Yet another Blu-Ray stutter issue

[ChaOConnor]

Good afternoon! I have finally managed to get BluRay rips from the WHS MyMovies to work properly in the sense they're ripping on my WHS server, appearing in the Video's folder and I can play them via Sage Client or on the HD-200.

My issue is with the HD-200, the only BluRay I have, Avatar, stutters and is unwatchable. Sound doesn't work, even after I switch it to AC3, I hear a few seconds of sound, maybe 4~5 seconds, then it goes silent and I never get it back.

I've tried to play direct from the rip on the WHS drive pool, as well as playing direct from the BluRay Drive with the disc in, same story. Oddly though, my Zotac client which doesn't play much, will play the same movie fine through the sage client, so it's the HD-200.

I tried increasing the mini_player max frame rate, or whatever that setting is, it didn't seem to affect the video any. Now I'm trying to eliminate the network as an issue. My setup is like this:
WHS -> ProCurve Gig Switch -> 50 ft Cat5e Cable -> ProCurve Gig Switch -> 3ft Cat5e Cable -> HD-200.

I just bought a new 25ft Cat5e cable to go direct from the first ProCurve direct to the HD-200 and see if that helps.

For reference the SageClient is setup like this:
WHS -> ProCurve Gig Switch -> Internal House Cat5e Wiring -> Apple Airport Extreme (Gig) -> 3ft Cat5e Cable -> Sage Client

Am I on the right track? Does anyone see anything I'm missing?

Thanks!

[Beefcake550]

it coudl be in your ripping method. Personally, I have the same playback setup as you, but I use different tools to rip, manipulate.

I use TSmuser, select the video stream and the HD audio stream. I then demux the two streams. Then I use EAC3 to convert the HD Audio track to AC3. Then I load up TSmuxer again to grab the video stream and new AC3 audio track and mux them back together. I save it as a ts ot m2ts (forget which now, btu it shouldn't matter) and it playsback great on the HD200 all the time. PM if you need help.

[ChaOConnor]

Beefcake, thanks man! I thought it could be the rip, but it does the same thing if I'm playing direct from the disk as well. That's what led me down the networking path issue. I can try ripping it another way and see if it makes a difference. i'll give what you suggested a try and go from there. Thanks!

[Beefcake550]

no prob....I also dug up a setting for you to try when you play from disk.

miniplayer/forced_max_push_size=32768

change this is your .properties file after you've shutdown the sagetv process. It forces a smaller amount of data to be pushed on the network to the HD200 from a bluray drive.

You could also try putting the file on a USB stick/hard drive and putting it in the HD200 to remove the network issue (at least to test out that theory).

If you are able to playback liveTV in HD, then I would tend to think the network is not the issue. You could also try to check network activity on the server while playing back the file to see what that looks like.

[kmp14]

Originally Posted by Beefcake550

it coudl be in your ripping method. Personally, I have the same playback setup as you, but I use different tools to rip, manipulate.

I use TSmuser, select the video stream and the HD audio stream. I then demux the two streams. Then I use EAC3 to convert the HD Audio track to AC3. Then I load up TSmuxer again to grab the video stream and new AC3 audio track and mux them back together. I save it as a ts ot m2ts (forget which now, btu it shouldn't matter) and it playsback great on the HD200 all the time. PM if you need help.

I just got a blu-ray drive and plan to start some ripping. My hope was to just use DVDFab HD and rip the main movie to a folder, and watch on an HD200. Will this not work? I was hoping it was going to be as easy as DVDs, but from what Beefcake said, sound like it will not be. Have not gotten the chance to try yet...

[Beefcake550]

There are MANY ways to rip a BluRay based on your needs. Others report success with ClownBD and downconvert the audio to AC3/640kbps. I found my method and it does exactly what I need (no need to get into what that is for now). So, if you specify what your needs are, I can help point you in the direction to accomplish it easiest.

[ChaOConnor]

SOLVED!!!!

The Cat5e cable didn't make a difference. So I swapped out the gig switch for the Apple Airport Extreme. Things looked better, but still stuttering. I went back and set the max_push_size to 0 and it worked!!!!

So this leads me to believe it has to do with the HD-200 talking to the gig switch. Not my preferred solution a siam limited on the ports with the Apple product, but at least for now I can watch my blu rays.

Thanks for all the good advice everyone!

[DMT]

In the past, setting miniplayer/forced_max_push_size=32768 provided stutter free BD playback from the optical drive in the WHS directly to the HD200 extender. BD rips were always OK. Somewhere along the beta's this changed. BOTH rips and BDs in the drive stutter. Using SageTV V7.0.15 / HD200 Firmware Version 20100811 0

Setting the property /forced_max_push_size=0 solved the problem with rips however the stutter is there when playing BDs directly from the optical drive to the HD200. Is there another property/value to set? I tried changing miniplayer/push_buffer_transfer_increment= from 32768 to 0 but it made no difference.

Thanks
Dave