mkv files don't play well across network!

S

sram

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jul 30, 2007
Messages
1,699
Hi. I have two computers linked in a workgroup network. Both machines are hooked up to my wireless router via cat5 cables. The data drives in each machine are shared. I can open, view all files across the network. I can also play video files without problems. However, mkv video won't play well. They will be pausing, freezing....etc. The files themselves are fine because I can play them in their original computer.


Any idea why this is happening? I tried to set my network adapters to 100 Mbps full duplex speed, but that didn't help.

Comments?


Thanks.
 
That is because your on a 100Mbps network. You will have to upgrade to 1Gbps to fix this problem.
 
I doubt it.

It depends on the bitrate of the video, but even blu-ray is 40Mb/s maximum, well under your 100 Mb/s network connection.

You need to look at your network interfaces and check for errors. 100 Full duplex isn't the right setting if your router is running at 100 half duplex.

If you made your own cables, check that you have proper pinout for 100Mb.

update your network card drivers.

use iperf or something similar to see if the network is the problem.
 
AMD_Gamer said:
That is because your on a 100Mbps network. You will have to upgrade to 1Gbps to fix this problem.
Click to expand...

That's funny because I watch MKV files over a 100mbps link with no issues what so ever. MKV doesn't mean high-def or 1080p or any specific bit rate.


To the OP, what are the specifics behind the MKV file? Is it ALL mkv files or is it a specific group or single file that you are trying to play? Can you take an AVI file that works over the network, convert it to MKV, and try that?
 
Double check and make sure if you copy the file to the computer, it plays fine.

What media player are you using, and how large are the files?
 
I agree, while gigabit would be better, it should not be necessary, the file ought to play over 100MB network. Do you have a switch or something other then the wireless router you are using to test with, it could also be the problem. As suggested, check then network cards in both machines, make sure you don't have any AV software that could be affecting things and check your cables.
 
Damn, I watch 1080p MKVs over Wireless N just fine (~9 MB/s). What brand of router is it?
 
OP is probably using Media Player. It sucks for playing video over a network share. Look into Media Player Home Cinema. I can stream 1080p over wireless around here. 100Mbps is adequate for most MKV's.
 
Here is a MediaInfo log from a fairly high bit-rate 1080p movie I have in an MKV container.

Code: 
General
Unique ID                      : 236683915315887443884648649767093909341 (0xB20FA9FAFF5CB45B918FCA481A75B75D)
Complete name                  : V:\Films\********\*********.mkv
Format                         : Matroska
Format version                 : Version 2
File size                      : 22.4 GiB
Duration                       : 2h 34mn
Overall bit rate               : 20.8 Mbps
Encoded date                   : UTC 2011-09-28 16:54:15
Writing application            : mkvmerge v4.4.0 ('Die Wiederkehr') built on Oct 31 2010 21:52:48
Writing library                : libebml v1.0.0 + libmatroska v1.0.0

Video
ID                             : 1
Format                         : AVC
Format/Info                    : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                 : [email protected]
Format settings, CABAC         : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames      : 5 frames
Codec ID                       : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration                       : 2h 34mn
Bit rate                       : 19.3 Mbps
Width                          : 1 920 pixels
Height                         : 800 pixels
Display aspect ratio           : 2.40:1
Frame rate                     : 23.976 fps
Color space                    : YUV
Chroma subsampling             : 4:2:0
Bit depth                      : 8 bits
Scan type                      : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)             : 0.524
Stream size                    : 20.4 GiB (91%)
Title                          : DON by LoRdScAb
Writing library                : x264 core 118 r2085 8a62835
Encoding settings              : cabac=1 / ref=5 / deblock=1:-3:-3 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=umh / subme=10 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.20:0.05 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=32 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=0 / chroma_qp_offset=-3 / threads=12 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=0 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=7 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=2pass / mbtree=0 / bitrate=19300 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / vbv_maxrate=50000 / vbv_bufsize=62500 / nal_hrd=none / ip_ratio=1.40 / pb_ratio=1.30 / aq=1:0.60
Language                       : English
Default                        : Yes
Forced                         : No

