iPod 3G video stuttering

June 30, 2008 8:57 AM

Please help stop my iPod nano 3G's persistent video stuttering:

When playing a movie or TV episode, the video freezes for a fraction of a second, then jumps forward to a point several frames later in order to catch up with the audio, which has continued on smoothly without a break. The video might "jump" (i.e., stutter) only once for a single frame or there might be a series of stutters lasting in total one second or less. Within a couple of minutes it'll happen again. If I backup to the same spot where the stuttering occured, it will likely happen again, although not necessarily with exactly the same appearance, that is, it might stutter slightly longer or shorter, or several frames earlier or later. I have had the same problem whether the videos are transcoded with DVDFab, CloneDVD, or Handbrake; bitrates from 200 up to 2500; frame rates of 24, 29.97 and 30 fps; screen resolutions of 320xXXX and 640xXXX. All transcoding has been single pass. All the transcoded video variations play smoothly on my XP computer. The iPod is up to date, having been purchased several weeks ago (but too long ago to return). Your thoughtsssssspreciated!

posted by bbranden1 to technology (4 comments total)

If you're on a PC, try using Super to encode for Apple-ipod. It's a free and powerful video conversion program.
posted by self at 9:16 AM on June 30, 2008

It sounds like you're having either a bitrate or a fragmentation problem.

Try downloading any of the podcasts (ie, converted at a 'good' bitrate.) Prolly doesn't matter which one. If it still skips, take it to an apple store. Before you do, you might want to 'restore' it back to scratch, just to try to see if reformatting causes the fragmentation to go away (although since it's a new, anano and all flash drive, probably this isn't the case.)
posted by filmgeek at 9:40 AM on June 30, 2008

Try using MeGUI and encoding with one of the iPod-specific profiles to make sure your H.264 streams are compliant with the iPod's broken "low complexity baseline" profile. Additionally, DVDFab doesn't do inverse telecining at all or deinterlacing/decimating correctly so you can basically toss that as a viable encoder for any Film-source DVDs. CloneDVD is likely to have similar problems, though I haven't used it. I'm not sure why you're having trouble with Handbrake, although I have been able to put all sorts of stuff on an Ipod Touch/iPod 5.5G with no issues using either Handbrake or MeGUI.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 9:43 AM on June 30, 2008

Would one of the Archos players be a better choice, that is, not be burdened with this problem and play smoothly?
posted by bbranden1 at 10:28 AM on June 30, 2008