Transcoded Media Files

[deliverer]

I have been using my wired media extenders for about a month now. I have noticed when I play a XVID format, the picture is not smooth. The picture seems to pause just a micro second and then continues. The same picture on a PC extender is just fine. Any thoughts to what could be causing the issue? Are there some tweaks I need to do for transcoding? Any help is appreciated.

Lastest version of Sage
Server is AMD 64 3700+ w/ 1 gig of RAM



Regards,

Deliverer

[mayamaniac]

Your 3700+ should be fast enough, but check the CPU usage in the server Task Manager when playing the divx on the MVP Extender, if its peaking 90-100%, then something is causing it to spike too high. And if it helps, in Detailed Settings > Server, try setting the Extender quality to medium.

[deliverer]

CPU is below 40% with the media extender and pc client running. The quality choices are either high or standard. It's currently set to standard. Any other suggestions? This is really bugging me.

Thanks,

Deliverer

[deliverer]

Here is some additional info. I started looking at the details of the shows.

MPEG4-VIDEO 40:17 640x272@24fps, AC3/448Kbps@48Khz 5.1 - Pauses or Stutters
MPEG4-VIDEO 37:20 592x320@24fps, AC3/320Kbps@48Khz 5.1 - Works fine

I have various ones that work and do not work.

Thanks,

Deliverer

[mayamaniac]

do you have a different Xvid/Divx file to test with? It could just that particular file that is causing it.

[deliverer]

Yes. I have more than one causing issues....Seems like the higher quality files are causing it?

[deliverer]

I'm still having this issue. Does anyone else experience this problem? Have you been able to fix it?

[metrodude]

Originally Posted by deliverer

I'm still having this issue. Does anyone else experience this problem? Have you been able to fix it?

Not sure if this is your issue but it worked for me...

I had the jerky video with Divx\Xvid playback on the MVP extenders until I set the Server's extender conversion quailty to standard. (I made the change on the server and bounced the sagetv service)

Setup\Detailed Setup\Server\Media Extender Conversion Quality : Set to standard

[davephan]

I agree that your CPU should be fast enough to playback Xvid AVI files on a wired MVP.

My old XP+ 2800 was barely fast enough to do that task with the CPU near 100% sustained during playback of Roxy99 high quality two-pass Xvid files. After my old mobo died, my older XP+ 2100 system isn't fast enough to playback the same files Xvid AVI without stuttering all the time.

I did have problems with stuttering if all the needed ports are not opened up between the SageTV computer and the MVP. I discovered that the compressed video files did playback on my XP+ 2800 system, but it stuttered sometimes if all of the needed ports were not opened up. Make sure the ports are open in the router.

You can download compressed video files of various formats from www.crankygeeks.com (H.264 MOV, MPEG4 MP4, Windows Media Player WMV) or dl.tv (no www in URL, H.264 MOV, Windows Media Player MOV, DivX AVI).

If the compressed video formats from those web sites playback is OK, then it could be your video transcoding process (compressing your MPEG2 files into Xvid AVI files) that is causing the problems.


Dave

[deliverer]

I tried standard, but it still has an issue. Is there some tweaks to the sage.properties file that I can make?

Originally Posted by metrodude

Not sure if this is your issue but it worked for me...

I had the jerky video with Divx\Xvid playback on the MVP extenders until I set the Server's extender conversion quailty to standard. (I made the change on the server and bounced the sagetv service)

Setup\Detailed Setup\Server\Media Extender Conversion Quality : Set to standard

[deliverer]

The server and client sit on the same subnet and do not go through a router. They are connected via a unmanaged switch.

Originally Posted by davephan

I agree that your CPU should be fast enough to playback Xvid AVI files on a wired MVP.

My old XP+ 2800 was barely fast enough to do that task with the CPU near 100% sustained during playback of Roxy99 high quality two-pass Xvid files. After my old mobo died, my older XP+ 2100 system isn't fast enough to playback the same files Xvid AVI without stuttering all the time.

I did have problems with stuttering if all the needed ports are not opened up between the SageTV computer and the MVP. I discovered that the compressed video files did playback on my XP+ 2800 system, but it stuttered sometimes if all of the needed ports were not opened up. Make sure the ports are open in the router.

You can download compressed video files of various formats from www.crankygeeks.com (H.264 MOV, MPEG4 MP4, Windows Media Player WMV) or dl.tv (no www in URL, H.264 MOV, Windows Media Player MOV, DivX AVI).

If the compressed video formats from those web sites playback is OK, then it could be your video transcoding process (compressing your MPEG2 files into Xvid AVI files) that is causing the problems.


Dave

[kevine]

Originally Posted by deliverer

The server and client sit on the same subnet and do not go through a router. They are connected via a unmanaged switch.

Try taking items out of the picture. Start with the switch, then the router. You'll need to put another router in it's place. Use my all time favorite, purchase-test-return from your local Staples. If you have to do that, you might as well replace the cabling, move the TV close to the server. This will eliminate the network itself.

Then you are down to the server and the media extender. Media extender next and hopefully it is 1 of those. If it still comes down to the server come back and let everyone here know again and also submit a trouble ticket.

Good luck.

