HD Video Being Compressed & Causing Artifacts

[ZenShredder]

Hello, so recently I did a clean install on my laptop of Windows 8.1 onto a WD Black 2 drive. After finally getting everything set up and good to go, I've ran into a major issue that I've never had problems with and have no idea where to begin on fixing. Before I jump into this, here's my specs:


Model: Asus R510-DP
Motherboard Model: X550DP
CPU: AMD A10 5750M APU
Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 8670M 2GB(it's the on-board APU graphics with an HD 8650G card)
OS: Windows 8.1
HDD: WD Black 2 SSHD 120GB + 1TB
RAM: 8GB DDR3 1600 MHZ
Resolution: 1920X1080


So here's a basic example of an issue that's popping up on my laptop. I will start to play a video in any media player, VLC, Windows Media Player, whatever it is doesn't matter, if the video is 720p or higher the video gets compressed for some reason, causing artifacts to occur very frequently AND constant hiccups in the video. I've tested this problem on my desktop to ensure it isn't the video that has the problem and it does not do the same thing on my desktop, so I have ruled out that potential problem. I'm slightly worried it might be a graphics card issue but I haven't had any other problems with it so far aside from trying to play video content. That being said, I'm sure there are a number of things that could be causing it such as graphics drivers, the media player settings for HD video, or something entirely different. Regardless of what it is, that's why I'm here so I'd like to get some feedback if I can. I use this laptop mainly as a workstation and a tool for self-teaching with lots of video content so this is something I need fixed ASAP.

Thanks in advance for any and all help, it is definitely appreciated

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

Have you installed all the Win 8.1 drivers for your laptop model from the ASUS support website that serves your country?

 

[ZenShredder]

No idea why it thought I selected your answer as the solution, but to answer your question all of my drivers are up to date, Windows is up to date and so there shouldn't be any issues. Perhaps there is some tweaking or settings I need to change in Catalyst for my GPU?

 

[ZenShredder]

So I went ahead and took a screenshot of what precisely is happening. Since I can't figure out how to post an image on here, I went ahead and posted it on Imgur, this is part of the problem but the other problem is that the video also frequently stutters followed by this affect usually.

http/imgur.com/CQAxclR

 

[ZenShredder]

So after extensive testing and contacting Asus for support, I will in fact have to send it in for an RMA. The graphics card is without a doubt artifacting, I had quite a few theories as to why it was doing this, I uninstalled/reinstalled the current drivers, previous version drivers and the OEM drivers from the Asus support site and none of them worked. I tried the video files on my desktop thinking it might be the bit-rate of the files themselves, however they ran smoothly without any issues. I even went as far as to wipe my hard drive, reinstall Windows 8.1 again and then do the same with the old 750GB HDD that came with the laptop, still produced the same results even without the display drivers installed. It is very apparent that the GPU or the APU, or even both have an issue. It really is not a good year for me technologically speaking...