Slow Opening of Video Files over LAN

jimmynail · 2008-07-24, 14:46

Hi,

Firstly ---- mediaportal v1 RC2 - fantastic...the progress over last 12- 18 months = brilliant.

However - I have one painful problem.

I can access My Videos fine in MP.

I can open my video files fine "locally" in MP.

When I change the location of the files to be accessed and opened to be a remote share locally mapped via MP- i.e. hard drive off pc over WIFI.

The opening of the video files takes about 30 seconds.

If i access the same video file using WMP, Videolan - it takes about 8 seconds.

There is some interaction between Mediaportal which is slowing down the opening.

I have used some ACE mega code pack - and fiddled a little - files now open in 15seconds.

However thats still nearly 100% more than using the files outside of MP.

Any ideas. similar issues ?

malachii · 2008-07-28, 14:59

This remains my one and only showstopper and real grief with this app. outside of this, I recommend it to everyone I talk to.

My experience is similiar to yours. Even starting a video takes upwards of 30 seconds to begin showing video. This is not the case in , WMP, vlc, etc.

Even more irritating is the slow listing that seems to plague others that use remotely attached storage. Getting the initial listing in "shares" view take almost 30 seconds. To add insult to injury, there is no "cache" to speak off. If I navigate into a folder and then back to the root, another 30 seconds. Suck down imdb info on a movie and select ok, another 30 seconds.

I have troubleshot this to hell and back as I truly beleive it is an issue with the way MP does a "list". Windows explorer and other methods show not even the slightest bit of hesitation. From this HTPC to the NAS, I get 35MB read and 25 MB write using Intel Gig cards with Jumbo frames enabled. Devices like XMBC on xbox and Popcorn do not have this issue in this environment. Speed is not an issue on my end that I can tell.

I have played around a bit with different protocols with exactly the same results. I have used ftp, smb, cifs. I have reset the DB, used complete defaults, all with no success.

This problems causes kittens to cry.

Please don't let the kittens cry.

TV-Server Version:
MediaPortal Version: RC2
MediaPortal Skin: Default
Windows Version: Xp SP3
CPU Type: AMD Phenom 9600 Quad Core
HDD: Seagte 400GB
Memory: G.Skill PC2-6400 2 GB
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H
Video Card: ATI 3200 HD
Video Card Driver: As of May 20
Sound Card: Realtek HD Audio
Sound Card AC3: SPDIF out
Sound Card Driver: As of May 20th
1. TV Card: NA
1. TV Card Type: NA
1. TV Card Driver: NA
2. TV Card: NA
2. TV Card Type: NA
2. TV Card Driver: NA
3. TV Card: NA
3. TV Card Type: NA
3. TV Card Driver: NA
4. TV Card: NA
4. TV Card Type: NA
4. TV Card Driver: NA
MPEG2 Video Codec: FFDShow
MPEG2 Audio Codec: FFDShow
h.264 Video Codec: CoreAVC
Satelite/CableTV Provider: NA
HTPC Case: Generic
Cooling: 1 cpu, 2 system fans
Power Supply: Generic
Remote: ATI (X10)
TV: Magnavox 50 DLP
TV - HTPC Connection: HDMI

bradsh · 2008-07-30, 06:11

I'm having the same problem. Videos take 30 seconds or more to start playing from over a network mapped drive. If I double click on the file in windows and open it in media player classic, it loads in 1-2 seconds. I'm considering using MPC as an external player but I dont really see that as a proper solution.

TV-Server Version:
MediaPortal Version: 1.0 RC2
MediaPortal Skin: Indigo
Windows Version: XP SP3
CPU Type: P4 2.8ghz
HDD: 60gb laptop hd
Memory: 512mb
Motherboard: HP
Video Card: ATi 9200 64mb dedicated
Video Card Driver:
Sound Card:
Sound Card AC3:
Sound Card Driver:
1. TV Card:
1. TV Card Type:
1. TV Card Driver:
2. TV Card:
2. TV Card Type:
2. TV Card Driver:
3. TV Card:
3. TV Card Type:
3. TV Card Driver:
4. TV Card:
4. TV Card Type:
4. TV Card Driver:
MPEG2 Video Codec: Doesn't matter which one I use
MPEG2 Audio Codec:
h.264 Video Codec:
Satelite/CableTV Provider:
HTPC Case:
Cooling:
Power Supply:
Remote:
TV:
TV - HTPC Connection:

danielparker · 2008-07-30, 10:41

Sounds like the same issue I listed in this thread:

MKV files slow to start playing..

