Win 10 AU, DisplayLink 8.0M3, and Chrome Issue
 

My system is an i7-4770K, with a GTX 1080 and the latest version of Chrome and Nvidia drivers (and Displaylink).

When my USB monitor is turned on, Netflix.com videos are completely unwatchable, with my CPU frequency spiking to 108% of maximum and experiencing extreme lag/stutter, but only on Chrome.

If I use Microsoft Edge, the videos play without trouble.

However I can fix the problem with Netflix/Chrome entirely, by simply turning off my Touch2 USB monitor. The videos immediately resume without lag or stutter, until I turn the Touch2 back on and the problem immediately returns.

This problem was resolved completely by rolling back to Windows 10 version 1511, but that is no longer an option.

This needs to be addressed please. I should not have to keep my Touch2 completely powered down in order to use Chrome and watch Netflix videos.

Hello,

On Windows 10 AU, our driver has no way to know if you are using Chrome or Edge. Windows pushes pixels to the driver irrespective of the application being used.
This suggests an issue with the application, as it seems to work flawlessly on Edge.
Which process spikes above 100%?
Can you also post the log files when the issue is visible (as described in the last link of my signature) so I can have a look?

Kind regards,
Alban

The highest CPU usage I have in processes is Chrome, at approximately 14% peak. No other process uses even 3% of CPU during the issue.

I've attached a diagnostic file taken while Netflix was stuttering like crazy. Hopefully you can find something to pinpoint the issue. I can't stress enough that it stops entirely if I simply power off my Touch2 monitor.

The issue was not present at all prior to Windows 10 AU.

No updates? :( This is still an ongoing problem.

I will say I am having the same issue. I am using two adapters with Windows 10 and have stuttering and high cpu usage.

I've posted my system information/log as you requested, and absolutely no help has been offered.

This problem has not been resolved. Neither you, nor Google seem to give a shit about it. The least you could do is look through the information you specifically asked for, and determine if it is a problem on your end, or if you need to contact Google and cooperate with them on getting this resolved.

Completely ignoring the issue is not something which makes me desire to recommend any Displaylink devices in the future.

Hello,

Thank you for your patience whilst I was on holidays.

We don't have a reproduction at this stage and you are the unique person who reported this Netflix issue until last week when Roy chipped in so I have not been able to have this prioritised before I left... And you have a straight forward way of making it work. This has nothing to do with not caring!

You indicated everything is peachy with Microsoft Edge and I've already stated our driver is not application aware...
I don't understand why you prefer getting angry with having it stutter on Google Chrome rather than having it smooth on Microsoft Edge.
Would you care to explain why you don't use Edge for now to watch films?

Regards,
Alban

Because Chrome is the browser I prefer to use. Why should I have to use software I do not care for in order to avoid a problem which should instead be addressed and corrected?

Someone is responsible for this malfunction - either you guys, Google, or Microsoft, and thus far nobody has accepted responsibility or issued a fix. I can't even get someone on the Google product forums to pay attention at all, so the only way I see this getting resolved is if you guys get in touch with Google (or Microsoft) and tell them there's a problem which needs correcting.

I'm upset because this isn't the first time there's been a major issue with my Displaylink device, and it only happened after a forced upgrade from Microsoft to Windows 10 AU, and I'm sick of having hardware/software issues forced upon me and having to sit around and hope that enough people have the issue to where someone cares enough to be bothered to fix it.

did you try the fast way?
 

Did you read this?
How to report issues to DisplayLink for a speedy resolution
Try the official way. Not all threads are closely monitored.

I understand your anger, but reading this made me laugh:
Did you really expected an answer or a solution when you posted at the Google product forums? Chrome is for free, so there is no guaranteed support.

Generally speaking, from a project managers view: if there's an issue just a few people are suffering from, there will be no chance that any dev will look at it. Any team has to prioritize, and so you go top down, starting with the most urgent stuff. And if it's possible to easily workaround a certain problem (like using another browser), nobody will give it a high priority.

