Topic: very over qualified PC ... still occasional glitches with video (Read 4695 times)

bhampster · « **on:** October 16, 2017, 07:43:05 am »

Hi,

I don't know if this should be the right forum for this. I've used and loved JRiver for years now and I believe my computer is very overqualified for the 1080p MKV that I source from my own Blu rays. (i7 4GHZ, 16 GB Ram, SSD, Geforce 1080) I hosted some friends for a movie last night and had a terrible hickup in playback. They didn't complain but it kills me to know how many countless hours I've invested to try to prevent that.

I've tuned JRiver and Windows 10 extensively. Removed automated features whenever I can find them.

I've been a HTPC enthusiast since 1999. I maybe on the verge of surrender. I think I've discovered the obvious truth that Windows 10 is the best Windows ever but it's still worthles when you want it to focus on something.

I have to decide now if I should consider Linux (as I have a master license) or maybe I should just use some sort of dedicated playback device like a Roku. I have 2 rokus in the house and playback from them seems to be of a bit lower quality but at least they don't start thinking about doing an update or maintenance or whatever is choking my HTPC.

Any advice is welcome.

_Brian

Awesome Donkey · « **Reply #1 on:** October 16, 2017, 07:51:15 am »

Define "tuned Windows 10 extensively"? Like messing with services and whatnot? IMO, this can only cause more problems than they solve, especially on Windows 10. Plus I don't think JRiver supports tweaked setups like that for that very reason.

I also assume you're using Red October HQ, but with tweaked settings (e.g. madVR)?

tij · « **Reply #2 on:** October 16, 2017, 08:09:52 am »

more details on setup ... like where your files resides ... on i7 machine ..
or on some other machine like freeNas (what network connection ... wired or wireless?) ... any antivirus?

bhampster · « **Reply #3 on:** October 16, 2017, 08:20:45 am »

Hi,

Thank you for replies and forgive my attitude. I’m out of the house with a orthodontist emergency but I can specify every detail later today. I may have under specified my htpc already when I mentioned the cpu and ram.

I don’t think I’ve gone into windows services. I’m sure disabling the fax service makes since these days but my mods were more turning off data gathering and specifiying update hours type tweaks.

Yes I use red October hq and tune madvr. I don’t “have to” but I have a 127” 2:35 screen in a dedicated room and this has been a hobby for over a decade. I appreciate several features of madvr.

The mkv files reside on Nas units over gifgabit networking. With 1500 blu rays this was a good solution.

If there’s typos in this I’m sorry. I’m on my phone away from home.

-brian

~OHM~ · « **Reply #4 on:** October 16, 2017, 08:43:51 am »

forget about the roku and look at Plex

tij · « **Reply #5 on:** October 16, 2017, 09:06:51 am »

Best is to start eliminating possible problem points

This hiccup ... happen before? ... do they still happen? ... happen on all MKV? ... or only specific ones?

First I would check NAS ... if you're running RAID6 and one of the drives has failed ... can degrade performance significantly ... even if its just JBOD, sometime bad drives can still run (at slow speed) before they completely fail (that's why see if the hiccups are specific to MKVs located on same drive)

Then I would check i7 machine ... I would assume it runs main library ... try copying one MKV to it ... and import into library and watch it ... if the hiccup happens ... probably something wrong on i7 pc (bad memory ... bad HDD ... virus) ... if runs smooth ... probably problem somewhere else

I would then check network ... cables ... switches ... etc

PS ... I was on Plex (still am lifetime subscriber) ... now on JRiver

tij · « **Reply #6 on:** October 16, 2017, 09:11:13 am »

Also worth checking antivirus (if you have one) ... mine updated silently to new version recently ... and one of my programs keep crashing ... until I put that program on exclude list

bhampster · « **Reply #7 on:** October 16, 2017, 09:19:23 am »

Quote from: ~OM~ on October 16, 2017, 08:43:51 am

forget about the roku and look at Plex

Basically thinking Plex to roku. My experience with getting JRiver to Roku hasn’t been good but I have a Plex server feeding 2 roku s in the house as well as PS4 and laptops.

Quality is not equal to JRiver. But stability for me is higher

bhampster · « **Reply #8 on:** October 16, 2017, 09:22:19 am »

There’s no antivirus apart from windows defender. There’s no software on my JRiver machine apart from os driver and JRiver

JimH · « **Reply #9 on:** October 16, 2017, 10:14:02 am »

There have been some problems reported recently with Windows Defender. See Awesome Donkey's posts.

bhampster · « **Reply #10 on:** October 16, 2017, 11:22:09 am »

Thanks,

I just double checked and I had the PC specs right. The NAS units use Raid 5 and any of them would have alerted me via email if there was a disc problem detected.

I ran Jmark and I believe it scored 5910

There's a lot that I have to look at. I will look into the windows defender issues. I think one of the tweaks I can but did not do is to tell Windows Defender to ignore my media drives. I believe you can specify drives that it should not scan.

I have dumbed down the only part of MadVR that I think would impact performance. Specifically Chroma Upsampling. I went to belinear with that one. Still have a good PQ. I don't think any of my other MadVR settings are agreesive but I do let it use HQ subtitles (Watch a lot of foriegn films.)

I likely over reacted... it's not the first time that I hosted a movie and then saw a studder... To be fair it's been good for so long I tend to think that if I hooked up my stand alone BDP I would see more problems from that. (even though it's Sony not Samsung.)