At least now I know I'm not the only one.

Daniel

jwdaigle · 2008-07-30, 15:08

What I dont understand about this problem is that during the "lag", there is very little network activity. It is driving me crazy waiting 60 seconds for an album to start playing in My Music :-)

Has this behavior been there before RC2? ( i just started using it as of RC2).

other than that, Meida Portal absolutely Rocks!

TV-Server Version: None (Client only install)
MediaPortal Version: 1.0 RC2
MediaPortal Skin: Blue Wide
Windows Version: XP Professional SP3
CPU Type: Intel Celeron 2.6Ghz
HDD: Seagate 160GB ST3160811AS Sata
Memory: 1GB DDR2
Motherboard: ASUS P5SD2-X
Video Card: MSI GeForce 8500GT
Video Card Driver: Forceware 175.16
Sound Card: onboard SoundMax 5.1
Sound Card AC3: no AC3
Sound Card Driver: SoundMax 5.0
1. TV Card: None
1. TV Card Type:
1. TV Card Driver:
2. TV Card:
2. TV Card Type:
2. TV Card Driver:
3. TV Card:
3. TV Card Type:
3. TV Card Driver:
4. TV Card:
4. TV Card Type:
4. TV Card Driver:
MPEG2 Video Codec: MPV Decoder Filter
MPEG2 Audio Codec: MPA Decoder Filter
h.264 Video Codec: CoreAVC 1.7
Satelite/CableTV Provider: None
HTPC Case: None
Cooling: None
Power Supply: CoolerMaster 380W
Remote: None
TV: Sony Bravia 37U
TV - HTPC Connection: HDMI from MSI Geforce

jimmynail · 2008-07-30, 19:04

Hi,

I am getting a little closer..

The directory that contains my movies has almost 500 objects in it.. and it is this that is causing the slowdown of playback.

If I put a movie file in a directory by itself, then playback is quick, and returning to the MediaPortal menu is quick.

As soon as I play a file in a directory with many objects it gets slow.

Can anyone else replicate this issue?

Any ideas for a fix?

Thanks
Daniel

-------------------

Daniel you are right re the above. I have changed my default view from share to title so it uses teh database and this is quicker for getting into my movies.

However playback problem still persists where you have alot of objects in the same folder.

bradsh · 2008-07-30, 19:18

i reinstalled XP
installed CCCP
installed .net 2.0 framework
installed mediaportal

lag is gone. dunno, weird. video files load in about 1-5 seconds now

danielparker · 2008-07-30, 22:01

Yes.. swapping to Title view and using the database helped a little.. but playback is still taking 30 seconds to start.

Daniel

malachii · 2008-08-01, 21:24

I resolved my slowness issue. In a painfull round-about way.

Changing from shares view was never really an option for the way my data was laid out. The majority of my media was laid out in the root of the share, with another 15 or so subfolders with my "seasons" of tv eposides. Like so:

share\seinfeld\season1\episodes 1 through whatever .avi's
24\season2\episodes 1 through whatever.avi's
folder
movie.avi
movie.avi
movie.avi
movie.avi
500 or so titles

Switching from shares view would be fast, but it would congregate the "tv episode" data into the main mix. Unacceptable. Specially with 100's of tv show episodes, that in shares view, is organized by subfolders.

I took the time to put each "movie" into a subfolder of its own with the folder name being the movie name and the folder.jpg imdb box art being shown for each folder. I found some decent script to do this for me but they ended up being more of a pain in the ass than they were worth with spaces in names, and duplicates, etc.

Now:

Share\moviefolder\movie.avi
\moviefolder\movie.avi
\moviefolder\movie.avi
\seinfeld\season1\episodes
etc

Result?

From 30 seconds EACH listing down to 2 seconds.

yay!

Starting a title? Instantly now.

Sucking down imdb info for a single title? Damn near instant.

Even the gui is more responsive and less sluggish.

This is maybe not an option for others depending on the data layout, but it sure works for me.

phunqe · 2008-08-01, 21:50

Well at the bottom of it there's something wrong with the code somehwere, because a directory listing of a network drive with let's say 500 items takes way much longer than in for example Windows explorer.

Even tried it with XBMC for Windows and the listings there are instant. It has been like this for as long as I can remember. Don't really know if it's being ignored or what (has been reported several times).