What makes you so sure, that your problem is related to Google, Microsoft or DisplayLink? Did you already check, if it's a driver conflict with your Nvidia card?
Did you check if it's a common issue with Chrome? Did you search for "netflix stuttering chrome"? There are several links, like this one.
Did you check with "resource monitor" or the "details" view in task manager what's happening? Maybe it's releated to high I/O operations, it could be an issue with overloading the USB bus (that would be an issue with DisplayLink drivers).
Maybe something went wrong with the Win 10 Update?
Did you try disabling hardware acceleration in Chrome?

BTW: I don't have any problems watching videos in Chrome, even when using two different DisplayLink monitors, an integrated Intel graphics and a Nvidia card at the same time.

I was asked specifically for the logs, which I provided.

Yes, I expect a "support" forum to actually provide support of some kind.

I am reasonably sure the issue is related to Google, Microsoft, or Displaylink because the symptoms only happen with Chrome, they only started after the update to Windows 10 AU, and turning off my Displaylink device solves the issue.

Of course I checked "Netflix stutter," "Netflix lag Chrome," "Netflix Chrome sync" and various other queries. Many results deal with youtube videos, which I do not have any issue at all with.

Yes, I checked Resource Monitor. Both CPU and memory (and network).

If something went wrong with the Windows 10 AU update, then using the Media Creation Tool and doing a clean installation of Windows 10 AU version should have resolved it, correct? It did not.

Yes, I have tried all of the various steps the Chrome "helpers" suggest. Including but not limited to: Fresh install, new profile, disabling hardware acceleration, incognito mode (doesn't work on netflix.com), installing a different version of Flash, and even disabling the only extension I use (Adblock).

I believe that I've done everything in my power to do to track down a fix for this. At this point I need manufacturer support. If they need more logs, they should tell me how to provide what they need and I'll do it. Going weeks at a time without response doesn't help me, or anyone else who might have this issue.

What I can understand from that is that you are venting on DisplayLink forums because we are the only ones who listen to you and reply. I am obviously not responsible for addressing Google product forums and Microsoft "forced updates".

You are totally welcome to keep using Google Chrome for now if you wish. I personally would prefer having something that works smoothly, whichever free tool provides it to me.
It could also be an issue with the video streaming technology being used, if that's only Netflix... But yeah, Netflix will tell you to remove DisplayLink, it's far easier.

You understand incorrectly. I am not here to vent. I am here to get support and have this issue corrected. You asked for logs; I provided them. I have offered to provide any other information you need to track this down. Thus far, that offer has been met with silence.

You're correct that you are not responsible for what happens on Google product forums, or Microsoft's updates. But let's not pretend that you don't have an avenue of communication with other major hardware and software providers that you could utilize to help resolve this.

I use Chrome because it is a browser I have confidence in, and it automatically syncs with my cellphone. It has features which Edge does not - features which matter to me. What you prefer to use is your decision, and what I prefer to use is mine. Complaining about my browser of choice is not the job of technical support.

If you consider this to be venting, then it is only because I'm NOT getting support and this issue is NOT being resolved. Once again - if you need more information or logs, tell me how to provide them and I will do so. Criticizing my choice of browser will not benefit anyone.

Trekari,

I have not pretended anything in this thread.

We do have contact with Microsoft graphics, obviously as we have press release about that. But I do not expect any traction whatsoever explaining that there is an issue on Netflix when not using Microsoft Edge but only using Google Chrome browser.
We do have contacts with Google in different team, but not in the team doing the browser.
We do not have contacts at Netflix at all.

When this has reached the top of the backlog and if the team needs more information, then we will ask. Unfortunately today I have only 2 reports out of millions of displays currently in use with a straight forward workaround.

Of course, if you get feedback from the other suppliers, this will be helpful.