Audio
ID                             : 2
Format                         : DTS
Format/Info                    : Digital Theater Systems
Format profile                 : ES
Codec ID                       : A_DTS
Duration                       : 2h 34mn
Bit rate mode                  : Constant
Bit rate                       : 1 510 Kbps
Channel(s)                     : 7 channels / 6 channels
Channel positions              : Front: L C R, Side: L R, Back: C, LFE / Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate                  : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth                      : 24 bits
Compression mode               : Lossy
Stream size                    : 1.63 GiB (7%)
Title                          : DTS-ES Discrete 6.1
Language                       : English
Default                        : Yes
Forced                         : No

Text #1
ID                             : 3
Format                         : ASS
Codec ID                       : S_TEXT/ASS
Codec ID/Info                  : Advanced Sub Station Alpha
Compression mode               : Lossless
Language                       : English
Default                        : Yes
Forced                         : No

Text #2
ID                             : 4
Format                         : UTF-8
Codec ID                       : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info                  : UTF-8 Plain Text
Language                       : English
Default                        : No
Forced                         : No

Text #3
ID                             : 5
Format                         : UTF-8
Codec ID                       : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info                  : UTF-8 Plain Text
Language                       : Czech
Default                        : No
Forced                         : No

Text #4
ID                             : 6
Format                         : UTF-8
Codec ID                       : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info                  : UTF-8 Plain Text
Language                       : French
Default                        : No
Forced                         : No

Text #5
ID                             : 7
Format                         : UTF-8
Codec ID                       : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info                  : UTF-8 Plain Text
Language                       : Chinese
Default                        : No
Forced                         : No

Text #6
ID                             : 8
Format                         : UTF-8
Codec ID                       : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info                  : UTF-8 Plain Text
Language                       : Chinese
Default                        : No
Forced                         : No

Text #7
ID                             : 9
Format                         : UTF-8
Codec ID                       : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info                  : UTF-8 Plain Text
Language                       : Finnish
Default                        : No
Forced                         : No

Text #8
ID                             : 10
Format                         : UTF-8
Codec ID                       : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info                  : UTF-8 Plain Text
Language                       : Polish
Default                        : No
Forced                         : No

Text #9
ID                             : 11
Format                         : UTF-8
Codec ID                       : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info                  : UTF-8 Plain Text
Language                       : Croatian
Default                        : No
Forced                         : No

Text #10
ID                             : 12
Format                         : UTF-8
Codec ID                       : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info                  : UTF-8 Plain Text
Language                       : Spanish
Default                        : No
Forced                         : No

Text #11
ID                             : 13
Format                         : UTF-8
Codec ID                       : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info                  : UTF-8 Plain Text
Language                       : Portuguese
Default                        : No
Forced                         : No

Text #12
ID                             : 14
Format                         : UTF-8
Codec ID                       : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info                  : UTF-8 Plain Text
Language                       : Greek
Default                        : No
Forced                         : No

Text #13
ID                             : 15
Format                         : UTF-8
Codec ID                       : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info                  : UTF-8 Plain Text
Language                       : Hungarian
Default                        : No
Forced                         : No

Text #14
ID                             : 16
Format                         : UTF-8
Codec ID                       : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info                  : UTF-8 Plain Text
Language                       : Romanian
Default                        : No
Forced                         : No

Text #15
ID                             : 17
Format                         : UTF-8
Codec ID                       : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info                  : UTF-8 Plain Text
Language                       : Bulgarian
Default                        : No
Forced                         : No

Text #16
ID                             : 18
Format                         : UTF-8
Codec ID                       : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info                  : UTF-8 Plain Text
Language                       : Turkish
Default                        : No
Forced                         : No

Menu
00:00:00.000                   : :01
00:08:52.574                   : :02
00:14:26.616                   : :03
00:20:20.928                   : :04
00:28:48.143                   : :05
00:36:18.635                   : :06
00:45:18.549                   : :07
00:51:53.027                   : :08
00:56:34.224                   : :09
01:04:13.308                   : :10
01:12:56.706                   : :11
01:19:09.078                   : :12
01:23:41.391                   : :13
01:28:44.819                   : :14
01:35:13.082                   : :15
01:42:44.158                   : :16
01:49:12.337                   : :17
01:56:42.913                   : :18
02:04:59.117                   : :19
02:11:29.590                   : :20
02:19:10.884                   : :21
02:25:37.520                   : :22

Keep in mind that a MediaInfo log isn't going to tell the whole bit-rate story. This MKV in particular spikes to 50Mb/s in scenes as shown below:

YIutR.jpg


The above file will (and does) play perfectly fine over 100Mb/s Ethernet.



