Topic: iPod performance with later v11 (Read 4007 times)

RemyJ · « **on:** September 28, 2004, 10:30:57 am »

This is a continuation from one of the performance threads in the media Center forum.

Steve... Sometime in the last several v11 releases, transfer speed as reported by MC has dropped considerable for several people. In my own case, it's gone from around 9MB/s to about 3.5MB/s. It's hard to tell exactly when this happened because of the v11 timeout and because iPOD support wasn't working at all in some releases.

I'm also noticing a second issue which is not being able to transfer the currently playing track. The message was "File is opened without permissions to transfer".

Any ideas?

SteveG · « **Reply #1 on:** September 28, 2004, 10:37:19 am »

RemyJ,

In recent versions of MC 11, we switched from transferring files via Windows function calls to sending things via WMDM which solves file copy protection issues. I will do some speed testing today, but if you want to help, try transferring some files to iPod using WMP (keep in mind that the files will not be playable) and see what speed results you get compared to using MC or moving the files to iPod using Windows Explorer.

Also, try transferring a playing track using WMP and see what happens. I will post more once I do some testing.

Steve

RemyJ · « **Reply #2 on:** September 28, 2004, 10:57:26 am »

Had to run to work but I'll do some testing tonight when I get home.

SteveG · « **Reply #3 on:** September 28, 2004, 11:31:16 am »

RemyJ,

Save your time. I confirmed what you are reporting. The good news is that MC is as fast as WMP which is based on WMDM. The bad news is this is about 1/3 the speed of what it was. I am looking at changes to improve this.

Steve

SteveG · « **Reply #4 on:** September 28, 2004, 04:45:18 pm »

RemyJ,

It did not make it into tonight's build, but tomorrow's MC 11 will put the speed back up to where it was (for filetypes other than WMA,which is irrelevant for iPod anyway).

Steve

RemyJ · « **Reply #5 on:** September 28, 2004, 06:21:15 pm »

Cool, Thanks Steve!

RemyJ · « **Reply #6 on:** September 30, 2004, 11:46:32 am »

Steve,

Did your changes make it into 11.0.93? There wasn't anything in the releasen notes and it doesn't seem any faster. Still about 3.5MB/s with 100% cpu for mp3s.

SteveG · « **Reply #7 on:** September 30, 2004, 02:51:18 pm »

RemyJ,

No, they will be in the next build. Speeds should be the same as before.

Steve

RemyJ · « **Reply #8 on:** October 05, 2004, 06:01:51 pm »

With 11.0.95 speeds are back up in the 8-9MB/s range. Thanks Steve.

sirshambling · « **Reply #9 on:** October 06, 2004, 02:07:01 am »

I tried synching about 150 files and saw the speed gradually increas during the process from 2.1 MB/s up to 4.37 MB/s when it finished - and it was obviously going to carry on getting faster. Many thanks Steve.

One issue with my Ipod, though, is that when I connect it to the PC while MC11 is running I get an error message like this:-

"Server busy. This action cannot be completed because the other program is busy. Choose "switch to" to activate the busy program and correct this problem."

Clicking "retry" doesn't help, and clicking "Swith to" brings up the menu from the Start button. I've no idea what the error message means - nor which program is "busy" as I've disabled the Itunes auto notification.

Can you help with this? TIA. John.

SteveG · « **Reply #10 on:** October 06, 2004, 09:48:26 am »

John,

That is a system message which I can disable if I can identify when it is happening. What have you done immediately before this message appears (i.e. clicking on iPod in the tree).

Steve

sirshambling · « **Reply #11 on:** October 06, 2004, 10:36:47 am »

Thanks for the reply Steve.

No I don't have time to click on anything. It appears immediately as the PC recognises the Ipod is connected to the Firewire port - at the same time as the "handheld connected" is flashing in the AW.

John.

TimB · « **Reply #12 on:** October 06, 2004, 10:52:07 am »

I added only 12 MP3s so MC11 couldn't really get rolling but I was hitting 5MB/s up from 1 and 2.

Nice work Steve!

-=Tim=-

SteveG · « **Reply #13 on:** October 06, 2004, 11:52:29 am »

John,

To clarify, MC is running, you attach your iPod and the message appears? Or, iPod is attached you start MC and see the message?

Thanks,

Steve

sirshambling · « **Reply #14 on:** October 06, 2004, 12:09:03 pm »

Hello Steve,

If I connect the Ipod to the PC before starting MC11 there is no problem.

But if I start MC11 - and I usually have it running all the time - and then connect the Ipod, that's when I get the error message.

Does this help? Thanks for your trouble.

John

zxsix · « **Reply #15 on:** October 06, 2004, 01:59:19 pm »

I can test this tonight. I know I've attached the ipod while MC was running in older releases of MC11 without any error. I'll let you know what I find.

SteveG · « **Reply #16 on:** October 06, 2004, 03:28:03 pm »

John,

That helps. I made modifications which should correct this. It will be in the next build (probably tomorrow.).

Steve

sirshambling · « **Reply #17 on:** October 06, 2004, 04:42:46 pm »

Thanks very much Steve - you're a good egg.

I'll report back after testing.

John

sirshambling · « **Reply #18 on:** October 08, 2004, 12:30:59 pm »

Sorry Steve, bad news I'm afraid.

Still getting the "server busy" message when I connect the Ipod using MC11 version 97.

John

SteveG · « **Reply #19 on:** October 08, 2004, 03:47:35 pm »

John,

I will try to eliminate this next week.

Steve

sirshambling · « **Reply #20 on:** October 08, 2004, 04:44:10 pm »

Thanks - that's good of you.

John.

sirshambling · « **Reply #21 on:** October 13, 2004, 12:09:09 pm »

Steve,

The good news is that the "server busy" message no longer appears when I connect the Ipod (MC 11 v 99) and the Ipod speeds rise into the 5.50s. Thanks for those fixes.

The bad news is that it now takes 2 goes at "synch" in the AW to transfer data to MC - if I tick this box in "options" before clicking "transfer" the first time no data is sent to MC but it is on the second and subsequent transfers.

The other bad news is that it takes the same two goes if I change the playlists I'm synching. Adding a new playlist to the transfer doesn't work immediately after changing the list but it does on second and subsequent synchs.

Finally, clicking on the playlists under the Ipod folder in the Tree to the left, above the AW, any playlist selected shows all the files on the Ipod in the main pane to the right - not the files actually in the playlist. So choosing a playlist with 150 tracks in the tree brings up the entire list of over 10,000 tracks in the main pain.

Hope this is useful. John.

SteveG · « **Reply #22 on:** October 13, 2004, 02:52:02 pm »

John,

Thanks for the good and bad news. The good news is that your bad news is fixed in the next MC 11 build.

Thanks,

Steve

sirshambling · « **Reply #23 on:** October 13, 2004, 03:37:39 pm »

Steve,

As always I'm grateful to you.

I'll report back - hopefully with a complete set of good news!

John.

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