Need some help finding the best software combination for a HTPC

Hey guys,

I bought an Intel NUC model i3 8th gen (https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/126149/intel-nuc-kit-nuc8i3bek.html) and I've hooked it up to my LG (https://www.lg.com/ro/tv/lg-65UJ620V). The TV model that I have seems to be for Eastern Europe or something cant find it on UK site for english specs but its UHD/4K HDR10+

The problems that I've encountered are:

- frame skipping (like some weird catching up) on KODI (tried Alpha/Pre-release/etc)
- frame skipping in several other players (MPHC-BE, PowerDVD 20 Ultra) these are not so bad.

Things that I've tried:

- latest and beta driver from intel for graphics.
- playing with settings from KODI like real fullscreen / sync to display / etc

Nothing really seems to fix it ... I've installed latest bios and drivers and today I've reset the W10 on it to fresh and try again everything. Since Libreelec doesnt support HDR I'm not looking to go that way.

So my question is what software do you guys use for HDR/4K/60Hz ?

Another thing to mention the video source is being played from an USB 3.0 external HDD (WD Passport) but I've checked the transfer rate and its around 80-90 MB/s so shouldn't be an issue ?

I'm looking at Intel SpeedStep and SpeedShift could these two cause any problems ? From what I understand SpeedStep is Turboboost basically and SpeedShift gives some control back to CPU for faster switching. Please help me here with these two to understand them better ...

Looking to hear your opinion on this !

Thanks a lot,

Bernek

 

Try to play the media directly from the HDD/SSD. Monitor closely the frame skipping.
Also, set Speedstep to disable.
In MPHC set the hardware acceleration on, check results.
Also, try VLC or SMplayer.

 

I will try to play from SSD (its a NVME Kingston A2000) the read is fast enough for sure. I did try this in the early times (few days ago when I got it) but I didn't monitor the frame skip. The file is around 40-50GB (2160.UHD.Remux.HEVC.HDR.DTS.X.7.1)

I'm not familiar with using MadVR for MPHC (I know I have to set renderer to MadVR) and I need it for HDR for sure ...

For example fresh install of W10 latest updates and nothing else except HVEC Extensions and KODI I still have the same frameskip. How am I supposed to watch it carefully ? Pressing "O" in KODI and watch the frames ? (sorry I'm a noob here).

Speedstep will disable turbo boost ? Is that correct ?

Speedshift can be left on ?

Thanks a lot for trying to help !

 

The idea to disable speedstep is when the power window ends and boost is reduced to normal clock the frameskipping would occur ?

Utilization of CPU during this playback is 30-40% not sure if it even uses turbo boost ...

Regarding settings inside KODI I believe I've tried almost all combinations ... eventually locking up KODI since I have use an Alpha build for HDR in W10 (with Intel).

Its my first Intel machine in a very long time and all these "new" technologies are really new to me.

 

Have you tried to set the TV input to Monitor or PC or something like that (so it doesn't try to improve the image) ?

 

I have tried all modes and the Game mode offers the less input lag but I'm curious what the problem could be ... I'm checking for dropped frames and there aren't any dropped frames but I still see this annoying fast catch-up thing ...

Maybe its in my head