8800GT and sound issue

[gran turismo]

I have an ongoing problem in Vista 32 bit and my 8800GT card with sound "popping". It really only does this in some .avi files. .mkv and DVD movies work fine.

Now, after doing some searches on google, it appears the nvidia drivers are to blame. Users who reverted back to Windows graphics drivers have no problems. Now, can anyone confirm a nvidia driver version that does not cause this sound "popping"?

Here's the link to one thread regarding this issue:

http://www.vistax64.com/sound-audio/152659-sound-skips-snaps-crackle-pop.html

[topher91]

Hmmm.... I have the same card but do not have this problem.... :dunno:

I have the latest nvida drivers as I just re-installed vista64.

Which drivers are you using?

[gran turismo]

I'm using the most recent official Nvidia drivers, 175.19. I've got a more recent beta driver that I'm going to try when I've got time. I'll see if there is any change with this.

What do you have for your audio drivers? I have the most recent Realtek HD Audio drivers.

[bball2]

I'm on vista 32bit w/ 8800 GT, no popping issues in any avi files, could it just be the avi file?

I think I have the latest drivers for my audio / video card:

8800GT: 7.15.11.7529
Realtek: 6.0.1.5502

[dooman24]

you're tyring to play an avi but there's no sound?
and you have picture?
maybe you just need the proper codec for the avi file

[topher91]

Is that realtek a standalone sound device?

[sgouki]

I would agree that it may just be the codec of the video. I noticed that alot of the newer stuff coming out isn't working quite as well but after updating drivers, I'm fine.
I'm not a vista user though. My laptop came standard vista and I reverted it to XP :D

[topher91]

I mean dedicated??

[gran turismo]

The system has an Asus P5K motherboard.

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX17414(ME).aspx

The Realtek is the onboard audio chipset. The sound out is via an optical cable.

I should clarify further the issue I'm having. I get the "pop" sound not only in .avi files but with general Windows sounds. It is not as bad if I turn my subwoofer down. I don't get this at all in games played in Vista or in .mkv files.

I don't think this is a codec issue specific to .avi files because of the general Windows sounds like when closing windows, clicking a link etc.

My next step is to go back to the default Windows VGA drivers and see if my problem is gone. The link I referred to earlier points to this as a solution. I'd like to confirm for myself if the nvidia drivers are indeed the source of the problem.

[gran turismo]

Well, I think I've fixed part of the problem. For whatever reason, Media Center, Media Player Classic etc. would not use the ffdshow audio codec which it should have been using. Instead, it was using ac3filter. I installed the most recent version of ffdshow audio and the "popping" sounds are gone.

But, they are still there when I play music in iTunes. So, new question. Can I "force" iTunes to use an audio codec of my choice or am I stuck with iTune's crappy default codec? I have a feeling I'm stuck. I haven't found anything using google referencing an iTunes codec change.

For now, I'm using winamp since winamp's default codec is better than iTune's and you can force it to use ffdshow. I like iTunes better but I may just move to Media Monkey if I can't fix the codec issue in iTunes.