Topic: Buffering... [Solved] (Read 4477 times)

dingane · « **on:** March 09, 2013, 01:34:42 pm »

JR only plays for a few seconds and then starts the buffering process. How do I get it to stop? I tried rebooting the computer but that had no effect. I can no longer play music without this happening.

JimH · « **Reply #1 on:** March 09, 2013, 02:10:51 pm »

More details might help.

Try installing the latest build of MC from the top of this board. It's 18.0.146.

Try switching audio output settings.
http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Audio_Output_Modes

What is the audio device?

dingane · « **Reply #2 on:** March 09, 2013, 02:48:44 pm »

I am using Kernal Streaming (direct connection)

JimH · « **Reply #3 on:** March 09, 2013, 03:14:06 pm »

Change it.

CountryBumkin · « **Reply #4 on:** March 09, 2013, 03:23:21 pm »

WASAPI Event Style works best on my system.

dingane · « **Reply #5 on:** March 09, 2013, 03:35:45 pm »

OK. WASAPI did not work but WASAPI Event Style is working. I will try it for a while.

dingane · « **Reply #6 on:** March 09, 2013, 04:43:45 pm »

Downloaded .146 and changed to WASAPI Event Style. I now have serious buffering.

JimH · « **Reply #7 on:** March 09, 2013, 04:58:41 pm »

Quote from: JimH on March 09, 2013, 02:10:51 pm

What is the audio device?

kstuart · « **Reply #8 on:** March 09, 2013, 05:05:35 pm »

Playing what sort of files ?

dingane · « **Reply #9 on:** March 10, 2013, 02:12:37 pm »

Audio Device is now WASAPI - Event Style with buffering at 100ms. Files I am playing range from 192/24 to 384/32. (Both FLAC and WAV) After a few hiccups from yesterday it seems at the moment to be working fine. Just played Hot Buttered Soul at 192/24 with no problems.

dingane · « **Reply #10 on:** March 10, 2013, 02:20:28 pm »

Correction: I am having trouble understanding the terminology used here. I guess my Audio Device is an M2TECH Young 384/32 USB DAC.

This is the very reason why a 65 year old guy should not be trying to do stuff like this. 78 rpm records were a lot easier to play--no buffering!!!

Hipper · « **Reply #11 on:** March 10, 2013, 03:21:19 pm »

Come on, it's challenging and keeps you 'alive'.

kstuart · « **Reply #12 on:** March 10, 2013, 05:18:57 pm »

Try lowering the buffering, see whether that helps or hurts, and then raise the buffering (above where it started) and see whether that helps or hurts. If it helps either way, you can adjust it to optimum.

rayooo · « **Reply #13 on:** March 10, 2013, 05:48:52 pm »

Quote from: dingane on March 09, 2013, 01:34:42 pm

JR only plays for a few seconds and then starts the buffering process. How do I get it to stop? I tried rebooting the computer but that had no effect. I can no longer play music without this happening.

Just for reference....
I run MC(18) on a Core i3-3225 based PC, 8GB Ram, Synology NAS via gig-E, WASAPI-Event, Async USB to DAC (W4S DAC-2 and now Esoteric D-07X)
I ran MC(17) on similiar setup with Core i3-2130, as well at one point on an Intel "Atom" based motherboard.
I ran with Kernel Streaming for at least a year, then switched over to WASAPI-Event about 6 months ago. (reason being that using PAUSE in Kernel Streaming caused crashing for me. otherwise, Kernel Streaming worked perfectly.... assuming I never used the pause button)

None of these setups skipped, or ever re-buffered for an instant.. ever, never ever. I would not know how to make them skip. I never had to change ANY MC settings for latency, buffering amout etc. from default.
Initial playback buffering on a new random track is about 1/2 second on 192/24 bit media (I don't have any higher res) and virtually instantaneous on 44/16 media.
At one point I used Play-From-Ram, This caused a slightly longer buffering for initial play, but again no skips ever during a track playback.

Only reason I'm saying this is that if you find yourself having to "tweak" MC settings in order to get stable playback, that's fine..and if you can find a set of tweaks that work, even better of course, BUT, something in the PC, Storage, Connection between the two, or other, is on the edge. My suspicion is that you'll find a set of settings that work, about 98% of the time. Good Luck!

JimH · « **Reply #14 on:** March 10, 2013, 06:40:27 pm »

Has anyone tried the Weird Problems thread?

Virus checkers often cause this kind of problem. Slow networks, etc.

Shmoo17 · « **Reply #15 on:** March 30, 2013, 03:04:02 pm »

Amateur level user with a similar question on buffering:

Having a problem playing SACD ISO multi channel tracks.

WASAPI style automatically pops up with the suggestion of changing the playback of the 6 channel and converting it to 2 channel

WASAPI - Event Style plays all channels for about 45 seconds to a minute then starts to buffer, will buffer a second time about 45 to 60 seconds again.

any help is appreciated, thanks

Edit:
Asus laptop with AMD ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5000 Series card, 4GB of RAM, played through HDMI to Denon AVR-890 mid-level receiver. Any further system information, please ask. Definitely admit I'm an amateur user that's having fun learning from the experts here

kstuart · « **Reply #16 on:** March 30, 2013, 07:38:35 pm »

What DAC are you using, and how is it connected to your PC ?

jrobbins · « **Reply #17 on:** March 31, 2013, 10:12:35 pm »

