Recorded TV skips when played back from WHS.

[Meester.Rip]

At first I thought it was my HDHRs recording but then live works almost flawless. Then I tried my changing props on my local NIC but messing with that made it worse. Then I moved the files back to the local machine and they work fine. So now I know it is something in the network settings either on the WHS or the HTPC. Or maybe it is the drives on the WHS.

My entire network is gigabit. I plan to upgrade a couple locations where I had to put a 5 port switch or wireless router in to get me more connections at a local point because I had only one port available. But does anyone know of a way to either use Win 7 performance monitor or another tool to see if I am dropping packets somewhere?

[mikinho]

The easiest to use would be Microsoft Network Monitor (Netmon) or Wireshark.

What network cards do you have?  Do you have the manufacturer network card drivers installed versus Windows Update? And what switches?  Many gigabit network switches are crap and can’t handle HDTV.

[phoneguyinpgh]

When I transfer large files to and from my WHS I get throughput of about 300Mbits.  I can play back recordings from either machine on either machine.  I leave my recordings in their original format without removing commercials.  Are you converting them or removing the commercials at all??

[Meester.Rip]

I use D-Link hardware only. The NICs are all realtek I believe because I think that is the only brand Gigabyte uses. I’ll have to check the drivers and see if they have updates.

All my recordings are in original format and recorded at best. A 1 hour recording is almost as big as some full length BluRay movies.

Codecs are all the standard MC7 codecs as far as I know unless VLC over wrote them.

I’ll be working on removing daisy chained switches this winter and running 3 cat6 lines to each jack for a direct route to my big switch.

[George L. Schmauch Jr.]

Did you definitively narrow it down to a network issue yet?  If so, and you’re able, plug a computer into each switch and work your way out from there to see where the delay is.  It might be as simple as a bad cable someone down the line.

Some other thoughts:

Is WHS up to date?
Any add-ins which might be interfering?
Are you using the drive pool?  If so, can you move the file to the C: or D: partition and share the folder, then try streaming it from there?

[Meester.Rip]

WHS is up to date, the only add-ins I am running is a WOL add-in and I am using the drive pool.

I’ll try moving the file. I am beginning to think it might be a video issue because blu-ray works fine. Would VLC overwrite a CODEC for wtv files?

[phoneguyinpgh]

Are you using VLC for just playback?  That is the only difference between your set up and mine except that both my WHS box and my MC7 machines are connected to the same Gig-E switch.  I haven’t modified MC7 for any play back other than adding TMT3 and AnyDVD-HD.

[mikinho]

What model Realtek network cards?  Realtek makes some good network cards but most are crap IMHO, especially with the Windows Update drivers.  Install the latest drivers from the manufacturer and if needed enable flow control in the transmit (Tx) and receive (Rx) directions.  See [url=http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929707]http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929707[/url] for more on the network settings.

[George L. Schmauch Jr.]

[quote=”Meester.Rip”]
I’ll try moving the file. I am beginning to think it might be a video issue because blu-ray works fine. Would VLC overwrite a CODEC for wtv files?
[/quote]

What do you mean by “video issue”?  You said that you can play the file back locally (client PC) without issue, right?  If that’s the case, then it’s not a codec issue.  Unless MC (which I don’t use) does something really strange, WHS doesn’t use any codecs for streaming the video.

Also, what format are you using for Blu-rays?  ISO?  MKV?  Folder structure?  If those are streaming fine, then the wtv files should, as well.  I assume these files are stored in the drive pool, just like the wtv file, right?  If all your pooled drives are identical, then don’t bother moving the wtv file to the C: or D: partition, since I think that would rule out a disk I/O issue.

Personally, I do think it’s a network issue.

[autoboy]

I would get dropouts in the file on HDHR recordings when I uploaded a large file to the WHS.  I was also using a Gigabyte board with the onboard gigabit nic.  I upgraded to an Intel PCIe nic and the problem went away.  $30 on Newegg.

I still can’t upload a large file to the WHS and play back a high bitrate 1080p movie without hiccups, but I think that is related to harddrive throughput more than the network.  That’s why I keep my TV recording drives off of the drive pool.  I see no reason to include them in the drive pool.

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