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DanDigital
join:2001-02-20
Henderson, NV

DanDigital

Member

Can you stop Windows Media Player from skipping?

I have Windows Media Player 7.1 with the updated security patch. I have ZoneAlarm configured to stop WMP from accessing the Internet.

I also have a 500 MHz PIII with 384MB RAM and a cable modem.

Is it possible to stop Windows Media Player from skipping while I surf the 'Net? It seems like every time I load a new web page in my IE browser, the song I am playing skips for a few seconds and then the page loads and the song goes back to normal.

Is there anything I can do or is this a CPU issue?

Dan

rtoday
join:2000-11-05
California

rtoday

Member

CD or sound file? USB interface? What OS?
Hope these might help --

Some CD tips at:
»support.microsoft.com/de ··· ;q274355

Some USB tips at:
»support.microsoft.com/de ··· ;q263218

If OS is XP, some things to try at:
»support.microsoft.com/de ··· ;q307918
»support.microsoft.com/de ··· ;Q306317

auggy
Mod
join:2001-12-24
Brockville, ON

auggy to DanDigital

Mod

to DanDigital
If you haven't already try updating your sound card drivers.

Also if you haven't already upgrade to the latest version of DirectX.
Try this9
Premium Member
join:2002-05-05
Infinity

Try this9 to DanDigital

Premium Member

to DanDigital
Yep. Stop running the sound over the IDE and PCI bus. Unfortunately WMP defaults to this configuration when installed to make the "visualizations" work. That also forces the D-to-A to happen by your CPU rather than offload to the soundcard. To get analog or digital passthrough to the soundcard back do this:

1. Buy a three wire analog CD audio cable or two wire digital CD S/PDIF cable (5 volt cable, different from external S/PDIF, Frys has them for $5 »shop1.outpost.com/produc ··· /2754483) and connect it between the three/two wire port on your CD-ROM or DVD and the three/two wire Analog/Digital CD "in" port on your sound card (Soundblaster Live or Audigy have the digital CD in port).

2. Go into device manager for your CD ROM or DVD and enable analog and/or digital S/PDIF port output (disable digital audio extraction over the IDE cable) by unchecking "enable digital CD audio for this CD ROM device". Zen test here, "digital" is referring to DAE, not the S/PDIF port. Two completely different digital outputs types from the CD ROM / DVD.

3. Go into WMP CD audio tab under options and uncheck "digital playback" to disable the processor-based D-to-A and re-enable analog and/or digital S/PDIF passthrough to your sound card. Again, "digital" here is referring to DAE and not the CD S/PDIF digital. This step will kill your WMP visualizations.

4. Turn on your software volume control applet with the control panel->sounds and multimedia->"show volume control on the taskbar" applet. Then open the applet from the tray and go to "options" then "properties" to turn the analog CD and/or digital CD sliders back on. WMP disables the "CD Digital" one completely when WMP is installed, and resets the main slider to a very low volume level when you uncheck the "digital playback" box in WMP. You won't have a "CD Digital" slider option unless you sound card supports it with an oncard two wire port and you have installed the drivers (the soundblaster drivers add the CD Digital slider).

5. Make sure "CD Audio" (for analog) and "CD Digital" (for digital) are checked to show the sliders. Say OK. Go to the applet sliders and make sure both "CD digital" and "CD Audio" are un-muted and sliders are up. Bring the main "play control" slider back up to undo what WMP did. Then re-mute either the analog to digital slider since the same sound would come in on both. Digital sounds better.

6. Reboot and play! Your skipping will be gone because the sound now goes directly from your CD ROM analog (if 3 wire) or S/PDIF digital (if two wire) ports to your sound card, bypassing the IDE/PCI buss and processor - and all the bursty computer buss traffic like your web browser talking to the network card that can interfere with continuous audio streams. The D-to-A now happens using the sound card's high quality D-to-A converter. The downside is the you will loose your visualizations in WMP. That is the tradeoff to consider: visualizations or skip-free purely digital signal path audio using high quality D-to-A converters.

[text was edited by author 2002-07-07 01:18:32]

DanDigital
join:2001-02-20
Henderson, NV

DanDigital

Member

Thanks for the input you guys... unfortunately the skipping I am referring to is while I am playing back MP3 files straight from my hard drive... any tips on reducing the skipping there?

Dan

Bach
Premium Member
join:2002-02-16
Flint, MI

Bach

Premium Member

On the media player I'm using, there are some suggestions in the help file; I'm using 6.4 rather than the 7.1 that you're using but give this a try anyway:

In media player, do a Help -> Help Topics -> Find tab -> enter search text "MP3 skip", then pick the topic on changing MP3 decoder settings. Hope it helps.

I'm running a similar speed box, 550 MHz PIII, 256MB ram, Win2K but haven't run into MP3 skipping yet.

FrankF$
Premium Member
join:2001-01-14

FrankF$ to DanDigital

Premium Member

to DanDigital
My guess is that it's a CPU / memory problem. Not really a 'problem'. You might need a new PC to fix it. When I play a MP3 using WMP and have IE running, CPU usage is sitting around 75%. If I access a webpage while MP3 is playing, CPU usage momentarily jumps to 100%. I don't hear an audible skip or pause though.
(Windows XP Home, AMD K6-2/400, 320MB RAM).

MacGyver

join:2001-10-14
Vancouver, BC
·TELUS
Actiontec T3200M
Arcadyan WE410443-TS
Sipura SPA-2102

MacGyver to DanDigital

to DanDigital
I used to have this problem big-time on my old P2/233. Surfing with DSL, the MP3's would constantly skip playing in WinAmp. I thought WinAmp was the issue, but other MP3 players I tried didn't make any difference.

Eventually, I narrowed down the problem: it ended up being that the NIC card my ISP gave me for free (a PCI DLink 530TX+) was a drain on the CPU, so every time data started flowing through it, it choked the CPU and the MP3's playing would skip. I solved the problem by junking the DLink (which somebody told me my ISP buys in bulk for $4 each) and dropping in an old used PCI 3Com900. MP3's NEVER skipped again! And this on the slowest Pentium 2 ever made! I agree with FrankF that this is a hardware issue, but I don't think a whole new computer is warranted! Especially when your computer is more than twice as powerful as my old one.

Hope this helps!

DanDigital
join:2001-02-20
Henderson, NV

DanDigital

Member

Thanks for the help you guys. I have a new computer coming to me via UPS as we speak! My new motherboard will have an integrated LAN card so hopefully this problem will be finished forever!

Dan

maxstealth
Rice Rice Baby
join:2001-12-21
Kelowna, BC

maxstealth to DanDigital

Member

to DanDigital
I've always had that problem with WMP, I use Real Player now and I never have a problem.
Try this9
Premium Member
join:2002-05-05
Infinity

Try this9 to DanDigital

Premium Member

to DanDigital
Oops.:o Bad assumption on my part (CD). Sorry about that!

One of those Dlink 530TX cards I had at one time had the highest PCI bus latency I had ever seen in a NIC - 128 clocks. The 3Com's are usually 32-64 clocks. Run SiSoft Sandra and see what your NIC latency is.

DanDigital
join:2001-02-20
Henderson, NV

DanDigital

Member

I would but I only have the free version of Sisoft Sandra. The Network Summary module is not available.

Dan