Windows 8 Media Player Choppy Playback

[ToddW850]

BACKGROUND: Have a Toshiba Satellite Laptop running Windows 8. 2 weeks ago the hard drive failed. Computer Repair Shop put new hard drive in and reloaded Windows 8. Got home and my GoPro videos were very choppy and don't stay synced with the sound. This occurred in Windows Media Player, VLC Media Player, and what looks like Xbox Video Player. Playing off YouTube worked fine.

I tried updating the driver, but stated it was up to date. Took back to Computer Repair Shop. He said sounded like the drivers. He tried to update more than I did and said it wouldn't let him. He says Windows must have gotten corrupted during install and he would have to wipe hard drive and re-install again.

So I dropped it off again. Just got it home and once again, GoPro videos are choppy and doesn't stay synced with the sound. However, the videos play fine in VLC Media Player, but the screen isn't quite as wide as supposed to be. I've again tried to update several drivers, but all are up to date. Also tried changing the power setting from Balanced to High (found suggestion online). Didn't fix.

Anybody else have experience with this issue? I really hate taking this back again, because I'm losing my patience.

Thanks

 

[Murf'n'surf]

All I have to offer is that every time I've had my HDD swapped out, the computer was never the same and forced me to go buy a new machine. Now I skip the repair step and head straight to the store.

Did he swap with equal hard drive spec wise?

 

[ToddW850]

Yeah, in the future I'll make sure to keep all my files backed up and just go buy a new laptop if it crashes. I've spent half the price in repairs as to what this cost new.

But not sure on the same specs. It wasn't the processor, it was the hard drive, so I didn't think it would affect anything. I guess I "assumed."

 

[Murf'n'surf]

I've got a WD My Book that backs up my laptop wireless via wifi. It also serves as a NAS and is accessible remotely. Worth the price of admission.

 

[veedubtek]

Yeah, HDD's can have different speeds that affect data transfer. Throw a solid state drive in there and live happy. Stock discs never seem to last long, I usually won't even wait til they die anymore. An SSD will improve system performance ALOT. (not saying that is your problem, but it sounds suspect, I'm not a computer guy)

 

[ToddW850]

Sounds like something I need to invest in @Murf'n'surf

@veedubtek first I ever heard of SSD was today. Sounds like the way to go. But unfortunately it's not affecting my video playback haha

 

[OCMD]

I do massive video editing for football. A top notch I7 16 gb ram laptop lasts maybe a good 3 years before things start to falter. Thus, in year 4 I made 'em buy me a new one a few months ago when this sort of crap started happening with my laptop. I wiped the hard drive a few times and this helped for a few days, then back to the mess ups. Just need to go out and get another one. Every three years and you will never have video issues. And I can't believe some dude bought my old one for 400 bucks on craigslist.....crazy but he wanted an I7 even if it was 4 years old and already slowed down. You can't fix these things you just have to get a new one and be done with it. Just make sure you back your stuff up, always.

 

[ToddW850]

Dropped it off this morning and got it back this afternoon. It's now fixed. So now I can get my GoPro videos in order. But it was a driver issue. He said he actually had to go back to an older version of video/graphic program/app/driver and now it works perfectly. Kinda weird, but it's working.

 

[Big Shasta]

Glad they fixed it. Just for the future. Get away from spinning hard drives. They are so old school. Just moving to a Solid State drive usually cuts about 1 minute off of boot up of an older windows 7 computer. windows 8 isn't such a slow booter but it's still so much faster to do things with a SSD It's ridiculous how much snappier it will become.

 

[ToddW850]

Glad they fixed it. Just for the future. Get away from spinning hard drives. They are so old school. Just moving to a Solid State drive usually cuts about 1 minute off of boot up of an older windows 7 computer. windows 8 isn't such a slow booter but it's still so much faster to do things with a SSD It's ridiculous how much snappier it will become.

Will definitely go with an SSD on the next one. Hearing good things about it, including what you mention.