Universal Media Server | Forum

Hi all, I have been using PS3 Media Server and UMS for about 5-6 years now and I have had the same issue with both that has bugged me since I first started using them.

I experience jittery/juddery playback when serving any MP4 file to my TV through either my PS3 or Blu-Ray player. It is distracting and tends to be most noticeable on camera pans or fast action and is fairly regular in frequency. I haven't noticed this on any other type of file that I have successfully played.

This has persisted through both PS3 Media Server and UMS on 2 different PCs and on 2 different renderers. I have tried many updates to both programs in the vain hope that one my eventually resolve the issue for me. Finally I have resorted to posting a thread.

Let me rule out some things:

I am using a wired 100Mbit connection so no wifi issues. I have had many different routers in this time - issue persists through all.

I have changed entire PCs and experienced the same issue - my current PC should be more than sufficient to rule out any hardware deficiencies. Old PC had an ATI graphics card the new has NVidia - still the issue persists.

Issue is exhibited using both my PS3 and my LG Blu-ray player as renderers.

The only constant is my Panasonic G20 42" plasma TV

However if I use Freemake Video Convertor to simply change the encoding of the files to MKV leaving all other settings defaulted the file plays without this jittery/juddery playback. This has been my workaround so far though I think the conversion loses some picture quality.

I have attached a debug log of the UMS playing an MP4 file - the file starts around 22.14.56 - but I have to admit virtually of the stuff in there means very little to me.

Sorry if this sounds like a newbie post but I have finally given up hope that a hardware/software update will resolve the issue.

Any help will be greatly welcomed.

I'm not a dev here or anything, but I've been using UMS just as long as you have and have tried various options over the years and I've found what tends to work best. You don't have to follow my suggestions of course as I'm not a professional at this kind of stuff, I just don't know when a dev will get back to you, I don't know what their real lives are like so it could be a while before you hear from one of them. I'm also dealing with my own set of issues that I have submitted to the forum and am still waiting for a response. In my case I'm fairly certain my computer is the culprit, I just need someone who knows how to read the logs to tell me what's going on.

I looked at your settings and have a suggestion that may work. Under 'General Configuration' enable the option that says 'Use automatic maximum bandwidth' That has worked for me in the past. Have you tried playing the file using another encoding engine like MEncoder or tsMuxer? If you haven't you should try one of those to see if they play the file without it being choppy. In your settings you have 'Hide the "Transcode" folder' selected, I would deselect that and when browsing your files on your PS3 or whatever open the transcode folder and a bunch of options will be there to try the other encoding engines.