Choppy playback for iTunes movies

Ok guys...I think I may have something here. Make sure your computer's audio playback sound card is set to 16bit. Then make sure Quicktime's playback matches. Also, check the box labeled safemode(WaveOut only) under Play Audio Using/Audio/Quicktime settings.

Now you may need to adjust between 44.1 kHz and 48khz in the advanced tabs for Audio to get it playing smooth. I'm thinking this just depends on the sound card you have. Just make sure the Quicktime Audio settings and your sound card Audio playback settings match!

I have to run in compatibility mode windows Xp (service Pack 2) just to get a movie to play using iTunes. In Quicktime settings I have to run my video in Safe mode (GDI only) to get it to play, the audio and video still not staying synced. Then I had to do all the things mentioned above to get the Audio/Video to sync a stay synced.

Running windows 7/ATI Radeon HD 4250 video card/running sound through basic hdmi/audio/vid cable.

Hope this helps

I'm trying to play a video from iTunesU. Sound plays but video freezes, fires off some frames, freezes, and so on.

My situation:

• Windows 7 64-bit - Windows Update is uptodate
• Intel Core i7 920
• 24 GB RAM
• GeForce GTX 460 - nvidia drivers version 314.07 (latest release)
• Creative Soundblaster X-Fi - so audio is separate from video.
• iTunes 11.0.2.6 - 64 bit (latest release)
• QuickTime 7.7.3 (1680.64)

Video GetInfo:

• MPEG-4
• 123 kbps
• Stereo
• Encoded with HandBrake 0.9.8 2012071800
• Video Dimensions: 1280x720
• Total Bit Rate: 1106 kbps
• Video Codec: H.264

What I tried:

1. Everything in this article: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1718 Problem persisted. Note, that there is no DMA setting for any of my controllers, so I couldn't modify that. Also, I have no flash based drives.
2. Plugged in my iPhone. The Sync with this iPhone over Wi-Fi box was already unchecked.
3. Tried Preferences->Playback->Preferred Video Version: High Definition (720p). Problem persisted.
4. Set Speaker Properties->Advanced->Default Format: 16 bit, 44100 Hz (CD Quality) and iTunes Preferences->Playback->Bitrate for Audio Playback/Bits Per Sample For Audio to 44.1 kHz and 16 respectively. Restarted iTunes. Made sure QuickTime settings matched as well. Problem persisted.
5. Retried step 6 by setting everything to the sound card defaults: 24 bit, 48kHz. The problem persisted.

At this point I used a work around similar to johnfromtega cay's: I loaded the video using Windows Media Player. It runs perfectly.

It runs in QuickTime as well, but not as smoothly as Windows Media Player.

The picture freezes for between 1 and 5 seconds as the sound carries on. The picture then skips to catch up with the sound.

I am watching on my PC's monitor. PC more than meets all the minimum spec as stated on the Itunes help pages for this issue. If I plug it in via HDMI lead to the TV (Sony bravia HD) then it's still choppy. Nothing has changed on my system in the last week except updating itunes and installing quicktime.

I've tried rolling back itunes to a previous version but still get this problem. Guess I am stuck with it.

This actually worked for me. Apparently, I had a separate audio manager other than the default Windows audio driver called Realtelk HD Audio Manager.

I went into the 'Default Format' tab, changed the Default Format to 24Bits, 48000 Hz (Studio Quality), which is the 'DVD Format' preset.

The instant I changed this setting the audio playback went to normal.

Thanks a ton Chris, I've spent a lot of time trying to figure this out

This has completely resolved this audio iTunes video playback issue for me 100%; FYI I have Windows 8 Pro 64bit and iTunes 11 installed.

Yes, Itunes requires some files from QuickTime in order to play certain video files smoothly.

If that doesn't improve, see if this article will help:

Troubleshooting iTunes for Windows Vista or Windows 7 video playback performance issues

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1718

Sorry, I should have been more specific in explaining my situation: Choppy video playback on iTunes, Windows 7, HP Pavilion dv7, videos purchase through iTunes store. This means that VLC couldn't play them. And the SATA hard drive is most definitely the problem here because 1.) I have absolutely no problems now by just running my purchased videos off a USB stick, and 2.) as per many other articles that I found to help me with this problem, including Apple's very own troubleshooting article, "Some customers using computers containing NVIDIA nForce Serial ATA (SATA) controllers may experience unexpected behavior when playing videos in iTunes on Windows from a SATA hard drive."

Scroll to the bottom of the Apple article, it says there: http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1718

Depending on the video format you might have more joy if you install iTunes for Windows (64-bit - for older video cards) and QuickTime for Windows. If you installed iTunes using the iTunes6464setup.exe then it probably won't hand off to QuickTime.

tt2

So, after playing with this for months, here are the conclusions I have come to...

1. Purchased movies/TV Shows from iTunes store work fine
2. Movies/TV Shows encoded with Handbrake stutter in iTunes (any version), but play perfectly in VLC or Windows Media Player. Those same files also play perfectly on my iPad (2/5 and Air) and iPhone (4/5/5s).

Apple is obivously doing something to impede playback of non-native content on the Windows version of iTunes.

BTW - I have an Alienware 17, 4900MQ, NVidia 780M 4GB, 32GB RAM, SSD and Windows 8.1 64-bit.

There must be some 32 bit library that Apple is still using, forcing Windows 7 to switch (thunk) from 64 bit to 32 bit. I was trying to find someone on 32 bit Windows 7 to see if they experience the same issue.

Yes. I am having this problem as well. Windows 7 (64-bit). It started happening about a week ago. Movies and TV episodes will dsync. The video will freeze while the sound & dialogue carries on like normal. After about 20-30 seconds the video will un-freeze and fly along until it's back in sync.

Anyone find a solution? I will email Apple support and see if I can get a response.

I have the same problem, I have tried all the suggestions and nothing. My computer is new and meets all the requirements for iTunes, it runs Win7 32 bits. Impossible to watch anything, all other players work well Windows Media Player, VLC Media Player, etc., but iTunes.

I would appreciate some help, it is frustrating buying movies and not being able to watch after paying...

Configurer le format audio de la carte son en Format cd ou dvd . J'avais aussi la lecture des vidéos saccadés avec iTunes 10 et 11sous windows 7, ma carte son était configurée en 24 Bits ,192000 Hz (Qualité Studio) ce qui a provoqué ce problème. Depuis la lecture est normale.

Configure the audio format of the sound card CD or DVD format. I also had jerky video playback with iTunes 10 and 11For Windows 7, my sound card was configured with 24 bits, 192000 Hz (Studio Quality) causing this problem. Since reading is normal.

I've had this problem for a month.

I can't stay up late enough to watch The League, or It's Always Sunny, Justified, or The Walking Dead. So I bought them from Itunes.

They're so choppy that they're unwatchable. I know asking for a refund is laughable (even though I purchased a product and they did not fulfill their end of the bargain); so I'm not purchasing anything from Itunes anymore (unless i'm hammered). I'll go to best buy for music, and put the songs into my library that way.

I'm sure Xbox Live has a way to buy these shows, so I'll give my cash to Microsoft; knowing that I'll be able to watch my shows. And if I can't; I'm positive they'll have a fix for it quickly. So, goodbye Apple, you've lost a customer.

You've lost me over twenty some dollars; when if you'd had a competent support staff, who knows how much more money I'd have spent?