Variable Bit Rate MKV Glitching

Hello, I'm running MPC-HC on a new 2021 HP Omen 15 laptop.
I've updated all my drivers, etc. but I'm specifically having playback issues with variable bit rate MKV files.
The video will play for about 15 seconds before freezing, stuttering, glitching and showing artifacts.
The sound will often continue but fall out of sync with the video, and the video will jump around.
Seeking also causes everything to freeze.
I'm able to play this file without any issues on my other machine (An HP Pavilion).
This is also not the only file I have issues with. It seems to occur with any variable bit rate MKV files.

Update: It turns out the copies of the files I was testing had become corrupt.

This is the info from one of the mkv files I'm having issues with:

Code:


General
Unique ID                      : 250249827508963906471542438570753755840 (0xBC445D175CAA47A6900B14A8307B8AC0)
Complete name                  : --
Format                         : Matroska
Format version                 : Version 2
File size                      : 11.0 GiB
Duration                       : 1 h 50 min
Overall bit rate mode          : Variable
Overall bit rate               : 14.2 Mb/s
Movie name                     : --
Encoded date                   : UTC 2011-12-27 17:28:41
Writing application            : mkvmerge v4.9.1 ('Ich will') built on Jul 11 2011 23:53:15
Writing library                : libebml v1.2.1 + libmatroska v1.1.1
Attachments                    : Profile-Medium.otf / Profile-Regular.otf / Profile-Black.otf / Profile-BlackItalic.otf / Profile-Bold.otf / Profile-BoldItalic.otf / Profile-Light.otf / Profile-LightItalic.otf / Profile-MediumItalic.otf / Profile-RegularItalic.otf / StoneHumanistITCStd-BoldIt.otf / StoneHumanistITCStd-SemiIt.otf / StoneHumanistITCStd-MedIt.otf / StoneHumanistITCStd-Bold.otf / StoneHumanistITCStd-Semi.otf / StoneHumanistITCStd-Med.otf / malgun.ttf

Video
ID                             : 1
Format                         : AVC
Format/Info                    : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                 : High 10@L4.1
Format settings                : CABAC / 3 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC         : Yes
Format settings, Reference fra : 3 frames
Muxing mode                    : Header stripping
Codec ID                       : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration                       : 1 h 50 min
Width                          : 1 920 pixels
Height                         : 1 038 pixels
Display aspect ratio           : 1.85:1
Frame rate mode                : Constant
Frame rate                     : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space                    : YUV
Chroma subsampling             : 4:2:0
Bit depth                      : 10 bits
Scan type                      : Progressive
Language                       : Japanese
Default                        : Yes
Forced                         : No

Audio #1
ID                             : 2
Format                         : FLAC
Format/Info                    : Free Lossless Audio Codec
Codec ID                       : A_FLAC
Duration                       : 1 h 50 min
Bit rate mode                  : Variable
Channel(s)                     : 6 channels
Channel layout                 : L R C LFE Ls Rs
Sampling rate                  : 48.0 kHz
Bit depth                      : 16 bits
Compression mode               : Lossless
Writing library                : libFLAC 1.2.1 (UTC 2007-09-17)
Language                       : Japanese
Default                        : Yes
Forced                         : No



This is the log file generated from the Codec Tweak Tool:

Code:


Codec Tweak Tool | Log file | Generated at 2021-05-26 11:38:28

#####  System Information  #####

OS:           Windows 10 Home (10.00.19043) (x64)
CPU name:     AMD Ryzen 7 5800H with Radeon Graphics
CPU details:  3194 MHz | 16 core(s) | Family 25 Model 80 Stepping 0
Memory:       32128 MB
Screen size:  1920x1080 (32bits) (144Hz) (125%)
GPU 1:        AMD Radeon Graphics
              VendorID: 1002, DeviceID: 1638
GPU memory:   512 MB
GPU driver:   aticfx64.dll (Version 27.20.21003.8013) (5-11-2021)
GPU 2:        NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU
              VendorID: 10de, DeviceID: 249d, SubSys: 88d2103c
GPU memory:   8192 MB
GPU driver:   nvldumdx.dll (Version 27.21.14.6647) (5-13-2021) (NV 466.47)
Audio device: NVIDIA High Definition Audio
              VendorID: 10de, DeviceID: 009e
Audio driver: nvhda64v.sys (Version 1.3.38.60) (5-3-2021)

#####  K-Lite Codec Pack  #####

KLCP version: 16.2.0
KLCP type:    standard

Speaker conf: 2.0

MPC renderer: EVR CP
MPC subs:     ISR
MPC audio:    System Default
MPC decoder:  h264=DXVA2N hevc=DXVA2N vp9=DXVA2N vc1=0 mpeg2=0

#####  Decoder Settings #####

LAV Video:
H264=DXVA2CB HEVC=DXVA2CB VP9=DXVA2CB VC1=0 MPEG2=1 MPEG4=1 WMV3=0

LAV Audio:
MP3=1 AC3=1 DTS=1 DTSHD=1 EAC3=1 TRUEHD=1 AAC=1 Vorbis=1 LPCM=1 WMA=0

#####  DirectShow Filters (32-bit)  #####

(A total of 63 filters, 0 shown, 63 hidden)

