Curse you, iTunes
February 21, 2006 1:47 PM Subscribe
Windows stuttering sound problems - codec issues?
So my two-month old HP Windows laptop is doing something strange sound-wise. When I try to play anything in iTunes, the playback stutters and is generally very garbled. The file that is being played progresses normally (that is, it doesn't just stutter at a specific point), but the playback is terribly distorted.
When I play the same files (all mp3 format, by the way) in WinAmp or Windows Media Player, however, everything sounds just fine. I get this same problem on occasion when playing some movies on my laptop - I sometimes have to switch between VLC player and Windows Media Player to see which one works better and has no sound distortion. I should note, though, that when playing a movie, the sound distortion is markedly less prominent (to a point that it's only a minor annoyance rather than something that precludes me from listening to music completey).
I am somewhat befuddled here. I for the life of me can't recall if I've opened up iTunes on my laptop before this past week when I've discovered the problem, and I am thus not sure if the problem has been present since I got the laptop. Thinking back on it, the first time I've ever had the laptop stutter was after I installed Warhammer 40K recently - the in-game audio was completely screwed up, and I had to play the game on mute. Could that have mucked things up? I've reinstalled Windows Media Player in hopes that doing so would reinstall the basic video / audio codecs and fix things, but it didn't seem to do anything.
So my two-month old HP Windows laptop is doing something strange sound-wise. When I try to play anything in iTunes, the playback stutters and is generally very garbled. The file that is being played progresses normally (that is, it doesn't just stutter at a specific point), but the playback is terribly distorted.
When I play the same files (all mp3 format, by the way) in WinAmp or Windows Media Player, however, everything sounds just fine. I get this same problem on occasion when playing some movies on my laptop - I sometimes have to switch between VLC player and Windows Media Player to see which one works better and has no sound distortion. I should note, though, that when playing a movie, the sound distortion is markedly less prominent (to a point that it's only a minor annoyance rather than something that precludes me from listening to music completey).
I am somewhat befuddled here. I for the life of me can't recall if I've opened up iTunes on my laptop before this past week when I've discovered the problem, and I am thus not sure if the problem has been present since I got the laptop. Thinking back on it, the first time I've ever had the laptop stutter was after I installed Warhammer 40K recently - the in-game audio was completely screwed up, and I had to play the game on mute. Could that have mucked things up? I've reinstalled Windows Media Player in hopes that doing so would reinstall the basic video / audio codecs and fix things, but it didn't seem to do anything.
Response by poster: Ah, hadn't thought of that. Yup, all the sounds played back fine.
"DirectSound test results: All tests were successful."
posted by Pontius Pilate at 2:30 PM on February 21, 2006
"DirectSound test results: All tests were successful."
posted by Pontius Pilate at 2:30 PM on February 21, 2006
You mention a bunch of different things you've reinstalled. Is one of those things the audio driver? It's very unlikely that it has anything to do with which application or game you're running.
posted by majick at 2:58 PM on February 21, 2006
posted by majick at 2:58 PM on February 21, 2006
I had some issues similar to yours that were related to the CPU being over tasked, but that doesn't sound to likely in your case because the sound gets better with video (which I assume to be more CPU intensive). A quick check with the resource meter should be able to rule out the cpu completely.
posted by forforf at 3:00 PM on February 21, 2006
posted by forforf at 3:00 PM on February 21, 2006
Response by poster: Majick, to recap:
- I first noticed the problem after installing Warhammer 40k, but I can't vouch that it wasn't there before, because I don't recall if I had previously used iTunes on this laptop;
- Reinstalled Windows Media Player and iTunes, did not reinstall the audio driver by itself
Forforf:
That was my first thought, too. I've checked the CPU level, and while it spikes when I am using iTunes (as they should), it's nowhere near 100%.
posted by Pontius Pilate at 3:07 PM on February 21, 2006
- I first noticed the problem after installing Warhammer 40k, but I can't vouch that it wasn't there before, because I don't recall if I had previously used iTunes on this laptop;
- Reinstalled Windows Media Player and iTunes, did not reinstall the audio driver by itself
Forforf:
That was my first thought, too. I've checked the CPU level, and while it spikes when I am using iTunes (as they should), it's nowhere near 100%.
posted by Pontius Pilate at 3:07 PM on February 21, 2006
I've found that itunes has far more problems with stable playback, even under 100% utilization. Earlier today, I had to stop-and-restart playback of a song because it had started stuttering when I put itunes in the background, and bringing to the foreground didn't stop the stuttering.
posted by nomisxid at 3:18 PM on February 21, 2006
posted by nomisxid at 3:18 PM on February 21, 2006
Best answer: Mine was stuttering up until a few days ago when I upgraded my iTunes. Once I upgraded (I'm not at home right now so I can't tell you what version I upgraded to), the stuttering stopped and playback has been just fine.
posted by whatideserve at 3:30 PM on February 21, 2006
posted by whatideserve at 3:30 PM on February 21, 2006
Response by poster: Is there any way to see what iTunes uses for output? In looking at WinAmp, there is a way to set it to DirectSound output or waveOut output. I am wondering if I can at least localize the problem to a specific setting.
Whatideserve: I wasn't aware there's been a new iTunes out lately. I'll give that a shot when I get back to the house.
posted by Pontius Pilate at 5:25 PM on February 21, 2006
Whatideserve: I wasn't aware there's been a new iTunes out lately. I'll give that a shot when I get back to the house.
posted by Pontius Pilate at 5:25 PM on February 21, 2006
Best answer: The culprit is likely DirectSound. Go to your Windows control panel, Quicktime preferences, and change "Sound Out" from DirectSound to WaveOut. Restart and it should fix the problem.
posted by charmston at 7:00 PM on February 21, 2006
posted by charmston at 7:00 PM on February 21, 2006
Response by poster: Whatideserve and charmston: Thanks to both of you. I've downloaded the latest iTunes, followed charmston's instructions, and reset the computer - everything works beautifully. Cheers.
posted by Pontius Pilate at 8:53 PM on February 21, 2006
posted by Pontius Pilate at 8:53 PM on February 21, 2006
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Good Brain at 2:23 PM on February 21, 2006