Problem with Intel Graphics 620 & YouTube

[Kflash08]

I have a Dell Inspiron 3583 with an Intel Core i3-8145U processor. When I try to watch 60fps YouTube videos in fullscreen in either Edge or FireFox, the video occasionally drops frames and flickers back and forth between upcoming and previous frames as if the 60 Hz lost it's sync. I've contacted Dell support about this, and found out that it has something to do with the resolution. If I connect an external monitor to my computer and increase the resolution from the native 1366x768 to 1920x1080, the problem goes away.

All drivers and updates have been installed. The latest Intel driver on Dell's website is from February 2019. There's is a much newer one on Intel's website from December 2019, but every time I try to install it, installation halts and says that my computer isn't validated for these drivers, even though my processor is on the list. The Intel Support & Driver Assistant also tries to install the same updated drives, which also brings up the same message.

As of now, I'm guessing that my problem with YouTube is related to the graphic drivers, though just recently I've seen some brief screen tearing on the Windows desktop. Is Intel aware of this issue? Or is it something else? Memory and processor both tested OK, so I don't think it's bad hardware.

[n_scott_pearson]

No, your problem with YouTube is your ISP. It has been shown that ISPs are universally bandwidth-limiting Youtube (and Netflix) and have been doing so for a number of years (so much for net neutrality)...

...S

[Kflash08]

No, its not my ISP. My last laptop with an i3-4005U processor had no issues with 60fps videos running at the same resolution. Futhermore, I have an Acer desktop from 2008 running Windows 10 64 bit with a Core2 Quad Q6600 processor and a NVIDIA GeForce GT710 graphics card installed. Aside from some occasional dropouts which I consider normal for it's age, it doesn't suffer from the same issue as my Dell Inspiron. If my ISP was chocking the bandwidth, then the video would down-convert to a lower quality, not stutter. There is obviously an issue with the Intel drivers.

[n_scott_pearson]

You obviously are not streaming their 4K content. Ok, so easy answer is out the window (I tried).

So, my next question is: Have you verified that it is not using CPU (software) rendering? I seem to remember cases where, because of the resolution, it uses software rendering.

...S

[Kflash08]

How do I verify that? All I know is that hardware acceleration is enabled on both browsers.

I'm also told that the 8th Gen Core i3 uses its internal hardware decoding for videos, where pretty much all my older computers (even the 2 with the 4th Gen Haswell Cores) are decoded with software. Those systems never had an issue with 60 fps playback.

[n_scott_pearson]

You did verify this!

Try disabling hardware acceleration and see what happens.

...S

[Kflash08]

Turning off hardware acceleration in Firefox seemed to have stopped the 60fps videos from losing their sync, but I'm still seeing occasional frame dropouts that YouTube's status for nerds dialog box doesn't pick up on. I would prefer to have the hardware acceleration left on as I lose the smooth scrolling feature as well as other things that benefit from it.

I was also able to update my drivers to the latest version, but they didn't address the problem.

Also also, I checked the memory, processor and graphics using the Dell Diagnostics, and all three of them passed.

[n_scott_pearson]

Yea, I was not suggesting this be permanent, just that it would get us an additional (and very interesting!) data point.

Hhmmm... This would seem to imply that you are likely seeing frame dropouts regardless (a communications level issue?) and that, when using software rendering, this does not cause it to lose sync, yet does when using hardware rendering.

We'll have to wait and see what the driver team can do about this...

...S

[AdrianM_Intel]

Hello Kflash08, 

Thank you for posting on the Intel® communities.

Can you please provide the following information and attached the reports to the thread. 

1. DXDIAG:

• Go to Start > Run or Windows Key + R. 
• On the Run prompt, type "dxdiag" then click OK. 
• On the DirectX Diagnostic Tool window, click on Save All Information. 
• Browse to a folder, type in a filename then click Save.  

2. Intel® System Support Utility (Intel® SSU) 

• Intel® SSU Download link 
• Open the application and click on "Scan" to see the system and device information. By default, Intel® SSU will take you to the "Summary View". 
• Click on the menu where it says "Summary" to change to "Detailed View".
• To save your scan, click on "Next", then "Save". 

Question:

• What is the software version of Edge, Firefox? (you can find the information in apps & features by clicking the app, it will show you the version installed).

Please provide the exact steps to test this behavior in our end.

Adrian M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

[Kflash08]

Attached is the SSU report.