#####  DirectShow Filters (64-bit)  #####

(A total of 70 filters, 0 shown, 70 hidden)

#####  ICM Class Manager (32-bit)  #####

(A total of 2 filters, 0 shown, 2 hidden)

#####  ICM Class Manager (64-bit)  #####

(A total of 2 filters, 0 shown, 2 hidden)

#####  Default source filters (32-bit)  #####

(A total of 12 default source filters, 0 shown, 12 hidden)

#####  Default source filters (64-bit)  #####

(A total of 56 default source filters, 0 shown, 56 hidden)

#####  ACM and VFW Codecs (32-bit)  #####

(A total of 14 codecs, 0 shown, 14 hidden)

#####  ACM and VFW Codecs (64-bit)  #####

(A total of 13 codecs, 0 shown, 13 hidden)


I've tried this with other players including VLC and even the built in player that comes with Windows but with no luck.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

Variable bitrate is not something special. The file seems pretty normal. It contains 10-bit H.264 bit video. But that is relatively common for anime videos.

The only thing I notice in the file properties that is somewhat uncommon:
"Muxing mode : Header stripping"

You could try remuxing the file with MkvToolNix to see if that solves the problem.

Can you describe how the artifacts look like? Or maybe make a screenshot?

Hello,

Thank you for the quick response. I'll try remuxing the file to see if that helps. It's just strange that this file runs completely fine on two of my other machines (HP Pavilion and Lenovo G50-45), but not this new PC.

Here's one screenshot of the artifacts that I was able to grab:

Update:
I tried remuxing the file but still with no luck. The log returned no errors but 469 warnings that look like this:

Code:


C:\myfile.mkv: Error in the Matroska file structure at position 16905318. Resyncing to the next level 1 element.
The last timestamp processed before the error was encountered was 00:00:18.435000000.
Resyncing successful at position 101051037.
The first cluster timestamp after the resync is 00:01:16.410000000.
C:\myfile.mkv: Error in the Matroska file structure at position 117827601. Resyncing to the next level 1 element.
The last timestamp processed before the error was encountered was 00:01:24.459000000.
Resyncing successful at position 235407185.
The first cluster timestamp after the resync is 00:02:38.367000000.
C:\myfile.mkv: Error in the Matroska file structure at position 251837369. Resyncing to the next level 1 element.
The last timestamp processed before the error was encountered was 00:02:49.670000000.
Resyncing successful at position 319384076.
The first cluster timestamp after the resync is 00:03:37.884000000.
C:\myfile.mkv: Error in the Matroska file structure at position 335968075. Resyncing to the next level 1 element.
The last timestamp processed before the error was encountered was 00:03:46.727000000.
Resyncing successful at position 353357550.
The first cluster timestamp after the resync is 00:03:59.239000000.
C:\myfile.mkv: Error in the Matroska file structure at position 369868122. Resyncing to the next level 1 element.
The last timestamp processed before the error was encountered was 00:04:07.664000000.
Resyncing successful at position 420224797.
The first cluster timestamp after the resync is 00:04:33.732000000.
C:\myfile.mkv: Error in the Matroska file structure at position 436645430. Resyncing to the next level 1 element.
The last timestamp processed before the error was encountered was 00:04:42.866000000.
Resyncing successful at position 453489756.
The first cluster timestamp after the resync is 00:04:52.626000000.
C:\myfile.mkv: Error in the Matroska file structure at position 470660609. Resyncing to the next level 1 element.
The last timestamp processed before the error was encountered was 00:05:01.718000000.
Resyncing successful at position 637567702.
The first cluster timestamp after the resync is 00:06:32.684000000.
C:\myfile.mkv: Error in the Matroska file structure at position 654413852. Resyncing to the next level 1 element.
The last timestamp processed before the error was encountered was 00:06:42.485000000.
Resyncing successful at position 689135265.
The first cluster timestamp after the resync is 00:07:00.754000000.
C:\myfile.mkv: Error in the Matroska file structure at position 722660566. Resyncing to the next level 1 element.
The last timestamp processed before the error was encountered was 00:07:20.231000000.
Resyncing successful at position 839373644.
The first cluster timestamp after the resync is 00:08:25.547000000.
C:\myfile.mkv: Error in the Matroska file structure at position 856109382. Resyncing to the next level 1 element.
The last timestamp processed before the error was encountered was 00:08:34.514000000.
Resyncing successful at position 890176608.
The first cluster timestamp after the resync is 00:08:52.866000000.
C:\myfile.mkv: Error in the Matroska file structure at position 940205179. Resyncing to the next level 1 element.
The last timestamp processed before the error was encountered was 00:09:21.978000000.
Resyncing successful at position 1057160850.
The first cluster timestamp after the resync is 00:10:34.592000000.
C:\myfile.mkv: Error in the Matroska file structure at position 1075040899. Resyncing to the next level 1 element.
The last timestamp processed before the error was encountered was 00:10:43.226000000.
Resyncing successful at position 1091356877.
The first cluster timestamp after the resync is 00:10:52.443000000.
C:\myfile.mkv: Error in the Matroska file structure at position 1108424151. Resyncing to the next level 1 element.
The last timestamp processed before the error was encountered was 00:10:59.742000000.
Resyncing successful at position 1141756395.
The first cluster timestamp after the resync is 00:11:18.469000000.
C:\myfile.mkv: Error in the Matroska file structure at position 1157647414. Resyncing to the next level 1 element.
The last timestamp processed before the error was encountered was 00:11:27.687000000.
Resyncing successful at position 1393762954.
The first cluster timestamp after the resync is 00:13:36.482000000.
C:\myfile.mkv: Error in the Matroska file structure at position 1410092559. Resyncing to the next level 1 element.
The last timestamp processed before the error was encountered was 00:13:47.368000000.
Resyncing successful at position 1711822795.
The first cluster timestamp after the resync is 00:16:38.414000000.
C:\myfile.mkv: Error in the Matroska file structure at position 1728385114. Resyncing to the next level 1 element.
The last timestamp processed before the error was encountered was 00:16:47.590000000.
Resyncing successful at position 1863670059.
The first cluster timestamp after the resync is 00:17:51.487000000.
C:\myfile.mkv: Error in the Matroska file structure at position 1880069926. Resyncing to the next level 1 element.
The last timestamp processed before the error was encountered was 00:17:58.536000000.
Resyncing successful at position 1895966626.
The first cluster timestamp after the resync is 00:18:06.794000000.
C:\myfile.mkv: Error in the Matroska file structure at position 1912804999. Resyncing to the next level 1 element.
The last timestamp processed before the error was encountered was 00:18:14.677000000.


