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  • Stuttering issues (Index - Steam VR)

Hello,

I've tried many things and now have 4 to 7K videos playing OK - and according to the app at about 90fps but about every 5 secs the scenes kind of 'slow down' and stutter a bit for a few secs. Yet in the app it doesn't show the framerate dropping. I'm at a loss as how to fix this.

-all software/drivers up to date
-official HVEC codecs installed
-lav filters installed - and using Nvida Cuvid (tested all and this is working the best)

The only reason I even got the app to show supposedly 90 fps (is that only due to Steam VR's 'smoothing' option?) is to set the super sampling to 100% (exact resolution of the headset - 1600x1400) But they can't really be playing at 90fps and are definitely not very smooth...

Thanks for any suggestions!

    Forgot to mention - my hardware can surely handle this. RTX 2070, Ryzen 2700x, 16GB ram...

    noname128 Ok, so at one point I had almost the exact same setup and headset as you, so here are my suggestions and maybe they will help:

    1.) I assume you're talking about videos that you have downloaded, not just ones you are streaming? Which versions are you downloading, for example do you download the "Max 6/7/8k" version (for example it may be 8-15gb or something like that), or the full "Original" version that is much larger (usually 40+ gb)? Only ask since if it's the full "Original" version, it could just be that the very high bitrate is causing your 2070 to struggle a bit.

    2.) Have you tried turning on "DirectShow" in the menu on the right hand side of DeoVR? I've found for quite a few different videos and some studios in particular this will help to make the video play smoothly as intended.

    3.) I've also found with SteamVR and DeoVR that if I don't minimize the mirrored window of DeoVR on my actual desktop monitor, that it can cause some choppiness in my headset playback. So try minimizing the mirrored window on your desktop.

    Hopefully one of these might help.

      justsomedude101
      Thanks for the feedback. I am taking about downloads and not streaming - and I don't download the huge "original" files.

      Direct Show is on within the app- actually seems forced on.

      I have also minimized it on my monitor too.
      So I'm guessing there still has to be settings somewhere - something with steam VR or nvidia control panel? I still don't know if monitor settings like for gsync affect vr hmds or not.

        noname128 Hmm, the monitor settings like gsync/vsync would not effect the headset, and I have SteamVR set to the same options with automatic "smoothing" and 100% super sampling, so not sure it would be that either.

        I'd listen to Philip before you take a look at any of the below, but a few more suggestions.

        You mentioned that DirectShow seems "forced on". For me, it's just an on/off toggle like all of the other settings in DeoVR, sort of greyed out when off and lit up green (or maybe lit up blue? going from memory here) when on. Are you able to turn it off? Because just like DirectShow can help certain videos play more smoothly, it can sometimes have the opposite effect on other videos.

        Have you tried playing videos in any other apps? Maybe try downloading SLR's app (which is virtually identical to DeoVR), or better yet another free VR player like Play'a or something similar. That might at least help narrow it down to potentially being a Steam or settings issue vs a GPU or hardware decoding issue.

          Philip you mean i klite lav filters? I've tried each combination. Nvidia cuvid seems to work the best

            justsomedude101
            In the app I'll switch off the direct show filter and it will just come back on. Or if in Whirligig I try a different media path I get some kind of v9 error message. I have tried the SLR app and Playa and I don't notice any difference in performance

              noname128 Sadly the last idea I have is to uninstall your HVEC codecs and LAV filters, restart your system, and reinstall both. If that doesn't work, hopefully Philip or the support team can help you out, and imagine there are at least a few different subreddits that you could post on that might be able to help you out.

              noname128 If you go to windows task manager with your video playing on the background, is GPU loaded?

                noname128 In the app I'll switch off the direct show filter and it will just come back on

                I was in the EXACT same situation as you. Using the Index/Steam VR, RTX 2070, I had the LAV filters installed (using the recommended link from the DeoVR/SLR App), and "Direct Show" was always forced on, and any video around 3000p or greater would stutter every few seconds, yet the frame rate reported by SLR App stayed high.

                This is what I did to fix my situation:
                Uninstalled the recommended LAV filters (do not reinstall)
                Installed the "K-Lite Standard" codec pack from https://codecguide.com/download_kl.htm (left all settings default during and after installation, no need to change anything at all.)
                Uninstalled "HEVC Video Extensions from Device Manufacturer" from the Windows Store
                Uninstalled "HEVC Video Extensions" from the Windows Store
                Re-installed only "HEVC Video Extensions" from the Windows Store

                After that, I was able to turn off Direct Show and it would stay turned off. And all 3000p+ videos have played smoothly since then (downloaded, not streamed).

                  MikeTheTV
                  great suggestions! I followed them exactly and it didn't help 🙁 .... like direct show is still forced on in DeoVR

                    noname128 Aw, bummer. Sorry. I don't know what else to suggest except maybe to reboot between uninstall/install steps? Hopefully someone from SLR can be more helpful.

                    9 months later

                    I had a similiar problem, my hardware is HP Reverb G1 + i7 4790K + GTX3090. SLR app played all local videos just fine, but streaming videos higher than 2160 resulted in stuttering every few seconds, now I found out that this streaming-stuttering only happens if H264 codec was selected. If you start playing a video, open menu for this video, then in the title bar you can select codec H264 or H265. After selecting H265 streaming is totally smooth, even in highest resolutions like 3840, so make sure to select H265, meanwhile I have uninstalled all codecs like LAV-filter and in Settings, Developer, DirectShow ist deactivated, but I have Microsoft Media Foundation Codecs installed. I think using LAV-filter and DirectShow instead of Microsoft Media Foundation would work too, but the crucial point for me was to select H265 instead of H264!!!

                      wuccer That's correct. Hardware decoders (your graphics card) can decode h264 up to

                      • 3,840×2,160@120 (TV 16:9)
                      • 4,096×2,048@120 (VR 2:1)

                      Anything beyond that will be decoded on your CPU. You need server grade systems to do this smoothly. Though the latest desktop CPU's are getting there too.

                      I suggest always using h265 if you can, even for the lower resolutions.
                      Browsers can not play h265 so there you are stuck to '4K' h264 max.

                      Your GPU can decode h265 up to

                      • 8,192×4,320@120

                      There are still differences between the GPU cards ofc. It's not always as simple as just looking at the resolution. But any Nvidia 1650 and newer should be able to run all h265 videos on SLR. That's not up to us. The codec chip is literally, physically a different one than older Nvidia cards.


                      wuccer
                      i7 4790K + GTX3090 is quite a mismatch 🙂 The GPU performance is seriously crippled by the CPU here.

                        Rakly3 Thank you very much for these specific details, now all makes sense