I had the same issue. I upgraded my HTPC to version 1.7.1 and then our laptop. The HTPC still worked fine, but the laptop had very similar symptoms to yours. Very slow navigating up and down the list of recorded TV, and a blank screen when trying to play anything. Also a bit slow starting MediaPortal.
I downgraded the laptop to 1.6.0 which didn't help. However, downgrading the HTPC back to 1.6.0 as well did fix the issue.
My only thought was perhaps the skin I was using was involved with the problems. I am running StreamedMP which doesn't currently have a release tested compatible with 1.7.1. So maybe that was the problem. Anyhow. If you haven't downgraded your HTPC to 1.6.0, I suggest you give that a go. (just run the 1.6.0 installer and choose "Upgrade")
EDIT: It seems there is an update for StreamedMP now which is 1.7.x compatible. I will try installing that and then updating the laptop to 1.7.1
Unfortunately I was using 1.6.0 when the problem first arose. Updated to 1.7.0 and then 1.7.1 in the hope it would solve the issue, with no success.
Also have disabled/removed all the anti-virus and firewalls on one of the laptops with no improvement. I have already tried removing the anti-virus and firewall on the htpc - again no change.
I am intending to completely reinstall Win 7 on the older laptop, as it is not mission critical on other things, to see if that resolves the problem. If it doesn't, then at least I will know that it is the server that is the problem, although I have already re-installed MP form scratch on the htpc with no change. Entirely possible I will end up re-installing Win 7 on the server as well I suspect. Ho-hum, a few hours of sitting around while re-installing/updating all over again I suspect.
have you had a look with TCPView or ProcessHacker if needed ports are in "listening" state on server? @mm1352000 what TCP ports are in use by communication tvserver <-> tv client (including RTSP) ?
Good pointer Vasilich. Have installed ProcessHacker and I attach a couple of screen grabs of the relevant sections. "OfficePC" is my desktop, which is also running as a client and working ok. Laptop3 is the client that is not working.
Only thing I can see is that Laptop port 49367 does not seem to be showing up on the server as being connected to port 3306.
Also, examining the data rate on the laptop, it seems to vary between about 57B/s and 1.6kB/s - far too slow for any meaningful video to be displayed. Looks as though something is throttling it.
Anybody see anything useful in this? Can post fuller info if it would be useful.
fritz.box is the name of the router, so I am guessing that the entries such as htpc.fritz.box are referring to a connection to the router? Why, I don't know. IPv6 was indeed enabled on both the server and the client, but not on the router. Have now disabled on both, but regrettably no change.
Interesting things happening on the i/o though. As soon as the laptop is switched on (before MP is started) the tv service recognises it. I assume it is just looking for things on the network. Without starting the client on the laptop, there appears to be i/o activity on the tv service around 1.5 kB/s. As soon as the client is started, this drops to around 306 B/s. When I select a programme to watch on the client, a long pause on the client then a black screen. However, the i/o activity on the server jumps to around 1.5 mB/s (must have inadvertently selected an HD channel on this occasion, as that is about the same as when I select an HD channel on OfficePC - the desktop client which works fine). This seems to indicate to me that the server thinks it is sending the data, but the client is only receiving around 1.5kB/s at this point. Seems to be getting throttled somewhere.
FYI, I have already tried using a different router with just the server htpc and the client laptop connected, but there is no change. Weird. If it was just the one laptop, I would just assume it was the laptop itself, but this happens on two completely different laptops.
Weirder and weirder. Soon as I get a chance, I am going to re-install a virgin win7 on the lpatop and see if that solves the problem.