YASGP - Yet Another Sound Gap Problem
 

High !

I know this has been discussed for a long time now and I've been around the forums to find a solution but nothing seems to solve my problem.

When playing mp3 files in winamp 5 ( latest version ) I have small latencies and gaps during playback.

So ive been looking here
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=166479 (which was quite fun BTW)
and here
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread....26#post1212926

errrr... and here tooo since I use some sblive crap soundcard :D
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread....threadid=72515

Then here cause i have a sblive .....
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=49692
but I couldnt find any trace of gen_nomad.dll ( I probably deleted it in one of my earlier - however unsuccessfull - attempt to solve this problem with winamp )

Here too cause I have a sblive crap again :cry:
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=50447
.... I found out that i had removed the audio codec from creative and use Fraunhofer mp3 codec


So here's what i've done so far.

Uninstalled Winamp completely from my machine ( including any plugin ). Reinstalled a clean latest version.

Winamp -> Prefs (Ctrl+P) -> Plugins -> Output -> DirectSound -> config:

Selected my sound card as the device ($B Live! Audio (crap))
Checkmarked "enable hardware acceleration"

Buffering tab:
-Checkmark "enable cpu usage control"

Added some value to the "Buffer Ahead on Track Change" slider. Now its on 517 ms
main buffer length = 2000ms
prebuffer length = 500ms

Checked enable CPU usage control.



Nothing is solved yet ... I still get these really annoying litle lags while playback.
My cpu is at 3% during playback and my ram is at less than 40% usage even whean having around ten program widows opened ...

MY config is the following

P4 2.4 G
around 800 MB RAM
ASUS Motherboard ( bought last year) I can give you the exact model if you want
80 GIG maxtor disks
SB Live audio (crap) sound card
creative Gforce 3 graphics card (dunno what the model is again ... )


The sound quality is perfect. the litle lags are quite insignificant for someone that hears a song for the first time ... but when you focus a litle it really becomes clear. moreover I listen to a lot of binary repetitive music AKA techno ... and a gaps like this really ruins it ...

So my appologies again for bothering you with such a known issue ... but I really desperately need a litle help ...

Thanks for your help :rolleyes:

And you've checkmarked "remove silence..." (out_ds > config > Other tab)?

As suggested in the one and only relevant thread...

From the Troubleshooters sticky:

Gapless Playback
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=158316


You might also need to increase Buffer Ahead value a bit more (eg. mine's at 750ms),
but if 'remove silence' is disabled, then that'll be your problem...
seeing mp3 is encoded with silence at the beginning and end (a flaw in an old technology).

YASGP - again
 

Thanks for your reply egg

Ok I checked the remove silence thing and no improvement

Just to precise something : the litle litle gaps don't occur at the end of a song but really in the middle of it and many times ... litle latencies and cracks ...

So i'm not sure if the silence at the beginning and end of the track has something to do with it ..

my "ah3ead" buffer is now at 750 like yours ... no improvement ..

Is there any codec issues that i should take into condiration ?

ah, that's nothing to do with gapless playback then.
That's either a problem with the mp3's themselves, or a soundcard driver issue, or something along those lines...

BTW .. im on Win2K latest patches and stuff

patches are not drivers.

I totally agree rocker. But my problem has now been going for a long time. about one year ago i tried to solve this unsucessfully by reinstalling drivers and following instructions that i mentioned in my earlier posts. all unsuccessfull so I'm not sure if this has something to do with my actual drivers..

High again ! (well not that much ... )

Just to avoid any confusion I just installed the latest sblive drivers after downloading this file
Sound Blaster Live! - LiveDrvUni-Pack (English)
from creative's website .

I also tried to install ahead's ASPI file that Egg provides in a zip file in one of his posts.

Still no impriovement ... what do suggest ( appart from throwing my comp out of the window :igor:

So... are you saying that these same mp3's play perfectly fine through other players, eg. Media Player?
ie. you only get skippy/choppy playback when you play them through Winamp?

Hi Egg !

I tried them on Windows media player, The core media player and BS player and I heard the litle cracks and lags too. So I guess its not a winamp problem ...

What would u suggest ?

