crazy network spikes = stuttering...

[dfitz43]

Hi all,

just wondering if anyone else has experienced this phenomenon. Watching multiple HD shows tonight on a V4 client over 100 Mb/s wired connection, some streamed perfectly and others were horrible, with massive video and audio stuttering every 1-2 seconds. I've included a jpeg of the network usage, with the first part being a "bad" stream with network utilization all over the place from 0-40% and the second part being a "good" stream with a very steady 15%.

I don't really think that hardware or network is at fault here, since all the programs were being recorded to the same HD on the server and streamed over the same network to the same client, and at least some were fine.

Is it possible that programs recorded by one ATSC card could be fine and programs dumped by another be corrupt?

Also, how can you tell which card recorded which program?

Of note, I get the same kind of crazy network spikes (and stuttering) when trying to watch live TV on the client.

Thanks in advance for any clues.

cheers,
Dave

[dagar]

Are you using a switch or a hub?

What are the specs of your client?

What PC is that screen scrap from? It's not necessarily indicative of anything wrong; it depends upon how the grapher tries to normalize data -- statistically speaking, since we're looking at a graph that attempts to reduce (maybe deduce?) the utilization ... it may not (read, is not) the most acurate tool to do that job.

Is every device on your network (primarily your hosts -- PCs) set to auto detect the speed/duplex? You may have a miss-match; consider forcing the speed/duplex (primarily duplex). Automagic detection of Ethernet framing parameters is a very (very very very) loose standard.

[dfitz43]

Hi dagar,
thanks for taking the time to reply.

In answer to your questions:

1) using 100 Mbs switch
2) client is P4 3.0, 1 gig RAM, Nvidia FX5200
3) screen capture is from client machine

I'll definitely check into the network settings you suggest. However, I don't think it's likely to be either network or client/server hardware issues. My basis for this is that _some_ (2/4 last night) Sage recordings are perfect, from the same server over the same network with the same settings displayed on the same client.

Is there some way to know which card captured which stream? This may be obvious, but I'm really new to Sage. To me, it seems like it's most likely to be an issue with one or more of the capture cards. I sort of thought, an ATSC stream is an ATSC stream, but now I'm really wondering if there is a difference in the cards. (I have a fusion 5 lite, an Aver 180, and a DTA151.)

Thanks again for the help.

cheers,
Dave