How to stream large files from one device to another over network?

C

c10

Limp Gawd
Joined
May 18, 2008
Messages
137
Hi guys -

I've got a small problem - a good problem to have, but it is affecting me.

I run two main systems. A desktop and a laptop. The desktop somewhat doubles as my HTPC/NAS in my current system. It houses 3 1TB HD's and a 600GB HD which contain all of my media ( about 2 TB tv/movies, 500 gb music ).

The problem is that my higher bitrate video files don't stream over the network. They glitch. My lower bitrate movies and all my music is fine, but my x264 movies in 1080p only seem to work when I run them locally.

I'm using a 10/100mb ethernet card on both devices, and both devices are plugged into a 10/100/1000mb switch.

What are you guys using to stream your big files?
 
Unless you have a very busy network, 100MB should be fine for an HD stream. If you're having problems, I'd check the switch and cabling.

Are the devices plugged into the same switch? Anything else plugged into it? Have you tried rebooting the switch?

It could be worth trying to update drivers and setting the network speed to 100 full instead of auto/auto.
 
Demon10000 said:
Unless you have a very busy network, 100MB should be fine for an HD stream. If you're having problems, I'd check the switch and cabling.

Are the devices plugged into the same switch? Anything else plugged into it? Have you tried rebooting the switch?

It could be worth trying to update drivers and setting the network speed to 100 full instead of auto/auto.
Click to expand...

Actually it's 100Mbps, not MBps. That's only 12.5MBps.

HD contents require anywhere between 15 to 30Mbps which is 1.9 to 3.8MBps, so yea you're probably right, his network sounds too busy or perhaps the OP has some bad cables that aren't properly shielded or contains too much crosstalks.

Here's something to read about crosstalking and network slowdowns.

http://www.openxtra.co.uk/articles/network-cable-testing-causes-data-loss
 
Glitch? Do you mean hesitate, or not work at all?

If it's heistation, then the 100mb connection might be the problem, if your computer is busy with other things as well. I run a built-in 1000, and have no problems, even wirelessly (n), for AVCHD files. (A wireless g for HD won't work, by the way.)

If you mean not playing at all, then it's most likely a codec problem. (Happened to me until I put the codecs on the clients...because the my clients' video cards at the time wouldn't decode, but my main computer's would. Kinda drove me nuts for awhile figuring it out.)

.
 
Azhar said:
Actually it's 100Mbps, not MBps. That's only 12.5MBps.

HD contents require anywhere between 15 to 30Mbps which is 1.9 to 3.8MBps, so yea you're probably right, his network sounds too busy or perhaps the OP has some bad cables that aren't properly shielded or contains too much crosstalks.

Here's something to read about crosstalking and network slowdowns.

http://www.openxtra.co.uk/articles/network-cable-testing-causes-data-loss
Click to expand...

BluRay only requires around 40.0Mbps. A 10/100Mbps network can handle this with ease.
 
you may need to look at the drives on the source machine...think disc contention not speed
 
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You need to find out what actual throughput you're getting. A simple way is to copy a large file (e.g. video) from the desktop to the laptop. It's not perfect (the receiving hard drive gets involved) but it will give a decent indication. Note that you need to watch for any glitches during the copy.

You should also check hard drive fragmentation. A highly-fragmented drive could well be causing glitches. MyDefrag is a simple and effective defragger.

Is the desktop doing things while you're streaming? As noted above, disk contention could cause this.
 
Do they all run flawlessly when locally hosted? It could be a hardware decode issue if its only happening on high-bitrate files as well, since they might tax your system. It doesn't sound like thats the problem, but worth asking. In all likelihood you've got bad network throughput. It could be the NICs themselves.
 
Thanks for all the responses.

Sorry - I probably should have used a more technical term than glitching. The media plays just fine locally hosted, and sputters during playback (hesitation to varying degrees based on the bitrate of the file). It's because of this that I just think its a pure bandwidth / methodology problem than an actual codec issue.

The host pc is generally not undertaking any serious resource task. It's a pretty beast computer I built about 18 months ago (specs are in my signature I think).