To be perfectly honest with you, I'd suggest changing whatever ripping/p2p software you've been using :/

I don't see why ... I got my files from a great vriety of sources ... different softwares, different ripping tools...

Hmm... so it means one of two things...

Either the files have become corrupt somehow (eg. due to a failing hard drive, a virus, or a Defrag which went wrong, etc)

Or you've got other hardware/driver issues, eg. mobo chipset, sound, directx.


Though I suppose it could also be interference from some other concurrently running process. You could post a HijackThis log here if you want.

(see here for links)


btw, did we get your Windows OS? [edit: ah, yes we did... Win2k]
Maybe also post an IRQ list as well, to see if anything is sharing IRQ with the sound/video cards.


Do you get the same problem if you use WaveOut as well? (instead of DirectSound Output)

Hi again !

Here's my irq list

System Information report written at: 08.08.2004 03:30:13
[IRQs]

IRQ Number Device
22 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System
16 NVIDIA GeForce3 Ti 500
16 Standard Universal PCI to USB Host Controller
19 Standard Universal PCI to USB Host Controller
19 NEC OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
18 Standard Universal PCI to USB Host Controller
23 Intel (r) 82801DB/DBM USB Enhanced Host Controller
23 Realtek RTL8139(A) PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter
21 Creative SB Live! series
8 System CMOS/real time clock
13 Numeric data processor
6 Standard floppy disk controller
4 Communications Port (COM1)
3 Communications Port (COM2)
1 Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
14 Primary IDE Channel
15 Secondary IDE Channel



Here's the process part of hijack this log
Running processes:
C:\WINNT\System32\smss.exe
C:\WINNT\system32\winlogon.exe
C:\WINNT\system32\services.exe
C:\WINNT\system32\lsass.exe
C:\WINNT\System32\SCardSvr.exe
C:\WINNT\system32\svchost.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccSetMgr.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccEvtMgr.exe
C:\WINNT\system32\spoolsv.exe
C:\WINNT\System32\CTsvcCDA.EXE
C:\WINNT\system32\crypserv.exe
C:\WINNT\System32\svchost.exe
e:\IMail\IMAP4D32.exe
e:\IMail\IWebCal.exe
e:\IMail\iwebmsg.exe
E:\Program Files\Norton AntiVirus\navapsvc.exe
E:\Program Files\Norton AntiVirus\AdvTools\NPROTECT.EXE
C:\WINNT\system32\nvsvc32.exe
C:\Program Files\Kerio\Personal Firewall\persfw.exe
E:\Program Files\Norton AntiVirus\SAVScan.exe
C:\WINNT\system32\MSTask.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\CCPD-LC\symlcsvc.exe
C:\WINNT\System32\WBEM\WinMgmt.exe
C:\WINNT\system32\svchost.exe
C:\WINNT\System32\inetsrv\inetinfo.exe
C:\WINNT\System32\svchost.exe
C:\WINNT\Explorer.EXE
E:\Program Files\DU Meter\DUMeter.exe
C:\WINNT\system32\CTHELPER.EXE
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Real\Update_OB\evntsvc.exe
C:\Program Files\D-Tools\daemon.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccApp.exe
C:\WINNT\wt\updater\wcmdmgr.exe
E:\Program Files\Winamp\winampa.exe
C:\WINNT\system32\internat.exe
C:\WINNT\system32\RUNDLL32.EXE
E:\Program Files\ICQ\ICQ.exe
E:\Program Files\Handspring\HOTSYNC.EXE
C:\Program Files\Maven\mavenUpdater.exe
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\OUTLOOK.EXE
C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe
C:\WINNT\system32\mdm.exe
C:\Program Files\BSPlayer\program.exe
C:\WINNT\system32\SNDVOL32.EXE
E:\Program Files\Winamp\winamp.exe
C:\WINNT\system32\mmc.exe
C:\WINNT\system32\NOTEPAD.EXE
E:\Program Files\Norton AntiVirus\OPScan.exe
C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE
E:\My Shared Folder\HijackThis.exe

I also highlited waveout but didn't hear any difference ...
I'm not sure if its really active though sinse I have no way to check it .. :(

do you need anything else ?