Video skips in JW Library

[bigvince]

We started experiencing these skips in the last few weeks, especially during songs, the video will skip, it seems to always be around the same time in each song. This is in JW Library on Windows 10. It has happened on other videos as well, but mostly songs. We haven't installed any windows updates lately or installed any new software.

[On the huh]

This is odd because if nothing has changed, then all should be the same.

You say that no updates nor software has been installed, but could somebody else have.  Not to accuse anyone, but even though I have responsibility of the KH laptop, sometimes I find somebody has been changing things.  Gotta love your brothers!

[bigvince]

2 minutes ago, Jonathan77 said:

This is odd because if nothing has changed, then all should be the same.

You say that no updates nor software has been installed, but could somebody else have.  Not to accuse anyone, but even though I have responsibility of the KH laptop, sometimes I find somebody has been changing things.  Gotta love your brothers!

It's possible someone changed something, but I'm not sure what would affect video playback like that. We've had a variety of problems from day 1 with JW Library. At first, I thought this was just one more such problem.

[On the huh]

Checking for updated display drivers would be my first thing to try.  Go to their website to get the latest.

[bigvince]

Thanks, Jonathan, I'll give that a try.

[Mitchell Llora]

We were experiencing the same issue at our KH. I tested with several laptops, reinstalled Windows, installed all updates and drivers and even tried connecting directly from the laptop to a TV, but the issue kept happening. The solution I found was to go into the JW Library app settings when the skipping started, turn off "Play videos on second display" and then turn it right back on again. I hope this helps you.

[Qapla]

Are you using any of the SoundBox programs/apps? 

 

If so, make sure they are set in "Compatibility" mode

[bigvince]

14 hours ago, Mitchell Llora said:

We were experiencing the same issue at our KH. I tested with several laptops, reinstalled Windows, installed all updates and drivers and even tried connecting directly from the laptop to a TV, but the issue kept happening. The solution I found was to go into the JW Library app settings when the skipping started, turn off "Play videos on second display" and then turn it right back on again. I hope this helps you.

I’ll give that a try. Thanks. 

@qalpa, I’m only using jw library. 

[bigvince]

Just an update, turning that setting off then back on did not help. Thanks for trying.

[On the huh]

What resolution videos do you use.  720p?  Try 480 and see if that makes a difference.

[bigvince]

I'm pretty sure we use 720, I'll give that a try. Thanks.

[jwhess]

Are you streaming the video or is it playing from a downloaded file?

[bigvince]

Downloaded.

[For Hire 24]

you say that you haven't done any windows updates...could that be the problem...the latest update is 1803.

easiest way to check is ..start..run..type "winver" in the run window ( without quotes) and this will show you which windows 10 version you have.

Also make sure you have latest jw library update with study bible.

[jwhess]

Our KH has a little HP laptop running the 2nd school.  Sunday it would not work.  Won't accept the Win 10 update (to 1803).  Now it won't update the JW Library either.  It has reached its "end-of-life" time.  We bought a new one this week.

[On the huh]

Not running the latest Windows or JW Library won't explain why video is skipping when it was working perfectly before.  Not having the latest JWL may mean you can't get the study bible etc.  You can still use JWL v9 and get all the meeting publications and videos, just not the study bible.

 

Brother John's problem is strange too.  Not being able to update to 1803 should not prevent getting updates for JW Library.   1607 or higher is all that is needed for JWL.

 

I'm wondering if something is taking up your processor's time.  720p takes more computing power than 480p to process.  Malware/virus could be eating away at your cpu causing it to slow down and not able to play videos at 720p without skipping.

[bigvince]

5 hours ago, Jonathan77 said:

Not running the latest Windows or JW Library won't explain why video is skipping when it was working perfectly before.  Not having the latest JWL may mean you can't get the study bible etc.  You can still use JWL v9 and get all the meeting publications and videos, just not the study bible.

