Broken Enhanced Video Renderer (custom presenter) in MPC-HC - video stuttering

Windows 7 64
GeForce 1060
Intel i7
32GB RAM
SSD

Newest drivers
K-Lite Codec Pack 14.7.0 MEGA
Media Player Classic - Home Cinema 64

After installing new codec pack (almost default settings based on LAV and Enhanced Video Renderer custom presenter) when playing mp4 videos (didn't try other formats) I'm noticing stuttering in random moments every 5-10 seconds, which looks kinda like when reading new portions of a file from disk.

I've tried almost every stuttering solution I could find, including DXVA2, CUVID and other acceleration options, different VSync settings, internal filters settings, external filters settings... and stuttering stays the same. That is on Enhanced Video Renderer (custom presenter).

But when I change Options>Output to Sync Renderer or madVR (didn't try others) - stuttering disappears without trace and everything plays smoothly.

I've tried dozens of solutions, configurations in MPC-HC, reinstalled NVIDIA drivers, reinstalled codec pack... and stuttering stays the same when Enhanced Video Renderer (custom presenter) is enabled. So I guess something is wrong with it now, which is kinda strange, because this is the one I never had any problems before.

Weird. I am not sure what is wrong. There haven't been any changes to EVR-CP in a long time. Can you test those same files with the previous version of the pack you had?

Those same video files (and many others) were working without problems on previous version from couple months back. Size, resolution, quality and other file parameters don't make any difference in case of stuttering in new pack. So far everything works OK with Sync Renderer, but I would like to know what is the source of the problem.

Are they working OK if you install that older version right now? If so, try last few versions to see which one is the first with the problem.

I've tried 13.8.0 MEGA from year ago and stuttering stays the same, so I think the problem is only partially in the K-Lite Codec Pack.

About the stuttering: it repeats almost precisely about every 8-9 seconds when playback is active (from beginning or when video is seeked into new position). I think it may be in some way related with VSync. When I play video file with Renderer Settings>Display Statistics enabled, where I can see the two paralell lines running (green and red), sometimes after enabling VSync there is a large gap between the lines, and as the video goes, the gap starts to slowly decrease. When the two lines meet, the stutter appears, the gap jumps and again it starts to slowly decrease... and everything repeats.

Stuttering was noticed on 417.71 NVIDIA drivers.

I've reinstalled them with 418.81 from today. Stuttering still happens.

BUT: Now when I enable Renderer Settings>VSync - the stutter disappears. It didn't work with 417.71 drivers.

BUT: It only disappears when standard VSync is enabled. Accurate VSync or Alternative VSync still cause stutter.


So, in conclusion: At the moment Enhanced Video Renderer (custom presenter) is causing video stutter, which can be solved by enabling standard VSync in Renderer Settings>VSync.

Everything always used to work fine without any VSync enabled. No idea, what's going on.

VSync wasn't really needed in the past since Windows itself also did VSync. It seems that is the newer drivers this behavior changed or got broken.

I guess it is time to enable VSync by default in MPC-HC and hope it won't bring any new problems. I get a smoother graph without it. Using old NVIDIA driver 375.xx.

Are you perhaps using the classic theme in Windows 7? That disables Aero and the VSync functionality in the Desktop Window Manager.

Aero is and was always enabled. Tried before changing Windows' Advanced System Settings>Perfomance for different visual settings (both max performance and max visuals) and it had no impact on stutter.

Seems that enabling VSync for Enhanced Video Renderer (custom presenter) doesn't really do the trick for good. The stutter isn't noticable anymore, but if you look for it very closely it still happens, only in very small amount beyond normal perception (or it's just me having some eye issues after all this testing).

It might improve in future drivers.

Otherwise you could try messing with NVIDIA settings. With NVIDIA Profile Inspector tool you can adjust the "Media Player Classic" profile.

Isn't this the same as, for example, adding a MPC-HC profile in NVIDIA Control Panel and changing there VSync and Triple Buffering settings on?

I may be wrong, but I guess it won't have any impact if I won't use MPC-HC in any 3D mode, because those NVIDIA Driver settings are designed to work in OpenGL (or other) environment?

There already is a standard profile for MPC-HC in the NVIDIA Control Panel, called "Media player Classic". The tool I mentioned is an easy way to get full access to those settings. It also shows more options.

The settings also apply for normal use of MPC-HC.

You could try with VSync forced on.
GSync should be turned off.
Triple Buffering is best left off.
Power Management Mode should be set to Adaptive.

Seems in newest drivers there are no more predefined profiles in NVIDIA Control Panel. I had to add Media Player Classic manually.

I've already tried the same parameters in different configurations, it was one of the first things I was checking out. No difference. I'm almost convinced it only affects modes using 3D (like D3D fullscreen). Same for Firefox.

...That's another thing I noticed today. In Firefox videos on many sites like YouTube are playing smooth, but when I was watching movie on Openload it kinda look like it had similar stutter. Forcing hardware acceleration in Firefox about:config and in NVIDIA Firefox profile didn't do anything.

If all application profiles are gone, then I think something may be wrong. Perhaps the profile database file got damaged. I recommend trying a clean install with DDU (display driver uninstaller).

Not all application profiles are gone. There are for example auto-created profiles for GOG client, MSI Afterburner or Rivatuner. As far as I remember, there wasn't an auto-created profile for MPC-HC in 417.71 and in 418.81 which was installed two times completely clean with removed every folder and registry entry. NVIDIA Control Panel allows to add MPC-HC, but from recently used programs list.

Maybe you are right, maybe it should be there, but I guess it shouldn't make any difference if MPC-HC settings are applied in predefined profile or in newly created one?

I think I'm done with the guessing game. I will just redownload everything and reinstall Win from scratch...

Long story short: At the moment NVIDIA Driver is broken above from version 417.71, it is a widely known issue on Windows 7 + GeForce 1060 configuration.

Also: In MPC-HC, videos with framerate close to 60 (like 59.64 FPS) are going to stutter in regular intervals when Renderer Settings > VSync isn't enabled (monitor refresh rate is set to 60Hz). No known solution.