Broken Video Playback on Lower Refresh Rate Monitor

Question

To start off, I'm not exactly sure when this issue started; I've had 2 monitors for a few years, the primary being a 1080p 144hz panel, the secondary a 1080p 60hz panel. However, after a long vacation and not playing any games (where refresh rate would be more noticeable), I hadn't noticed the primary monitor's refresh rate was set back down to 60hz. Once I set it back to 144hz, I started to have issues.

Videos that I watched back many times before, all of a sudden had issues. Strange stuttering and frame skipping (if the frames were numbered, the playback would be: 1,2,5,3,4,6, etc. It wouldn't just skip and call it quits on the skipped frames, it would come back to them, making the video impossible to watch), along with slow downs (instead of 30fps, it would drop down to those 30 frames over 1.5-2 seconds, before speeding back up and recovering), makes video playback on the second monitor impossible. I've performed tests at a variety of frame rates, with it being quite consistent. 30 & lower makes the slowdowns more apparent, while 60fps just jumps all over the place.

This also had an effect on videos in-browser (FireFox), but this was much more minimal. Videos looked slightly off, but not anywhere near to the same extent. It also seemed to entirely go away once I turned off hardware acceleration on FireFox.

The only fixes I've found are to play all videos on the primary screen, or set the primary screen back to 60hz. Even for a video window opened on the secondary, if it's moved to the primary, issues will immediately go away. Setting the primary screen back to 60hz also fixes the issues, but is quite a poor option, as I'm effectively stopped from using the feature that I paid extra for.

In case there are any hardware questions, I'm using a custom build desktop, Intel 6600k, Nvidia GTX1070, and 16GB of memory. Both monitors are of course connected to the GPU, and while watching videos, none of the computer's resources are anywhere near being maxed out. Running the latest graphics driver from Nvidia, as well as the latest Windows update.

Any help with this regard would be great. Sorry if this isn't the correct category, it just seemed like it fit best.

Answer 1

Thank you so much for your help Devildude4427

Answer 2

A bug report has been submitted, here's the link: https://aka.ms/AA5rv78.

Answer 3

It could be a bug in Windows 10 1903.

I would also recommend you file a bug report; send me the short link so I can vote on it and bring it to the attention of the Windows engineers.

https://windows10.help/blogs/entry/54-how-to-su...

Information in the above link is sourced from a trusted Microsoft MVP blog.

Answer 4

Hello,

Motherboard: MSI Z170A Tomahawk AC, up to date bios and chipset.

Second monitor is run off HDMI, and the cable is not at fault. Replaced and had no effect.

Uninstalling the monitor and restarting had no effect, and neither did lowering the resolution.

Windows is version 1903, build 18362.267.

Answer 5

Hi Devildude4427

My name is Andre Da Costa; an Independent Consultant, Windows Insider MVP and Windows & Devices for IT MVP. I'm here to help you with your problem.

What is the make and model of the motherboard?

What type of connection are you using for the second display: HDMI, Display Port, DVI?

Its possible there might be an issue with your adapter or cable connection. You could try nudging the cable to see if it works or change out the cable.

Press Windows key + X

Click Device Manager

Expand Monitors

Right click the monitor that keeps freezing

Click uninstall

Restart your computer then check if its working again properly.

You can also try lowering the screen resolution of the second monitor to see if that works.

Its possible you might need to apply any available BIOS and Chipset driver updates.

Which version of Windows 10 is currently installed? See how to verify:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wik...