-Brian

bhampster · « **Reply #11 on:** October 16, 2017, 12:58:18 pm »

My first post was somewhat of a rant and was greeted with level headed thoughtful responses for which I’m grateful.

My gut thought was windows ran something in the background causing my video to studder.

I will check the mkv file itself. I may want to compile windows tweaks that are considered ok. Mainly I focus on trying to prevent windows from running routine tasks then I run those tasks myself at various intervals.

bhampster · « **Reply #12 on:** October 17, 2017, 05:56:58 am »

I think I will disable anti virus completely.

The PC only runs JRiver and doesn't get used to surf the web. And I could re-image the HD with ease.

Also,... I just started reading about Windows 10 Game Mode and it looks like a fairly automated way to devote extra resources to a program and put certain scheduled background programs aside. I think Game mode could be a great benifit to anyone with a Windows 10 machine acting as a dedicated HTPC.

Awesome Donkey · « **Reply #13 on:** October 17, 2017, 05:59:24 am »

You can tame Windows Defender by adding MC's main installation folder (e.g. C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center 23\), MC's main executable (Media Center 23.exe) along with its main libraries (e.g. JRCrashHandler.exe, JRService.exe, JRWeb.exe, JRWorker.exe and PackageInstaller.exe) and the AppData J River folder (e.g. %APPDATA%\J River) to the exclusions list, then MC will work perfectly. I also recommend adding locations of media (e.g. your videos and music) to the Defender exclusions along with adding filetypes of the common media (e.g. MKV, MP3, FLAC, WMV, AVI, etc.) to the Defender exclusions as well. The media location(s) and filetypes exclusions might seem a bit overboard, but I do it just in case and it doesn't hurt anything doing so.

I do plan on writing a new/updated tutorial soon (once I get enough time) for Taming Windows Defender, covering Windows 10 and the 64-bit version of Media Center 23.

tij · « **Reply #14 on:** October 17, 2017, 06:26:39 am »

Although I hate antiviruses ... I wont recommend disabling them ... all it takes is some infected laptop on your LAN/WiFi (you don't have to do anything ... as long as PC is on and connected to network) ... purging virus from network is nightmare

do what @Awesome Donkey suggest

bhampster · « **Reply #15 on:** October 17, 2017, 04:58:39 pm »

Thank you awesome donkey.

I used the temporary turn off defender and enjoyed a movie today without a glitch in site.

I will go through your post after printing it and do the stuff you mention.

I am only half tempted to turn it off or dis-able it fully. This machine doesn't get USB sticks or discs and doesn't surf ..ect. ... However... If I can make it stop bothering me and keep it I guess that will be fine.

I also used Game mode today. (I think... I found a place to turn it on... but after loading MC I coudln't bring up the "game bar" to verify.)

TheShoe · « **Reply #16 on:** October 18, 2017, 07:05:47 am »

odd. the only time i have ever seen a playback issue is when there is heavy activity on my network.

i host all my media on a 28 TB ubuntu server running snapraid. any device that needs 1:1 quality playback is wired via gigE. 4k h265 video plays back fine and i can recall only once there was a stutter. that is after hours of playback. my home network with 8 people on it including remote streaming is often saturated.

my windows 10 pro htpc is single purpose. it runs jriver. nothing more

out of curiosity have you changed your power profile to high performance? i found windows 10 will throttle your cpu otherwise. even if it is being used heavily it seems to keep it far underpowered. i changed to high profile and i run consistently now at 4.45 ghz.

i have the nvidia 1080 TI and 32 GB ram.

check your running processes in windows. see what is running and consuming both cpu and network. i think your issue is network

benchmark your network samba speed (i assume you are remote mounting the file server). i am hitting 112 MB/s over samba between the ubuntu server and the htpc. try copying the same movie locally and play it back. do you see same issues?

is the issue consistent? can you reproduce it easily?

DocLotus · « **Reply #17 on:** October 18, 2017, 03:51:58 pm »

Quote from: Awesome Donkey on October 17, 2017, 05:59:24 am

I do plan on writing a new/updated tutorial soon (once I get enough time) for taming Windows Defender, covering Windows 10 and the 64-bit version of Media Center 23.

Looking forward to that as the current WiKi is very out of date & has no resemblance to the current Win 10 as Win 10 has changed a lot since the original WiKi entry. I asked for an update a while ago but no response...

https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,112225.msg776518.html#msg776518

Thanks for you efforts (to come)

bhampster · « **Reply #18 on:** October 20, 2017, 07:29:07 am »

After dumbing down my MadVR settings and applying Awesome Donkey's Defender settings all has been good here for several movies.

I'm not sure I "need" cutting edge MadVR settings as I am sending 1080p source to a 1080p display. At any rate I'm fine with bilinear chroma upsampling... looks fine.

I think I'll remove defender anyway. (DONT TELL THE HACKERS PLEASE) this PC has only W10 and JRiver and no media or personal files. I think all things considered I can risk it. The other machines in my house all all Mac and have no form or Antivirus at all. (I hope the hackers don't find out.)

-Brian

Awesome Donkey · « **Reply #19 on:** October 20, 2017, 07:35:07 am »

Windows Defender is now pretty built-in within Windows 10, so removing it might cause other problems. Disabling it should be enough.

bhampster · « **Reply #20 on:** October 21, 2017, 06:58:21 am »

I did the regestry Dword to disable it.

All is swell..

INTERACT FORUM

Author Topic: very over qualified PC ... still occasional glitches with video (Read 4695 times)