Fixing Buffering/Streaming/Response issues ?

[choliscott]

Hi Everyone,

I am trying to see if there is a way to fix streaming/extender response issues. The issue I'm having is that if I constantly skip thru a show or fast forward thru a good portion of it, eventually the video will stop responding to the remote (but the screen will show that I pressed a button).

Is there a "simple" fix to help with something like this? The 4 drives I have installed are all 2 TB, 7200 RPM.

It also seems to happen, if I start watching a show & stop it to watch it later, it seems to (sometimes) want to do the same thing

Any Suggestions?

Thanks

[tomtoth]

I was able to fix similar issues by ENABLING network throttling and unjoin/rejoin the xbox to the media center.

[SilverRubicon]

I was able to fix similar issues by ENABLING network throttling and unjoin/rejoin the xbox to the media center.

That's rather vague. Enabled network throttling where? PC, extender, router?

[barnabas1969]

tomtoth is referring to the network throttling setting in the registry on the Windows machine. See this article for details. By default it is set to 10. To turn it off, change it to FFFFFFFF.

I'm not sure what your issue could be... unless there is insufficient RAM on the PC. You might want to try using an SSD for your system drive, and regular hard drives for recorder storage.

But... instead of fast forwarding or skipping through a show, did you know that you can do these:

On the remote, press these buttons:

145,PLAY - takes you to the 1:45 (1 hour, 45 minute) mark in the recording.
830,PLAY - takes you to 8:30 in the live TV buffer
230,FFWD - fast forwards 2 minutes, 30 seconds
500,RWD - rewinds 5 minutes
5,SKIP-forward - skips 5X your skip-forward interval
10,SKIP-backward - skips 10X your skip-backward interval

The numbers I used above are examples. You can type any numbers that don't exceed the start or end of the recording or live TV buffer.

[choliscott]

I currently have an SSD as the system drive. Mind you, its only a SATA 2 drive (not sure if Sata 3 would help or not) & the computer currently has 8 Gigs of ram, so I would think that would be sufficient. I'll have to try using what you had mentioned to skip further ahead.

tomtoth is referring to the network throttling setting in the registry on the Windows machine. See this article for details. By default it is set to 10. To turn it off, change it to FFFFFFFF.

I'm not sure what your issue could be... unless there is insufficient RAM on the PC. You might want to try using an SSD for your system drive, and regular hard drives for recorder storage.

But... instead of fast forwarding or skipping through a show, did you know that you can do these:

On the remote, press these buttons:

145,PLAY - takes you to the 1:45 (1 hour, 45 minute) mark in the recording.
830,PLAY - takes you to 8:30 in the live TV buffer
230,FFWD - fast forwards 2 minutes, 30 seconds
500,RWD - rewinds 5 minutes
5,SKIP-forward - skips 5X your skip-forward interval
10,SKIP-backward - skips 10X your skip-backward interval

The numbers I used above are examples. You can type any numbers that don't exceed the start or end of the recording or live TV buffer.

[barnabas1969]

SATA 2 should be fine. All SATA 3 gives you is really fast access to a hard drive's buffer. There's no real benefit.

[barnabas1969]

Oh, and I should ask... what kind of extender are you using? I had similar issues with the HP X280N extenders, but it only happened when the extender was connected to the TV via HDMI. When connected by component cables, it works fine. I have three of them hooked up that way... and have no issues.

[choliscott]

I'm using Xbox 360's. Whats funny is when it stops responding to the remote, the "time line" stays on the screen, & the minutes/seconds don't move. The same result on both of them. I am using HDMI on both & not sure if that would be the reason for my issue (I wouldn't think it would be)

I've tried the disconnecting & reconnecting to media center & that didn't seem to work either.

Oh, and I should ask... what kind of extender are you using? I had similar issues with the HP X280N extenders, but it only happened when the extender was connected to the TV via HDMI. When connected by component cables, it works fine. I have three of them hooked up that way... and have no issues.

[barnabas1969]

OK, so the next thing to look at is your network configuration. Please explain how you have your network configured. For example:

HTPC is wired to a gigabit switch (model 1234), port 1
Gigabit switch, port 2, is wired to 100 megabit router (model 4567), port 1
Router is wired, port 2, to Xbox360

Also, any wireless connections between the HTPC and the Xbox360?