Here's the media info for the new file:

Code:


General
Unique ID                      : 314750199317825137641452034803921460899 (0xECCAAEF2700A2698079D61377FDE1EA3)
Complete name                  : C:\myfile.mkv
Format                         : Matroska
Format version                 : Version 4
File size                      : 2.09 GiB
Duration                       : 1 h 50 min
Overall bit rate mode          : Variable
Overall bit rate               : 2 709 kb/s
Movie name                     : --
Encoded date                   : UTC 2021-05-26 18:28:48
Writing application            : mkvmerge v57.0.0 ('Till The End') 64-bit
Writing library                : libebml v1.4.2 + libmatroska v1.6.4
Attachments                    : Profile-Medium.otf / Profile-Regular.otf / Profile-Black.otf / Profile-BlackItalic.otf / Profile-Bold.otf / Profile-BoldItalic.otf / Profile-Light.otf / Profile-LightItalic.otf / Profile-MediumItalic.otf / Profile-RegularItalic.otf / StoneHumanistITCStd-BoldIt.otf / StoneHumanistITCStd-SemiIt.otf / StoneHumanistITCStd-MedIt.otf / StoneHumanistITCStd-Bold.otf / StoneHumanistITCStd-Semi.otf / StoneHumanistITCStd-Med.otf / malgun.ttf

Video
ID                             : 1
Format                         : AVC
Format/Info                    : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                 : High 10@L4.1
Format settings                : CABAC / 3 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC         : Yes
Format settings, Reference fra : 3 frames
Codec ID                       : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration                       : 1 h 50 min
Bit rate                       : 2 300 kb/s
Width                          : 1 920 pixels
Height                         : 1 038 pixels
Display aspect ratio           : 1.85:1
Frame rate mode                : Variable
Frame rate                     : 4.725 FPS
Original frame rate            : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space                    : YUV
Chroma subsampling             : 4:2:0
Bit depth                      : 10 bits
Scan type                      : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)             : 0.244
Stream size                    : 1.77 GiB (85%)
Language                       : Japanese
Default                        : Yes
Forced                         : No

Audio #1
ID                             : 2
Format                         : FLAC
Format/Info                    : Free Lossless Audio Codec
Codec ID                       : A_FLAC
Duration                       : 1 h 50 min
Bit rate mode                  : Variable
Bit rate                       : 256 kb/s
Channel(s)                     : 6 channels
Channel layout                 : L R C LFE Ls Rs
Sampling rate                  : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                     : 2.350 FPS (20426 SPF)
Bit depth                      : 16 bits
Compression mode               : Lossless
Stream size                    : 202 MiB (9%)
Writing library                : libFLAC 1.2.1 (UTC 2007-09-17)
Language                       : Japanese
Default                        : Yes
Forced                         : No

Audio #2
ID                             : 3
Format                         : DTS
Format/Info                    : Digital Theater Systems
Codec ID                       : A_DTS
Duration                       : 1 h 0 min
Bit rate mode                  : Constant
Bit rate                       : 768 kb/s
Channel(s)                     : 6 channels
Channel layout                 : C L R Ls Rs LFE
Sampling rate                  : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                     : 93.750 FPS (512 SPF)
Bit depth                      : 24 bits
Compression mode               : Lossy
Stream size                    : 65.3 MiB (3%)
Language                       : English
Default                        : No
Forced                         : No

