Why cant I play large 4k video files?

[skatethiest]

FX-8350 Black edition
R9 390
16g Ram


I usually use Plex as my media server but obvioulsy im getting huge lag there. But even when I try to play the file locally in VLC, it stutters and buffers. Is my setup just not powerful enough to transcode that bitrate (10+mbs)?

 

[Rhinofart]

What is your storage system? The CPU and GPU should be powerful enough to crunch that data. BUT, if they are not getting the data quick enough that could be the cause of your issues.

 

[schaft]

Although I never play 4k video, but I can firmly answer its not your cpu, gpu and ram fault, they are still decent set up. It mostly your HDD which either not working properly or unable to keep up with the 4k data rate demand.

 

[skatethiest]

I have a kingston SSD that I load programs from and some basic mechanical drives for storage. I believe 3tb WD 7200rpm If I remember correctly

 

[Shaun o]

I think just like the other two posters, it could be hard drive related.

You have not said what version of windows you are running on your system though.
Have you downloaded and installed a H 264 or H 265 video codec and installed it on your system .
For 4k playback ?

I presume you just downloaded Vlc player for playback.

 

[skatethiest]

I tried doing a generic codec pack but im not sure if it is working correctly. Im afraid im not familiar at all with updating the codecs. If there is a video or method you recommend I would definitely appreciate it!

Running windows 10!

 

[TMTOWTSAC]

Are you running VLC with or without hardware acceleration enabled?

 

[skatethiest]

I tried all 3 options and there was no difference.

 

[Shuffy]

Have you tried media player classic with the codec pack. From experience its a better player and more options for codes

 

[Shuffy]

Have you tried media player classic with the codec pack. From experience its a better player and more options for codes. Also a good test is to fire up YouTube and play 4k from there if that works then you know it's your drive

 

[Ecky]

I wouldn't rule out CPU or GPU, even if it's unlikely. If you're playing a format which your 390 doesn't have hardware decoding for, it will fall back on your CPU. If the software decoder running on your CPU isn't effectively multi-threaded, the FX-8350 has similar IPC to an Intel CPU released in ~2008. Finding a better codec could help with this, or getting your movies in another format.

I agree that hard drive is more likely though. If the bit rate of the video is larger than your drive's read speed, it won't play smoothly.

 

[skatethiest]

The file I am trying to play is a 21g .MKV. Ive had no issues playing the smaller ones before. BItrate is around 30mbs.

Ive tried putting on my kingston SSD with 180mbs read/133 mbs write and same exact issues..... damn....

 

[skatethiest]

Yea the 4k vids on youtube play perfectly..I tried loading to file onto my SSD and I got the same issue. 180mb read and 135 mb write on that drive......its a 21gb MKV. Never have issues with the normal size MKVs...

 

[TMTOWTSAC]

In your Input/Codecs preferences, is it set to Preload MKV files in the same directory?

 

[skatethiest]

I tried both on and off and nothing in VLC.


UPDATE******* - I downloaded the latest version of media codecs and was able to get the videos to play in "movies/tv" (Windows media player) But I cant find a codec for VLC that works. h.265 encoding is whats going on! SO i guess this is a codec issue and not a hardware issue. Partially solved?

 

[Shuffy]

pretty sure this will work google it .. Ninite K-Lite Codecs Unattended Silent Installer and Updater

more info

This next-generation video format/codec H.265/HEVC is one of the best and more advanced codecs than the current popular format H.264. It's named HEVC which stands for High Efficiency Video Codec and offers much better compression when comparing with H.264 (Lower file size, far better quality).

If you want to play this smoothly, you need to use a device/PC with at least dual-core processor. You have to update your player to latest version. Also if you use your PC to watch it, installing LAV Filter will help you a lot if you want to use KMPlayer or PotPlayer. Many updated players have native support for the codec.

If your Device doesn't support H.265 you can try updating your firmware or you can hook your Laptop or x265 compatible device to the TV with HDMI or Wireless connection and stream the video.

Smart TV's: Some modern and advanced TVs can play these files directly. These have all played correclty on a Vizio M43-C1. HEVC playback is supposed to be a requirement for all 4K TVs as well.

Older/Slower/Bad computers can try: Which reported success on an Pentium 4 with GForce 210!
http://hevcvideo.xp3.biz/other/MPC-HC_hardware_decoding.mp4

Download:
Media Player Classic - http://mpc-hc.org/ (RECOMMENDED)
VLC - http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
KMPlayer - http://www.kmplayer.com/
Pot Player - http://potplayer.daum.net/
LAV Filters - https://github.com/Nevcairiel/LAVFilters/releases (if you like tweaking, otherwise don't worry about it)

Windows Sound:
A tip for users, Windows stupidly defaults all audio to 2ch. For the best experience you need to adjust your sound settings in several locations.
Playback Devices-> Configure - Set to match your phyical speaker set up.
Playback Devices-> Properties-> Advanced - Increase sound output fidelity to your liking.
LAC Audio Decoder-> Mixing - Set speaker configuation to physical.



To play on Android, use MX Player

Mac
HEVC 4K Ultra HD Media Player VLC for Mac OS X
http://www.libde265.org/blog/2014/04/02/hevc-4k-ultra-hd-media-player-vlc-for-mac-os-x/

More info:
http://x265.org/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Efficiency_Video_Coding