Slow video over lan between 2 windows 7 machines

[jachin99]

I've never had this problem before but now when i play mkv movie files over my network from my server 7mc to my client the video pauses every couple of seconds, and its choppy if that makes sense. I have a homegroup setup without password protected sharing, and I have shared my media folders over my network. How should I start troubleshooting this problem.

[Sharks]

Does your router have some sort of QoS function? I would start there; without knowing more about your network structure that is about all I can give you for the moment.

[jachin99]

Alright I messed around with this a little more, and it will stream dvds just fine but blu-rays act up. Recorded TV files also stream fine over the network. All of this behavior is consistent no matter what software I use to play movies through

[jec6613]

What sort of connectivity do you have between the two computers? Have you checked what your link rate is, as well as checked for packet errors?

DVDs playing fine (at 8 Mbps) but Blu-Ray not (at 20+ Mbps) usually indicates that you've just run out of bandwidth, or are having other network contention issues.

[jachin99]

The signal is going through two power line adapters, 2 switches, and a router, which is probably why it has some trouble. What tool can I use to confirm that there just isn't enough bandwidth? is there something already built into windows 7 that I can use without having to download and test new programs?

[tomuo]

The signal is going through two power line adapters, 2 switches, and a router, which is probably why it has some trouble. What tool can I use to confirm that there just isn't enough bandwidth? is there something already built into windows 7 that I can use without having to download and test new programs?

I had some older Power Line Adapters that worked at a previous house, but wouldn't support even light internet browsing in another house. The smart meter communications messes with them as well. Anything plugged into any circuit in the house could be backfeeding EMF noise "hash" into the AC that kills the power line networking...
Temporarily run a long ethernet cable between the points that the PLA connects and see if that fixes it, then you'll know if that is the problem.

[jec6613]

The signal is going through two power line adapters, 2 switches, and a router, which is probably why it has some trouble. What tool can I use to confirm that there just isn't enough bandwidth? is there something already built into windows 7 that I can use without having to download and test new programs?

I had some older Power Line Adapters that worked at a previous house, but wouldn't support even light internet browsing in another house. The smart meter communications messes with them as well. Anything plugged into any circuit in the house could be backfeeding EMF noise "hash" into the AC that kills the power line networking...
Temporarily run a long ethernet cable between the points that the PLA connects and see if that fixes it, then you'll know if that is the problem.

The powerline adapters are almost certainly the cause - I have a whole stack of switches without any issues, in fact to just play media in my house it goes through a minimum of three network switches. I agree that a long temporary Ethernet cable is probably a good diagnostic step, and then think about making that permanent going through the walls.

[dmagerl]

You can use a program such as Lan Speed Test Lite, http://www.totusoft.com/lanspeed1, To measure your LAN. I'm sure there are other programs like it out there.

[jachin99]

I was hoping to not run cables but it looks like that's my only choice. Thanks.

[cwinfield]

Running a cable isn't your only option. Powerline adapters generally suck. You can purchase a wifi bridge or setup a router in AP mode or buy an access point. In my experience even wifi n with 450 mbs is good enough for what your trying to do even over 2.4 ghz band. Now with that said if your trying to do high bit rate mkv h.264 anything over 720p generally chokes on extenders due to extender session limitations.

[Crash2009]

If you have coax throughout the home, moca is another option. Here is a small collection of moca info.

viewtopic.php?p=88949#p88949

[jachin99]

I'll have to check that out because there is already coax ran throughout the house BUT i know some of it has been cut from various cable installations over the years. At some point, someone did a really crappy cable install on the house, and there are only two coax lines that actually work right now. The house was also wired in the 80's when it was built so I'm not sure if the wires will be up to par. Googling ethernet over moca, I came across this link

https://www.techhive.com/article/295001 ... -best.html

The article even says at the end that a new generation of MoCA has been released since so its not a definitive thing but their conclusion was that the two were comparable in terms of speed. I also have WiFi on each machine and throughout the house. Can I somehow setup a dual band type thing and get more bandwidth between my endpoints?

[Crash2009]

Have a look at the second picture in that link I gave you. You could easily have a switch in each of those two rooms that have coax up there already and a wireless access point could be plugged into the switch. Is that what you mean by dual?

The link you posted appears to suggest that surge protectors are the number one offender to slowing down power line. You might want to troubleshoot that before giving up on Powerline.

[jachin99]

I'll take another look at those adapters, and some of my wiring. How much should I expect to pay for those adapters? I peaked at amazon, and they were around 50 to 100 for a set. I can think of one room where that would be worth it, and its my to be media room

[jec6613]

The article even says at the end that a new generation of MoCA has been released since so its not a definitive thing but their conclusion was that the two were comparable in terms of speed. I also have WiFi on each machine and throughout the house. Can I somehow setup a dual band type thing and get more bandwidth between my endpoints?

Generally MoCA and powerline are more consistent in throughput, but what I would do (and have done) is get a pair of access points - set one up as an AP, and the other as an AP client. Single band is more than enough, though that single band being selectable band tends to be very useful. Create a new network with a simple point to point connection, nothing else on the wireless circuit, and you can get some pretty good results. Base throughput is comparable, and peak throughput is higher than MoCA and powerline.

Hawking makes some really good gear for this, but most companies have at least a couple of choices.

Of course, the actual realized throughput rate on these will top out at 100-200 Mbps max, with that unlikely to increase much over the next few years (the WiFi channel widths are getting crowded), while a CAT6 cable can carry 10 Gbps over 10G-BaseT up to 50 meters, and 5 Gbps up to 100 meters using N-BaseT. If you have a path to route a cable in-wall, it may be a pain in the backside, but it'll always be the better choice and doesn't need to be replaced or upgraded for a decade or more. You can use it to add a second access point to your network and increase the wireless coverage, reliability and throughput, at the full speed (or faster than) your main AP. You can also install an Ethernet switch at the other end of the cable to wire in multiple devices in your media center as well as host a WAP.

[Crash2009]

I agree.....There is no substitution for cubic inches.

My cabling took me all summer...I even went under the driveway to the garage. Media room got 6 lines just for itself. All 24 runs go back to 24 port switch.

Redid the coax at the same time.

Results outweigh aggravation.

[jachin99]

Thanks again for all of the advice, it looks like I'm running some cables at some point

[cwinfield]

Another option you can consider, do you use your phone jacks? If not check to see if it is using 8 wire cat 5, you can convert it to home Ethernet. What I did is ran wires from my phone service box outside the house and bought punch down splices running to a edge router X which also connects to the cable modem. This allowed me to position my Wi Fi router in AP mode in a central location of my house in the kitchen providing better signal coverage and now I have a gigabit port upstairs as well.