Audio #3
ID                             : 4
Format                         : Vorbis
Format settings, Floor         : 1
Codec ID                       : A_VORBIS
Duration                       : 1 h 50 min
Bit rate mode                  : Variable
Bit rate                       : 100.0 kb/s
Channel(s)                     : 2 channels
Sampling rate                  : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                     : 11.260 FPS (4263 SPF)
Compression mode               : Lossy
Stream size                    : 13.3 MiB (1%)
Writing library                : libVorbis 1.1.1/1.1.2 (UTC 2005-03-04)
Language                       : German
Default                        : No
Forced                         : No

Audio #4
ID                             : 5
Format                         : Vorbis
Format settings, Floor         : 1
Codec ID                       : A_VORBIS
Duration                       : 1 h 50 min
Bit rate mode                  : Variable
Bit rate                       : 100.0 kb/s
Channel(s)                     : 2 channels
Sampling rate                  : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                     : 11.083 FPS (4331 SPF)
Compression mode               : Lossy
Stream size                    : 13.1 MiB (1%)
Writing library                : libVorbis 1.1.1/1.1.2 (UTC 2005-03-04)
Language                       : Chinese
Default                        : No
Forced                         : No

Audio #5
ID                             : 6
Format                         : Vorbis
Format settings, Floor         : 1
Codec ID                       : A_VORBIS
Duration                       : 1 h 50 min
Bit rate mode                  : Variable
Bit rate                       : 100.0 kb/s
Channel(s)                     : 2 channels
Sampling rate                  : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                     : 11.478 FPS (4182 SPF)
Compression mode               : Lossy
Stream size                    : 13.4 MiB (1%)
Writing library                : libVorbis 1.1.1/1.1.2 (UTC 2005-03-04)
Language                       : Chinese
Default                        : No
Forced                         : No

Audio #6
ID                             : 7
Format                         : Vorbis
Format settings, Floor         : 1
Codec ID                       : A_VORBIS
Duration                       : 1 h 50 min
Bit rate mode                  : Variable
Bit rate                       : 100.0 kb/s
Channel(s)                     : 2 channels
Sampling rate                  : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                     : 12.013 FPS (3996 SPF)
Compression mode               : Lossy
Stream size                    : 13.0 MiB (1%)
Writing library                : libVorbis 1.1.1/1.1.2 (UTC 2005-03-04)
Language                       : Korean
Default                        : No
Forced                         : No

Text #1
ID                             : 8
Format                         : ASS
Codec ID                       : S_TEXT/ASS
Codec ID/Info                  : Advanced Sub Station Alpha
Duration                       : 1 h 47 min
Bit rate                       : 17 b/s
Count of elements              : 230
Compression mode               : Lossless
Stream size                    : 13.5 KiB (0%)
Language                       : English
Default                        : Yes
Forced                         : No

Text #2
ID                             : 9
Format                         : ASS
Codec ID                       : S_TEXT/ASS
Codec ID/Info                  : Advanced Sub Station Alpha
Duration                       : 1 h 47 min
Bit rate                       : 17 b/s
Count of elements              : 186
Compression mode               : Lossless
Stream size                    : 13.9 KiB (0%)
Language                       : German
Default                        : No
Forced                         : No

Text #3
ID                             : 10
Format                         : VobSub
Muxing mode                    : zlib
Codec ID                       : S_VOBSUB
Codec ID/Info                  : Picture based subtitle format used on DVDs
Duration                       : 1 h 43 min
Bit rate                       : 1 207 b/s
Count of elements              : 227
Stream size                    : 915 KiB (0%)
Language                       : Chinese
Default                        : No
Forced                         : No

Text #4
ID                             : 11
Format                         : VobSub
Muxing mode                    : zlib
Codec ID                       : S_VOBSUB
Codec ID/Info                  : Picture based subtitle format used on DVDs
Duration                       : 1 h 43 min
Bit rate                       : 1 292 b/s
Count of elements              : 233
Stream size                    : 979 KiB (0%)
Language                       : Chinese
Default                        : No
Forced                         : No

Text #5
ID                             : 12
Format                         : VobSub
Muxing mode                    : zlib
Codec ID                       : S_VOBSUB
Codec ID/Info                  : Picture based subtitle format used on DVDs
Duration                       : 1 h 43 min
Bit rate                       : 896 b/s
Count of elements              : 211
Stream size                    : 680 KiB (0%)
Language                       : Korean
Default                        : No
Forced                         : No


Here's another screenshot of some of the artifacts that occur. The video usually freezes when this happens, although the audio will continue, and sometimes skip ahead.

In the Windows 10 display settings, go to Advanced settings. There you should be able to choose which GPU should be used by MPC-HC. The integrated AMD one or your NVIDIA GPU. Select the "High performance" choice (= NVIDIA). Maybe that will make a difference.

Since it works on your other computer, it is likely a graphics driver issue. A decoder bug would give same result on both computers. Plus Movies&TV uses a different decoder than MPC-HC and VLC.

Do you have any screen sharing applications running in the background? For example Discord or something similar. Any graphics related application that "hooks" itself in the Windows display code could possibly have effect on video playback.

Thank you. I tried going into the Windows 10 display settings and changing MPC-HC to use the NVIDIA GPU instead (and it appears to be doing so based on my Task Manager), but unfortunately that didn't appear to resolve the issue.
To my knowledge I don't have any screen sharing applications running in the background as of right now (such as Discord or anything like that). I know Windows has the Game Bar app which does something like that, but I don't think it would be running for MPC-HC as far as I know at least.
It does seems like it could be a graphics driver issue. As far as I know I have the latest graphics drivers installed right now, but I'll try to do some research to see if I can figure out what's going on.

Your screen has a refreshrate of 144Hz. Test if setting that to a lower value has any effect on the problem.

In your screenshot the artifacts are only in the lower left section. It almost looks like it could be from a window that is behind the video.

Are the problematic videos all 10-bit H.264? Due to the lack of hardware acceleration, such videos will use your CPU to decode. Your system is powerful, so normally that should not be an issue. But perhaps there is some kind of hardware defect that causes internal overheating.

Consider doing a stress test:
https://techguided.com/best-tools-to-stress-test-p-cpu-ram-gpu/

So unfortunately switching to 60Hz doesn't seem to resolve the issue either.

I was able to take another screenshot and it seems to vary from case to case and is not limited to just the lower left corner. This one had colored artifacts on the left half and fragmented chunks on the right half. I haven't noticed any particular pattern with the artifacts other than the fact that they're either random colored pixels, or sometimes just fragmented pieces of the image.

I haven't fully pinpointed which videos are causing issues, in fact most are working pretty well otherwise. That appears to be the only 10-bit H.264 video I have and it is the one that causes the most issues. I don't have any other 10-bit H.264 videos I can test right now unfortunately. I have an 8-bit H.264 video (also variable bit rate) that causes issues as well but not quite as bad. At the same time, I also have yet another 8-bit H.264 VBR video (almost identical) that has no issues at all. All of my 10-bit x265 videos appear to be playing just fine.

Here's some media info from the ones I've tested (and how they've performed)

The original one (10-bit H.264 VBR, freezing, seeking and artifacts):

Code:


General
Unique ID                      : 250249827508963906471542438570753755840 (0xBC445D175CAA47A6900B14A8307B8AC0)
Complete name                  : -
Format                         : Matroska
Format version                 : Version 2
File size                      : 11.0 GiB
Duration                       : 1 h 50 min
Overall bit rate mode          : Variable
Overall bit rate               : 14.2 Mb/s
Movie name                     : -
Encoded date                   : UTC 2011-12-27 17:28:41
Writing application            : mkvmerge v4.9.1 ('Ich will') built on Jul 11 2011 23:53:15
Writing library                : libebml v1.2.1 + libmatroska v1.1.1
Attachments                    : Profile-Medium.otf / Profile-Regular.otf / Profile-Black.otf / Profile-BlackItalic.otf / Profile-Bold.otf / Profile-BoldItalic.otf / Profile-Light.otf / Profile-LightItalic.otf / Profile-MediumItalic.otf / Profile-RegularItalic.otf / StoneHumanistITCStd-BoldIt.otf / StoneHumanistITCStd-SemiIt.otf / StoneHumanistITCStd-MedIt.otf / StoneHumanistITCStd-Bold.otf / StoneHumanistITCStd-Semi.otf / StoneHumanistITCStd-Med.otf / malgun.ttf

Video
ID                             : 1
Format                         : AVC
Format/Info                    : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                 : High 10@L4.1
Format settings                : CABAC / 3 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC         : Yes
Format settings, Reference fra : 3 frames
Muxing mode                    : Header stripping
Codec ID                       : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration                       : 1 h 50 min
Width                          : 1 920 pixels
Height                         : 1 038 pixels
Display aspect ratio           : 1.85:1
Frame rate mode                : Constant
Frame rate                     : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space                    : YUV
Chroma subsampling             : 4:2:0
Bit depth                      : 10 bits
Scan type                      : Progressive
Language                       : Japanese
Default                        : Yes
Forced                         : No

Audio #1
ID                             : 2
Format                         : FLAC
Format/Info                    : Free Lossless Audio Codec
Codec ID                       : A_FLAC
Duration                       : 1 h 50 min
Bit rate mode                  : Variable
Channel(s)                     : 6 channels
Channel layout                 : L R C LFE Ls Rs
Sampling rate                  : 48.0 kHz
Bit depth                      : 16 bits
Compression mode               : Lossless
Writing library                : libFLAC 1.2.1 (UTC 2007-09-17)
Language                       : Japanese
Default                        : Yes
Forced                         : No

