iTunes movie audio on Sp3 stutters

[Michael Lovett]

I'm trying my hand at some video playback on the Sp3. Using iTunes on the desktop, I'm playing back a video I've downloaded.

I'm experiencing random "pops" in the audio, and the audio is out of sync with the visual.

I do not see this same problem under Windows 8.1 on my Dell laptop.. so I'm sort of inclined to think its a driver issue on the Sp3

Any ideas, thoughts, or similar experiences?

Michael

 

[mohcho]

Are you streaming it or is it already downloaded on to your SP3? I just tried mine and I have no issues. I'm using 11.2.2.3. I have a few movies already downloaded and they run without issue.

Do you have any other apps running?

 

[Bandito]

I'm not sure if Apple keeps the version numbering consistent or not between Windows and Mac OSX, but they're up to V11.3.1 as I recall. Double check and make sure you have the latest version of iTunes.

Since you mentioned that you downloaded the video to your SP3, there shouldn't be any issues related to the WiFi speed problems that some of us are experiencing, since you're not streaming.

Where did you store the video? If it's on a micro-SD card in your system, that could be part of the problem. Others have reported various issues with using the micro-SD card slot.

 

[Michael Lovett]

Good call, the movie is on a micro sd slot. It's sandisk's "fastest" micro sd card, but perhaps it's a problem just the same...

 

[mohcho]

I have my iTunes library on my micro sd card as well. I guess it depends on which card you have. Some others have had similar issues with audio playback from the micro-sd card.

http://www.surfaceforums.net/threads/music-on-microsd-card-plays-with-breaks.10376/

What's the specific model of the card? Capacity/speed?

 

[Michael Lovett]

Here's the amazon product name:

SanDisk Extreme Plus 64GB MicroSDXC UHS-I Memory Card Speed Up To 80MB/s With Adapter, Frustration-Free Packaging- SDSDQX-064G-AFFP-A

Interestingly, I did notice a little bit of playback sputtering on songs stored on that card as well, but only when sent to a remote speaker via Bluetooth (noticed no music sputtering when directly connected to the speaker)

 

[Michael Lovett]

I have my iTunes library on my micro sd card as well. I guess it depends on which card you have. Some others have had similar issues with audio playback from the micro-sd card.

http://www.surfaceforums.net/threads/music-on-microsd-card-plays-with-breaks.10376/

What's the specific model of the card? Capacity/speed?

Which card do you have?

I tried the fix from here: http://www.surfaceforums.net/threads/music-on-microsd-card-plays-with-breaks.10376/ (set the driver property for the SD card to "better perfoamance") and it did help quite a bit, but the playback of video is still not as smooth as it could be.

I thought I was buying the best/fastest SD card and wouldn't have problems with media stored there. If iTunes weren't so picky about where it's media was stored, I'd try moving it to another location just to see if the problem goes away..)

 

[bluegrass]

Divide your problems through elimination. First see if it does the same thing in iTunes after copying the file to your desktop. If it doesn't, than you know it's SD card related. If it still fails from the desktop, try to open it with another player. I use WMP when possible and a video doesn't like WMP I go with the old reliable VLC player. If the sound stutters in all three players then most likely there is something wrong with the file.

 

[mohcho]

Which card do you have?

I tried the fix from here: http://www.surfaceforums.net/threads/music-on-microsd-card-plays-with-breaks.10376/ (set the driver property for the SD card to "better perfoamance") and it did help quite a bit, but the playback of video is still not as smooth as it could be.

I thought I was buying the best/fastest SD card and wouldn't have problems with media stored there. If iTunes weren't so picky about where it's media was stored, I'd try moving it to another location just to see if the problem goes away..)

I'm using a 64GB G.Skill SDXC UHS-1 Class 10 card. Strange. I've had no problems streaming audio and HD video from it. I have a few Blu-Ray rips of my movies for the kids on it. I use VLC media player exclusively for all my audio and video.

You can set your iTunes library to anywhere you specify. See here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1364

 

[Michael Lovett]

I'm using a 64GB G.Skill SDXC UHS-1 Class 10 card. Strange. I've had no problems streaming audio and HD video from it. I have a few Blu-Ray rips of my movies for the kids on it. I use VLC media player exclusively for all my audio and video.

You can set your iTunes library to anywhere you specify. See here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1364

Thanks for that info. I never tried the "organize my library" approach to moving my iTunes content to another location (I've used other methods). But for this "movie test" what I'd really like to do is just move that one file to another location, not move my entire iTunes library.... at first I thought I could just copy the file to the desktop and play it from there but the format doesn't seem supported by the players I'm trying.. will have to try another way to skin the cat :0

 

[Michael Lovett]

An interesting twist, I did find a way to move just the movie to the desktop and play it through iTunes, and it played noticeably worse from there than it did my ultra-fast SanDisk. Hmmm. I haven't found a good way to convert this iTunes-downloaded movie into a format I can play in some other player (yes I know there are converters out there but so far I haven't found one that feels trustworthy enough to load on my system) so I guess my next move is to try and download a different HD video from apple and see if that has the same problems.

M

 

[Bandito]

Good troubleshooting so far! It's a pity that you need to do this at all, however.

With the file not playing well even from the desktop, I'd lean towards the file having some sort of issue. It would be unlikely that your entire system was having issues with playback, but not impossible, I suppose.

Do you have any other videos that you can try in iTunes? It might be worth uninstalling and reinstalling iTunes to confirm that there isn't a problem there. Also, I believe that iTunes depends on QuickTime for movie playback so a reinstall of that might be something to do as well.

As far as a good video conversion tool goes, I have used Handbrake for a long time and it does a really nice job. It is not a universal converter, as it has a limited number of output options (but most of the popular ones), but it will read almost any format for input. It's a good one to at least try out and it's completely free.

handbrake.fr