Nasty Crakling when playing any movie

[GuyVer]

Hi all,

I have tried scouring the internet for a solution to this, but no one seems to have one. My problem is that when I try and play back Fivx/Avi files, the movies look great and I get full sound, but there is a nasty crackle/noise playing in the foreground.

I have tried installing Nimo/Tsunami codecs and these make no difference. I removed all filters and codecs and started again yesterday, what I found was that with no codecs installed, Windows Movie Player would play the AVI/DivX file (obviously with no picture) but the sound was perfect, as soon as I installed either FFdshow or DviX Codec the horrible crackle comes back when playing movies. For some reason it doesn't happen when playing MP3 files.

I installed AC3 filters and Mixer, but nothing seems to get rid of the crackle. I dont think that I am missing anything important codec wise.

Can anyone out there help? It's really driving me nuts as I cant watch a movie on my PC due to the interfering crackle/noise.

I should also mention that this happens with all movie files I try to play, it's not just a bad/corrupt file.

ANy help would save my sanity, as I have spent a couple of weeks trying to fix this issue now.

Thanks,

GuyVer

Ps I should mention my PC is PIII Pentium 550Mhz 384MB Ram, Using NVidia Geforce 2 32mb DDR and Creative Labs Soundblaster Live

[setarip]

1) Check to make certain that your soundcard is properly seated

2) Is there anything with a motor nearby your computer?

[GuyVer]

I was thinking about changing the PCI slot that my sound card is in, so that seems like a good idea checking the seating. It would be odd though because I dont get the crackling noise with any other use of the card, i.e. playing games or music.

As far as I can tell, there isn't anything with a motor anywhere near the PC. I will post tonight after I have changed the cards seating and let you know if it worked.

Thanks,

GuyVer

[Enchanter]

This looks like the classic Live! crackling issue with VIA boards (do you happen to be using one?).

I recommend you check out the PCI latency patch by George Breese (http://www.georgebreese.com/net/software/).

Cheers.

[GuyVer]

This might sound like a daft question -but I am new to this stuff- what is a VIA board? Motherboard I presume, and how do I know if I have got one?

GuyVer ;)

[GuyVer]

Lol, just followed that link you posted and it has a link to a program that detects if you have a VIA chipset ...DOH!

Thanks again,

GuyVer

[GuyVer]

I just checked my PC using the CPU-Z program. It has this to say about my motherboard:

Manufacturer: Intel Corporation
Model: Blank: AA744110-205
Chipset Intel i440BX/ZX rev C1
Intel 83271 (PIIX4)

Bios
Brand: Intel Corp
Version: 4W4SB0X0.15A.0017.P12
Date: 12/21/1999

From this I take it, its not a VIA board. Is it worth me running the patch anyway? or could this pose problems?

GuyVer

[Enchanter]

In that case, no. The patch is meant solely for VIA boards only.

One other way would be to manually alter the PCI timing setting from under the motherboard BIOS settings (assuming your BIOS supports it). You can also try updating the Live! driver to the latest version (or use the excellent, alternative driver kX Project (http://kxproject.lugosoft.com/mirrors.php?language=en) instead).

Cheers.

[GuyVer]

Grim,

I used another patch from the site mentioned above - which is specifically for problems with Creative Soundcards. This made no difference. I tried the KX Driver which looked nice, but made no difference.

I then cracked open the PC and checked the seating of the sound card - infact I actually moved it to another slot. After a couple of reboots and getting windows to recognise the card etc, I removed Tsunami/FFDshow/DIVX etc all codecs/packs. Reinstalled FFDshow and Tsunami.

The result - the same as before, excellent picture, full sound, but nasty distortion/crackling. It seems prevalent when people speak, but does happen when background music is playing.

I then installed the AC3 Mixer, this made a slight difference when I set my speaker conf. to 2/2 and chose 32bit (as opposed to 16 or 24). The noise still occurs, but is much deeper in tone, like a thumping when people speak - stilll annoying, just not as annoying as the higher pitched crackle/static.

I checked my soundcard and it is a Creative Live 5.1 Digital card, which was bought new about 7 months ago. The only thing I can think of now is is this problem cause because I dont have 5.1 speakers? I am using Cambridge Audio speakers which have four small tweeters and one large subwoofer.

I should add the in all other respects the system sound is fine, i.e. when playing windows alerts, or using winamp to play MP3 files.

This is just soooooo annoying! The files play fine on other computers, I checked it on my wifes laptop.

Thanks again for help and comments.

GuyVer

[Enchanter]

Try things with a different (and better) card.

Cheers.

[GuyVer]

AS it's the only card Ive got, and I dont have the beans for a new one _ this one is only 7 months old _ I'll have to keep searching the web and hoping.

GuyVer

[DA_Tinkster!!]

:bglaugh2: hello there i have read all ure posts and i think ure leading ure self up the garden path..(if u know what i mean???) i have the saim problem but only when i play newer avi files (i.e new films) other mpeg vids e.t.c r ok. so i think its the RIP or something ..keep trying and ill keep u posted if i solve da problem..DA_TINKS..xx