Not that I think it matters, but one item of note is that the laptop is a ubuntu64 box, and my desktop is a vista64 box.

I do use my wireless on my laptop, so that may be a problem that I didn't realize.

I'll hard wire the laptop tomorrow, and see if that changes anything. Also, I was not aware that my switch had firmware to it - I'll try updating/reseting it if a simple hardwire does not give the results I'm looking for.

Although, for my ultimate use, I may me able to use my laptop hard wired to the network which would solve this without having to get another device involved.

My whole goal is to be able to side step the whole HTPC at the home theater device - I'd like to just keep my main rig in my bedroom with my laptop running the content at the home theater - right now that situation is reversed.
 
If you're using 802.11g then it's very likely that is the problem (esp. if you use WPA/WPA2). With WPA/WPA2 your effective bandwidth on 802.11g is about 20Mbps.

Even with 802.11n, you're likely to see occasional glitches.

Remember when you hardwire the laptop to actually turn off the wireless - otherwise traffic may still go across it.
 
c10 said:
Thanks for all the responses.

Sorry - I probably should have used a more technical term than glitching. The media plays just fine locally hosted, and sputters during playback (hesitation to varying degrees based on the bitrate of the file). It's because of this that I just think its a pure bandwidth / methodology problem than an actual codec issue.

The host pc is generally not undertaking any serious resource task. It's a pretty beast computer I built about 18 months ago (specs are in my signature I think).

Not that I think it matters, but one item of note is that the laptop is a ubuntu64 box, and my desktop is a vista64 box.

I do use my wireless on my laptop, so that may be a problem that I didn't realize.

I'll hard wire the laptop tomorrow, and see if that changes anything. Also, I was not aware that my switch had firmware to it - I'll try updating/reseting it if a simple hardwire does not give the results I'm looking for.

Although, for my ultimate use, I may me able to use my laptop hard wired to the network which would solve this without having to get another device involved.

My whole goal is to be able to side step the whole HTPC at the home theater device - I'd like to just keep my main rig in my bedroom with my laptop running the content at the home theater - right now that situation is reversed.
Click to expand...

Now it makes sense. Even the best wireless network will struggle to play 1080p movies.

720p plays just fine with 802.11g, but even with 802.11n there will be ocassional hiccups with 1080p
 
Stoly said:
Now it makes sense. Even the best wireless network will struggle to play 1080p movies.

720p plays just fine with 802.11g, but even with 802.11n there will be ocassional hiccups with 1080p
Click to expand...

To let you know, I get flawless 1080p playback over my n wireless to my HTPC. There's never been a glitch...but I attrbute part of that to the fact that my HTPC, while receiving through a wall, is only about 10 feet from the router, closer than any other wireless devices in my home. (720p only requires about 1/4 of the resources that 1080p does.)

Also, network/router security and activity are important. If you've got many people sharing/leaching off your signal, or you're running many wireless connections at the same time, then all of them will take your throughput lower. This even applies to other wired devices on the router too, depending on their busy state.

I live alone, and am usually not using my wireless n laptop when I am playing a movie. I'll try it to see if I can introduce any glitching on my own. It'll be a cool experiment to find a breaking point.
 
clarkkent57 said:
To let you know, I get flawless 1080p playback over my n wireless to my HTPC. There's never been a glitch...but I attrbute part of that to the fact that my HTPC, while receiving through a wall, is only about 10 feet from the router, closer than any other wireless devices in my home. (720p only requires about 1/4 of the resources that 1080p does.)
Click to expand...
Same. Wireless N is definitely capable of 1080P playback. i've done it as well, but it does require a very good signal to the router, and sometimes high-bitrates might be iffy. G could theoretically do it too, but doesn't sustain the throughput in real-life
 
i used to have problems using on-board ethernet and 10/100, someone suggested that I get PCIe gig network cards. I did that, ran cat6 around my house and bought a netgear router.

never looked back. it's smooth now. not only that but i can carry on with multiple streams now.
 
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