Streaming SUCKS on my HTPC

[Chrishuff1]

I can't for the life of me figure out what is going on, the problem started a month or so ago. No changes have been made. Streaming videos (via Hulu, TLC etc) is just fine on my iPad and other desktops / laptops in the house, there's just something with the HTPC that isn't working right. I've tried everything I could think of. Spyware and rootkit scans reveal nothing, as do virus scans. Windows is up to date (Windows 7), Flash player is current. I use Chrome for streaming, things get marginally better in IE. I've uninstalled / reinstalled Chrome. Firefox is no better. I have 20Mb Comcast, and consistently get those or faster speeds. Help!

Thanks in advance!

[Smoove910]

without knowing what your system specs are, there's not a chance in Hades anyone can say for sure what the issue is...

[Chrishuff1]

Originally Posted by Smoove910

without knowing what your system specs are, there's not a chance in Hades anyone can say for sure what the issue is...

Knew I was forgetting something.

I believe the mobo is a Asus P5N, with a P4 3Ghz, 2GB ram. Using onboard video (Geforce 7100 /nforce 630i 128mb). It's performed flawlessly for 4 years...

[Smoove910]

Since you are having streaming issues, are you streaming through ethernet, through wireless? What wireless card are you using if wireless? Do you have an ethernet card? Using onboard ethernet?

So much missing info...

[fralexandr]

are you running adblock?
there have been a ton of random flash ads that utilize a bunch of CPU lately, one of them even seems to bog down my core i7 860 system for some reason, there must be something wrong with that ad...

you're set to use standard def video only right? I don't think HD decode was added until halfway through the 8 series, and your P4 won't be sufficient for that.

[Chrishuff1]

Originally Posted by fralexandr

are you running adblock?
there have been a ton of random flash ads that utilize a bunch of CPU lately, one of them even seems to bog down my core i7 860 system for some reason, there must be something wrong with that ad...

you're set to use standard def video only right? I don't think HD decode was added until halfway through the 8 series, and your P4 won't be sufficient for that.

Yes I am running adblock and better popup blocker. Yes only standard def.

I am currently connected via built in ethernet. My network is as follows:

Surfboard SB5101 -> Linksys WRV200 -> DLink DES-1024D -> PC

[lakedude]

Just an idea.

Download FatDog-64 and boot from FatDog on your HTPC. If it works with FatDog64 the problem is your software. If it is slow with both Windows and FatDog your issue is more likely to be hardware related.

I've had trouble with the Firefox edition but SeaMonkey works just fine.

http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=82611

[Chrishuff1]

Originally Posted by lakedude

Just an idea.

Download FatDog-64 and boot from FatDog on your HTPC. If it works with FatDog64 the problem is your software. If it is slow with both Windows and FatDog your issue is more likely to be hardware related.

I've had trouble with the Firefox edition but SeaMonkey works just fine.

http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=82611

The problem has only recently popped up so I wouldn't think it is hardware related...my older and slower computers stream just fine on wireless or directly connected.

[daveybrat]

No offense meant and i'm only trying to be constructive here but.....

A P4 3GHz with old onboard graphics should be pretty choppy on most online streaming.

Your processor is extremely outdated and the onboard graphics have no hardware acceleration or offloading abilities.

We used to have a system exactly like yours in our lunchroom at work and i could barely watch Hulu videos without stuttering and choppiness. Upgraded it to an older AMD 2.3GHz dual-core and it plays just fine.

Now days i'd say a dual-core is pretty much required for smooth playback.

[ketchup79]

I wonder if the sites you are going to recently started offering higher definition material, which you system is having more trouble with.

[VirtualLarry]

Originally Posted by daveybrat

No offense meant and i'm only trying to be constructive here but.....

A P4 3GHz with old onboard graphics should be pretty choppy on most online streaming.

Your processor is extremely outdated and the onboard graphics have no hardware acceleration or offloading abilities.

We used to have a system exactly like yours in our lunchroom at work and i could barely watch Hulu videos without stuttering and choppiness. Upgraded it to an older AMD 2.3GHz dual-core and it plays just fine.

Now days i'd say a dual-core is pretty much required for smooth playback.

This. Time to upgrade, or throw in a video card. Do you have a PCI-E or an AGP slot?

[hoorah]

FWIW, I just bought a Socket 775 P4 925, Dual Core 3.0ghz from ebay for $7 shipped. This was to upgrade a small fileserver from a single core 3.0ghz to get a little more life out of it, and because the time spent migrating the server would cost more than the hardware upgrade.

[MrWizzard]

Originally Posted by daveybrat

No offense meant and i'm only trying to be constructive here but.....

A P4 3GHz with old onboard graphics should be pretty choppy on most online streaming.

Your processor is extremely outdated and the onboard graphics have no hardware acceleration or offloading abilities.

We used to have a system exactly like yours in our lunchroom at work and i could barely watch Hulu videos without stuttering and choppiness. Upgraded it to an older AMD 2.3GHz dual-core and it plays just fine.

Now days i'd say a dual-core is pretty much required for smooth playback.

Yep pretty much this, with flash upgrades it takes more processing power to decode flash now. (or a new architecture slower processor) I have a old AMD 64 3500+ that can't play flash videos smoothly. Your machine didn't slow down it just can't meet the new flash decoding requirements like it used to. MAYBE you can get it to work if you disable other services and processes but this problem will just keep coming up. Should be able to pick something up really cheap on ebay. GL

[wirednuts]

op, you really dont have a streaming pc. the reason it used to work is because the streaming protocols were lighter on systems because a lot of people had what you had.

now quality is in demand, and if you dont have hardware video accelleration youre pretty screwed. p4 3ghz has been boarderline for quite some time now, and i wouldnt be surprised if the bitrates passed those chips by.

your onboard 7 series graphics doenst do 2d video accelleration. that is the real reason why your pc wont be good for streaming.

the only chance that computer has is a working AGP port. if it has that, then there are video cards out there, like the 3800 from ati, that will let you stream everything under the sun on p4 systems. problem is they are hard to find less then $80. for that money, you can get a crappy used core 2 duo machine and stream everything in your cpu again, for less power consumption.

[daveybrat]

I'm assuming this is your motherboard:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131230

If so, you have an available PCI-e slot for expansion.

This is a cheap and worthy upgrade:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814131339

PowerColor Go! Green AX5450 512MK3-SH Radeon HD 5450 (Cedar) 512MB 64-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card $28.99 w/free shipping!

80 Stream processors and supports full offloading capabilites.

[Matt1970]

^^ Not to mention for $20-$30 on ebay you can get a good Core 2 Duo that will run circles around that P4 chip. If that is your motherboard listed above then just be careful what bus speed any chip you get has.