.MP4 playing problems

[Don]

All .mp4 files I have stutter every 5-10 seconds. eg: no sound and picture freeze for about 1/4 second.
All my .avi and .mkv video play very nicely.
I'm playing them off usb thumb drives.

I haven't updated anything since opening the box 5 days ago.
Is there a problem with mpeg4 format or is there something I need to do ?

[snappy46]

Are those files X264/H264 encoded? I had issues with that encoding and MP4 container when playing them over the network. They do work fine when played locally (Thumb drive) however. Could you provide encoding information of those files; I recommend using mediainfo (google is your friend) for that purpose and post information over here. MP4 is only a video container many different encoding schemes are possible with that video container.

Cheers !!!

[Don]

I installed mediainfo and did the text output. Here it is

General
Complete name : I:\Grisslys.Millions.1945.VHSRip.H264-VHDVD.mp4
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media
Codec ID : isom
File size : 425 MiB
Duration : 1h 11mn
Overall bit rate : 828 Kbps
Movie name : Grisslys.Millions.1945.VHSRip.H264-VHDVD.mp4
Writing application : Lavf52.78.3

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L3.0
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 3 frames
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 1h 11mn
Bit rate : 694 Kbps
Width : 640 pixels
Height : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4:3
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.075
Stream size : 356 MiB (84%)
Writing library : x264 core 98 Ubuntu_2:0.98.1653+git88b90d9-3ubuntu2
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=hex / subme=7 / 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=6 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=1 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=23.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00

Audio
ID : 2
Format : MPEG Audio
Format version : Version 1
Format profile : Layer 3
Codec ID : 6B
Duration : 1h 11mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 128 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Delay relative to video : -2s 2ms
Stream size : 65.7 MiB (15%)

------------

Other info
Thumb drive - 32gig Kingston DataTraveler 101 usb2.0
Another thumb drive - 16gig Kingston DataTraveler 101 G2
I format the thumb drives and remove any software that came on them. Hope that's not a problem.

PBO - settings, help info
Android version 2.2
Kernel version 2.6.32.9-default, vivianli@mb86m1x#28
Build Number svafcpooc

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I've tried it on another TV and it stuttered there too (both Panasonic TVs)
I can list other files (specific lines) for comparison if that would help.

[Don]

The problem has gone away.
I've spent the last 2 hours retesting and the only jitter I get is very rarely 1/4 sec pause in the first 15 seconds but then no more pauses.
I've swapped around the hdmi cable and removed the thumb drive from a D-link hub, put it in both front and back PBO usb ports but the problem has gone away on all 10 .mp4 that were a problem just 2 days ago.
I'll post a follow up if I find out what caused it.
Thanks

[courtntan]

I have the same problem, only with MP4 files. I have an older home box office that plays everything, this new alpine seems to be a step back. I've upgraded to the latest firmware, still no luck. I bought this for an older family member mainly because how simple my older one was, and it's been nothing but problems. Help please.

[Don]

I had the mp4 stutter, that went away. 3 weeks later it broke over night and nothing would play. It wanted me to click on "force close".
I installed firmware 2012-05-30 and the force close went away, but the stutter came back. I again installed 2012-05-30 with no change. The pause and play, audio, volume display in the top left corner never went away when shown. I could backout and then continue the video to get rid of it. I could live with that, but not the stutter so I tried versions 2012-03-30, 2012-04-17 but none removed the stutter.
I tired 2 versions of the matrix firmware, but they both had "force close" and would not play video files.
So went back to 2012-05-30 version with the stutter.

**** I got rid of the stutter but not sure what did it ****
Here are some of the things I did after the install that must have reset something.
Privacy - erase all (reset to factory settings).
Set date and time (this is what I did 3 weeks ago, so this might be it?)
Browse some of the files (found out init.skyviia.rc = 5.74kb if that means anything)

I now have no stutter, and the pause/play, volume, audio top left display is clearing out properly. I didn't pray at any time, so don't bother trying that.

[courtntan]

Haha, ya I skipped the praying too. I never set the time and date so I'll try it. Could it be that easy?!

[bkwashby]

Does anyone else have this problem? Anytime I'm playing a 5.1DD encoded MP4 video file my Alpine recognize the 5.1 as 2.0 and outputs it as 2.0 via HDMI . This problem happends with all the stock firmware and only happens with MP4 files, I haven't tried it with the Matrix FW's. I've tried all the little tricks mentioned above and it doesn't fix the video jittering or my audio issue? My audio output is set to HDMI RAW fyi.

[courtntan]

So I went back to mine tonight to try again. Played an mp4, it glitched once then played perfectly. I tried another mp4, played perfectly. Seems mine cured itself as well. I'm happy to see it, all I did was moved to the rear USB slot instead of the front. Not sure what's happened but I can't say I'm disappointed.