[kevine]

Also wanted to ask, is this just happening when it starts to play? If not, how often during say a 1 hr show does it happen?

[deliverer]

Guys, at my witts end to this issue. This is what I have done since I updated the thread last. I tried another network card...No change. I tried putting the server next to the extender and using a cross over cable between the two, thus eliminating the switch as the issue. Still no change. I also tried different speeds/duplex settings, 10/half, 10/full, 100/half, and 100/full with little to no change.

It almost appears that there is not enough buffer for the streaming image. Is there something to adjust and add more buffer for transcoded videos? Do I need to update software/firmware on the media extender?

In response to the last thread. This happens right when the video begins.

Here are some settings from my properties files. Anyone see anything not correct? Maybe something to adjust?

media_player_plugin_class=
media_player_plugin_class/mpg=
media_player_plugin_class/mpgbuf=
media_player_uses_system_volume=true
media_server/conservative_transcode=true
media_server/extra_allowed_files=miniclient
media_server/transcode_quality/DVD=-f dvd -b 4000 -s 720x480 -acodec mp2 -r 29.97 -ab 128 -ar 48000 -ac 2
media_server/transcode_quality/DVD6Ch=-f dvd -b 4000 -s 720x480 -acodec ac3 -r 29.97 -ab 384 -ar 48000 -ac 6
media_server/transcode_quality/DVDAudioOnly=-f dvd -vcodec copy -acodec mp2 -ab 384 -ar 48000 -ac 2
media_server/transcode_quality/SVCD=-f dvd -b 2000 -g 3 -bf 0 -acodec mp2 -ab 128 -ar 48000 -ac 2 -s 352x240 -r 29.97
media_server/transcode_quality/SVCD6Ch=-f dvd -b 2000 -g 3 -bf 0 -acodec ac3 -ab 384 -ar 48000 -ac 6 -s 352x240 -r 29.97
media_server/transcode_quality/mp3=-f dvd -vn -acodec copy
media_server/transcode_quality/mpeg2psremux=-f dvd -vcodec copy -acodec copy -copyts
media_server/transcode_quality/music=-f dvd -vn -acodec mp2 -ab 64 -ar 48000 -ac 2
media_server/transcode_quality/music128=-f dvd -vn -acodec mp2 -ab 128 -ar 48000 -ac 2
media_server/transcode_quality/music256=-f dvd -vn -acodec mp2 -ab 256 -ar 48000 -ac 2
media_server_port=7818
media_server_thread_priority_offset=2

Any help appreciated.

Thanks,

Deliverer

[mayamaniac]

Maybe provide some basic info like SageTV version, Java version, Divx/Xvid specs, etc. If possible, provide a small test video file.

[Alfiegerner]

I have seen this problem watching XVID / DIVX through my MVP - every second or so a tiny halt in the playback.

I have a hunch that it may be something to do with playing back NTSC videos through to a PAL system but I haven't had time to investigate it yet... it's on the list of things to do.

[deliverer]

Originally Posted by mayamaniac

Maybe provide some basic info like SageTV version, Java version, Divx/Xvid specs, etc. If possible, provide a small test video file.

Sage Version - 6.2 (Just installed lastest production release last week)

Java (1.6.0_3)- Upgraded to latest version over the weekend

Divx/Xvid - On my windows machine I use 1.1.3 provided by the following site.
http://www.xvid.org/. I also installed this to my server.

As far as samples go...I can play the latest Cranky Geeks(http://www.crankygeeks.com) MPEG4 format just fine. What is a good program to strip a portion of one of the XVID videos I'm having issues with? Some simples hopefully...

Thanks,

Deliverer

[deliverer]

Originally Posted by Alfiegerner

I have seen this problem watching XVID / DIVX through my MVP - every second or so a tiny halt in the playback.

I have a hunch that it may be something to do with playing back NTSC videos through to a PAL system but I haven't had time to investigate it yet... it's on the list of things to do.

Is there a way to tell what format a video is setup as?

Deliverer

[Alfiegerner]

Firstly I've used the wrong terms here: PAL and NTSC refer to specific resolutions as well as frame rates.

I think what we're interested in here though is frame rates. PAL uses a 25 fps and NTSC 29.97 (I believe it is actually more complex than this with NTSC movies actually using 23.976 and then undergoing a telecine process to bring it to 29.97).

I think the slight pause in transcoded video that we are seeing may be the result of altering the fps in the transcode - or, alternatively, not altering the fps when we should.

If you want to see what frame rate a video is encoded at you can use gspot.

[deliverer]

Originally Posted by Alfiegerner

Firstly I've used the wrong terms here: PAL and NTSC refer to specific resolutions as well as frame rates.

I think what we're interested in here though is frame rates. PAL uses a 25 fps and NTSC 29.97 (I believe it is actually more complex than this with NTSC movies actually using 23.976 and then undergoing a telecine process to bring it to 29.97).

I think the slight pause in transcoded video that we are seeing may be the result of altering the fps in the transcode - or, alternatively, not altering the fps when we should.

If you want to see what frame rate a video is encoded at you can use gspot.

Here is some info from a xvid that works and does not work(stutters). Can this be fixed?