[choliscott]

Ok I have a Linksys E3000 router running DD-WRT (located in Computer room)
Router is directly connected to DLINK Switch Model (DGS-1008G), which is located in computer room on Port 8
Router is directly connected to ASUS Gigabit switch model GX-D1081, which is located in living room on Port 8

HTPC is Wired to DLink Switch Model (DGS-1008G) on Port 5
XBOX 360 is wired to DLINK Switch Model DGS-1008G on Port 2 (This was the first Xbox I noticed the issue with)
XBOX 360 is wired to Port 5 on Asus Switch (This is the XB in the living room, which I also noticed the same issue)

I do have a couple of Linksys 2200 model extenders, which I am going to see if they cause the same problem, especially since you had mentioned the HDMI issue (Xbox's are using HDMI, the Linksys do not) & if I don't have an issue with that, I might be tempted to try using the same on one of the Xbox's & see what that does.

Yes This is the Same Switch.

The Dlink switch is a Gigabit switch

OK, so the next thing to look at is your network configuration. Please explain how you have your network configured. For example:

HTPC is wired to a gigabit switch (model 1234), port 1
Gigabit switch, port 2, is wired to 100 megabit router (model 4567), port 1
Router is wired, port 2, to Xbox360

Also, any wireless connections between the HTPC and the Xbox360?

[barnabas1969]

So... just so I understand... you have your HTPC and XBox connected to the same DLink switch?

OK... I keep seeing this pattern... Dlink switches having trouble streaming from Media Center to an extender.

Here's the deal... your PC is running at gigabit speed. Your extender is running at 100 Megabit speed. The switch needs to buffer the incoming traffic from the gigabit source (your HTPC) and then send it back out on the 100Mbps link to your extender. Some switches can't handle this traffic and change of speeds due to the size of the buffer in the switch and/or the speed of the hardware in the switch.

Try this... change your HTPC's network interface so that it forces it to use 100Mbps, full-duplex. If the problem goes away, you need to replace your switch.

[choliscott]

Ok I tried switching it to use 100 Mbps full duplex & it seemed to have fixed the issue. I started up a 2 hr show & kept hitting the 30 second skip & no issues (all thru the whole show). I even tried another 2 hr show, doing a combination of skipping & fast forwarding & no issues.

Since it sounds like it's probably my switch, any recommendations on which one to get? Or would I be able to get by with using it at 100 Mbps (there is only 3 people that live here)

Also thank you for the suggestion & help!!

So... just so I understand... you have your HTPC and XBox connected to the same DLink switch?

OK... I keep seeing this pattern... Dlink switches having trouble streaming from Media Center to an extender.

Here's the deal... your PC is running at gigabit speed. Your extender is running at 100 Megabit speed. The switch needs to buffer the incoming traffic from the gigabit source (your HTPC) and then send it back out on the 100Mbps link to your extender. Some switches can't handle this traffic and change of speeds due to the size of the buffer in the switch and/or the speed of the hardware in the switch.

Try this... change your HTPC's network interface so that it forces it to use 100Mbps, full-duplex. If the problem goes away, you need to replace your switch.

[barnabas1969]

Before you go with 100Mbps or get a new switch, make sure that "flow control" is enabled on your network interface (on the PC).

If that doesn't fix the problem, you have two choices:

A) Get a new switch. I use this one. You can buy it for $34.98, including shipping.

B) Use 100Mbps. This is fine, but if you want to run more than 3 extenders simultaneously... or more than 3 network tuners simultaneously (like the HD HomeRun), you need a faster network connection than 100Mbps.

[choliscott]

I looked at Flow Control & it was set for enabled. One thing I was going to try was setting the Speed for 1 Gbps Full Duplex (it was set for auto) & see if I get the same issue as before. when I did an initial scan thru at that setting, it didn't have any issues.

For network tuners, unless the Ceton is considered one, I don't believe I have any installed. At least I didn't install the network option for the Ceton (allowing another computer to use the tuner)

Before you go with 100Mbps or get a new switch, make sure that "flow control" is enabled on your network interface (on the PC).

If that doesn't fix the problem, you have two choices:

A) Get a new switch. I use this one. You can buy it for $34.98, including shipping.

B) Use 100Mbps. This is fine, but if you want to run more than 3 extenders simultaneously... or more than 3 network tuners simultaneously (like the HD HomeRun), you need a faster network connection than 100Mbps.

