)

Thanks, eliminating all hardware audio acceleration fixed it.

FYI:

ASUS P4PE 2.4 GHz motherboard, integrated SoundMAX IDA audio and nVidia video.

Win 98 SE with all updates, fixes, patches I can find.

MPEG movies made with the MPEG 2 encoder which comes with Adobe Premiere 6.5.

Being a speed freak, I will experiment with turning Video and audio accel up a notch or two until it breaks it again, but at least I know what the problem is!

al


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## The_Egg (Sep 16, 2002)

Glad to hear it worked 

However, reducing hardware acceleration is only a workaround.
Hardware Acceleration should be always at maximum for optimum performance.

This is your mobo, yes?
http://www.asus.com/mb/socket478/p4pe/overview.htm

Maybe try some mobo updates . . .

http://www.asus.com.tw/support/download/item.aspx?ModelName=P4PE
Then click the Win9x link in the menubar
There's a few driver updates there, including Soundmax

I see they've also just released a new BIOS update,
which you could use the ASUS EZ-Flash utility to install ?!


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## Al Peabody (Mar 7, 2003)

Thanks again. 

I did the latest SoundMAX download/update a couple of days ago, and it didn't help, though it did install a bunch of other stuff, additional soundboard features I'm still investigating.

As to the BIOS: the 'puter came with the 1001 bios (original version). I EZ-Flashed the 1002 version, the last released version available. It didn't help, but did add the "feature" of announcing any POST problems through the speaker. What it means to me so far is that when I reboot, a female voice announces "System completed power-on self-test. Computer now booting from operating system." Recently, I've heard that about 10 times a day as I've been trying various updates, downloads, etc., but it should calm down Real Soon Now.

There is a Beta BIOS version 1003 out there. The EZ Flash utility won't find it, but you can use the DOS update program they provide to flash it. However, the file you download is called p4pe_03.010.zip, which makes me think it may be a pretty early Beta. Since things are basically working now, I think I'l pass on release .010 and wait 'till it is officially released at 1003.awd.

Meanwhile I'll keep checking for additional updates on both the SoundMAX and the MSI video controller. 

Thanx,

al


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