Text #1
ID                             : 8
Format                         : ASS
Codec ID                       : S_TEXT/ASS
Codec ID/Info                  : Advanced Sub Station Alpha
Compression mode               : Lossless
Language                       : English
Default                        : Yes
Forced                         : No



8-Bit H.264 with minor issues (freezing, skipping, artifacts):

Code:


General
Unique ID                      : 240965788743595118752030946510714708307 (0xB54852A3C4E278A5EEF4D871E0B02153)
Complete name                  : -
Format                         : Matroska
Format version                 : Version 4
File size                      : 7.87 GiB
Duration                       : 1 h 43 min
Overall bit rate mode          : Variable
Overall bit rate               : 10.8 Mb/s
Encoded date                   : UTC 2020-03-15 09:20:50
Writing application            : mkvmerge v32.0.0 ('Astral Progressions') 32-bit
Writing library                : libebml v1.3.7 + libmatroska v1.5.0

Video
ID                             : 1
Format                         : AVC
Format/Info                    : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                 : High@L4
Format settings                : CABAC / 4 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC         : Yes
Format settings, Reference fra : 4 frames
Codec ID                       : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration                       : 1 h 43 min
Bit rate mode                  : Variable
Maximum bit rate               : 20.0 Mb/s
Width                          : 1 920 pixels
Height                         : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio           : 16:9
Frame rate mode                : Constant
Frame rate                     : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space                    : YUV
Chroma subsampling             : 4:2:0
Bit depth                      : 8 bits
Scan type                      : Progressive
Writing library                : x264 core 148 r2715 7e75228
Encoding settings              : cabac=1 / ref=4 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x111 / me=umh / subme=10 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=120 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=6 / lookahead_threads=1 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / stitchable=1 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=16 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=240 / keyint_min=121 / scenecut=0 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=240 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=16.0 / qcomp=0.50 / qpmin=6 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / vbv_maxrate=20000 / vbv_bufsize=25000 / crf_max=0.0 / nal_hrd=vbr / filler=0 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:0.80
Default                        : Yes
Forced                         : No

Audio #1
ID                             : 2
Format                         : AAC LC SBR
Format/Info                    : Advanced Audio Codec Low Complexity with Spectral Band Replication
Commercial name                : HE-AAC
Format settings                : Explicit
Codec ID                       : A_AAC-2
Duration                       : 1 h 43 min
Channel(s)                     : 2 channels
Channel layout                 : L R
Sampling rate                  : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                     : 23.438 FPS (2048 SPF)
Compression mode               : Lossy
Title                          : English
Language                       : English
Default                        : Yes
Forced                         : No

Audio #25
ID                             : 26
Format                         : AAC LC SBR
Format/Info                    : Advanced Audio Codec Low Complexity with Spectral Band Replication
Commercial name                : HE-AAC
Format settings                : Explicit
Codec ID                       : A_AAC-2
Duration                       : 1 h 43 min
Channel(s)                     : 2 channels
Channel layout                 : L R
Sampling rate                  : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                     : 23.438 FPS (2048 SPF)
Compression mode               : Lossy
Title                          : Japanese
Language                       : Japanese
Default                        : No
Forced                         : No

Text #1
ID                             : 27
Format                         : UTF-8
Codec ID                       : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info                  : UTF-8 Plain Text
Title                          : English [Forced]
Language                       : English
Default                        : No
Forced                         : Yes



8-Bit H.264 VBR (no apparent issues):

Code:


General
Unique ID                      : 24759534312262648747099605548121601188 (0x12A0834A68211FE4EE9CFA01DD3E34A4)
Complete name                  : -
Format                         : Matroska
Format version                 : Version 4
File size                      : 3.02 GiB
Duration                       : 1 h 34 min
Overall bit rate mode          : Variable
Overall bit rate               : 4 580 kb/s
Encoded date                   : UTC 2020-07-06 12:12:16
Writing application            : mkvmerge v44.0.0 ('Domino') 64-bit
Writing library                : libebml v1.3.10 + libmatroska v1.5.2

Video
ID                             : 1
Format                         : AVC
Format/Info                    : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                 : Main@L4
Format settings                : CABAC / 3 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC         : Yes
Format settings, Reference fra : 3 frames
Codec ID                       : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration                       : 1 h 34 min
Bit rate mode                  : Variable
Bit rate                       : 3 830 kb/s
Maximum bit rate               : 5 745 kb/s
Width                          : 1 920 pixels
Height                         : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio           : 16:9
Frame rate mode                : Constant
Frame rate                     : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space                    : YUV
Chroma subsampling             : 4:2:0
Bit depth                      : 8 bits
Scan type                      : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)             : 0.077
Stream size                    : 2.51 GiB (83%)
Writing library                : x264 core 148 r2715 7e75228
Encoding settings              : cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x1:0x111 / me=umh / subme=10 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=24 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=0 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=8 / lookahead_threads=1 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / stitchable=1 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=2 / b_pyramid=0 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=0 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=48 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=3830 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.50 / qpmin=6 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / vbv_maxrate=5745 / vbv_bufsize=7660 / nal_hrd=vbr / filler=0 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Language                       : Japanese
Default                        : Yes
Forced                         : No