[barnabas1969]

I don't think "auto" vs 1Gbps will make a difference for you. If you have a gigabit switch connected to the PC's network interface card (NIC), it will connect at 1Gbps, even if you set it to "auto".

You wrote earlier that you tested it while the NIC was set to 100Mbps, and it worked fine. This indicates that you have a problem with one of your switches. The switch can't buffer and translate 1Gbps (coming from your PC) to 100Mbps (going to your extender) fast enough. Your choices are what I outlined in my post above. Either spend a little money on a new switch, or set the NIC to 100Mbps.

Since you have an internal tuner (the Ceton InfiniTV), and you aren't sharing tuners, you don't need to worry about the number of channels being watched/recorded simultaneously. Your only concern will be the number of extenders you want to run simultaneously. If you won't ever run more than 3 extenders simultaneously, then 100Mbps should be OK, and won't cost you a dime.

[choliscott]

Ok Update time. I ended up picking up a new switch (ASUS GX-D1081). While for the most part it did solve the problem, The problem did came back on a 2 hr show I was watching. When it stopped responding, I shut off the 360 for a minute & went back into the show & didn't touch the remote. What was interesting was even without touching the remote (except to have it start playing), the timeline eventually froze on the screen around the 55 minute mark & when the show recording ended, it was froze on the picture instead of showing the "stop" menu

[barnabas1969]

Have you watched any other 2 hour shows that worked OK? It's possible that there is something wrong with that one show that has a problem.

[choliscott]

I have watch some other 2 hr shows since I got the switch & there wasn't any issues. I have some more of the same show recorded, which I will watch later on & see if I have the same issue or not. One thought was maybe I need to invest in a separate gigabit ethernet card, since I'm using the integrated one, but I'm not convinced yet.

Have you watched any other 2 hour shows that worked OK? It's possible that there is something wrong with that one show that has a problem.

[barnabas1969]

If that was the only show where you had a problem, I think it could be a problem with that particular recording.

I've seen lots of posts in the past about problems with the network interface (NIC). Specifically, people claim that they have problems with non-Intel NIC's. I use an integrated Realtek NIC, and it never misses a beat. I have four extenders and six network tuners. I can run all of them simultaneously without any problem.

[choliscott]

Ok it's been a while since I last commented on this thread, but I decided to recently upgrade my HTPC to an I5 2500K. For some reason I'm still experiencing the same issue with the non responsive remote. I have placed an issue for an Intel NIC card to possibly see if that is the issue. If not, the only thing I can think of is the Ethernet cable I'm using (Cat 6) or possibly an add in.

Also for some reason, it seems that being able to key in digits & pressing FF to skip that many minutes doesn't seem to work either (didn't really work on the previous setup either). I figure I would list what add in's I'm using to see if anybody has any recommendations on using something different, not using the add in, etc

When the extender "locks up" (video still plays fine, just that the xbox doesn't respond to the remote), that if I turn it off & back on, it can't connect to the HTPC, until I have it connect again & which it connects fine
DvrMsToolBox 1225
DtbAddin 1003
Comskip - Donators
Channel Logos
RemoteTvHd
Shark Codecs
mce Backup

I make the following changes to the DVRmsTOMpegSettings:

DvrMsToolbox Tab : Default priority = Below Normal Preferred Analyzer - ComSkip
File Watcher - Add all recorded folders to "Watched Directories" Wait Time - 13 Log Create, Automatic Cleanup, Process files missing artifacts, include watched folders - checked
Commerical Skip - Skip display type = Classic Scan choice = auto Skip on - right, skip off = left the rest of the drop downs I have unique D# assigned. Auto Skip, reload settings, suppress not found & suppress skip dialog is checked

I make the following Registry changes

"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Service, AlwaysUseFPD(DWORD) = 1"

hkey_local_machine\system\currentcontrolset\services\tcpip\parameters
create a new DWord value, and name it 'DisableTaskOffload', and set its value to 1

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Service\Recording

Add or edit the String Value – ‘filenaming’
•%Ch – Channel Number
•%Cn – Station Name
•%T – Title of show
•%Et – Episode Title
•%Dt – Date and Time

For example – %T_%Et_%Cn



Other programs I have installed:

Security essentials
Firefox
Ultra VNC

* EDIT *

If I remove the AlwaysUseFPD entry from the registry, it allows me to key in #'s & press FF to skip that many minutes, but auto commercial skip on the extender stopped working. I removed the "DisableTaskOffload" entry from the registry to see if that does anything or not