The below is a sample file that I can assure you will not. I've included it just for kicks. ;) Its a system killer.

Code: 
General
Unique ID                      : 185162881663492113435044916287745499569 (0x8B4D12E7140B2EAF9E520335673F21B1)
Complete name                  : V:\Misc\Decoding Test Footage\Crowd Run 2160p UHD TEST DEMO x264-CtrlHD\Crowd Run 2160p UHD CRF22 x264-CtrlHD.mkv
Format                         : Matroska
Format version                 : Version 1
File size                      : 335 MiB
Duration                       : 10s 0ms
Overall bit rate               : 281 Mbps
Encoded date                   : UTC 2008-04-27 19:44:27
Writing application            : mkvmerge v2.1.0 ('Another Place To Fall') built on Aug 19 2007 13:40:07
Writing library                : libebml v0.7.7 + libmatroska v0.8.1

Video
ID                             : 1
Format                         : AVC
Format/Info                    : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                 : [email protected]
Format settings, CABAC         : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames      : 4 frames
Codec ID                       : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration                       : 10s 0ms
Bit rate                       : 275 Mbps
Width                          : 3 840 pixels
Height                         : 2 160 pixels
Display aspect ratio           : 16:9
Frame rate                     : 50.000 fps
Color space                    : YUV
Chroma subsampling             : 4:2:0
Bit depth                      : 8 bits
Scan type                      : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)             : 0.664
Stream size                    : 328 MiB (98%)
Writing library                : x264 core 59 r839M 27c3071
Encoding settings              : cabac=1 / ref=4 / deblock=1:-3:-3 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=umh / subme=7 / me-prepass=0 / brdo=1 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=24 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=2 / deadzone=21,11 / chroma_qp_offset=0 / threads=6 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / mbaff=0 / fgo=10 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=1 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / wpredb=1 / bime=1 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=40(pre) / rc=crf / crf=22.0 / rceq='blurCplx^(1-qComp)' / qcomp=1.00 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / pb_ratio=1.15 / aq=2:0.50
Language                       : English
Default                        : Yes
Forced                         : No

Its bitrate analysis:

fkeYP.jpg



-----------------------------------------------------------------------


This comes down to software as the network is MORE then capable.

OP, ignore everything else and download Media Player Classic: Home Cinema. Not, VLC. Not Zoom Player. Media Player Classic: Home Cinema. Ignore anything anyone tells you about codec packs.

The absolute bleeding edge 64bit builds can be found here: http://www.xvidvideo.ru/media-player-classic-home-cinema-x86-x64/

However, if you're the type to get upset over Russian and English being on the same page then you can get an old build from the official page here: http://mpc-hc.sourceforge.net/
 
dashpuppy said:
Should try VLC shouldn't he :)
Click to expand...

Considering we have no idea how big the files are, what the bitrate is, PC specs, OS, source, player, I'm waiting to hear back from OP.

Personally I have had great success with VLC playing back blu-ray rips on my low power laptop that pulls 10w, but for all we know he is already using VLC or MPC:HC. OP has kind of left out 95% of the details we need to help him out.
 
Thanks to all. I went on a trip. Just came to check what happened here. I'll come back soon and give you feedback.
 
AMD_Gamer said:
That is because your on a 100Mbps network. You will have to upgrade to 1Gbps to fix this problem.
Click to expand...

What? I remember when I used to stream TV channels on a 56k modem it was even snappier. 100Mbps is too fast for a video file. Plus, I already said other extensions work well.
jjeff1 said:
I doubt it.

