LAN tweaks

[Ken C]

Occasionally, the videos watched via the HD Extender hiccup, jitter, stutter, etc. As everything is dependent on network speed, are there tweaks to increase LAN performance ?

Found this,

http://www.speedguide.net/read_articles.php?id=1607

Anyone tried any of these ? Or others ?

[Fastrack]

Originally Posted by Ken C

Occasionally, the videos watched via the HD Extender hiccup, jitter, stutter, etc. As everything is dependent on network speed, are there tweaks to increase LAN performance ?

Found this,

http://www.speedguide.net/read_articles.php?id=1607

Anyone tried any of these ? Or others ?

If your running a firewall try stopping and see if these issues go away. This is one of the reasons I do not run a firewall on my PVR. Even if you have a port open on some firewalls the traffic still goes through this other software layer.

[Ken C]

Originally Posted by Fastrack

If your running a firewall try stopping and see if these issues go away. This is one of the reasons I do not run a firewall on my PVR. Even if you have a port open on some firewalls the traffic still goes through this other software layer.

No firewall on either the Sage machine or the media server. Running XP Pro SP2 on both, set up for "best performance" via Ctrl Pnl - System - Advanced - Performance.

Both machines are Intel 3 gHz, 2 gig ram, Abit mb's.

GO CHARGERS !!

[CollinR]

You sure it's a network problem and not disk IO or something? Did you format your storage drives NTFS 64k? Got fragmentation?

[Ken C]

Originally Posted by CollinR

You sure it's a network problem and not disk IO or something? Did you format your storage drives NTFS 64k? Got fragmentation?

All the media storage drives are NTFS 64k sectors. Haven't checked for defrag. ( Hey, didn't MS say NTFS drives never needed defrag ?? )

However, when the Sage machine was providing video output, did not have this problem.

Plus, I was really asking if anyone had tried any of the speedguide tweaks with any success

[CollinR]

The network "tweak" that might interest you is called QoS, I didn't see anything in that article that appeared to have a mojor upside.

With QoS you can give priority to the streams between server and extender, this would help if you have a kid upstairs doing major file transfers or something.

[Ken C]

Originally Posted by CollinR

The network "tweak" that might interest you is called QoS, I didn't see anything in that article that appeared to have a mojor upside.

Is Sage QoS aware ? Doesn't the software developer have to use the QoS api's ?

Sounds like a good idea, prioritize the connection from the extender to the server.

[Ken C]

Ok, so I tried the LAN tweaks as noted in the first post. Definite improvement. Maybe just coincidence, but no hiccups, jitters, or stutters. And, on one occasion, all four tuners (analog) were being used to record over the network while we were watching a video via the extender.

If any downsides appear, I'll post ...

[CollinR]

Originally Posted by Ken C

Is Sage QoS aware ?

I dunno.

Originally Posted by Ken C

Doesn't the software developer have to use the QoS api's ?

Sounds like a good idea, prioritize the connection from the extender to the server.

No, if you have a managed switch you can provide QoS depending on the port and protocol. This is similar to how I ensure lights out at my house.

Originally Posted by Ken C

Ok, so I tried the LAN tweaks as noted in the first post. Definite improvement. Maybe just coincidence, but no hiccups, jitters, or stutters. And, on one occasion, all four tuners (analog) were being used to record over the network while we were watching a video via the extender.

If any downsides appear, I'll post ...

Good whatever gets you to your goal. I doubt there would be any downsides either. Does your server have 100 or 1000mbps NIC? Although the extenders are 100 you definately get better performance with 1000 between the server and the switch. Since the HD extender does the transcoding it's anyones guess as to your stream but I can see ATSC 1080i in MPEG2 adding up fast in a 10/100 network mixed with PCs.

[RobJ]

I add this note for the sake of others who may be reading this thread, not to correct the posters above. They are clearly network knowledgeable, and are probably assuming gigabit connectivity to start with.

For completeness, requiring gigabit cards and routers/switches should be mentioned here. No amount of tweaks like the above can help much if you are bottlenecked with a small pipe out of your SageTV server. I recognize that the STX100 is only Fast Ethernet, but that is all it needs. It is the other legs of the network that need to be gigabit, especially the router or switch in between, and the link to the SageTV box. You should also be using Cat5E or Cat6 cabling. Cat5 or worse MAY work, but if you are having intermittent network problems, then the cabling should be on your list of suspects.

Gigabit networking has become very cheap and easy to add, as you can add an inexpensive $50 switch to your existing network, with no special configuration needed. Add Cat6 (only a bit more expensive than Cat5's) and some gigabit cards (about $20 each) or use the common onboard gigabit support. Here's a great switch ($50, $40 with rebate): http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16833127082.
Just keep your existing 'Internet router', and move all but the Internet connection to the new switch, and add a cable from the new to the old router.

[Ken C]

Originally Posted by RobJ

Gigabit networking has become very cheap and easy to add, as you can add an inexpensive $50 switch to your existing network, with no special configuration needed. Add Cat6 (only a bit more expensive than Cat5's) and some gigabit cards (about $20 each) or use the common onboard gigabit support. Here's a great switch ($50, $40 with rebate): http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16833127082.
Just keep your existing 'Internet router', and move all but the Internet connection to the new switch, and add a cable from the new to the old router.

Yes, all gigabit and Cat5e. I did go the 'switch' method rather than a gigabit router, the routers are still a bit pricey, at least compared to a switch. I do wonder why the extender is not gigabit but as long as it doesn't slow the rest of the network, no problem.

Do you think Sage is out to turn us all into computer geeks ? Let's see, first a standalone PVR (HTPC), next add an MVP(s), then a server, and now an extender. Now, upgrade the network, upgrade the computers, add more drives. We used to just watch TV, now ....