Regards,
Alban

I would not expect you to discuss anything with the Edge browser team. My remarks regarding Microsoft are in reference to the WDDM change implemented in the Anniversary Update. That may have nothing to do with it, but it's the only graphics-related change that I'm aware of, and I know it came with the AU. Prior to AU, everything was fine, thus my suspicion that the 2.1 version of WDDM might have something to do with it.


Trust me: if I get any updates from anyone else about this, I will let you know.

Hello,

You could check about the WDDM version impact by downgrading your primary graphics card driver.
If you take one from about March 2016, it would be WDDM 2.0 and therefore work as such.

Kind regards,
Alban

Also experiencing this issue
 

Netflix was the thing that helped me realize that it's the Chrome browser that's the issue (Netflix stuttering etc). Netflix doesn't even have to be on the USB connected monitor to have the issue - so long as the monitors (I use two USB monitors) are connected, the issue is there.

As well, I can see evidence of the issue without Netflix running - general poor/stutter behavior from other apps - primarily browser driven apps (they may be based on Chromium?)

Windows 10x64 1607
Xeon E5-1660 3.3GHz
32GB ram
1x nVidia Quadro 600
2x nVidia GeForce GT 610
2x Startech DisplayPort to USB adapters

More people are posting about this issue with the same conclusions as I've reached.

Still no fix from Displaylink OR Google.

https://productforums.google.com/for...k/HC2BdindAAAJ

Sure, I am sure you are Jason on that forum.
You will note that thehollowbox replied to your complaint explaining this wouldn't be something for DisplayLink to look into but Chrome. So that's not really different to what you have been told here.

To address this, we would need some profiling of what is making Chrome sluggish. It could be several reasons. It could be a bottleneck with the GPU, the CPU, some threads in the browser, the Netflix code... The experts in Chrome is not DisplayLink.

Kind regards,
Alban

Sure, I am sure you are Jason on that forum.
You will note that thehollowbox replied to your complaint explaining this wouldn't be something for DisplayLink to look into but Chrome. So that's not really different to what you have been told here.

To address this, we would need some profiling of what is making Chrome sluggish. It could be several reasons. It could be a bottleneck with the GPU, the CPU, some threads in the browser, the Netflix code... The experts in Chrome is not DisplayLink.

Kind regards,
Alban

I have had this issue for about a year
 

This is great! Just by turning off the displaylink monitor chrome runs netflix properly again. Hope a new driver is in the works to fix this. Thanks!

I have the same issue. 3 monitors - 1 connected over USB cable with StarTech DisplayLink adapter StarTech USB32DPPRO

When USB Monitor is enabled, Netflix and Amazon both play very choppy - 10-30 sec delay between 10-30 sec playing video. No matter which monitor is used.
When USB monitor is turned off - immediately video playback goes back to normal.

I noticed the main symptom is with high CPU utilization by browser when issue persist.
This issue persists with all 4 browsers I have tried - Chrome/Edge/IE/FireFox, so it is not browser specific.

When I'm using Netflix Windows app - from Microsoft marketplace store - video works just fine. This makes me believe this issue is specific to the video codec/plugin that is used by all browsers. I believe this is probably HTML5 since I have all the latest browsers installed. This will explain why some people doesn't have this issue why using different browsers - as long as those utilizing a different video plugin (different from the one with trouble - not sure which one yet...)


To isolate this, I have tried to completely uninstalling Silverlight and Adobe Flash and disabled Flash in Chrome - this made no difference.
From the other side, when I have Silverlight and Flash installed, I'm not sure how to force the browser to use it instead of HTML5... any browser for that matter...

To summarize - it is browser independent. It happens consistently only when USB DisplayLink monitor is turned on. It drives CPU utilization of the browser. And it doesn't happen while using Netflix dedicated app even with USB DisplayLink monitor enabled.

Can this be an issue with DisplayLink drivers and HTML5?

Thanks!