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Im trying to play an Mp4 with raspbmc, but the video keeps freezing. The funny thing is that it always freezes at the same points of the file. When it freezes, the audio is still played, and i can skip forward then back, and it will regain the image and be fine. It happens fairly often though. Is this a known issue, and can it be fixed?

Update: here is the mediainfo text layout:

General
Complete name                            : F:\tv_show.mp4
Format                                   : MPEG-4
Format profile                           : Base Media
Codec ID                                 : isom
File size                                : 391 MiB
Duration                                 : 53mn 55s
Overall bit rate mode                    : Variable
Overall bit rate                         : 1 015 Kbps
Encoded date                             : UTC 2011-09-08 11:43:25
Tagged date                              : UTC 2011-09-08 11:43:25

Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : High@L3.1
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames                : 5 frames
Codec ID                                 : avc1
Codec ID/Info                            : Advanced Video Coding
Duration                                 : 53mn 55s
Bit rate                                 : 877 Kbps
Width                                    : 720 pixels
Height                                   : 402 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 23.976 fps
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.126
Stream size                              : 338 MiB (86%)
Writing library                          : x264 core 128 r2216 198a7ea
Encoding settings                        : cabac=1 / ref=5 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=umh / subme=8 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=18 / lookahead_threads=3 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=50 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=19.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Encoded date                             : UTC 2011-09-08 11:43:25
Tagged date                              : UTC 2011-09-08 11:43:25
Matrix coefficients                      : BT.709

Audio
ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : AAC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile                           : LC
Codec ID                                 : 40
Duration                                 : 53mn 55s
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Bit rate                                 : 132 Kbps
Maximum bit rate                         : 229 Kbps
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel positions                        : Front: L R
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 KHz
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Delay relative to video                  : 83ms
Stream size                              : 50.8 MiB (13%)
Encoded date                             : UTC 2011-09-08 11:43:25
Tagged date                              : UTC 2011-09-08 11:43:25
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  • Could you please tell us more about the file itself by installing mediainfo and running mediainfo your_file_name.mp4? – Morgan Courbet Dec 4 '12 at 9:20
  • @Morgan, I've updated the question with the mediainfo text output. – John Leehey Dec 4 '12 at 16:37
  • The RPi is able to handle such a file. Its bitrate isn't so high and I already played a 40 Mbps mkv video without any problem. Either you are playing the video from a laggy sd card/connection/USB flash drive, or the file is kinda corrupted. Did you try to play it from another device (regular PC, etc.)? – Morgan Courbet Dec 4 '12 at 21:27
  • @Morgan, yeah, I played it from both a desktop PC and another desktop XBMC console with no issues. My pi has played similar videos with no issues in the past... there is a new raspbmc update out today, I'll try and see if it helps. – John Leehey Dec 5 '12 at 0:01
  • When pressing o during the video playback, you have some details about the CPU load. What is it before and during the freeze? – Morgan Courbet Dec 5 '12 at 8:25
2

There are several reasons a video could freeze:

  • The player/device cannot handle high bitrate videos. But as I mentionned in the question comments, I already played a 40 Mbps mkv video and your video has a bitrate of 1015 Kbps (~ 1 Mbps).
  • The source (SD card, USB flash drive, network, etc.) is to slow to manage a 1-Mbps stream. Sounds weird, but possible.
  • The video has ASS/SSA styled subtitles. I had some problems with this kind of video. When the subtitles are disabled, the video is played smoothly (CPU is ~ 50 % busy). But when they are enabled, the CPU is fully loaded, and the player chokes.
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