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More => Old Versions => JRiver Media Center 18 for Windows => Topic started by: devtech8 on November 25, 2012, 03:29:28 am

Title: Spped of playback of MC18 over wireless?
Post by: devtech8 on November 25, 2012, 03:29:28 am
So I am fairly new to actually using MC and have a couple of hundred movies setup so far. Some movies play fine and other skip (like they are buffering or something) which can get pretty annoying. When they start skipping, I can pause the movie for some time and it will start playback again just fine and with no stuttering then will return again to some pausing/skipping. I am running this on wireless n to my ps3 from a windows server 2008 machine. My router is a dual channel gigabit router (Asus n56-u). Like I said, some movies play fine while others pause/skip and it doesn't matter what file type or anything (in case it was doing some conversioning). Any ideas on anything I can check or do? Don't want to run hard-wired because of tv location if that could be the issue. Thanks much.
Title: Re: Spped of playback of MC18 over wireless?
Post by: jmone on November 25, 2012, 04:07:21 am
This is one of the reasons I hate wireless.  Seems if the wind blows the wrong way then you get poor performance.  That said, I've now added 3 Wireless Access Point around my house to ensure a good solid coverage and I can stream high bitrate video just fine (eg BD) to wireless devices without any issues.  To test your throughput try copying a movie from the server in explorer and see what your throughput is like.  I've also had good sucess with some of the Ethernet over Powerline adapters, as if they work on your house wireing they are like reliable WiFi.
Title: Re: Spped of playback of MC18 over wireless?
Post by: devtech8 on November 25, 2012, 04:16:13 am
Thanks. I live in a rental, so what I do would be limited. I do have an AP right by the TV. I believe it just pushes the channels through, right? Both bands? How can I check that? Checking the throughput on the server or over the wireless....what is the best approach to this? How am I measuring it? Thanks...any help is greatly appreciated!
Title: Re: Spped of playback of MC18 over wireless?
Post by: jmone on November 25, 2012, 04:32:30 am
I'm presuming from your other post you are using a PS3 over Wifi to a Router that then connects over eithernet to a PC using MC?

You have two possible choke points:
1) Wireless Bandwith / Reliability:   It the PS3 is line of sight to the Wifi Router it "should" be OK.  You could test by seeing how long the PS3 takes to copy a move from the MC server.  If it is slower or about the same length of the video then you will have issues with drop outs.  An alternative may be to use a product like this (but make sure you get a return option if it does not work) --> http://www.netgear.com/home/products/powerline-and-coax/high-performance/XAVB5101.aspx#
2) Transcoding Power on you MC Server:  When you connect to MC Sever over DLNA, the video may need to be converted from its native format to one that the PS3 likes.  If the PC running MC Server is low speced it may be maxing out.  Have a look in task manger on this PC to see if any of the CPU Cores is hitting 100% as this may be the cause.
Title: Re: Spped of playback of MC18 over wireless?
Post by: jmone on November 25, 2012, 04:38:24 am
You could try playing with the options as follows for Video Transcoding:
Title: Re: Spped of playback of MC18 over wireless?
Post by: JimH on November 25, 2012, 06:59:52 am
Ethernet over powerline works very well.