 

Brother John's problem is strange too.  Not being able to update to 1803 should not prevent getting updates for JW Library.   1607 or higher is all that is needed for JWL.

 

I'm wondering if something is taking up your processor's time.  720p takes more computing power than 480p to process.  Malware/virus could be eating away at your cpu causing it to slow down and not able to play videos at 720p without skipping.

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We have a new 23" dell all in one, I know JWL is the latest version, need to run some windows updates though. I'll try that and let Y'all know how it goes.

[jwhess]

Two things came up this week.  Neither happened to me or my Hall.  One was an instance of the video attempting to play 2 copies of the same video at the same time (stuttering out of sync).  Don't know why.  The other was a report from our regional video brother (from our RC) who is friends with my Son-in-law who is his assistant.  He had an example of windows loading less than acceptable video drivers after updating.  It made playback a problem.  He replaced the drivers and things work OK now.  Just curious and may not apply to Br. Vince's problem.

[Bortz]

We are seeing this in a couple halls recently that have been trying to use JWLIB in place of Soundbox.  Soundbox is not having the same problem. In fact it’s not doing this at all.  We are using a desktop that’s definitely equipped with enough power but we are considering upgrading them to SSD drives.  Has anyone been successful with any changes?  Task manager is not even close to spiking when playing a video.  The spots where they are seeing the clipping are random also.  It’s never the same spot. They made sure that they were playing the downloaded videos and not streams too. 

[On the huh]

There is a new update to JW Library - 10.5.  See if this helps with your video problem.

[For Hire 24]

As one previous comment stated, there may be something else running which is hogging most of your cpu. Suggest that you open task manager using Ctrl , shift, ( hold both ) then press esc, this will open task manager, click on startup tab to see what programmes or apps are opening when you boot up the pc and uncheck any that are not needed. Then click on processes tab to see what %age your cpu is running at and if it is high what process is using most of your processor capacity.

Hope it helps Bro.

[Hedley]

I don't know if it's helpful, but I've heard a couple of similar reports in recent months - not in our hall, but locally. The problem doesn't manifest however when using other programs, so when those congregations have gone back Soundbox, or used JWL Helper, Windows Media Player or VLC Player, then it works fine.

 

This tends to indicate it's less likely to be a hardware problem, and more likely an underlying issue with the way JW Library uses the UWP (Universal Windows Platform) to cast the videos, which (for whatever reason!) can cause stuttering on some PCs. The app is improving with every update, so hopefully a future update might resolve it.

 

Something else to try in the meantime is to check your Anti-Virus software (even if it's just Windows Defender) and exclude the folder where the video media files are stored.

By default this is :-

%userprofile%\Videos\JWLibrary

 

... or you can run JW Library, click SETTINGS (bottom left) and see which folder "Download videos to" is set to.

[For Hire 24]

Another thing which helped a nearby congregation, is to prevent "one-drive" from starting automatically and running all the time.

[bigvince]

On 7/6/2018 at 3:29 AM, Hedley said:

I don't know if it's helpful, but I've heard a couple of similar reports in recent months - not in our hall, but locally. The problem doesn't manifest however when using other programs, so when those congregations have gone back Soundbox, or used JWL Helper, Windows Media Player or VLC Player, then it works fine.

 

This tends to indicate it's less likely to be a hardware problem, and more likely an underlying issue with the way JW Library uses the UWP (Universal Windows Platform) to cast the videos, which (for whatever reason!) can cause stuttering on some PCs. The app is improving with every update, so hopefully a future update might resolve it.

 

Something else to try in the meantime is to check your Anti-Virus software (even if it's just Windows Defender) and exclude the folder where the video media files are stored.

By default this is :-

%userprofile%\Videos\JWLibrary

 

... or you can run JW Library, click SETTINGS (bottom left) and see which folder "Download videos to" is set to.

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I'll check that out at our next meeting.

[For Hire 24]

Is "one drive" ( microsoft's cloud service )..running ?   if so stop the service and try again...😎