Hi All
With all the problems of stuttering video and audio streams I see logged on the forums I thought I would pass on one of my secret tools that help me imeasureably when I'm building an HTPC. I have built quite a few systems for people now and there is one tool I just cannt do without. The tool is called "dpclat" and you can download it from Here http://www.thesycon.de/eng/latency_check.shtml.
This tool is totally invaluable when building these systems because Basically what it does is monitor the machines device drivers to see if there are any crappy ones that you are or have installed that could increase latencacies in DPCs which cause drop outs in video and audio.
I have this running on my system all the time and make sure it's the first program I install post first boot up, there is also compatibility with Windows 8 in the latest version and it also works on WHS2011.
I've taken a extract from the web site below and there is a good .pdf doc at the bottom of the link page http://www.thesycon.de/eng/latency_check.shtml.
believe me that if you have stuttering video and/or audio problems then this little tool could save you a lot of headaches, the only thing that it does not do is identify the problem driver, so it's a case of inspector Clueso in the Device Manager
"If any kernel-mode device driver in your Windows system is implemented improperly and causes excessive latencies of Deferred Procedure Calls (DPCs) then drop-outs will probably occur when you use real-time audio or video streaming applications. For an explanation of this effect see Background information below.
The DPC Latency Checker tool determines the maximum DPC latency that occurs on your Windows system and thus enables you to check the real-time capabilities of your computer. DPC Latency Checker works independently of any external hardware. Using this tool may be helpful in the following situations:
- You experience interruptions (drop-outs) in a flow of data processed in real-time, for example an audio stream, video stream or a sequence of measuring data, and you want to find out the reason for this problem.
- You want to verify that your Windows system is configured properly so that it is capable of handling real-time data transfer before you install the corresponding streaming application.
- You want to check if a particular computer system is suitable for streaming applications, for example before you buy this system.
In many cases DPC latency problems are caused by specific types of devices. So you should try the device types listed below first.
- Network adapters for Ethernet and Wireless LAN (W-LAN)
- Internal modems
- Internal sound devices (on-board sound systems)
- Any PCI or PCI Express add-on card, any PCCard or ExpressCard, e.g. TV tuner cards, ISDN or DSL adapters, modems, etc.
Have fun and I hope there are no surprises when you run this
Mysticpete