Issues playing video files over local network

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Daniel_Chang

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jan 4, 2016
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I have a hard drive plugged directly into the router. Video files are ripped using MakeMKV, and then encoded to MP4 using Handbrake. I have numerous devices on the network that are used to stream these movies.

Recently, I ran into a problem where two movies (perhaps more, haven't tested them all) won't open on my Windows 10 PC. They won't play under Kodi 15.2, and I get a "cannot render the file" error using MPC-HC. However, these same files play fine if I connect the USB HDD directly to the PC. Moved back to the router, I get the same issue. My other Windows 10 PC won't open the files either. But my Android devices on the network stream it just fine. Nvidia Shield ATV and Nexus Player running Kodi 15.2 stream the movies fine in their entirety. I can even open it on my Nexus 5x using ES File Explorer.

Router is a Netgear Nighthawk R7000. Firmware is 1.4.30 because the recent 1.6x release is a disaster. My primary W10 PC is connected over ethernet via powerline. Secondary is connected via Wireless AC. Shield ATV is connected via ethernet (direct, not powerline), and all other devices are wireless.
 
As a follow-up, here's some more info. I went through and checked about 50 movies and identified ones that don't work. I found some trends.

The key difference I've found is whether or not I checked the "web optimized" box in Handbrake. I wasn't doing this for my first batch of rips but have been since. Apparently, this doesn't matter for most devices, but suddenly it does for Windows 10 devices?

Also, if I try to copy the file from the network drive to the local HDD, it won't complete. I'll get a fraction of the file.

I'll see if there's a setting that can be toggled, otherwise, I'll probably have to re-rip a bunch of movies.
 
Call me old school, but why not just plug the drive in via USB on your Win 10 machine (since that works) and share the drive/folder over your network for your other devices?
 
Betaboy1983 said:
Call me old school, but why not just plug the drive in via USB on your Win 10 machine (since that works) and share the drive/folder over your network for your other devices?
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Because:

1) The old method worked just fine.
2) The old method relies on the router only. My PC doesn't have to be turned on for other devices in the house to work.

I think I've figured out what's going on, and I'm testing a fix now. If it works, it will be some up-front pain for some back end gain.
 
I'm going to guess that either the USB controller does some random hiccups or its the HDD itself. Since your device (router) have 256Mbyte of RAM it shouldn't run out of memory even if Samba is far from optimal on embedded devices. If you're running torrents etc directly on the router (not sure if its possible) I wouldn't be too surprised if it runs out of memory from time to time.

I've been doing what you're doing off 128Mb devices but about 256Mbyte of swap space were need if you wanted to do Samba and MinidLNA at the same time. Unfortunately you have a Broadcom based router so OpenWRT or similar firmware aren't a viable solution.
 
diizzy said:
I'm going to guess that either the USB controller does some random hiccups or its the HDD itself. Since your device (router) have 256Mbyte of RAM it shouldn't run out of memory even if Samba is far from optimal on embedded devices. If you're running torrents etc directly on the router (not sure if its possible) I wouldn't be too surprised if it runs out of memory from time to time.

I've been doing what you're doing off 128Mb devices but about 256Mbyte of swap space were need if you wanted to do Samba and MinidLNA at the same time. Unfortunately you have a Broadcom based router so OpenWRT or similar firmware aren't a viable solution.
Click to expand...

My setup isn't that complex, and I do nothing with torrents. This is pretty much all that I do:
-buy Blu Ray
-rip with MakeMKV
-encode with Handbrake
-save to shared hard drive (USB HDD connected directly to router)

My devices pick it up and play it, no transcoding needed.

So, here's what's going on. Apparently there was a recent change to the way that Windows 10 reads video files over a network. Intranet and internet are now treated the same. So my newer (last 2 years) encodes work fine, but the batches I did several years back are messed up. Thankfully, this is less than 30 movies. I can rip them all over the weekend and re-encode throughout the week. This also gives me a chance to experiment with X265.

For handbrake, there's a checkbox for MP4 that's called "web optimized." You pretty much have to check this box now. I've been doing it the last few years, but not my first batches.
 
I think there is an issue elsewhere too...

Powerline Ethernet sucks for high bandwidth data... Do the other devices not on powerline Ethernet play the videos fine? If you MUST use Ethernet get filters for your powerline Ethernet devices, you'd be surprised how noisy your incoming house power is. Induction (Motor) loads, florescent ballasts (including CFLs), CRTs, loose wiring connections (especially old homes), etc creates a HUGE amount of additional noise on your line too. This all interferes with powerline Ethernet.

Powerline ethernet is good for VERY specific applications, however there are so many outside variables that can make it fail under a higher workload such as video streaming to where it becomes the least usable application.
 
diizzy said:
That doesn't make any sense, your main issue lies somewhere else.
Click to expand...

