Playback problems in Theater

[HoosierDaddy 3]

HI,

 

I've been putting off updating my HTPC from W8.1 to W10  because I was using WMC and earlier versions of Theater gave me problems. Now that the deadline for free upgrades is approaching I want to switch to Theater.

 

But none of my videos play back well thru the latest Theater. The videos are 16x9 MP4s in 1080 by 1440. I get jaggies, and horrible pixelation during screen changes or rapid movement in Theater. The videos all play perfectly in WMC, WMP, W10 Video on other PCs, even directly in Chrome or Firefox and every other video player I have tried (including on smartphones) EXCEPT VLC. When played in VLC, I have the exact same problems as in Theater. 

 

So I guess my first question is: does Theater use VLC for playback? And if so, can I force it to use virtually any other player since everything else appears to work.

 

And if Theater doesn't use VLC or can't be forced to use something else, what can I do? Converting the videos to a format VLC/Theater likes better is not an option due to time and losing a generation in PQ.

[ebr 14958]

No, it does not use VLC.

 

Have you tried changing any of the playback settings available in Theater like the renderer?

[HoosierDaddy 3]

No, it does not use VLC.

 

Have you tried changing any of the playback settings available in Theater like the renderer?

 

Thanks for the suggestion.

 

I didn't know about the settings but just tried the other two options for video and MadVR fixed the jaggies but the scene changes were still F'ed up. I tried all the sub options within MadVR and saw minor difference in PQ but all options still messed up the scene changes. I looked at external players and noticed that video files wasn't checked, so checked that as well but that didn't help either.

 

In case its any clue, I noticed that Theater incorrectly labels my videos as 720P when you select them. But they are 1080i. When I browse them in the server, they are correctly identified as 1440x1080 and 16:9.

 

Maybe whatever rendering Theater uses has the same bug as VLC regarding that unusual resolution of 1440x1080?

 

Would there be any value if I posted a small phone video of the TV screen when the problems are happening?

[Guest asrequested]

Thanks for the suggestion.

 

I didn't know about the settings but just tried the other two options for video and MadVR fixed the jaggies but the scene changes were still F'ed up. I tried all the sub options within MadVR and saw minor difference in PQ but all options still messed up the scene changes. I looked at external players and noticed that video files wasn't checked, so checked that as well but that didn't help either.

 

In case its any clue, I noticed that Theater incorrectly labels my videos as 720P when you select them. But they are 1080i. When I browse them in the server, they are correctly identified as 1440x1080 and 16:9.

 

Maybe whatever rendering Theater uses has the same bug as VLC regarding that unusual resolution of 1440x1080?

 

Would there be any value if I posted a small phone video of the TV screen when the problems are happening?

 

That's a curious resolution. While 1080 does refer to horizontal lines, for 16:9 the width needs to be 1920. 16 / 9 = 1.778 (actual ratio), 1440 / 1080 = 1.33 (the same as 4:3, standard ratio). Can you take a screen shot of the media info, like this?