Network switch for whole home A/V

[swoon]

Regarding setting of port speed manually, please only do this or consider this if you know exactly what you are doing.

[Glitchy]

[quote=mikinho]

The Dell PowerConnect 2708 and the HP Procurve are very similar when in unmanaged mode.  The HP firmware is a little better but the Dell hardware is better.  I wouldn’t buy networking equipment used though unless it came with the original warranty.  One of the things I love about HP and Dell is that they have a lifetime warranty behind the switches….but it isn’t transferable (at least last I looked)

[/quote]

Don’t want to hijack, but related ………..

For YEARS I’ve been struggling with Bluray stuttering.

“Latest stuttering hardware”

Server: WHS2011, i5-650, 8GB, intel MB & NIC, 7 2TB WD EARS for Bluray w-MyMovies/TMT5, DriveBender Beta
HTPC: Win7Pro 64,i7-2600K, 12GB, intel MB & NIC, OS on SSD
(so should not be the hardware)
Switch: D-Link DGS-1024D Gear on switch: Server, HTPC, Router,modem, Squeezebox Duet, 2 ea HDHRs, ,Onkyo 3008, 2 Xbox 360 extenders, Battery Back up.

All gear rackmounted, so no long runs from switch for AV gear

HDTV doesn’t stutter (HTPC & Xbox extender), but I do get the “occasional network error” on the xbox 360

I’ve continually upgraded/changed gear software, cables, network throttling, you name it!

The only thing I haven’t changed is the EARS drives and the SWITCH.

So before I spend more on a new switch, any other things/settings to try?

I know, no guarantees, but would the “PowerConnect 2816 Switch” help, is the “D-Link DGS-1024D” that bad?

Tired of spending cash on solutions that don’t work.

Thanks,

Jeff

[swoon]

Is the stuttering intermittent or always present on Blu-ray playback?

Spec-wise, that switch is pretty decent. Some of the smaller consumer-grade switches only have in the neighborhood of 100-150kb per port memory.

Do you have multiple reads and/or writes hitting the EARS drive at the same time?

[Glitchy]

[quote=swoon]

Is the stuttering intermittent or always present on Blu-ray playback?

Spec-wise, that switch is pretty decent. Some of the smaller consumer-grade switches only have in the neighborhood of 100-150kb per port memory.

Do you have multiple reads and/or writes hitting the EARS drive at the same time?

[/quote]

 

stuttering is intermittent (sometimes it “seems” to get worse the longer into the movie I get).

Do you have multiple reads and/or writes hitting the EARS drive at the same time? No one movie at a time on HTPC and no ripping, or other hitting the drives. No drive balancing with DriveBender, so ………. just the movie while playing!

No ShowAnalyzer right now on HTPC or Server.

Jeff

 

[swoon]

Before you think about replacing your switch, you should hook your server directly to your HTPC and see if the problem still occurs.

Have you tried monitoring performance activity on the server while play back ensues?

[Glitchy]

[quote=swoon]

Before you think about replacing your switch, you should hook your server directly to your HTPC and see if the problem still occurs.

Have you tried monitoring performance activity on the server while play back ensues?

[/quote]

No haven’t tried those options, will try to get to it today. Would I need a crossover cable for a direct connect? Networking is my weakest link (no pun intended! Well maybe a little!)

Thanks,

Jeff

[swoon]

If you’re using Gigabit, no. The ports will auto cross as needed. Otherwise, you will need a crossover.

[Glitchy]

My Resources streaming a Bluray

HTPC

 

Server

Would think I’m doing okay?

And this is with a HD channel playing on the extender and one recording (same channel, ceton)

Jeff

 

[swoon]

Was there stuttering of Blu-ray stream during this time period?

Did you cease blu-ray playback before taking the screen capture on the server? I ask because disk and network usage fall off about halfway through the graph.

[Glitchy]

[quote=swoon]

Was there stuttering of Blu-ray stream during this time period?

Did you cease blu-ray playback before taking the screen capture on the server? I ask because disk and network usage fall off about halfway through the graph.

[/quote]

Haven’t seen any stuttering but HTPC is in another room so only seeing parts of it thru doorway/opening.

No the bluray was playing the whole time. Still is.

 

Thanks for helping

Jeff

 

 

[Glitchy]

[quote=swoon]

Was there stuttering of Blu-ray stream during this time period?

Did you cease blu-ray playback before taking the screen capture on the server? I ask because disk and network usage fall off about halfway through the graph.

[/quote]

Same movie, same seesion/play of movie

2nd set of shots

HTPC

Server

Jeff

[mikinho]

What Intel drivers are you using?  Make sure you have latest from Intel, not Windows Update.  And when installing on your HTPC, if you have extenders make sure to uncheck “Advanced Networking Services”.

Are you playing back from BDMV or ISO?

[Glitchy]

[quote=mikinho]

What Intel drivers are you using?  Make sure you have latest from Intel, not Windows Update.  And when installing on your HTPC, if you have extenders make sure to uncheck “Advanced Networking Services”.

Are you playing back from BDMV or ISO?

[/quote]

 

All BDs ISOs. All drivers are from intel site (unless MS update sneaked one past me).

I have extenders, where is the “Advanced Networking Services”, in the NIC setup, under advanced properties? (I’ll go looking). It’s never worked with any driver, but I update intel drivers about every 4-8 weeks on both machines.

 

Jeff

[mikinho]

[quote=Glitchy]

All BDs ISOs. All drivers are from intel site (unless MS update sneaked one past me).

I have extenders, where is the “Advanced Networking Services”, in the NIC setup, under advanced properties? (I’ll go looking). It’s never worked with any driver, but I update intel drivers about every 4-8 weeks on both machines.

[/quote]

Advanced Network Services is an option in the driver MSI when first installing.  When it is installed it can caused Extenders to disconnect in some cases, that is why I mentioned.

What virtual drive software are you using?  If you are using VirtualCloneDrive do two things:

1- Make sure you are on the latest version, currently 5.4.5.0

2- Turn Buffered I/O on.

Note: When enabled, Buffered I/O, will use the native file system buffer for the ISO.  This consumes more memory and CPU but helps with network usage.  I don’t recommend using if the majority of your ISOs are local.

[swoon]

Have you ever played with the transmit and receive buffers in the Intel drivers? When I used to run a HDHR, I found that by tweaking the receive buffer higher to 1024 and using “Extreme” for Interrupt Moderation, I was able to eliminate recording glitches on a machine.

This was a bit of a different scenario as the HDD I/O seemed to be the problem and by increasing the buffer size, I apparently was able to give enough time for the I/O bottleneck to dissipate and buffer to be serviced.

[Author]

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