Well, I can confirm that it worked. Problem solved. But I do sincerely thank you for your input. You did attempt to look at and solve the problem, which is more than I could say for some.

MGCJerry said:
I think there is an issue elsewhere too...

Powerline Ethernet sucks for high bandwidth data... Do the other devices not on powerline Ethernet play the videos fine? If you MUST use Ethernet get filters for your powerline Ethernet devices, you'd be surprised how noisy your incoming house power is. Induction (Motor) loads, florescent ballasts (including CFLs), CRTs, loose wiring connections (especially old homes), etc creates a HUGE amount of additional noise on your line too. This all interferes with powerline Ethernet.

Powerline ethernet is good for VERY specific applications, however there are so many outside variables that can make it fail under a higher workload such as video streaming to where it becomes the least usable application.
Click to expand...

Problem occurred after a Windows 10 update. Movies over 4GB in size from my first batch where I didn't select "Web Optimized" do not work on either Win10 device (one is powerline ethernet, the other is wireless-AC). Movies over 4GB (including one that is 17GB) where I did select Web Optimized do work. Re-encoding the old movies using Web Optimized has caused them to work.

This only affects MP4, not MKV.

scobar said:
You'll note I am not offering a solution to your underlying problem, and I merely posted here to troll.
Click to expand...

Yea, I figured that out the first post.
 
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I still find it odd that windows 10 decides that a file needs to be "Web optimized" to be able to play media over ethernet. My gf can play media over wi-fi and none of my media is web optimized. My previous train of thought was that win10 was trying to read the file differently over LAN and the powerline Ethernet wasn't able to serve it up the way win10 wants it (web optimized).

I did remember a time in the past where I had a "friend" who had powerline Ethernet and they had some file read issues here and there. After a lot of troubleshooting determined it was a fault in the powerline. The files were fine and usable over other media *except* his powerline connection. It was almost like there was some kind of firmware fault in the device with some data. The manufacturer of the device was no help either. He bought a wi-fi card and went to wi-fi, and all his problems stopped. Your problem reminded me of this issue we spent nearly a week troubleshooting.
 
I had this exact issue years ago running on Windows 7 actually and the web optimized cured the issue back then, and I also could not figure out what was causing the issue. I re-ripped all movies affected with the web optimized setting. At some point, I had the problem again, with a web optimized version, (large 15 GB file), and when I re-ripped and made 100% sure I used web optimized it still did not work. It has something to do with how the mount is seen/used/viewed, (DLink DGL4500 I think at the time). Eventually I stopped ripping and encoding. I buy the movie, let someone else rip and encode and populate my plex server with that version, typically much less than 4 GB size but still MKV 1080p with multiple audio tracks. Saves me time, electricity bills and headaches. Since this change, I have not run into the issue again.
 
MGCJerry said:
I still find it odd that windows 10 decides that a file needs to be "Web optimized" to be able to play media over ethernet. My gf can play media over wi-fi and none of my media is web optimized. My previous train of thought was that win10 was trying to read the file differently over LAN and the powerline Ethernet wasn't able to serve it up the way win10 wants it (web optimized).

I did remember a time in the past where I had a "friend" who had powerline Ethernet and they had some file read issues here and there. After a lot of troubleshooting determined it was a fault in the powerline. The files were fine and usable over other media *except* his powerline connection. It was almost like there was some kind of firmware fault in the device with some data. The manufacturer of the device was no help either. He bought a wi-fi card and went to wi-fi, and all his problems stopped. Your problem reminded me of this issue we spent nearly a week troubleshooting.
Click to expand...

Again, same exact issue on two separate machines, one with powerline ethernet, and one with Wireless-AC. If Powerline Ethernet was the issue, why would they perform exactly the same?

Also, if it's the Powerline Ethernet, why is it ONLY the non-Web Optimized movies not working? A 4.5GB non-Web Optimized doesn't work, yet a 17GB Web Optimized does. And it's not just one of each. I tested nearly every Blu Ray rip on my network over 4GB in size, and this was consistent. No exceptions on either machine.

The Powerline Ethernet only makes sense if you've ignored everything that I've said.
 
diizzy said:
Hmm... I wonder if this is a wrapper (file size) issue on the router
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I certainly can't rule out the router 100%. But I'll try to clarify in bullet-point format without all of the fluff.

  • Windows 10 PC (Powerline Ethernet) cannot play movies over the network that were not "web optimized." All other movies work, regardless of file size.
  • Windows 10 PC (Wireless AC) cannot play movies over the network that were not "web optimized." All other movies work, regardless of file size.
  • When HDD is removed from network and plugged into either of the above devices, said movies work.
  • Other devices on the network can play these movies over the network with no issues (Shield ATV, Nexus Player, Nexus 5x)

Do these symptoms fit your theory? I honestly don't know, I'm sincerely asking.
 
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