Multiseat client playback stuttering (1 Viewer)

[Wizard_TPG]

TV-Server Version:
MediaPortal Version: 1.0 RC2
MediaPortal Skin:
Windows Version: XP Pro + SP3
CPU Type: Core2Duo E6750
HDD: WD SATA II 360Gb & 1Tb
Memory: 2gb in dual channel mode
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EG45M-DS2H
Video Card: Onboard
Video Card Driver:
Sound Card: Onboard
Sound Card AC3:
Sound Card Driver:
1. TV Card: DigitalNow DNTV Live
1. TV Card Type: DVB-T
1. TV Card Driver:
2. TV Card: DigitalNow DNTV Live
2. TV Card Type: DVB-T
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:
MPEG2 Audio Codec:
h.264 Video Codec:
Satelite/CableTV Provider:
HTPC Case: Thermaltake DH101
Cooling: 2x60mm, 1x120mm fans
Power Supply: Antec Truepower 550W Trio
Remote: iMon Pad
TV: LG 42" LCD 42LC7D
TV - HTPC Connection: Direct HDMI output


Hey guys,

I have finally got my multi-seat configuration set up except for one minor issue.
I cannot play recorded TV or watch TV on the client without it being a slideshow.

Other movies and shows are fine. Playing recordings on the server itself is fine.
The network connection between the server and the client is a draft-n wifi network which is connecting at about 270Mb/sec.

Any idea why this would be or what I can do to improve this situation?

Is there any options for the server to send lower quality streams to clients or alternatively, an option to cache a certain amount of data on the clients to prevent stuttering?

 

[tourettes]

Are you watching HD channels?

 

[Wizard_TPG]

No, these are not HD channels.
Just ordinary digital.

 

[jonaskp]

I sometimes have stuttering/Pixelation too when watching tv on my laptop, with the MPTV Client. This is also SD channels. I am only on a G network, så this is even slower. I also have no trouble watching other movies/recordings that is located on the server on my laptop, if I play them in another program.
It seems there is something about Wireless networks that TV-server doesn't particularly like...

 

[Paranoid Delusion]

If your confident enough, try disabling the hardware firewall in the router, see if that makes a difference, as your only looking for a 2mb's per sec connection to view normal SD res movies, so something network wise is restricting this (i'm not a network wiz).

 

[couchman75]

Hi Wizard_TPG

Is that watching TV only on the remote PC or on the server as well?

I get something similar when I watch TV from a remote client over my 11g network but somehow I don't think its the actual network at fault in my case. My media center with TV Server and client installed is in the lounge and as soon as I start up a remote client in the office and start watching TV the Wife starts moaning about stuttering on the TV. After a bit of investigation it seems its not just watching TV that causes this but the any kind of disk I/O causing memory paging (nothing out the ordinary for a Windows PC), even uTorrent causes glitches every 10secs or so when downloading, just that the TV Client is more demanding hence more noticeable. My CPU usage and disk queue length never reach any great heights, CPU watching SD TV cruises along at less than 20%, HD TV less than 40%, the only metric that tends to increase is the pages/sec. I've set MP to above normal CPU priority.

I'm now intending to test a different TV application to see whether this affected too by disk I/O, if so perhaps there is a problem with the drivers. I have a DigitalNow device also.

Cheers
Russ..

 

[Wizard_TPG]

I dont seem to have any issues with stuttering on the client/server machine at all and it does run uTorrent. I must admit I have never tried watching tv on both machines simultaneously.

My client machine is in my bedroom and was designed so that I could watch movies, tv episodes and tv recordings laying in bed (I know... I am taking lazy to an art form ).

When I have been testing the client/server machine in the lounge has essentially been idle (no client usage).

I will give disabling the router firewall a go but I would have thought I would have more than enough bandwidth with a draft-n network. The router I am using is a Billion 7300N which is a reasonable quality router.