Video Judder/Srudder?

The new PiTool Alpha .254 has the same firmware bundled in it as the PiTool .253 thus it is perfectly fine to be used with the 8K and non s/n 202 5K+ headsets also.
https://community.openmr.ai/t/pitool-254-alpha-no-stutter-judder-confirmed/25381/14?u=johnnyo

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Just installed Pitool 1.0.1.254 Alpha, using it with a 5K+ and a GTX1070, so far it works OK and stutters have been reduced a lot.

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I just tried my Pimax on a completely different computer. The same issue persists somehow. Is it really the computer that is doing this or is it an issue of our headset units?

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It happens on both of my pcs as well. One has a pretty clean install of windows as the PC is newer than the headset. SN 203.

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In at least some cases, it really IS the computer.

For example, some motherboards have a LED lighting control feature, which is implemented in a way that generates a lot of USB packets. Turning off the LED lighting effects got rid of the stutter.

Another example: Some motherboards have poor USB port designs. MSI motherboards (in particular) have historically had this issue, as have some other brands. When people tried a USB port adapter card, their problem went away.

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It-s difficult to test for me, since mz computer is mini ITX. But it is a high quality motherboard.

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This might be of interest:

https://community.openmr.ai/t/occasional-stutter-judder-issue-finally-solved-by-pimax/26170?u=neal_white_iii

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Couting the hours for the new pitool now :heart_eyes:

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guys have you tried to keep a dpc latency checker opened while you get those stutters? it may be very helpful to understand what is causing those dropouts.
For what i know by my experience with pc repair (that is one of my job) there are many factors that will cause stutters, and for vr, as the chain is even more complex and involves basically all pc peripheral and ports itā€™s very hard to understand what is bottlenecking the flow.

A stutter is always caused by a call that is not aswered in time, that blocks the flow, it can be everything unfortunately.

i have some suggestions tho:

1 - uninstall any hardware sensor monitoring tool, this is by far the major cause inducing random spikes and latency.
2 - uninstall everything you have from ASUS, really, they sucks on software.
3 - try to work on stock config, no OC, expecially the GPU, you can try also DOWNCLOCKING gpu, just for test obviously, 100Mhz downclock should be enough.
4 - disable/unplug everything you can, external devices, mobo leds, even leds on keyboard and mouse if they lights up based on some readings, just set them as static light with no changes.
5 - disable unused audio driver, from device control panel, right click, disable (you may need to reboot after that).
6 - try another usb port, there are chipset that are known to induce lag (Asmedia for example, they fixed it with a newer driver). On most mobo there are 2 usb chipset (3 if thereā€™s the usb-c port), try all of them.
7 - DO NOT update chipset driver with third party apps like Drivereasy, it was a good procedure in windows 7 but avoid that in win10, the correct chipset drivers are embedded in windows 10, doing that will bring you some unpredictable and uncommon behaviours.
8 - if you plan to format just for testing DO NOT use motherboard installation CD, let windows 10 find everything, search for drivers manually ONLY if you have problems or you have exlamation marks on device manager. start testing the hmd from a most possible vanilla install. Drivereasy in this case can helps you find the drivers quickly but beware because sometimes it gets driver from another brand, itā€™s best to search before from the product website, then use drivereasy if the product version is outdated.

9 - change gpu behaviour in nvidia ctrl panel to use max performance, lower pre-rendered frame for vr

10 - completely disable antivirus (windows, do NOT install another antivirus ffs), this is for testing obviously.

11- disable UAC

12 - install everything that is vr related to SSD, so i mean, steam app, steamvr, pitool and oculus (oculus apps can be installed elsewhere) at least.

13 - do not install nvidia experience

14 - disable windowsā€™s gaming bar (in 1903 is under game apps on settings), disable everything from there, only game mode should be kept ON

15 - try a game that doesnā€™t need online, best is to do those tests with network unplugged.

Once you did everything from the above, test, maybe do not test with 255, test with a version that is known to have bad stutter.

still stuttering?

install dpc latencymon Resplendence Software - Free Downloads
let it play, play game and see if there is a driver or a software that is hanging the flow.

based on latency mod results, try to move latenc inducing processes or driver away from the main cpu, spreading those on other threads.

test again

post results :slight_smile:

still issues? is it really a software issue? changed cable already? have a friend with pimax too near home where you can swap just for testing ? maybe itā€™s a faulty unit ? are we so sure itā€™s a software issue ?

because if itā€™s an hardware issue itā€™s a problem because you should need a pair of everything in order to swap and find the source.

you know that it can be even the voltage you have at home ?
a good ups with a pure sine is another thing to try out :frowning:

hope this helps guys iā€™m with you :slight_smile:

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Only thing @Enopho has said with W10 is to control drivers as W10 often can break things. He is a Windows Desktop engineer if mem serves.

thatā€™s half true, i mean it can break some things, like video drivers for example, while it usually works fine when you donā€™t touch chipset driver, in fact, chipset drivers usually has the windows version in their driver version, and thereā€™s a reason for that, they have tested it with those drivers.
everything windows finds automatically has more probability of being stable and tested, that doesnā€™t mean it always find correct things.

i have more cases that people break things than windows itself, a wrong use of drivereasy is a perfect example.

He cited before Network and Audio drivers as also often breaking.

My Gygabite G5 itx board requires drivers from Gygabite to get a variety of itā€™s motherboard features working. He said it is still best to install drivers from the manufacturer as W10 still often installs generic drivers.

Likely why MS is now opening things up for at least Video drivers to be able to push updates through windows update unless you disable this recent or incoming feature.

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i want to let you note that that is for a testing purpouse, installing full featured drivers will be done later on, what i want to say is that if you format windows in order to test for stutter, itā€™s better to test it keeping the system more in a near vanilla state, installing everything from the mobo manufacturer is already something that can cause issues, expecially for asus, itā€™s better going by steps.
i hope iā€™ve been clear now.

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I never said install everything from a mobo manufacturer. As they often have bloat applications that are not needed.

Asus, Gygabite, MSI, AsRock(was part of Asus) their Mobo aps are usually best left out.

My Windows install is just about a vanilla as it gets without buying a Windows CE Tablet. My Windows PC are restricted use machines with minimal bloatware. I use My Linux Machines for free unrestricted uses.

changed suggestion n.8 to be more clear. thanks

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Now donā€™t get me wrong. Your post has a lot if great points in it.

However if you know Enopho he is a Windows Desktop engineer and Iā€™d wager has stronger MS Windows knowledge vs majority of us.

Often it is better to know your hardware vs trusting autodetect install routines even today.

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Now we have had folks whom needed to install mobo latest BiOS (should always check BiOS version install newest) and needed to install up to date chipset driver to resolve some issues with I think it was USB.

My motherboard needed bios updated with an a different stick of ram before it supported ddr4 3200mhz ram

sure, but as you said you have to know that else itā€™s better not to touch.

and thanks iā€™m only trying to be helpful, maybe for most of us are obvious things, iā€™m sure that the average knowledge of the pimax community is already high

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Indeed more awareness is best. On that note thanks for your troubleshooting suggestions especially the latency testing program. :beers::sunglasses::+1::sparkles:

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