Audio #1
ID                             : 2
Format                         : E-AC-3
Format/Info                    : Enhanced AC-3
Commercial name                : Dolby Digital Plus
Codec ID                       : A_EAC3
Duration                       : 1 h 34 min
Bit rate mode                  : Constant
Bit rate                       : 640 kb/s
Channel(s)                     : 6 channels
Channel layout                 : L R C LFE Ls Rs
Sampling rate                  : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                     : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF)
Compression mode               : Lossy
Stream size                    : 433 MiB (14%)
Language                       : Japanese
Service kind                   : Complete Main
Default                        : Yes
Forced                         : No

Audio #2
ID                             : 3
Format                         : AAC LC SBR
Format/Info                    : Advanced Audio Codec Low Complexity with Spectral Band Replication
Commercial name                : HE-AAC
Format settings                : Explicit
Codec ID                       : A_AAC-2
Duration                       : 1 h 34 min
Bit rate                       : 128 kb/s
Channel(s)                     : 2 channels
Channel layout                 : L R
Sampling rate                  : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                     : 23.438 FPS (2048 SPF)
Compression mode               : Lossy
Stream size                    : 86.5 MiB (3%)
Language                       : Japanese
Default                        : No
Forced                         : No

Text #1
ID                             : 4
Format                         : ASS
Codec ID                       : S_TEXT/ASS
Codec ID/Info                  : Advanced Sub Station Alpha
Duration                       : 1 h 33 min
Bit rate                       : 41 b/s
Count of elements              : 580
Compression mode               : Lossless
Stream size                    : 28.7 KiB (0%)
Language                       : English
Default                        : No
Forced                         : No



10-Bit x265 CBR (no apparent issues):

Code:


General
Unique ID                      : 203286013910536778177064493611208386692 (0x98EF764F3C5D1DF5893D63F158BFA884)
Complete name                  : -
Format                         : Matroska
Format version                 : Version 4
File size                      : 4.14 GiB
Duration                       : 1 h 45 min
Overall bit rate               : 5 628 kb/s
Movie name                     : -
Encoded date                   : UTC 2020-02-26 03:26:11
Writing application            : mkvmerge v41.0.0 ('Smarra') 64-bit
Writing library                : libebml v1.3.9 + libmatroska v1.5.2

Video
ID                             : 1
Format                         : HEVC
Format/Info                    : High Efficiency Video Coding
Format profile                 : Main 10@L4@Main
Codec ID                       : V_MPEGH/ISO/HEVC
Duration                       : 1 h 45 min
Bit rate                       : 4 729 kb/s
Width                          : 1 920 pixels
Height                         : 1 040 pixels
Display aspect ratio           : 1.85:1
Frame rate mode                : Constant
Frame rate                     : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space                    : YUV
Chroma subsampling             : 4:2:0
Bit depth                      : 10 bits
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)             : 0.099
Stream size                    : 3.47 GiB (84%)
Writing library                : x265 3.3+1-g554c887ac:[Windows][MSVC 1924][64 bit] 10bit
Encoding settings              : cpuid=1111039 / frame-threads=3 / numa-pools=12 / wpp / no-pmode / no-pme / no-psnr / no-ssim / log-level=2 / input-csp=1 / input-res=1920x1040 / interlace=0 / total-frames=151314 / level-idc=0 / high-tier=1 / uhd-bd=0 / ref=4 / no-allow-non-conformance / no-repeat-headers / annexb / no-aud / no-hrd / info / hash=0 / no-temporal-layers / open-gop / min-keyint=23 / keyint=250 / gop-lookahead=0 / bframes=8 / b-adapt=2 / b-pyramid / bframe-bias=0 / rc-lookahead=80 / lookahead-slices=6 / scenecut=40 / hist-scenecut=0 / radl=0 / no-splice / no-intra-refresh / ctu=64 / min-cu-size=8 / rect / no-amp / max-tu-size=32 / tu-inter-depth=1 / tu-intra-depth=1 / limit-tu=0 / rdoq-level=2 / dynamic-rd=0.00 / no-ssim-rd / signhide / no-tskip / nr-intra=0 / nr-inter=0 / no-constrained-intra / strong-intra-smoothing / max-merge=3 / limit-refs=3 / limit-modes / me=3 / subme=3 / merange=57 / temporal-mvp / no-frame-dup / no-hme / weightp / no-weightb / no-analyze-src-pics / deblock=0:0 / sao / no-sao-non-deblock / rd=4 / selective-sao=4 / no-early-skip / rskip / no-fast-intra / no-tskip-fast / no-cu-lossless / no-b-intra / no-splitrd-skip / rdpenalty=0 / psy-rd=0.30 / psy-rdoq=1.00 / no-rd-refine / no-lossless / cbqpoffs=0 / crqpoffs=0 / rc=crf / crf=21.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpstep=4 / stats-write=0 / stats-read=0 / ipratio=1.40 / pbratio=1.30 / aq-mode=2 / aq-strength=1.00 / cutree / zone-count=0 / no-strict-cbr / qg-size=32 / no-rc-grain / qpmax=69 / qpmin=0 / no-const-vbv / sar=0 / overscan=0 / videoformat=5 / range=0 / colorprim=2 / transfer=2 / colormatrix=2 / chromaloc=0 / display-window=0 / cll=0,0 / min-luma=0 / max-luma=1023 / log2-max-poc-lsb=8 / vui-timing-info / vui-hrd-info / slices=1 / no-opt-qp-pps / no-opt-ref-list-length-pps / no-multi-pass-opt-rps / scenecut-bias=0.05 / hist-threshold=0.01 / no-opt-cu-delta-qp / no-aq-motion / no-hdr10 / no-hdr10-opt / no-dhdr10-opt / no-idr-recovery-sei / analysis-reuse-level=0 / analysis-save-reuse-level=0 / analysis-load-reuse-level=0 / scale-factor=0 / refine-intra=0 / refine-inter=0 / refine-mv=1 / refine-ctu-distortion=0 / no-limit-sao / ctu-info=0 / no-lowpass-dct / refine-analysis-type=0 / copy-pic=1 / max-ausize-factor=1.0 / no-dynamic-refine / no-single-sei / no-hevc-aq / no-svt / no-field / qp-adaptation-range=1.00 / no-scenecut-aware-qpconformance-window-offsets / right=0 / bottom=0
Default                        : Yes
Forced                         : No

