Watching vids stored on another computer on my HTPC with no wait?

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one swell foop

[H]ard|Gawd
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Nov 16, 2004
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Noob question. I'm not even sure how to search for this, and I'm sure it's somewhere out there, so apologies in advance for, I'm sure, re-asking this question:

I have my HTPC and my Main rig all connected to the internet and each other in a homegroup through wired connections to my router. I am able to access and play files stored on my main rig (where I have most of my storage) on my HTPC (which just has my old 150 gig raptor as an OS drive), however, when I open one of those file, like a hi-res movie, it takes some time to do so. It is apparent that windows, or the media players I use (VLC primarily, sometimes windows media player or media player classic), it transferring the entire file to my HTPC before playing.

I want to be able to sit down and watch a movie or show that is stored on my main rig on my HTPC without waiting for the entire file to transfer over. I'm sure it's possible, but how? Is the solution so much of a pain in the butt that I should just keep my storage in HTPC?
 
None of those should transfer the entire file, they should just play...
 
next-Jin said:
None of those should transfer the entire file, they should just play...
Click to expand...

^^ This .

The only thing I can think of is maybe offline files is enabled or something like that? Are you hardwired or wireless? 100 mbit or GigE?
 
Wired with cat 6 cable through this router. I was thinking that it should just play as well. My computer does not agree. Also, both machines are running clean installs of windows 8.
 
Maybe your buffer settings got messed up. How long is the delay? Also, are you opening the files from within VLC, or from explorer?
 
The delay depends on file size. For a 2gig mkv file, like 4-5 minutes. I usually go through explorer, right click, and select open with > vlc
 
That's odd, it should be instant.

It might be something to do with Windows 8.

I would say get rid of Homegroup and set it up as a actual network share.
 
I have Windows 8 with a homegroup share on my HTPC and it doesn't do that. I just tried it with VLC the same way you described and the video started playing instantly on my gaming rig. A 2gb file shouldn't take 4-5 min to copy over either. Maybe a router setting? Is it your network connected at 1gbps?
 
The router specs on the webpage for that model state that the "max link rate" is 300mb per second, though it does not say anything in regards to that being wire, wired, one, the other, or both. I just needed a router to get things set up at my new apartment when I got this one, and needed one quickly.

I'll mess around with it some more this weekend, or on one of the weeknights if I have time. Two jobs and school make it hard to spend much time troubleshooting, and I'm also trying to figure out why my subwoofer isn't working when I route audio out from the htpc to the multichannel inputs on my receiver. The bass plays on the right and left speakers.

This htpc thing is a pain in the butt. It'll be completely worth it once it's done, but damn is it a PITA.
 
one swell foop said:
The router specs on the webpage for that model state that the "max link rate" is 300mb per second, though it does not say anything in regards to that being wire, wired, one, the other, or both. I just needed a router to get things set up at my new apartment when I got this one, and needed one quickly.

I'll mess around with it some more this weekend, or on one of the weeknights if I have time. Two jobs and school make it hard to spend much time troubleshooting, and I'm also trying to figure out why my subwoofer isn't working when I route audio out from the htpc to the multichannel inputs on my receiver. The bass plays on the right and left speakers.

This htpc thing is a pain in the butt. It'll be completely worth it once it's done, but damn is it a PITA.
Click to expand...

Try unchecking full range on the speaker configuration.
 
check your harddrives for bad sectors using hdtune?

verified all connections are ar gigabyte speeds?
 
Try hard wiring it through a simple switch without changing any of the network settings. Belkin is garbage but I wouldn't initially think it would be the router.

I'd turn off all the bs associated with that router, like media server and what not. Try and make it as dumb as possible.
 
crispy79 said:
There is a windows version of iperf and you don't need cygwin.

http://www.iperfwindows.com/
Click to expand...

TY, I will try that.

next-Jin said:
Try hard wiring it through a simple switch without changing any of the network settings. Belkin is garbage but I wouldn't initially think it would be the router.

I'd turn off all the bs associated with that router, like media server and what not. Try and make it as dumb as possible.
Click to expand...

I will turn off everything extra that I can. I want to wait to see if I can get it working before I go buy a switch or anything as things are a little tight right now.
 
You could even skip the switch and try directly connecting the two, see what kind of performance you get directly connected, if it flies, router, if not, something is skewed on one of the two machines, start simple, swap cables if you can, etc. If you have multiple nic interfaces, active the other on one of the machines, and try from that, update all the drivers, etc.

If its the router, you have your answer, so you could get a simple small little switch - some 4 port dealy, and go with that for the two pc's and then link the switch into your router to isolate them
 
I had been browsing via the places listed under the "network" section on the left of windows explorer. Browsing through the items listed under the "computer" section lets me load with no lag.
 
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