w520 stutters with netflix HD

I got my folks a new w520 and have just tried watching some netflix on it, HD is dismal on it, and is a non stop stutter fest. My sony Z with 1080p screen plays the same HD video fine on the same network, even with last gen processor and integrated graphics. I can't figure out what is wrong, the intel 3000 graphics should be good enough, not to mention the big graphics card this thing comes with. I checked to make sure power management wasn't doing anything stupid and it is all set up for max performance, but the performance is anything but!

 

Might be Optimus interfering. Firstly, update your graphics drivers.

Try right-clicking it and running as discrete or integrated. If that doesn't work, go into BIOS and choose integrated or discrete only.

 

Did you set the BIOS to discrete and try with just the NVIDIA dGPU?

 

It's not Optimus per se. I've experienced this plenty of times with certain video files on the Intel HD graphics chip (in integrated GPU and Optimus mode). The symptoms are the mouse and everything pauses for half a second, unpauses, and then this cycle repeats a few times until the video starts playing.

The problem does not show up with the nVidia discrete GPU. I've been meaning to write Intel support an email about it because it's readily recreateable but maybe one of you can open a case with both Lenovo and Intel?

 

Yes everything works fine with the nvidia GPU, as one would expect. But it is utter crap that the integrated intel graphics on the W520 can't play hd video, my last gen intel integrated graphics can do it just fine on my sony Z, and the second gen intel 3000 graphics is supposed to be way way better then that.
Is there anyway to update the intel graphics driver? I was looking at it and it looks to be lenovo proprietary. there is a new intel 3000 driver out, but it doesn't look compatible?

 

Well, I've been an Intel integrated GPU hater since day one. The ONLY reason I give them any credit is due to the longer battery life on Optimus. But frankly I wish NVIDIA would just get better at power management on their own, and run Intel off.

 

I tried chrome.angrybirds.com with my X220T i7 last night for awhile, and had Power Management set on Max Performance.
Thought this would be a good test... switched into tablet mode and used my finger to manipulate the game.

Video became very choppy, and the heat coming out of the exhaust port was impressive.
Considering this plays fine on older devices with specs considerably less robust, I am puzzled and disappointed. Hoping this is a collection of driver issues for new hardware.

I'm betting the X221T will be a nice, polished product... we'll have completed the beta testing for Lenovo by then!

 

Out curiosity, does this occur for both battery and a/c usage? I had the same thing happen to my T520 but strictly on battery usage. On battery, the processor state had been set to 5% maximum for some reason. I set it higher and the choppiness went away.

Could this be affecting your notebook as well? My notebook uses the Intel HD graphics for any video streaming. In fact, even with bluray, it doesn't switch to NVS4200. It only uses NVS4200 for 3D games.

 

Netflix streaming doesn't use hardware acceleration (yet) on the PC. Their silverlight player is software decode, so it's only using your CPU. That being said, your machine should have plenty of power to run Netflix HD.

 

Could it be related to this? http://forum.notebookreview.com/windows-os-software/486478-fix-win7-i7-sluggish-performance.html

 

On my work T420s with IGP, I have two HD displays connected. On one, I'm typing this. On the other, a full HD netflix video - Black Death - is playing, stutter free.

So the issue is limited to the W520 or to the i7 most likely.

 

Correction: Plays fine on a 22" LCD using DVI. Some slight lag when playing on my Sanyo LCD TV 42" using DP->HDMI. I believe it's the TV though and not the laptop.

 

Hey all, sorry I just joined to respond to this post. Wish it had more traffic.

I used the trick just for fun anyways and I like it, I suggest you all add it to your list of tweaks with any multi-core cpu's.

A reminder to all you out there with 120hz and above TV's and even more specifically Samsung's. Because of the increased refresh rates of these TV's there is often some form of rate limiting feature you can enable or disable, Samsung calls it "Auto Motion Plus." You may need to enable or disable this feature to make things right with your current configuration.

Netflix was being jittery and jumpy, almost woozy feeling for me. Nothing seemed out of place and I couldn't figure out for the life of me WHAT were the possible differences? The major difference was my panel and the fact this is my first new gen pc with an HDMI display port to utilize.

Hopefully someone out there finds this useful, I see a lot of chatter around this issue but not a lot of resolutions once we get away from the usual suspects.