External HDD choppy video playback.

[Deleted]

Hello.

I'm having trouble with getting videos recorded from fraps that have been stored on my external HDD (iomega 1tb) to playback without stuttering. On most of the videos the audio plays fine, but the video is extremely choppy.

What could be the cause of this, why is it happening and is there a fix? I have 500gb recorded WoW footage and I don't want to lose it.

• I've tried playing the videos on everything from WMP to VLC, nothing changes.
• I've copied a video from the HDD to my actual computer and played it then, but it's still choppy.

Thanks for any help.

(Not sure if this should be in off topic or computer)

[Obsession]

USB2.0 isn't fast enough to write 1920*1080p uncompressed video through at a decent frame rate. You should record all of your wow video to an internal hard drive and then copy it to an external later if you don't have that much room on your hard drive. Unfortunately, this means your data is probably unusable unless you were to use it super sped up or something.

You could, theoretically, take the casing off of your external and probably put it in your computer if you wanted the space, and would probably get faster write speeds that way. I wont tell you how to do that, or what you would need. Also, I saw a couple different versions of your HDD, yours might have USB3.0 capability which is probably fast enough. We would need more information on everything.

[Deleted]

USB2.0 isn't fast enough to write 1920*1080p uncompressed video through at a decent frame rate. You should record all of your wow video to an internal hard drive and then copy it to an external later if you don't have that much room on your hard drive. Unfortunately, this means your data is probably unusable unless you were to use it super sped up or something.

You could, theoretically, take the casing off of your external and probably put it in your computer if you wanted the space, and would probably get faster write speeds that way. I wont tell you how to do that, or what you would need. Also, I saw a couple different versions of your HDD, yours might have USB3.0 capability which is probably fast enough. We would need more information on everything.

How is copying a video from the HDD to my computer, playing it and seeing that it's still slow, any different than putting the external HDD in my computer? Videos from fraps that haven't been put into the external hdd play fine.

[stalkerzzzz]

He wasn't talking about the footage you already recorded, but the one you will record after you connect the HDD with a SATA cable.

[Tehterokkar]

How is copying a video from the HDD to my computer, playing it and seeing that it's still slow, any different than putting the external HDD in my computer? Videos from fraps that haven't been put into the external hdd play fine.

USB 2.0 does not have fast enough transfer rate to stream the video from your external HDD.
USB 2.0 speed is around 12-18MB/S. While a 7200rpm drive with SATA2.0 connector can reach around 60MB/S

Don't try to watch videos from an external HDD, they are for Storage.

[Deleted]

USB 2.0 does not have fast enough transfer rate to stream the video from your external HDD.
USB 2.0 speed is around 12-18MB/S. While a 7200rpm drive with SATA2.0 connector can reach around 60MB/S

Don't try to watch videos from an external HDD, they are for Storage.

Perhaps I'm missing something here, but I already pointed out that I tried to watch the same videos after transferring them to my PC and the problem persisted. So I don't know what you're trying to get at.

They way you have written your post suggests that once you put them it storage, that's it, you can't watch them ever again. I'm trying to watch them by taking them out of storage, but it's not working, as I've said, many times. (However, ideally, watching them from storage would be ideal, because it's take forever to transfer 500gb to my pc.)

[Deleted]

Try to
- record 30sec of video at main HDD.
- record 30sec of video at external HDD.
Compare, and draw a conclusion.

[Deleted]

Try to
- record 30sec of video at main HDD.
- record 30sec of video at external HDD.
Compare, and draw a conclusion.

I don't know what conclusion I'd be drawing. All kinds of videos, that includes fraps videos, play fine on my PC.
Streaming from my HDD doesn't work, and neither does transferring those files from the HDD to my PC.

I'm only looking for a fix. Why are the video files on my HDD behaving the way they do on both the playback from my HDD (it's not fast enough to stream, okay then.) and why isn't this problem fixed when I transfer them to my pc. (All videos play fine expect those from hdd)

[Deleted]

I don't know what conclusion I'd be drawing. All kinds of videos, that includes fraps videos, play fine on my PC.
Streaming from my HDD doesn't work, and neither does transferring those files from the HDD to my PC.

I'm only looking for a fix. Why are the video files on my HDD behaving the way they do on both the playback from my HDD (it's not fast enough to stream, okay then.) and why isn't this problem fixed when I transfer them to my pc. (All videos play fine expect those from hdd)

If you wrote directly to the external HDD while playing, the video will be choppy, regardless of you playing the videos from your internal or external HDD. That's what people have been trying to tell you.

If you write to your internal HDD first, then transfer the video to your external HDD, and the problem persists, that means the USB 2.0 isn't fast enough to stream your videos.

Now if your problem is that any kind of video that comes into contact with your external HDD, regardless of being written to your internal first, then transferred back onto your internal after being stored on your external, and played back then is still choppy, something's wrong with your external HDD. I'm willing to bet that this isn't the case though.