Hello, I have a different buffering problem. I have upgraded my server this weekend from the Computeraudiophile.com CAPS1 version to the CAPS3 Lagoon version. The CAPS1 server has been working well, but I wanted to try the SOtM USB card which requires the upgraded server. The new server uses a better processor, but runs on Windows 8 instead of Windows 7 for the CAPS1 server. In both cases, I output to a Bel Canto uLink and into my Bel Canto 3.5vbMKII DAC. I have a ethernet-connected network attached storage system, so no wi-fi buffering issues. Nevertheless, the new server stutters quite a bit. I am using the same settings as CAPS1 -- WASAPI-Event Style, 100 ms hardware buffering, 6 second prebuffering. I pulled the SOtM card out of the CAPS3 server and uninstalled its drivers just to go with the uLink straight out of the mainboard USB 2.0 as I do on my CAPS1 server. No luck. I have increased hardware buffering to 500 ms and to 10 second prebuffering. That makes no difference, but I also do not note any longer delay in switching from one track to another -- so I am wondering why such a big change in the hardware buffering and prebuffering would not be noticeable. I uninstalled and reinstalled the uLink drivers (in Windows 8, they need to be installed using Windows 7 compatibility mode), but no luck. What further thoughts can anyone offer up? It makes no sense that the server with the newer, better processor has buffering problems, whereas the older, lesser processor does not. I should mention that I have Splashtop 2 loaded on both servers, so I don't think that should be the issue. I have malwarebytes on the new server. Using the latest version of JRiver. Windows 8 32 bit. Thanks in advance. JCR

Shmoo17 · « **Reply #18 on:** March 31, 2013, 11:30:47 pm »

Quote from: kstuart on March 30, 2013, 07:38:35 pm

What DAC are you using, and how is it connected to your PC ?

Edited my post to include system and hardware information. The user after my post has done a lot more in trying to solve the problem, I have only played with the MC18 settings as discussed on the forum.

Is 4 GB enough RAM to properly play something as strong as a 6 channel track on a SACD? Because HD Audio in a movie is no problem

kstuart · « **Reply #19 on:** April 01, 2013, 11:05:16 am »

Some multichannel SACDs need to be decompressed as they are played, this requires significant processor resources.

If you search the forum for "buffering", you should get more information.

Shmoo17 · « **Reply #20 on:** April 01, 2013, 05:05:28 pm »

Quote from: kstuart on April 01, 2013, 11:05:16 am

Some multichannel SACDs need to be decompressed as they are played, this requires significant processor resources.

If you search the forum for "buffering", you should get more information.

Follow up: Had an uninvited "guest" or numerous guests that Mcafee Anti Virus Plus didn't keep out, and with the help of a Microsoft Technician I saw it had bastardized Mcafee and was using majority of my resources.

Needless to say, they run perfectly now with no issues or buffering, and I have a 2 year subscription to keep my network clean from my Torrent and Streaming activity

I will start to read through more of these MC forums to learn more about what my software can do for me. The Gizmo android application sounds fun, and that's just scratching the surface. Thanks to the super users in here who help us amateur users keep running smoothly.

Jamil · « **Reply #21 on:** April 02, 2013, 05:14:52 am »

Question--

Is there something that shows the status of the buffers? How do I know that my buffers are set correctly other than listening to the sound?

jrobbins · « **Reply #22 on:** April 02, 2013, 11:40:38 am »

Quote from: jrobbins on March 31, 2013, 10:12:35 pm

Hello, I have a different buffering problem. I have upgraded my server this weekend from the Computeraudiophile.com CAPS1 version to the CAPS3 Lagoon version. The CAPS1 server has been working well, but I wanted to try the SOtM USB card which requires the upgraded server. The new server uses a better processor, but runs on Windows 8 instead of Windows 7 for the CAPS1 server. In both cases, I output to a Bel Canto uLink and into my Bel Canto 3.5vbMKII DAC. I have a ethernet-connected network attached storage system, so no wi-fi buffering issues. Nevertheless, the new server stutters quite a bit. I am using the same settings as CAPS1 -- WASAPI-Event Style, 100 ms hardware buffering, 6 second prebuffering. I pulled the SOtM card out of the CAPS3 server and uninstalled its drivers just to go with the uLink straight out of the mainboard USB 2.0 as I do on my CAPS1 server. No luck. I have increased hardware buffering to 500 ms and to 10 second prebuffering. That makes no difference, but I also do not note any longer delay in switching from one track to another -- so I am wondering why such a big change in the hardware buffering and prebuffering would not be noticeable. I uninstalled and reinstalled the uLink drivers (in Windows 8, they need to be installed using Windows 7 compatibility mode), but no luck. What further thoughts can anyone offer up? It makes no sense that the server with the newer, better processor has buffering problems, whereas the older, lesser processor does not. I should mention that I have Splashtop 2 loaded on both servers, so I don't think that should be the issue. I have malwarebytes on the new server. Using the latest version of JRiver. Windows 8 32 bit. Thanks in advance. JCR

I can now report that my problem is solved. Once I uninstalled the Malwarebytes software, the stuttering stopped, even when returning to the original 100ms/6 sec hardware buffering/prebuffering settings. Funny, in that I use Malwarebytes on a W7 laptop connected to a Meridian Explorer DAC with MC 18 and I have no issues....JCR

JimH · « **Reply #23 on:** April 02, 2013, 12:23:58 pm »

Locking this now. If anyone has the problem again, try uninstalling any "security" software you are using, then start a new topic with details about your systems.

INTERACT FORUM

Author Topic: Buffering... [Solved] (Read 4477 times)