Static in browser video after VB update

[schwim]

Hi there everyone!

Ever since updating VBox to 5.1.28 r117968 (Qt5.6.2) on the Windows 10 host, I've begun to suffer static while watching video in my browser(Chrome, Vivaldi and Firefox). The way it happens is that while watching a video, the static begins very lightly and gains in intensity until it drowns out the video's own audio. If I wait long enough(usually 15-30 seconds), it will begin to fade away, until it disappears completely. If I close a video and open a new one, the static seems to start off immediately at the intensity it was when the last video was closed.

{EDIT}I downloaded a Youtube video(using youtube-dl) and tried playing it in VLC player. The issue occurs in the VLC player as well, so it's not browser-specific. This issue does NOT occur at any time in the host OS.

I'm not sure how to troubleshoot this issue and would really appreciate some insight on the matter.

Thanks for your time!

[schwim]

Bumping in the hopes of some ideas.

[Perryg]

Post the guests log file ( as an attachment ). Right click on the guest in the Main Manager then click show log. Save and post as an attachment. Compress if it is too large to post.

[schwim]

Thanks very much for your help!

I restarted the VM and went through the process to make it occur. First I opened the browser and played a YT video. The static started occurring instantly, ramped up until it's peak at 15 seconds then dwindled until disappearing at exactly the 30 second mark.

Then I downloaded that same video and opened it in VLC media player. At the 2:50 mark, the static began following the same pattern in intensity and then completely disappered at 3:20.

At this point, I saved the log file without shutting down the guest machine.

It seems to me that my static is occurring in exact 30 second blocks of time.

I've attached my log and will be happy to perform any other things that might help figure out the issue.

Thanks for your time!

[Perryg]

I would also like to see the guests *.vbox file as well. Located in the main folder of the guest. Compress it to allow you to upload as an attachment.

[schwim]

This is the compressed .vbox file of the guest as it was running:

[Perryg]

Confirm that you have selected the Intel HD audio for the guest in the settings. You can also try the AC97 and see if that works better.

Also confirm that the guest is using the 5.1.28 guest additions ( use the top tab machine > session information ) as I see mention of an older version in the guest settings.

Note: there has been extensive work lately in the audio and you might also try to upgrade the version of VirtualBox to at least 5.1.30 or even the new 5.2.0 to see if it clears up the audio for you.
Question: Have you tried the audio during a remote session ( vRDP ) to the guest and if so does it have the same issue?

[schwim]

Here's my session information, in case it helps. It seems to confirm matching GA as well as Intel HD audio.

I will try the alternative audio setting and if that doesn't resolve my issue, I'll update VBox and report back.

[schwim]

Hi there, Perry. The issue seems to be resolved by switching from Intel HD to ICH AC97. I also upgraded to 5.2.x but the issue persisted in that version as well and didn't stop until the audio controller switch.

If this a broader issue than just me, I would be happy to provide some more data if you'll just let me know what would be useful. Otherwise, we can just consider this resolved.

Thanks for all your help!

[Perryg]

The HD audio has been recently added to other guest besides Windows and the code just needs time to mature. So I would test again after a new update and check the change logs to see if fixes to the HD audio have been made. Of course if you have time and feel like testing this yourself you can follow these instructions https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/AudioDebug and send the data to the DEVs.