It depends on the bitrate of the video, but even blu-ray is 40Mb/s maximum, well under your 100 Mb/s network connection.

You need to look at your network interfaces and check for errors. 100 Full duplex isn't the right setting if your router is running at 100 half duplex.

If you made your own cables, check that you have proper pinout for 100Mb.

update your network card drivers.

use iperf or something similar to see if the network is the problem.
Click to expand...
How do I check if my router is half duplex or not? Cables are no problem and I keep all my drivers updated. Never heard of iperf but I will take a look at it. Although I can't do much because I'm AWAY from home now.
Eickst said:
That's funny because I watch MKV files over a 100mbps link with no issues what so ever. MKV doesn't mean high-def or 1080p or any specific bit rate.


To the OP, what are the specifics behind the MKV file? Is it ALL mkv files or is it a specific group or single file that you are trying to play? Can you take an AVI file that works over the network, convert it to MKV, and try that?
Click to expand...
All mkv files won't play. I didn't try converting. My feeling is that it won't work. It is something specific to mkv files. It is a good idea though.
adi said:
Double check and make sure if you copy the file to the computer, it plays fine.

What media player are you using, and how large are the files?
Click to expand...
I'm using the almighty VLC of course. I also tried downloading the required codecs to try it with media player, but still it played bad also. The files are about 350 MB.
ashman said:
I agree, while gigabit would be better, it should not be necessary, the file ought to play over 100MB network. Do you have a switch or something other then the wireless router you are using to test with, it could also be the problem. As suggested, check then network cards in both machines, make sure you don't have any AV software that could be affecting things and check your cables.
Click to expand...
What should I check with the network cards? I don't think avira antivirus will affect such a thing.
jadams said:
OP is probably using Media Player. It sucks for playing video over a network share. Look into Media Player Home Cinema. I can stream 1080p over wireless around here. 100Mbps is adequate for most MKV's.
Click to expand...
I'm using VLC.
dashpuppy said:
Should try VLC shouldn't he :)
Click to expand...
Already using it.
adi said:
Considering we have no idea how big the files are, what the bitrate is, PC specs, OS, source, player, I'm waiting to hear back from OP.

Personally I have had great success with VLC playing back blu-ray rips on my low power laptop that pulls 10w, but for all we know he is already using VLC or MPC:HC. OP has kind of left out 95% of the details we need to help him out.
Click to expand...

diizzy said:
What's the performance of these two computers?
//Danne
Click to expand...

The machine that has the files is the one in my sig with windows 7, the other one is based on AMD Athlon 3200+ barton with 3GB of RAM and an old 512MB geforce video card, three pata storage drives.It is running the good old windows xp.

Will have to go now. And thanks to all for the nice help.
 
The one with an Athlon 3200+ wont be able to decode 1080p (smoothly) unless you have hw acceleration or at least CUDA. The other one runnin Win 7 is probably newer but I have no idea since you haven't written any specs.
//Danne
 
diizzy said:
The one with an Athlon 3200+ wont be able to decode 1080p (smoothly) unless you have hw acceleration or at least CUDA. The other one runnin Win 7 is probably newer but I have no idea since you haven't written any specs.
//Danne
Click to expand...

I already said it is the one in my sig! My main machine is the one you see in my signature under my posts. It is the one hosting the files. Also, I can bet the athlon system will be able to play those mkv files just fine if they are located locally. Although I can't prove it because I'm away right now. I feel it is network related.

Maybe I wasn't clear. The videos are almost not running at all, the sound will play well, however, the video will be like 1 frame per 30 seconds and it skips also.

Anyways, maybe it is not worth discussing this now because i'm away and won't return soon. But what's worth mentioning is that I found some entries for such issues in google. So it is kinda of a known problem. I thought I would mention this.

Thanks again.
 
Last edited:
I missed that, sorry ;-)
The one below should work just fine with mpc-hc + lav filters (CUDA). Running pure software might be an issues if the decoded isn't multithreaded (not all builds of ffmpeg are)...