Audio #1
ID                             : 2
Format                         : AAC LC
Format/Info                    : Advanced Audio Codec Low Complexity
Codec ID                       : A_AAC-2
Duration                       : 1 h 45 min
Bit rate                       : 441 kb/s
Channel(s)                     : 2 channels
Channel layout                 : L R
Sampling rate                  : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                     : 46.875 FPS (1024 SPF)
Compression mode               : Lossy
Delay relative to video        : 9 ms
Stream size                    : 332 MiB (8%)
Language                       : English
Default                        : Yes
Forced                         : No

Audio #2
ID                             : 3
Format                         : AAC LC
Format/Info                    : Advanced Audio Codec Low Complexity
Codec ID                       : A_AAC-2
Duration                       : 1 h 43 min
Bit rate                       : 433 kb/s
Channel(s)                     : 2 channels
Channel layout                 : L R
Sampling rate                  : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                     : 46.875 FPS (1024 SPF)
Compression mode               : Lossy
Delay relative to video        : 9 ms
Stream size                    : 321 MiB (8%)
Language                       : Japanese
Default                        : No
Forced                         : No



I did a stress test using the HP Assistant tool and it reported no issues (not sure about the details) but I haven't tried any of those other tools. If there's one in particular that you recommend I'll give it a shot.

Here's a screenshot of some of the artifacts from the 8-bit H.264 video:

And here's a screenshot from the 10-Bit H.264 one with the colored artifacts that I mentioned:

The artifacts in the 8-bit screenshot look like they could possibly be decoding related. With a damaged reference frame. Question is how did it get corrupted.

The colored artifacts really make me think there might be a hardware issue that results in data corruption. Looks like it happens after decoding. Maybe damaged system memory or GPU ram.

Do some more of those stress tests. Maybe consider returning the laptop while it still has warranty.

Also test with an external monitor or TV. Just to rule out a possible issue with the connection between GPU and laptop screen.

Okay, thank you. I tested the issue with an external monitor and had the same issues..
I'll do some more stress tests.

I finally figured out the issue!

So the file I've been having issues with was copied like this:
HDD (Machine 1) -> External HDD -> SSD (Machine 2)

I tested the file on Machine 2 both from the External HDD and the Internal SSD and both had issues.

I grabbed a flash drive, copied the same exact file from HDD (Machine 1) and...
1. Played the file with no issues from the flash drive.
2. Copied the file to the SSD and once again played the file without issues.

I then did a compare of both files:
1. Same exact size (11820441897 bytes (11 GiB))
2. Different SHA1 Checksum

File 1 (the good file):
E5693496FCC514897BFF85861A62B3FA3DFA37A3

File 2 (the corrupted file):
BD523B0C514F3E79B3EED3BE7552B2310D39922D

It appears that in the copy from the Machine 1 HDD to the External HDD that the file became corrupt.
I've never had this happen before, and I'm not even quite sure how that can happen, but the good news is that we've figured out what the issue is. My new laptop appears to be working correctly and is performing perfectly in every other aspect, so I guess it was just a bad copy.

File corruption had crossed my mind. But the colored artifacts look different than what is typical for a damaged file.

Yeah, luckily that's all it was.
I did a file compare of all my files and it was just those two that had become corrupt.
Anyways, thank you for the help, I definitely appreciate it!
Hopefully this post will help anyone else encountering similar issues.