What Parameters (within Mediaportal) dictate the data transfer speed across a network (1 Viewer)

[1gkar]

Hi,

As the title implies, I am attempting to resolve a frustrating issue regarding media load times bewtween my multiseat HTPC & the client one in my bedroom.

The saga really bagan back at Christmas when I decided to upgrade to W7 for 3DBD playback. Certain issues (see this thread). To cut that particular section of the story short, I reverted back to XP, & installed MP1.3.0final.

The load times did not decrease. So I am now running MP1.2.3 (as it seemed the issues presented themselves after upgrading beyond 1.2.*) on my main HTPC, but MP1.3.0 on my client; similar load times prevail -between 15 seconds to 2 minutes, depending on whether mkv is XVid, DivX, or H264, or a TV recorded TS file (they seem to load fastest). I have also noticed minimal load times with subsequent files (of the same coding format), until I retire out of MP & reload. In which case, I am back to the initial times.

To emphasise: these times are ONLY relevant when loading from within MP. Zoomplayer loads quickly, in all file formats.

I have just completed removing the router & GB switch from my LAN to ensure there was not any issues with the hardware. Couldn't see how, with regards to the above paragraph. Same applies to cabling.

I notice sqlserver has quite a high memory requirement (up to about 100mb RAM), but don't see how that could have any relevance. Question: can using different SQL servers cause any incompatibilities or delay in loading? I use SQL on the main rig, & MySQL on the client machine. Why? From memory, I had issues trying to install MySQL on the main one when reinstalling MP one time, recently.

My next target is to revert the client machine back to MP1.2.3 to ensure there is no issues between versions on my system.

Beginning to get the picture of my annoyances. So, as initially stated, any assistance would be immensely appreciated as to why this could potentially be happening. Cheers.

PS. I am not an IT geek ;-) so please keep any ideas dummied down to non-technical sentences.

 

[tourettes]

It could be slow scanning of the media file (MediaInfo: http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net/en is doing it under MP). MP log might show where the time is spent.

 

[1gkar]

Thanks for the very fast reply.

I upgraded both HTPC's Mediaportal Mediainfo.dll & didn't notice any real improvement. I used the Mediainfo 32bit Windows CLI *.dll file.

I have included both HTPC's MP logs.

 

[mm1352000]

From the logs and cursory check of the code it certainly looks like tourettes is right.
The difference is almost certainly due to MediaInfo scanning the files via share from the client whereas the HTPC has direct access.
I take it you've confirmed there is no issue when the client is playing local files?

 

[1gkar]

From the logs and cursory check of the code it certainly looks like tourettes is right.
The difference is almost certainly due to MediaInfo scanning the files via share from the client whereas the HTPC has direct access.
I take it you've confirmed there is no issue when the client is playing local files?

Once playing, there appears no problems with playback. How do I go about testing this? Thanks for response.

 

[mm1352000]

From the logs and cursory check of the code it certainly looks like tourettes is right.
The difference is almost certainly due to MediaInfo scanning the files via share from the client whereas the HTPC has direct access.
I take it you've confirmed there is no issue when the client is playing local files?

Once playing, there appears no problems with playback. How do I go about testing this? Thanks for response.

I think you missed my point.
Please copy a file from the share on the HTPC to the client, then attempt to play that file and report the result.

 

[1gkar]

Sorry about the delay in reporting back. I decided to upgrade my main HTPC's RAM from my client machine & update that machine's RAM. 7 days waiting for a stick of RAM. I love NZ online stores

Please copy a file from the share on the HTPC to the client, then attempt to play that file and report the result.

I did as you asked with a couple of different formatted media files -1x DivX & 1x H.264- & both played quickly (within 2-4 seconds). So I conclude it is an issue with my network, but am unsure how to proceed from here, or am I wrong in my assumption?

Thanks for your assistance.

 

[mm1352000]

So I conclude it is an issue with my network, but am unsure how to proceed from here, or am I wrong in my assumption?

I also conclude that the issue is due to the network factor. The time consumed is MediaInfo scanning the files to find the media parameters - number of audio and subtitles streams, stream formats, resolution etc. You need to find a way to speed up the MediaInfo scanning. That means investigating firewall issues, network packet size optimisation, trying older/newer versions of MediaInfo...