@ AMD_Gamer
As others have stated, 100mbit (Fast Ethernet) will work perfectly fine for streaming HD.
//Danne
 
This still going on?

Did you use Media Player Classic Home Cinema like myself and another poster said? 90% chance this is your issue.

WMP is terrible at playing this stuff over network shares.
 
A 350MB video file not playing correctly is most likely not a player issue since you are using VLC on the application side.

Check actual network speed with something like iperf, make sure you have somewhat recent drivers for NIC's, see transfer speed trying to transfer a large(r) file over the network.

I'll re-state playing the file locally from the PC instead of over the network to verify that it is something with the network itself.

It might be a hardware issue like PATA/HD, NIC, etc, but you have to do tests to narrow exactly what is happening and where you're having issues.

The fact that it is choking on a 350MB video file to me shouts that something is majorly borked somewhere.
 
This thread is full of crappy advice.

Okay so lets establish a few things.

A) 100 Mbps is enough bandwidth. This horse has been beaten.
B) Not a drive speed / processor issue on the Win 7 PC as video can run locally.
C) Not a WMP issue, since OP is using VLC.

So, instead of trying random things out like everyone's saying, lets actually troubleshoot the problem. If you don't, you'll end up stacking problems on top of more problems until you have no idea what to do.

First, prove out the video playback on the remote PC locally; MKV is a more computationally intensive format when decoding than AVI, and honestly I wouldn't be surprised if that's the issue. That means grab a memstick, dump the MKV file onto it, copy the file onto the Athlon PC, and try running it. This takes only a few moments and narrows the scope of the issue significantly.

If it runs fine, then it's probably a network issue. Maybe something to do with the way the MKV file is broken into chunks when it's streamed and decoded, or at least the way VLC handles this process. Try another media player, this should hopefully rule out some issue with the media player not decoding the data smoothly as it's fed over the network in pieces.

If another media player has the problem, then it could be way Windows XP is accessing the file over the share... I'd try hosting the file on your remote PC (the Athlon) and see if it streams to the Windows 7 machine without any problems. Seems unlikely but its something to check out.

Lastly, check for any other factors you may have overlooked. Since MKV is kind of a flexible format, the problem could stem from the way the container is built. Maybe it just doesn't break up into pieces well for transport over the network. This is beyond me, but you might be able to use some sort of software that does on-the-fly transcoding to resolve the problem.

I know you said you were going away for a while but I just couldn't stand the way this thread is going... people throwing opinions everywhere without any real concrete reasoning behind it.
 
Last edited:
My word what a bunch of $%(£...

Add a longer cache time to VLC. I can stream 1080p over my wireless using this, you just have to wait a few seconds (you might need a few thousand ms cache) for the video to start.
 
p3n said:
My word what a bunch of $%(£...

Add a longer cache time to VLC. I can stream 1080p over my wireless using this, you just have to wait a few seconds (you might need a few thousand ms cache) for the video to start.
Click to expand...

It's worth pointing out though that the OP has had no issues with other high-def streams with other file types. That said, since the issue may lie with the decode taking such a long time (again, MKV is a compute-heavy decode), increasing the cache time is a possible solution, but only if the PC doing the decoding (the Athlon he mentioned) is capable of doing the decode quickly enough to keep up with the stream.
 
Electrofreak said:
C) Not a WMP issue, since OP is using VLC.
Click to expand...

Must admit i missed the extremely small sentence where he finally admitted to not using WMP. But in my posts where I say WMP sucks for network streaming, which is true especially for large files like hes using, I go on to say try MPC:HC, which is really the main point. Still havent heard back. I'd rather use MPC over VLC.

Still betting it solves this problem.
 
not to do with network streaming .. but I had a problem with choppy playback using VLC with an .mkv file .. grabbed some codecs (x64 vista) and then the same file played smooth in wmp but still choppy in VLC.

I usually use VLC for all media playback, so was surprised by this.
 
Last thing to note:

Anyways, maybe it is not worth discussing this now because i'm away and won't return soon.
Click to expand...

Should be locked before we reach 9 pages doing theoretical troubleshooting.
 
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