Have same/similar problem for quite some time with PowerDVD 8 BD-OEM with LiteOn drive. Blu-ray playback is generally very smooth, but on some disks sometimes just video ( or video first ), sometimes just audio, pauses for 1+ sec. If just video pauses, audio is completely fine at the same time until/if it pauses as well. Would look like an issue with resources, but with trial versions of PowerDVD 9 Ultra or Arcsoft TMT3 didn't notice that problem. System is i5 750, 4GB RAM, x64 W7 Ultimate, nvidia GTS250 (drivers 190.62 - 197.13), HDMI connection to Sony KDS-60A3000, dedicated HTPC. During issue can see spike (up to 60% max) in CPU load on one core within kernel/system calls. General load 5..10% during playback. Issue most noticed on disks Alien vs. Predator, Sherlock Holmes, few others.

Few days back noticed that PowerDVD 10 is available, and because currently had problems while watching Sherlock Holmes (rental), decided to upgrade. Unfortunately for me PowerDVD 10 Ultra 3D is having same+ problems as 8 BD-OEM ( while not so often with the same disks tried ), but what is worse, it has additional issue with juddering/jerking of the video. Seems like from time to time frames would be duplicated/paused/dropped. Something similar to frame rate issue visible during panning, but tests with 23.97, 24, 59.94, 60Hz video output, also 120Hz motion on/off doesn't change anything. Issue happens not always at the same point. Reload of the same chapter several times may result in few +- fine pannings, but most of the times not. No load differences at all noticed during issue.

Will be opening ticket with Cyberlink, if will have time to wait on their responses, etc. Just wanted to warn, if looking to upgrade as a solution. Of course on different configurations results may be different. While issue very wel may be with some specific hardware/software configuration, fact that 9th version didn't seem to have the problem so noticeable, my point to PowerDVD itself. Also just a note, that PS3 in place of HTPC on the same TV, etc, has no problems with the same or any other disks tested.

And with standalone BD players being available for $99, it's becoming harder to pay vendors like Cyberlink for BD playback with inferior results...

while mine pauses/hangs/stutters whatever you want to call it it is using 0 system resources. it uses like a max of 1-2% at times but thats it. ive got 6gb of 2k memory (@1867 7-6-7-18-1t) so i know i have plenty of thuroput. only one of my video cards is active during playback (sli would be kind dumb for watching a movie) but my gtx 285's never down clock (always in 3d mode) when they reply to your ticket let me know what they say. my only other gripe is i paid +100$usd for the drive + software i fully expected to have surround sound output, but no, u gotta pay an extra 100$ for that. imo thats a crock of sh!t.

Let me know how to start a ticket and i'll start one too. aren't these forum's moderated by CyberLink tech's?

Thanks again,
JsT

Greetings,

PowerDVD 8 Ultra used to drop frames (which created the "stutter" effect) on my system, too. But after upgrading to PowerDVD 10 Ultra I don't have the problem any more. Movies on blu-ray now play smoothly with no apparent dropping of frames.

When I upgraded from 8 Ultra to 10 Ultra, I was very careful about it. First, I removed 8 Ultra and used a registry cleaner to clean the Windows registry afterward.

A new NVidia driver had also come out for my video card so my second step was to remove the old video driver and install the new one. (I normally update my video driver whenever a new one comes out and I wanted to be sure to do so before I installed the 10 Ultra upgrade.) It's almost always best to remove old components before installing new ones even if the new ones claim you can install "over" or "on top of" the old ones.

The last thing I installed was the PowerDVD 10 Ultra upgrade after the above steps has been finished. The result is that PowerDVD 10 Ultra seems to run very well for most blu-rays.

Moderator CyberLink-Michael wrote in another thread that you need to have your old version of PowerDVD installed on your system when you install the upgrade since the upgrade installer will look to see if a previous version is present before allowing the upgrade to proceed. I don't know why this wasn't needed on my computer but you should be aware of the issue.

PowerDVD 10 Ultra is independent of previous versions. So, at the very least, you can remove the old versions after you have installed the upgrade.

The fact that PowerDVD 10 Ultra runs smoothly on my system without dropping frames from blu-ray movies shows that the program is capable of stutter-free playback. Nor is my Windows XP system super fast: It's a three-year old 3.2 GHz dual-core Pentium D with 4 GB of RAM and a NVidia GeForce 8600 GT video card with 512 MB of video RAM. That's not spectacular by today's standards.

Therefore, the video stutter you see is probably a secondary issue. You may need to update your video driver. Your Windows registry may still point to old drivers or old components that need to be cleaned from your system. You may have other programs running in the background that are interrupting the smooth flow of data to your video card. The CPU utilization does not tell the whole story. Aggressive security programs (like antivirus, antispyware, antimalware and firewall software) can sometimes interfere with video playback even when the CPU utilization appears low.

It's too bad that this stuff isn't easier to troubleshoot. It seems way more complicated than it should be. The only sure-fire "easy" way to play a blu-ray movie is with a stand-alone blu-ray player hooked to a conventional home theater system.

As soon as you start using a complicated peice of gear like a computer (Windows or Mac) to play blu-ray movies, you're adding complexity that can make troubleshooting a mess. I'm writing this just so you'll know that it is all too "normal" to experience problems when using a computer.

Kind regards, David

Have no response (there is a confirmation of 1 ticket being received) on any tickets with Cyberlink or DigitalRiver yet..

Re-installed PowerDVD 8 BD-OEM and have no juddering/jerking problem as with PowerDVD 10. Generally it came back to the same status, as I had before - frame freezing is present from time to time on some disks, but besides that, video is very smooth. Will try to troubleshoot more on which specific thread of PowerDVD8.exe process is locking-up, may be some ideas will come up on working around it externally. With PowerDVD10 juddering/jerking issue, wouldn't be surprised, that software does some internal intentional or un-intentional frame rate "adjustment" in some specific configurations (I do believe that there are people around who have smooth 24 or motion enhanced/interpolated 120/240 frame playback with PDVD10), before "giving stream out" to video driver. May be something 3D related..

im still using the same video driver tht i put in when i built this machine about a month ago. there isn't an updated driver. i just feel that they should stand behind their product and at least support it, i've sent several emails reguarding the issue im having and not one respone yet.

No response yet guys?

Nope, i haven't heard a word back from them, i got a great deal on some ssd's so i reloaded my os and everything, and my luck proved true on the reload, now i can't find the disc that came with my drive with the cyberlink bd solution on it. and there is nowhere to download it, what a croc.

I got 2 replies. It took +- 2 weeks to get 1 +- useless reply..

1st was asking for DxDiag output, second asking to change video output to 60Hz, while initial e-mail already contained information about configuration, driver versions, and troubleshooting steps taken, including changing output frequencies.

I already dumped 10th version, but am trying to keep "discussion" with "support" based on similar, but lesser, issues with 8 BD version.

roxio's creator software has a bd player in it and so does corel (realdvdpro) its a lot cheaper than cyberlinks player and has surround sound and all the dolby stuff, reveiws seem a lot better too, i think i'll try the roxio one first (its 80$ but has tonz of burning stuff as well)
this is the end of my cyberlink attempts, it is now and forever will be a coaster.