Momentus XT Stutters

I recently upgraded processor from 720QM to 940xm. Am using Throttlestop, and it's very fast. I do a lot of photo and video editing, and my 320 GB drive was starting to fill, so I decided to upgrade to Momentus XT 500 GB. I updated the firmware to version sd25 (latest). It does seem somewhat faster than the 320 gb original, but now I have a new, big problem: Stutter when playing HD video. I use SplashPro for playing video, because it makes better use of video card and hardware acceleration than other players. I have always been able to play HD video smoothly from the previous hard disk, and even from an external drive connected via USB port (2.0). But with the momentus, there is sound stuttering about 2-3 times per second, with some associated lack of video smoothness. I have played with all the drive-related settings I can find, to no avail. I have left messages on the Seagate forum - no response yet.



Has anyone seen this problem? Any solutions?



It's frustrating - I am beginning to think I should simply have gotted a regular 750GB or 1TB drive instead.



Thanks for any help you may be able to provide.



Joe

Reply 1 : Momentus XT Stutters

A better solution is to use MPC-HC with madVR and CoreAVC for hardware acceleration. If you want the motion interpolation that Splash Pro provide I suggest some other free options using avisynth scripts that I can introduce you to. But try CoreAVC+madVR and Reclock helps with syncing videos to your display.

Reply 2 : Momentus XT Stutters

Quote:

Originally Posted by widezu69 A better solution is to use MPC-HC with madVR and CoreAVC for hardware acceleration. If you want the motion interpolation that Splash Pro provide I suggest some other free options using avisynth scripts that I can introduce you to. But try CoreAVC+madVR and Reclock helps with syncing videos to your display.

Thanks for your suggestions.



I will certainly give these programs a try - CoreAVC seems a particularly good option.



But I need to be really clear - HD video playback was not broken prior to the installation of the Momentus XT drive. I could play HD video and audio smoothly, even with the old 720QM processor from the original 320GB hard disk, from an external hard disk connected via USB 2.0, or from a USB memory stick (also 2.0). So, I think this is not related to the video software or to processor load - it's due to the hard disk. This conclusion is supported by multiple reports of video stuttering with Momentus XT drives, both in MAC's and Windows computers. I would love to find a workaround - but if I can't find one, I'llprobably swap the drive for a conventional 750 GB drive - SSD would be a consideration, but large ones are still pretty expensive.



Joe

Reply 3 : Momentus XT Stutters

Yeah it seems to be the case with XT's I'm not sure why though. I don't have one so I can't really help. If you can isolate the problem to only the XT by having an identical windows installation on both drives and seeing how they perform.

Reply 4 : Momentus XT Stutters

Quote:

Originally Posted by widezu69 Yeah it seems to be the case with XT's I'm not sure why though. I don't have one so I can't really help. If you can isolate the problem to only the XT by having an identical windows installation on both drives and seeing how they perform.

WIn7 installation was cloned (via Acronis) from the original 320 GB drive that came with the m15x. I had no problem playing HD video from that drive. I am not home now. Tonight, when I get home, I will play HD video from my external drive via USB to verify that it is the XT.



Thanks,



Joe

Reply 5 : Momentus XT Stutters

have had my XT for over 6 months. Fresh install of Win 7 Ultimate, runs well in win media player. Try K-Lite codec pack.

Could be possible that something is hogging system resources.

Reply 6 : Momentus XT Stutters

Quote:

Originally Posted by maxilick have had my XT for over 6 months. Fresh install of Win 7 Ultimate, runs well in win media player. Try K-Lite codec pack. Could be possible that something is hogging system resources.

You might be on the right track. I tried last night from external drive - stuttering is also there, so maybe the Momentus is not the culprit. Video seems smooth, but sound has breaks about 2-3x per second. I tried MPC-HC - sound does not stutter, but video is not as smooth as with Splash Pro. I did install K-Lite - video seems a bit smoother, but audio still with breaks. Thorough antivirus sweep is negative. I did have to reinstall sound drivers after reconstructing the backup - but the latest drivers from the Dell site installed without incident. Am using latest Nvidia driver for the 240m.



Will leave a note on the Splash Pro site - maybe they have a suggestion. Drive seems ok. I did have a BSOD this am, but could have been due to all the software installs - reboot ws uneventful.



Onward,....



Joe

Reply 7 : Momentus XT Stutters

Try starting clean, and reinstalling visual C++ 2010 x86 and x64. Install CoreAVC, then install MPC-HC, google madVR and download version 0.52, extract and run install.bat as admin, go to MPC and go the options and select madVR as your renderer. Close program and play video with it.

Reply 8 : Momentus XT Stutters

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jdpurvis WIn7 installation was cloned (via Acronis) from the original 320 GB drive that came with the m15x. I had no problem playing HD video from that drive. I am not home now. Tonight, when I get home, I will play HD video from my external drive via USB to verify that it is the XT. Thanks, Joe

I not trying to jack your thread but i'm having issues adding the same hard drive to my M15X. If you could take a look at my thread and help out figuring it out it would be appreciated.



Need help with hybrid drive

Reply 9 : Momentus XT Stutters

Quote:

Originally Posted by widezu69 Try starting clean, and reinstalling visual C++ 2010 x86 and x64. Install CoreAVC, then install MPC-HC, google madVR and download version 0.52, extract and run install.bat as admin, go to MPC and go the options and select madVR as your renderer. Close program and play video with it.

I'm willing to try some of this - but I am not willing to put in the time it would take to do a clean install. I have way too much software to be willing to reinstall everything - especially since it appears that this issue does not occur for all players. In particular, MPC (after install of CoreAVC) does not show the audio breakup. Unfortunately, the video is significantly less clear and smooth compared with Splash. I have left a message on the Splash site to see if it is a version problem for them.



Thanks,



Joe