2008-07-24, 14:46	#1 (permalink)
jimmynail Portal Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 6 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Slow Opening of Video Files over LAN Hi, Firstly ---- mediaportal v1 RC2 - fantastic...the progress over last 12- 18 months = brilliant. However - I have one painful problem. I can access My Videos fine in MP. I can open my video files fine "locally" in MP. When I change the location of the files to be accessed and opened to be a remote share locally mapped via MP- i.e. hard drive off pc over WIFI. The opening of the video files takes about 30 seconds. If i access the same video file using WMP, Videolan - it takes about 8 seconds. There is some interaction between Mediaportal which is slowing down the opening. I have used some ACE mega code pack - and fiddled a little - files now open in 15seconds. However thats still nearly 100% more than using the files outside of MP. Any ideas. similar issues ?

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2008-07-28, 14:59	#2 (permalink)
malachii Portal Member Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 5 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Country:	This remains my one and only showstopper and real grief with this app. outside of this, I recommend it to everyone I talk to. My experience is similiar to yours. Even starting a video takes upwards of 30 seconds to begin showing video. This is not the case in , WMP, vlc, etc. Even more irritating is the slow listing that seems to plague others that use remotely attached storage. Getting the initial listing in "shares" view take almost 30 seconds. To add insult to injury, there is no "cache" to speak off. If I navigate into a folder and then back to the root, another 30 seconds. Suck down imdb info on a movie and select ok, another 30 seconds. I have troubleshot this to hell and back as I truly beleive it is an issue with the way MP does a "list". Windows explorer and other methods show not even the slightest bit of hesitation. From this HTPC to the NAS, I get 35MB read and 25 MB write using Intel Gig cards with Jumbo frames enabled. Devices like XMBC on xbox and Popcorn do not have this issue in this environment. Speed is not an issue on my end that I can tell. I have played around a bit with different protocols with exactly the same results. I have used ftp, smb, cifs. I have reset the DB, used complete defaults, all with no success. This problems causes kittens to cry. Please don't let the kittens cry. TV-Server Version: MediaPortal Version: RC2 MediaPortal Skin: Default Windows Version: Xp SP3 CPU Type: AMD Phenom 9600 Quad Core HDD: Seagte 400GB Memory: G.Skill PC2-6400 2 GB Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H Video Card: ATI 3200 HD Video Card Driver: As of May 20 Sound Card: Realtek HD Audio Sound Card AC3: SPDIF out Sound Card Driver: As of May 20th 1. TV Card: NA 1. TV Card Type: NA 1. TV Card Driver: NA 2. TV Card: NA 2. TV Card Type: NA 2. TV Card Driver: NA 3. TV Card: NA 3. TV Card Type: NA 3. TV Card Driver: NA 4. TV Card: NA 4. TV Card Type: NA 4. TV Card Driver: NA MPEG2 Video Codec: FFDShow MPEG2 Audio Codec: FFDShow h.264 Video Codec: CoreAVC Satelite/CableTV Provider: NA HTPC Case: Generic Cooling: 1 cpu, 2 system fans Power Supply: Generic Remote: ATI (X10) TV: Magnavox 50 DLP TV - HTPC Connection: HDMI

2008-07-30, 06:11	#3 (permalink)
bradsh Portal User Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 2 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	I'm having the same problem. Videos take 30 seconds or more to start playing from over a network mapped drive. If I double click on the file in windows and open it in media player classic, it loads in 1-2 seconds. I'm considering using MPC as an external player but I dont really see that as a proper solution. TV-Server Version: MediaPortal Version: 1.0 RC2 MediaPortal Skin: Indigo Windows Version: XP SP3 CPU Type: P4 2.8ghz HDD: 60gb laptop hd Memory: 512mb Motherboard: HP Video Card: ATi 9200 64mb dedicated Video Card Driver: Sound Card: Sound Card AC3: Sound Card Driver: 1. TV Card: 1. TV Card Type: 1. TV Card Driver: 2. TV Card: 2. TV Card Type: 2. TV Card Driver: 3. TV Card: 3. TV Card Type: 3. TV Card Driver: 4. TV Card: 4. TV Card Type: 4. TV Card Driver: MPEG2 Video Codec: Doesn't matter which one I use MPEG2 Audio Codec: h.264 Video Codec: Satelite/CableTV Provider: HTPC Case: Cooling: Power Supply: Remote: TV: TV - HTPC Connection:

2008-07-30, 10:41	#4 (permalink)
danielparker Portal Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 6 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Country:	Sounds like the same issue I listed in this thread: MKV files slow to start playing.. At least now I know I'm not the only one. Daniel

