Network Setup (not sure if this goes in here or not)

[DigitalCancer]

This pertains to a 'hanging' video issue that I've been having.

MediaCenter setup:

X3 720/2GB DDr2/HD5450/160GB SATA\Win 7

Now...I 'stream' everything from a media server to a 46" tv.

MedaServer Specs:

Celeron D (2.8Ghz)/2GB DDR/1TB SATA/Server 2003/standard 3-port sata pci sata card

All ran through a NetGear Gigabit router. I'm running cat5e w/ gigabit cards on both machines.

My issue is this....

I can be watching a movie and it'll be playing fine, then all of a sudden it just, stops. It doesn't seem to matter if it's a DVD/BluRay rip (720/1080 both).

I've been debating moving this server over to an e2180/2GB DDr2 machine...would this make any difference? The system it's currently in SHOULD be able to handle even 1080p streaming right? I don't see how/why it wouldn't be able to keep up, maybe I'm wrong?
The HDD its on is a 1TB Hitachi SATA drive, maybe it's the glitch? Please give me ideas before I go and spend another $100 on an e2180 setup and find out it wasn't the cause. ^_^

 

[Claudius-07]

Ok I having a bit of a problem understanding exactly where your issues lie.

Ok so you have video/movies files on your Media Server PC and the HTPC (media centre PC) is simply reading from a shared location on the media server and playing movies using your HTPC computer using some sort of player connected to your TV or receiver... correct?

Thus you are simply reading a movie/tv show.. some sort of media file from a share on that server and the HTPC is actually the PC that is connected to your TV and doing the decoding and playing work (your GPU actually if the software supports it). Your server is simply 'serving" up the files correct?

Thus you can test to see if the server is working ok by first of all trying to copy a large file, say a 5-10 GB movie file from your media PC to your server and back. I mean just to see what speeds you are getting. If all is well, nothing freezes or crashes, you don’t lose connection with the server etc,. then it’s nothing to do with your server unless you can see pathetic transfer speeds or the actual connection dropping.

Unless you are doing something else totally different, then I would target your Media PC which is doing the decoding and playing.

What software do you use to play the movies to your TV?

BTW, I have a home server and a small Acer mini computer that I use to hold my movies and tv shows and then play in my living room. Both the server and my little Acer Revo PC are actually LESS powerful than yours… and I can easily watch 36GB BR Rips over GBIT Ethernet.

I am hoping I am understanding your post properly. Anyhow a bit more info please, also before you go spend a whack of money. I can’t again begin to express to you how little horsepower you need for stuff like this.

 

[DigitalCancer]

Yes, you understood perfectly. The MediaCenter is in my living room with the server in the office currently which is about 10ft away.

I copy files to/from quite often and the server has never frozen/crashed...typical is 25-60Mb/s. Usually just a couple minutes for a 4GB file (sometimes 45-60secs).

I have actually upgraded the media center from a Sempron 140 that I used to have, to a Phenom II X3 720.

Right now, I just use MediaPlayer, MediaPlayer Classic, and MediaPortal (which I think decodes with mediaplayer but I'm not certain). I have a the Combined Community Codec pack installed as well.

 

[jtvang125]

Your server specs are fine. All it does is feed raw data to your HTPC and it doesn't need that much CPU power to do this. I'm suspecting it's something on your HTPC but no idea what exactly would be causing the problem. Maybe try uninstalling and reinstalling all software and codecs used to play the files. I would just stick to Media Player Classic Home Cinema and ffdshow to keep it simple. Don't really need all these codec packs to play many of the popular video formats.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

I had this same sort of problem when streaming videos to my HTPC. The solution that worked for me was to enable Flow Control for the network card on my streaming server. Might work for you too.

Device Manager -> right-click on network device -> Advanced tab -> set Flow Control to enabled or on.

 

[DigitalCancer]

Think I actually had read that somewhere else to awhile back but...I do not have that option on my card unfortunately. =/

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Bummer. Do you have a cable long enough to make a direct connection between the two to take the router out of the equation? At least you'll be able to make sure a router setting isn't causing the problem.

 

[the DRIZZLE]

I would also target the HTPC side of the equation. What happens when the movie stops playing? If it happens reasonably frequently I would move a few movies onto the HTPC hard drive and play them to determine if its a network issue or an HTPC issue.

 

[Tbirdkid]

How long does it take for the movie to just stop playing? The reason i am asking is, have you checked the power options on the server to see that its not going to sleep? Have you run any sort of constant ping across the network to see if there is any packet loss?

 

[DigitalCancer]

the Server NEVER sleeps...I make it do my biding so, it's not allowed to sleep. ^_^

It seems like the movies vary, sometimes it'll make it 5mins in and other times 20mins and sometimes it'll never skip.

I've moved movies directly to the HTPC and I don't have any issues so it's not a hardware limitation.

 

[CubanlB]

I have a similar setup having a freenas server (sempron 140 with cool'n'quiet on so it is usually running at 800mhz) housing all my files and feeding them to media PCs (c2d running vista, x2 running win7) in my living room and bedroom over GbE. I never have a hiccup with wired connections and even had a tolerable wifi experience with a cheap N router before I got cat5e into my bedroom.

Your transfer speeds are way more than enough to support video.

So this is another vote to take the router out of the equation.

What network cards are you using? Intel cards are pretty f'in awesome and are around 30$, but they wont help anything if you router is the part letting you down.

Have you had different nics in either of the machines since an install?

Edit: is there a way to adjust the power options for the hitachi, I know they have like 4 different power consumption options but I have never played with them in windows. (long shot?)

 

[DigitalCancer]

When I get home in 6hrs, lol, I'll transfer some different types of files over to the media center and try letting them run through for a bit.
If it freezes then, then it's some limitation w/ the media center (which I doubt, it's pretty beefy).

If I don't get results from that, I'll try a DVDrip and a BluRayRip to see if/how they stutter.

I'm fairly certain that I've tried both, but I haven't done a whole lot of testing yet...I'm starting to wonder if it's something to do w/ the Hitachi drive itself. It transfers fine, never a pause/hiccup. I'll check on the power options, if there are any, for it. I'll also try throwing some media on the other backup drive (80gb) to see what it does with it.

I'll keep ya posted! ^_^