HD100: Stuttering on playback - all files; Solved

[brandypuff]

My HD100 recently developed a problem where no matter what file is being played, it would pause and then resume like a stutter every few seconda. The media files are OK since i can play them via VLC player without any stuttering.

There is no load on the server and the network is OK. This even happens while playing live TV through the HD100.

Seems like a decoder issue or something. Any ideas? I restarted the HD100 and also the SageTV service but it didn't help.

I recently had to don'tf think it's related.

I also don't get any sound from certain HD MPEG2 files recorded via over the air via my Didital tuner which also suggest a codec issue or something like that.

I've never had this problem in more than a year of using SageTV.

Thanks.

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by brandypuff

My HD100 recently developed a problem where no matter what file is being played, it would pause and then resume like a stutter every few seconda. The media files are OK since i can play them via VLC player without any stuttering.

There is no load on the server and the network is OK. This even happens while playing live TV through the HD100.

Seems like a decoder issue or something. Any ideas? I restarted the HD100 and also the SageTV service but it didn't help.

I recently had to don'tf think it's related.

I also don't get any sound from certain HD MPEG2 files recorded via over the air via my Didital tuner which also suggest a codec issue or something like that.

I've never had this problem in more than a year of using SageTV.

Thanks.

The HD100 and HD200 do not have decoders (at least not software decoders that can be changed). It sounds like a network issue. Your network may not be maxed out, but one of your switches may be going bad or believe it or not may just need to be reset (aka pull the plug, wait a minute and plug it back in).

[brandypuff]

Tonight I was watching some low bandwidth files and no stuttering was observed so that led me to believe it must be network related. Then i remembered i had a network switch in the path from the server i had forgotten about. So i powered it off and on and then all started working again, even the audio returned on the HD files.

So all is well now.

Great- Thanks.

[waynedunham]

Originally Posted by brandypuff

Tonight I was watching some low bandwidth files and no stuttering was observed so that led me to believe it must be network related. Then i remembered i had a network switch in the path from the server i had forgotten about. So i powered it off and on and then all started working again, even the audio returned on the HD files.

So all is well now.

Great- Thanks.

What kind of switch? The reason I ask is that I was helping a friend of mine set up a SageTv system. Server in the basement by the network rack and 2 HD Extenders upstairs. One extender worked fine, but the other one had horrible stuttering especially when trying to do any HD content.

Through trial and error moving things around, trying different patch cables, etc we finally narrowed it down to an idiosyncrasy in his hardware. Because he had run out of ports on his gigabit switch one of the locations upstairs was hooked in at the 10/100 router before his switch and the other was on the switch.
Oddly enough the one giving the problem was the one on the gigabit switch and not the 10/100 connection.
We tried different patch cables, moving to a different port, etc, but nothing worked.He ended up putting both upstairs ports for the HD200 extenders on the router, bypassing his switch.

This is odd because I have a gigabit (D-Link DGS-1016D) switch on my system at home and all of my outlets upstairs run through that switch. I've never had a hiccup that can be attributed to my switch. Any problem I've ever had in that area was either a glitch in the recording, or when my woefully underpowered server (P4 with 1 gig of ram and 7 tuners-4SD, 2QAM via an HD Homerun, and one HD-PVR off my HD cable box) is trying to open 7 files on an hour where all 7 are going to record, and possibly 2 comskip (ShowAnalyzer) instances are running.

I'll pop back when I have the brand/model/vintage of his gigabit switch just in case it may be an issue with the manufacturers switch.

[brandypuff]

Just a basic 10/100 cheap 4 port linksys switch.

[valnar]

Originally Posted by brandypuff

Just a basic 10/100 cheap 4 port linksys switch.

That will cause problems. If not now, eventually.

[waynedunham]

Originally Posted by valnar

That will cause problems. If not now, eventually.

Why do you say that? Because of the brand or because its a 10/100?

The reason I ask is that I had forgotten that not only does everything on my system run through a gigabit switch in the basement but behind my entertainment center I also have a D-Link 5 port 10/100 switch that everything in the entertainment center runs through. That includes my SageTv HD100 extender.
So the port behind the entertainment center runs from the D-Link gigabit switch in the basement and I have my D-Link 5 port 10/100 switch plugged into the port behind the entertainment center.
Then I have the SageTv HD 100 HD Extender, a MediaReady 5000 (runs an old Linux version of SageTv), and a ReplayTV.

I have never had any troubles at all with this setup.

[waynedunham]

Originally Posted by waynedunham

What kind of switch? The reason I ask is that I was helping a friend of mine set up a SageTv system. Server in the basement by the network rack and 2 HD Extenders upstairs. One extender worked fine, but the other one had horrible stuttering especially when trying to do any HD content.

Through trial and error moving things around, trying different patch cables, etc we finally narrowed it down to an idiosyncrasy in his hardware. Because he had run out of ports on his gigabit switch one of the locations upstairs was hooked in at the 10/100 router before his switch and the other was on the switch.

<snip>

I'll pop back when I have the brand/model/vintage of his gigabit switch just in case it may be an issue with the manufacturers switch.

It is a Netgear switch that he had troubles with. He swears that he did eventurally find out it was one of the ports on the switch. <shrug> I swear we tried different ports and it made no difference, but it is his system so I'll have to defer to him.
Since then he added a 3rd HD 200 extender and says they are all now going through the Netgear gigabit switch. Again, I could have sworn we narrowed it down to the switch being the problem, not an individual port on the switch.

[valnar]

Originally Posted by waynedunham

Why do you say that? Because of the brand or because its a 10/100?

For web surfing, you'll hardly be able to tell a good from a mediocre switch. But on streaming, yes, the fact it's a cheap Linksys could cause problems. Fast Ethernet is fine.

[172pilot]

Of all the brands of "cheap" switches, Linksys is probably my favorite..

I've never had a problem with one, while I have seen numerous Netgears and D-Links die..

Why do you dislike Linksys, and what brand do you prefer? Certainly I'd rather have a Cisco 3560 in the basement, but that's just not gonna happen if I'm gonna keep making the house payments... :-)

Also, if a file, streamed over the same switch with VLC works fine, what is fundamentally different (presumably less efficient?) with the way Sage works? I'm starting to think that perhaps all my bad experience with Sage could be because of basic switch troubles, and I should start looking at exactly what kind of traffic Sage is using, to find out why it's so picky while other programs/protocols work fine..

-Steve

[valnar]

Whether its Linksys, Dlink or Netgear doesn't matter as much. They all pick their chips from the same three OEM's. Some do better than others (especially regarding UDP streaming), but you never know what you're going to get.

Their differences are more pronounced in the gigabit offerings. For that, I recommend one of the smaller HP Procurve switches over any home brand.

[davephan]

Originally Posted by valnar

For web surfing, you'll hardly be able to tell a good from a mediocre switch. But on streaming, yes, the fact it's a cheap Linksys could cause problems. Fast Ethernet is fine.

Which router/switch is a good one for streaming?

Dave

[valnar]

I don't have a favorite Fast Ethernet switch per se, but I've had good luck with the Netgear FS series (FS105, FS108). The ASIC's in the HP switches are better though, so look at the 408

For gigabit, I can't say I like any of the small brands. The cheapest non manageable switch I like is the HP ProCurve 1400. If you need some basic manageability or features, go up to the 1800. All of them are offered in 8-port fanless versions.

Edit: It appears some of those were just discontinued. I don't have any favorite replacements at the moment.