2008-07-30, 15:08	#5 (permalink)
jwdaigle Portal Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 19 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Country: My System	What I dont understand about this problem is that during the "lag", there is very little network activity. It is driving me crazy waiting 60 seconds for an album to start playing in My Music :-) Has this behavior been there before RC2? ( i just started using it as of RC2). other than that, Meida Portal absolutely Rocks! TV-Server Version: None (Client only install) MediaPortal Version: 1.0 RC2 MediaPortal Skin: Blue Wide Windows Version: XP Professional SP3 CPU Type: Intel Celeron 2.6Ghz HDD: Seagate 160GB ST3160811AS Sata Memory: 1GB DDR2 Motherboard: ASUS P5SD2-X Video Card: MSI GeForce 8500GT Video Card Driver: Forceware 175.16 Sound Card: onboard SoundMax 5.1 Sound Card AC3: no AC3 Sound Card Driver: SoundMax 5.0 1. TV Card: None 1. TV Card Type: 1. TV Card Driver: 2. TV Card: 2. TV Card Type: 2. TV Card Driver: 3. TV Card: 3. TV Card Type: 3. TV Card Driver: 4. TV Card: 4. TV Card Type: 4. TV Card Driver: MPEG2 Video Codec: MPV Decoder Filter MPEG2 Audio Codec: MPA Decoder Filter h.264 Video Codec: CoreAVC 1.7 Satelite/CableTV Provider: None HTPC Case: None Cooling: None Power Supply: CoolerMaster 380W Remote: None TV: Sony Bravia 37U TV - HTPC Connection: HDMI from MSI Geforce

2008-07-30, 19:04	#6 (permalink)
jimmynail Portal Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 6 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Hi, I am getting a little closer.. The directory that contains my movies has almost 500 objects in it.. and it is this that is causing the slowdown of playback. If I put a movie file in a directory by itself, then playback is quick, and returning to the MediaPortal menu is quick. As soon as I play a file in a directory with many objects it gets slow. Can anyone else replicate this issue? Any ideas for a fix? Thanks Daniel ------------------- Daniel you are right re the above. I have changed my default view from share to title so it uses teh database and this is quicker for getting into my movies. However playback problem still persists where you have alot of objects in the same folder.

2008-07-30, 19:18	#7 (permalink)
bradsh Portal User Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 2 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	i reinstalled XP installed CCCP installed .net 2.0 framework installed mediaportal lag is gone. dunno, weird. video files load in about 1-5 seconds now

2008-07-30, 22:01	#8 (permalink)
danielparker Portal Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 6 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Country:	Yes.. swapping to Title view and using the database helped a little.. but playback is still taking 30 seconds to start. Daniel

2008-08-01, 21:24	#9 (permalink)
malachii Portal Member Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 5 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Country:	I resolved my slowness issue. In a painfull round-about way. Changing from shares view was never really an option for the way my data was laid out. The majority of my media was laid out in the root of the share, with another 15 or so subfolders with my "seasons" of tv eposides. Like so: share\seinfeld\season1\episodes 1 through whatever .avi's 24\season2\episodes 1 through whatever.avi's folder movie.avi movie.avi movie.avi movie.avi 500 or so titles Switching from shares view would be fast, but it would congregate the "tv episode" data into the main mix. Unacceptable. Specially with 100's of tv show episodes, that in shares view, is organized by subfolders. I took the time to put each "movie" into a subfolder of its own with the folder name being the movie name and the folder.jpg imdb box art being shown for each folder. I found some decent script to do this for me but they ended up being more of a pain in the ass than they were worth with spaces in names, and duplicates, etc. Now: Share\moviefolder\movie.avi \moviefolder\movie.avi \moviefolder\movie.avi \seinfeld\season1\episodes etc Result? From 30 seconds EACH listing down to 2 seconds. yay! Starting a title? Instantly now. Sucking down imdb info for a single title? Damn near instant. Even the gui is more responsive and less sluggish. This is maybe not an option for others depending on the data layout, but it sure works for me.

2008-08-01, 21:50	#10 (permalink)
phunqe Portal Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 228 Thanks: 8 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Well at the bottom of it there's something wrong with the code somehwere, because a directory listing of a network drive with let's say 500 items takes way much longer than in for example Windows explorer. Even tried it with XBMC for Windows and the listings there are instant. It has been like this for as long as I can remember. Don't really know if it's being ignored or what (has been reported several times).