My DXDiag report can be found here.

Firefox version is 72.0.1.

Edge version is 44.18362.449.0

With the resolution set at 1366x768, go to YouTube and find a video that can be played back at 720p 60fps. (I recommend a game play video that has constant movement). Play the video in full screen with the browser's hardware acceleration turned on. It may take a few minutes for the issue to become present, but the video will start to look jerky (frame dropouts) and the 60fps will lose its sync (stutter, flickering, shakiness), either briefly or continuously. Anything not in 60fps seems to play fine.

[AdrianM_Intel]

Hello Kflash08, 

Thank you for your response.

I was wondering if there is a particular reason you use this resolution 1366x768? have you tested different resolutions maybe 4K or 1920x1080? do you recall if the issue was not present before with another driver?

Regards,

Adrian M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

[Kflash08]

The panel in my laptop has a native resolution of 1366x768, so I can't go any higher. Anything lower than that would make stuff look to big and blurry. I've connected the laptop to an HDTV via the HDMI port and increased the resolution to 1920x1080. The problems seemed to have stopped at that resolution. I have not tried other resolutions.

The problems are present on both the old drivers (Feb 2019) and the latest drivers (Dec 2019).

[n_scott_pearson]

Adrian,

To answer the first question, 1366x768 is the max resolution of their laptop's built-in screen.

The second question is a great one!

...S

[PBeck8]

Had more or less the same issue with the HD 530. No real solution yet. I wrote 'Had' because I got a new PC with a non-Intel GPU, so it's "fixed" for me.

Performance was good again when installing the old driver version 15.40.14.4352. But with this driver, there were other issues (animated video previews when hovering over the thumbnails, for example in Netflix, crash Chrome's graphics system)

They seem to take a closer look now 🙂 Take a look at the last post in my thread.

https://forums.intel.com/0D50P00004Y00XP?fromEmail=1&s1oid=00DU0000000YT3c&s1nid=0DB0P000000U1Hq&s1uid=0050P000008xFea&s1ext=0&emkind=chatterCommentNotification&emtm=1579299458027&emvtk=Zui14RgrNBfm_9sjm4Afu1EvTHN8u5fPNSp_2rN8S6Y%3D&OpenCommentForEdit=1

[AdrianM_Intel]

Hello All,

Scott, thank you for the clarification I appreciate it.

PBeck8, Thank you for all the information, we are still working and investigating this situation, we will update this thread as soon as possible.

Best regards,

Adrian M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

[RonaldM_Intel]

Hello everyone,

I would like to notify that this issue has been reported to our driver debug team under bug ID 14010781531.

As soon as there is an update in our investigation we'll share it in this thread.

Best Regards,

Ronald M.

[Bryce_Intel]

The bug has completed replication and is in the debug queue awaiting to be assigned to an engineer. This can take time. We'll update when further progress is made.

[RonaldM_Intel]

Hello everyone,

We received an update on bug ID 14010781531.

After repeated replication attempts we continued to observed fluctuating performance results (i.e. from seeing minor dropped frames in some systems to considerable dropped frames in another PC). Since online video playback has too many variables we moved our test bed for local VP9 video playback using the Movies and TV application. In this scenario we never observed any video playback performance issues in any of our tests.

Could any of you try playing a VP9 video locally (offline) and report us the results (preferably with a video recording the issue if possible)?

Best Regards,

Ronald M.

[Kflash08]

Sorry, I don't have any offline VP9 encoded files to test with. The only high-res videos that I have are 1080i .MTS files, and they seem to playback fine with the Windows movies & TV app.

[RonaldM_Intel]

Try with this one, it is VP9 Profile 2 HDR 59.940fps (even if your display is not HDR compatible it should still be able to play this sample)

https://mega.nz/#!hJdFEIBI!uSOjZtkkjIVYSfqD9aSfONf1yq__uQvlsf47pCtFvdQ

Source: https://kodi.wiki/view/Samples

I'll try looking for another non-HDR VP9 offline sample

Best Regards,

Ronald M.

[Kflash08]

The video played in the Movies & TV app experiences the same issues as well. (Dropped frames, brief stutters). Otherwise, nice picture quality.

I tried playing it in Windows Media Player and also had issues, though completely different. There was no audio, and the video played back at a slower speed as the time was advancing every 5 seconds for each second. It also drew more CPU power as the fan kicked into high speed.