[SOLVED] Why horrendous blu ray stuttering when streaming? Help!

[bovinda]

Problem: When I mount a blu ray iso from my home server (running Windows 7 Pro) on my HTPC and play it, it stutters way past the point of being unwatchable. I don't know how to figure out what the problem is or how to address it.

Here's what I've checked:

CPU: when it's doing it, CPU usage is around 5-10%, so I don't think it's a CPU issue.

Network: I don't think it's a network issue as network usage shows up as 3-5 mbs/sec in Resource Manager, and when I just straight copy the iso to the HD it gets up to over 500 mbs/sec.

Software: the rips will play completely fine when streamed using the exact same software (Virtual CloneDrive to mount, PowerDVD 10 Ultra to play) on a different computer.

Plus, when I copy the iso to the HD itself and mount and play it, it plays fine. So what could the issue be?

HTPC (brand new build and install):
Intel i3 550
Gigabyte H55M-UD2H
Palit GeForce GTS 450
Adata SSD 60 GB
4 GB G.Skill RAM
Corsair HX 520 PSU
Windows 7 Pro, PowerDVD 10 Ultra, Virtual CloneDrive

Server:
Q6600
Gigabyte EP43T-USB3
NVidia GT 8800
4 GB G.Skill RAM
Corsair HX 620 PSU
Windows 7 Pro

The computers are wired together (no wireless connections) via a NetGear 3700 router.

I appreciate any and all help! The HTPC was mainly designed to play blu ray isos from the server (it has no onboard storage other than the small SSD), so I really want to figure out what is wrong. :\

 

[abaez]

I think you need alot more than 3-5mb/sec to watch blu-ray don't you? Aren't most BR's like 20mb/sec?

 

[bovinda]

I think so, but I don't know why my network usage is so low when I try to stream the blu ray ISOs. If I just copy them to my hard drive directly, the transfer rate is really fast; it just seems to have problems when streaming them.

When I stream them to another computer on the network (and on a wireless connection, at that), it's completely fine, and gets transfer rates of 2-18 mbps on average.

Any ideas, anyone?

 

[gsaldivar]

I highly doubt it's a bandwidth issue. As you observed, playback is using only a portion of available bandwidth.

It's probably due to the way that the player is handling video stream. In your case, the software you are using assumes that all source files are local - either on a hard drive or on optical. Even though you have plenty of available bandwidth to play the file over the network, the software expects the video stream to be available immediately once its read from the disk, so the small amount of latency required to transfer the data across the network may be causing the stuttering.

The solution would simply be for the software to 'buffer' a small amount of the video before displaying it, which would allow for smooth playback regardless of network latency. Have you tried a different player like MPC-HC or VLC?

I suspect all you need is a better player that recognizes that the video file is located on a shared volume and buffer accordingly for smooth playback.

Good luck & please let us know if you find a solution.

 

[bovinda]

So after some fiddling (TotalMedia Theater 5 was having the same problem), I just uninstalled the network adapter driver, restarted the computer, and let it reinstall the network adapter driver on its own. Exact same version of the adapter driver, but for some reason it fixed everything. I can now stream it without any problems. Weird.

Thanks for the suggestions though, Gsaldivar! I'm just glad to have it working. :thumbsup:

 

[gsaldivar]

Awesome - Congratulations on solving it so fast!

If the problem happens again you might check to see if there are any network services that are causing the issue. Some software like VirtualBox creates a low-level hook into the driver that might cause issues (very rare) with other software. In this case, removing the device and causing the system to reinstall might have caused that hook to be removed from the device, resolving the problem.

For now though, what counts is that it works!!

 

[bovinda]

Interesting - because shortly after that, it started having the same problem again. I'm wondering if it had to do with one of the rips I was playing? I had to reinstall the driver again, and again it's cleared up, for the moment.

How do you tell if a network service is causing an issue like this?

 

[gsaldivar]

Interesting - because shortly after that, it started having the same problem again. I'm wondering if it had to do with one of the rips I was playing? I had to reinstall the driver again, and again it's cleared up, for the moment.

How do you tell if a network service is causing an issue like this?

In Win7 I think it would be under Control Panel > Network and Sharing > Change Adapter Settings > Adapter (right click) Properties... check for any third-party entries other than the standard ones (Microsoft, QoS, IP v 4/6 etc...).

You might also try rebooting server/router/htpc instead of removing network driver to test if there is a memory leak issue of some kind...

Also try disabling uPnP in your network router's configuration page.

 

[gsaldivar]

I'm wondering if it had to do with one of the rips I was playing? I had to reinstall the driver again, and again it's cleared up, for the moment.

Observe closely to see if the stuttering is happening in the same place every time on your video files. If the same parts of the movie are playing smoothly before and after the network driver reinstall, it might indicate that there is either an issue with the file or some delay in reading the file (disk fragmentation?).

 

[bovinda]

Just want to update this thread that I solved this problem once and for all, in case this comes in use for someone else. It turns out it was Microsoft's network throttling mechanism, as detailed at this MS support link. Deactivating this, or setting the value to 50, completely fixed the stuttering. I guess for whatever reason when streaming the ISO to virtual clonedrive or playing it in Power DVD or TMT5 it wasn't recognized as media playback, and so it was getting throttled. Hopefully this will help someone else. Thanks again gsaldivar and others for the help and suggestions!

 

[VirtualLarry]

"Because multimedia programs require more resources, the Windows networking stack implements a throttling mechanism to restrict the processing of non-multimedia network traffic to 10 packets per millisecond."


Stupidest. Design. Decision. Ever.

 

[gsaldivar]

Thank you bovinda for updating the thread with the solution!

 

[thandermax]

In my case, the cause was VIRTUAL DRIVES using PowerISO


After disabling the virtual drives (actually set no of virtual drives to 0), it worked.


Somehow the virtual disc simulation made the disc access slower :thumbsup: