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[Neil]

Hi,

I'm running the latest version of MJ. The issue that I'm seeing is MJ adds exactly 18 seconds to every track I play.

My MP3's reside on a PC connected via a wired home ethernet 10/100 network. I access the MP3 library through my laptop (has the MJ app on it) and attaching the MP3 library as a remote disk across my network. No problems with accessibility. Just the timing issue. I also notice MJ takes a little while to "open" the remote files as they are played. Audio starts immediately, however, everything else from title to artwork to track timing takes some time (in seconds), it is this "gap" of time that I believe MJ "thinks" is the actual playing time of the file and adds it accordingly, unfortunately, it is not the correct playing time.

Is there some kind of network latency issue here? or is there a tunable in MJ that I'm missing?

I'm also running XP Home on a 500 MHZ P3 w 256 MB of SDRAM.

Thanks for all your help.

[xen-uno]

So your mp3 machine is acting as a file server, correct? If so then the files are being played locally (rather than being broadcast) on the laptop. You say a 10/100 net....are you using a hub or switch? Hubs are half duplex only devices, switches can be either half or full duplex. What's your link speeds to the hub/switch (from your mp3 server and your laptop, respectively)? 10 Mb should be plenty fast, and 100 Mb much faster still. On my 10/100 net I can transfer a 10MB file from machine to machine in a couple seconds. If your speeds are similiar then your net setup should be fine. If not then you may have a net problem (like duplexing) that MJ is making apparent.

Xenno

[Neil]

Hi,

So your mp3 machine is acting as a file server, correct?
YES

are you using a hub or switch?
HUB

What's your link speeds to the hub/switch (from your mp3 server and your laptop, respectively)? 10 Mb should be plenty fast, and 100 Mb much faster still.
SPEED IS FINE - NO SIGNS OF ERRORS OR DROPOUTS

If not then you may have a net problem (like duplexing) that MJ is making apparent.
WOULD YOU SUGGEST GOING TO A SWITCH? THERE IS NOTHING ELSE ON MY LITTLE HOME LAN, JUST THE HOST PC AND MY LAPTOP.

THANKS FOR YOUR SUGGESTIONS

[JimH]

PLEASE KILL the caps lock.

Sounds like you're doing this with Windows networking.  Who knows what this may introduce.

Try running Media Server (part of MJ) on the server.  The connect to it from the other PC via MJ/tools/Media Server.

[Neil]

Hi Jim,

My humble apologies on the CAPS thing. I wanted to reply to "xen-uno"'s suggestions. I didn't know how to utilize your methodology with the "boxed-in" quote replies, when you assisted me on my prior issue with the "other +" key problem. Remember, "Beagle Boys"...  

Now, do I have to have MJ installed on the PC with my MP3 library, to utilize the Media Server piece of MJ and see what that buys me? I was hoping to avoid buying 2 copies of MJ.

Thanks.

[JimH]

Hi Jim,

My humble apologies on the CAPS thing. I wanted to reply to "xen-uno"'s suggestions. I didn't know how to utilize your methodology with the "boxed-in" quote replies, when you assisted me on my prior issue with the "other +" key problem. Remember, "Beagle Boys"...  

Now, do I have to have MJ installed on the PC with my MP3 library, to utilize the Media Server piece of MJ and see what that buys me? I was hoping to avoid buying 2 copies of MJ.

Click on "quote" in the message to quote it.

Check Jukebox/Purchase above for how to share one license on more than one machine.

You need a current version and the same version on both PC's.

[Robert Taylor]

Gday!

You may find that regardless of whether you're using a hub or switch, if the Net card in your PC / laptop is not hard set at a particular speed/duplex setting, wierd things happen.

I'm a sysadmin, and this stuff happens all the time to me, both with PCs, Sun and HP servers, and Cisco and other more generic switches.

If you check your NIC card settings, and set them to say 10Mb / Full Duplex instead of Auto-Detect, and see if that makes any difference. If your gear handles it set the PC NICs to 100mb/FDX and see how you go.

For a given situation, I just try a number of different setting starting at the top (100mb/FDX) and working down until it becomes stable.

Hope this helps...

[John Gateley]

This is probably not it, but a fixed delay often indicates a reverse DNS lookup that times out. Machine A starts a connection, Machine B sees Machine A's IP address and does a reverse DNS to get a real name. If reverse DNS is not set up for machine A, this leads to a pause.

j

[xen-uno]

359......

>>WOULD YOU SUGGEST GOING TO A SWITCH?

Switches are tolerant of any duplex setting, hubs aren't. Switches don't care (within reason, of course) what each NIC is set at (auto-detect or manually specifying link speed/duplex). They can be twice as fast as a hub since concurrent sends/receives are possible. A very good SMC 8 port switch is about $80 (5 port model for $50).

PS: As 'Meat said though - manually specifying link parameters (speed/duplex only) is the preferred way. It's always easier to troubleshoot if you know exactly what's going on (you wouldn't with Auto Detect).

>>Sounds like you're doing this with Windows networking.  Who knows what this may introduce.

That is true unless you set the machines up like on a real network that requires log-ins (auto-logins are OK too) to access the network (thru workgroups or domains). If you run any flavor of NT (inc. 2K/XP) on your mp3 server, you may want to consider setting it up more formally as a file/network/print server (aka Client/Server network, rather than the peer to peer u have now (or do you?)).

Try the Media Server idea, that should take care of your problem - though there shouldn't be any ? with your current setup.

Xenno

[Neil]

Hi Everyone,

Wow, thanks alot for your ideas. I'll do some tuning/troubleshooting and post the outcome of my efforts.

I have alot of time on my hands these days here in Silicon Valley ever since being laid-off from Sun Microsystems 5 months ago.  

Look for my posting on the outcome.

Thanks again.

[xen-uno]

359........

Here's some more on Hub/Switch duplexing differences from Linda @ HP Procurve Support

>>
By virtue of being repeaters, hub were never capable of performing at full-duplex.  Hubs are collision-based devices.  For example, a packet arrives, and the hub immediately floods it out all the ports.  This negates the ability to full duplex.  As you know, half-duplex can be likened to a walkie-talkie conversation; only one person may speak at a time.  This is why hubs need to be half-duplex devices.  The packet comes in, and is flooded everywhere.  Nobody else may speak during this flood--otherwise, you get collisions. Most hubs don't even do error-checking, which is why it is so easy to propagate corrupt packets across the network.

Switches, on the other hand, are a little more sophisticated.  It is possible to perform full-duplex on a switch, because it actually examines the packets minimally for errors, source MAC address, and destination MAC address.  A switch will forward a packet to the one port where the destination MAC address is held in memory.  The source MAC address will be added to memory for reference later--just in case someone wishes to send data to this device.  The packet will then be delivered to the destination device, rather than the entire network.  Of course, this is simplifying the process somewhat.  Yet, this store-and-forward architecture makes full-duplex possible.
<<

Xenno

[Neil]

Hi,

Okay, here's my update:

The Media Server solution works, and works very well. I used the license code from my original purchase of MJ and the MJ copy that is running on my MP3 server accepted it.

There is no buffering and responses are practically instantaneous..yea!  

A question remains:

For some reason I no longer can view the album art that is associated with the MP3 files, when I am connected via the MJ Media Server. If I am connected via the P2P method MJ displays the art tag data fine on either machine or across my home network. But, then the timing issue returns.

What am I missing? ?

Thanks

[JimH]

Media Server doesn't currently serve album art.  Maybe someday.

Glad it's working!

[Neil]

Ah-ha...said the blind man as he picked up his hammer and nail...

I'm sure I'll have other questions as they arise, but you can consider this thread complete.

Thanks for all the help.

[Scronch]

Complete resolution in 24 hrs...  now that's service!