Write to your internal, transfer to your external and back to your internal when you wish to play them.

Problem should be solved.

Just like everyone else tried to tell you...

All the footage you wrote directly to your external HDD is lost. Sorry.

[Deleted]

If you wrote directly to the external HDD while playing, the video will be choppy, regardless of you playing the videos from your internal or external HDD. That's what people have been trying to tell you.

If you write to your internal HDD first, then transfer the video to your external HDD, and the problem persists, that means the USB 2.0 isn't fast enough to stream your videos.

Now if your problem is that any kind of video that comes into contact with your external HDD, regardless of being written to your internal first, then transferred back onto your internal after being stored on your external, and played back then is still choppy, something's wrong with your external HDD. I'm willing to bet that this isn't the case though.

Write to your internal, transfer to your external and back to your internal when you wish to play them.

Problem should be solved.

Just like everyone else tried to tell you...

All the footage you wrote directly to your external HDD is lost. Sorry.

Well that seems like useful information, expect the fact that yes, I've ALWAYS written to the internal first.

I think it's to do with file size. I recently put a .wmv file inside of the external and it played fine. All the other files are .avi with large file sizes. That's anoying, but I guess I could try and convert them all. (However I still don't see why the .avi's won't play without the stuttering on my PC)

[Deleted]

Expect? except? At any rate, either your external HDD is shit, or you're lying about writing to your internal first. Sorry

[Deleted]

Expect? except? At any rate, either your external HDD is shit, or you're lying about writing to your internal first. Sorry

*Except. (The last time I recorded fraps was about a year ago. I've never once recorded directly to my external. I just record and then throw the files over to the external.)

I don't know where you're getting the idea that my external is bad, since apparently it shouldn't be expected to stream such files. However when transferring them to my pc, I do expect them to work then, but they don't.

[XDurionX]

*Except. (The last time I recorded fraps was about a year ago. I've never once recorded directly to my external. I just record and then throw the files over to the external.)

I don't know where you're getting the idea that my external is bad, since apparently it shouldn't be expected to stream such files. However when transferring them to my pc, I do expect them to work then, but they don't.

...which all leads to the conclusion that there were problems while recording.

Edit: You´re sure you´re physically copying the files instead of creating a symbolic link?

[Deleted]

...which all leads to the conclusion that there were problems while recording.

Edit: You´re sure you´re physically copying the files instead of creating a symbolic link?

File recorded on PC.
And then I either send to or copy the file and paste inside of the external.

There aren't problems during the recording, the videos once played fine. And no the external isn't failing, another .wmv plays fine.

What else do you want?

[Deleted]

Did you ever see the exact videofiles you are referring to playing smoothly?

If not, you most probably made a mistake, somewhere in the chain of capturing -> production -> encoding. And most probably your files are themselves just choppy videos that won't play anywhere smoothly.

Edit: too slow, as always.

If the files once played smoothly and now they don't, there are quite a lot of possible explanations and your attitude of just expecting it to work is not helpful in pinpointing where the problem is.

[XDurionX]

Maybe a process that clogs up CPU-Power?

[Deleted]

Did you ever see the exact videofiles you are referring to playing smoothly?

If not, you most probably made a mistake, somewhere in the chain of capturing -> production -> encoding. And most probably your files are themselves just choppy videos that won't play anywhere smoothly.

Edit: too slow, as always.

If the files once played smoothly and now they don't, there are quite a lot of possible explanations and your attitude of just expecting it to work is not helpful in pinpointing where the problem is.

Yes, when they were on my PC at the start.

I think it might be a simple yet irritating issue here. They are .avi's. They don't play from the external, which is understandable, but they also don't play as avi's on my pc once transferred from the external. So I'm guessing my PC just isn't good enough to play raw fraps files...even though they once could. I don't know.

Sigh. Currently thinking I'm going to have to spend ages converting these files to .wmv.

[Deleted]

So, what are you saying is: you record video, and it's smooth - you are happy about it. Then you transfer it to external, and somehow after that, no matter where or how you open it, it's choppy.
You don't know if the files lost their size? Could you right click on file, go into properties -> details or something, and say how many FPS it shows?
You can also convert sample video, to .mp4, or .wmv. How much is the file size?

[Deleted]

So, what are you saying is: you record video, and it's smooth - you are happy about it. Then you transfer it to external, and somehow after that, no matter where or how you open it, it's choppy.
You don't know if the files lost their size? Could you right click on file, go into properties -> details or something, and say how many FPS it shows?
You can also convert sample video, to .mp4, or .wmv. How much is the file size?

All the .avi's on the external are coming up as 30fps on properties. (Obviously they aren't playing this way.)

I think the next step is that I need to record something new with fraps onto my pc and see if it plays fine.

[Deleted]

Avi is just a container format. The file suffix doesn't tell anything about the codec used.

It could be worth the try to install an up-to date codec package. Or just try playing the files in an up-to-date portable version of vlc.