Network Issue possibly switches?

[rldev]

I have a quad core AMD phenom
8GB ddr3
Dedicated Video
Ceton tuner
Win 7 64bit
Verizon Fios
I do not experience these problems directly on the media center pc. There are some channels that always give me problems. For instance Fox Soccer does not play well on my network, it always stuuters, freezes, etc. I'm starting to think it is my switches. I have dlink DGS-1008G(2 of them). Is this a good switch? I read in some other threads that you need switches with buffer memory. Mine does not list anything about buffer size in the specs.

[barnabas1969]

I don't know anything about your switch... but, based on my experience, I wouldn't buy anything from D-Link.

Fox and ABC both broadcast at 720p. Most others broadcast at 1080i. 720p requires more bandwidth in most cases.

With extenders, regardless of bit rate, you should make sure that you have very low network latency. You should used wired ethernet connections... wireless is problematic. MoCa and powerline modems are questionable. You also need to make sure that there is sufficient buffer space in your network switch to convert 1Gbps (from your PC) to 100Mbps (to your extender). I've recommended a very low-cost switch that works well in several other posts here on this site.

You should also make sure that the network adapter in your PC is set to enable flow control. There are several other settings, but begin here.

[WarrenH]

Whilst I appreciate they're not the greatest quality around, I only use Belkin GB switches, have 3 if them with 5 connected PC's plus loads of other equipment, and have zero stuttering or issues. Make sure your switches are set properly in terms of IP addresses, NAT settings, etc, and that you're using twisted cabling, there's plenty of advice on google. Essentially you just want to switch to be dumb and take commands from your router. I'm not a network expert so I'm sure others will probably be able to give a more definitive response.

[rldev]

I wired my whole house with cat 6a quality cabling. I have 3 switches (2 dlink and one trendnet) and an apple airport extreme. All of my switches are passive. All of my extenders are xbox 360's. Nic is PCI Intel. Flow control is enabled.

"You also need to make sure that there is sufficient buffer space in your network switch to convert 1Gbps (from your PC) to 100Mbps (to your extender). "

My switches don't list list any buffer. I did find that the dlink has Ram Buffer: 192 KBytes per device. IS this enough?

http://www.amazon.com/TRENDnet-Unmanage ... =de_a_smtd

http://www.amazon.com/D-Link-DGS-1008G- ... =de_a_smtd


This is the switch you recommend?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6833320047

[STC]

Try this first:

http://thegreenbutton.tv/forums/viewtop ... f=5&t=1693

It fixed my drop outs.

[rldev]

Try this first:

http://thegreenbutton.tv/forums/viewtop ... f=5&t=1693

It fixed my drop outs.

Thanks. This was one of the first things I did a long while ago.

[STC]

Okay. Have you returned the values back or left them at F's?

[rldev]

Okay. Have you returned the values back or left them at F's?

When I checked again I had something like 4fffff. I changed the value to ffffff.
I haven't tested anything though.

[Venom51]

Go into the nic properties on your Media center PC and adjust the transmit buffers up. If they are at 256 set them to 512. You don't see the issue on the Media center so it's only when the media center is transmitting packets out to your remote location. increasing those buffers may help.

[STC]

Okay. Have you returned the values back or left them at F's?

When I checked again I had something like 4fffff. I changed the value to ffffff.
I haven't tested anything though.

It requires a reboot to become effective.

[rldev]

Thanks so much. I have made these changes and rebooted. I will report back later.

[Venom51]

We'll...any luck?

[rldev]

No luck at all. It might be worse, LOL. I am going to try and bypass the switches and see what happens. I don't want want to keep buying switches. I will report back this week.

[STC]

Best practice to set the reg value back. Sorry it didn't help.

[rldev]

Ok. It's been a while, but I finally got around to testing the switches. The problem is most certainly the Linksys Gigabit switches. When I bypass them, I have maybe seen one instance of macroblocking and no network errors. Once I plug them back in, problems arise. So I have to replace them. Anyone have any new recommendations for switches?

[Venom51]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-PowerConne ... 4ab8fa5a3c

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-PowerConne ... 460502b7ca <---$110 buy it now

If you prefer Netgear --> http://www.ebay.com/itm/NetGear-GSM7224 ... 1e6fcd88a5

[rldev]

$55 ship. A bit extreme:)

[Venom51]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Netgear-GSM7224 ... 564b4b93b1 <--Ends in less than 24 hours.

I'm just giving you some things to look at. Buy a nice lightly used managed switch before you pa the same or more for at retail for a dumb switch.

I'm also showing you stuff that I have either in our video lab at work or run at home.