DVD Playback stuttering on HD300

[jbsmith22]

Hi folks,

My HD300 which had been performing admirably has started stuttering during DVD playback. And ONLY during DVD playback. (and by "DVD playback" I mean "a DVD ripped to a VIDEO_TS folder") It works perfectly with recorded TV, with mkv and other DVD rips, even with a BluRay ripped to a folder structure. In addition it seems to work fine using my desktop client (even for DVDs).

Note that this HD300 WAS functioning normally until last night. No, at this point, I don't know what I did but other than adding more DVD rips (moving my collection online) I didn't really do anything.

I'm quite certain it's not the server (as they play fine elsewhere and it's only DVD, other things with higher bitrates work okay) and it's ALL DVDs (okay all of the 10 or so I sampled). I'm fairly certain it's not the network (for mainly the same reasons - plus all GbE over CAT6 wiring).

At this point I've uninstalled a bunch of plugins, switched back to the default STV, deleted my properties file and let it regenerate, and collected logs. The Java heap is fine, the server shows a pretty much untaxed, and even running top on the HD300 shows about 20% idle.

One other bit of wierdness - the menus seem to have developed their own stutter. There is a pronounced lag (or slowness) when opening submenus, though the initial button push response is there, it takes time to paint the entire submenu. That was not there before yesterday either.

I'll paste a sample bit of the log. If anyone can help I'd much appreciate it.

Jason

Jan 1 03:20:50 m: HDMI 1 (change 0)
Jan 1 03:20:50 m: d001 v000 a000 s000 stc 288004 a 287670 v 287887 (287887)
Jan 1 03:20:50 m: audio pts is smaller than stc, entering paused mode
Jan 1 03:20:51 m: d001 v000 a000 s000 stc 288005 a 288005 v 288388 (288004)
Jan 1 03:20:51 m: leaving paused mode
Jan 1 03:20:52 m: d001 v000 a000 s000 stc 288668 a 288438 v 288671 (288671)
Jan 1 03:20:52 m: audio pts is smaller than stc, entering paused mode
Jan 1 03:20:52 m: d001 v000 a000 s000 stc 288670 a 288670 v 289422 (288671)
Jan 1 03:20:52 m: leaving paused mode
Jan 1 03:20:53 m: HDMI 1 (change 0)
Jan 1 03:20:53 m: d001 v000 a000 s000 stc 289349 a 289349 v 289922 (289339)
Jan 1 03:20:54 m: d001 v000 a000 s000 stc 290022 a 290017 v 290390 (290006)
Jan 1 03:20:54 m: audio pts is smaller than stc, entering paused mode
Jan 1 03:20:54 m: Disabling OSD
Jan 1 03:20:54 m: d001 v000 a000 s001 stc 290024 a 290027 v 290923 (290056)
Jan 1 03:20:54 m: leaving paused mode

[jbsmith22]

I'll also mention that running the HD300 in non-extender mode and just playing the DVD folder from its Videos menu works fine as well. So it's ONLY when I connect the extender to the SageTV server (V7.latest) that I see this problem.

[routerunner]

Originally Posted by jbsmith22

I don't know what I did but other than adding more DVD rips (moving my collection online) I didn't really do anything.

Please try to disable the HDMI output and switch to component or analogue to rule out HDCP instability issues which can cause lags.

Also, are you using AnyDVD for your rips? Did you upgrade to a new version? Have you tried with existing DVD as well?

Eddy

[jbsmith22]

A couple more data points. After more searching I came across this thread: http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...9&postcount=12

which raised the interesting (if troubling) notion that it could be related to the GbE connection. It also reminded me that I replaced my primary unmanaged Netgear switch for a managed Zyxel 24-porter yesterday. (It's amazing the things you don't think of when you're convinced they can't possibly matter).

The HD300 is wired to a small 5 port Netgear switch and then down to the primary 24 port Zycel switch. The SageTV server is directly connected to the Zyxel.

So to test it, I took the 5 port Netgear out of the line and just plugged the HD300 directly into the Zyxel and <poof> it works. Which, of course, makes no sense since I didn't CHANGE the small Netgear - that was working fine.

It seems as though running the traffic through the two Netgears worked fine, but running it through the Zyxel and then the Netgear causes the trouble. I'll need to debug it since I can't leave the HD300 plugged directly into the wall since it normally hides behind the TV.

Anyone know what I should look for (I assume I'll have to do some packet capture) to really nail it down?

Thanks!
Jason

[MrD]

the zyxel and the netgear do not play nice together, for whatever reason.

if the zyxel is a managed switch maybe forcing the speed to 100 Mbps full duplex or similar will help.

if the zyxel is a "green" switch then try. turning off the green features on those ports that are connecting the server and the netgear switch.

[jbsmith22]

Good idea @MrD. Since the Zyxel is managed I was able to tweak the port settings. Tried it at 100Mbit Full Duplex, and also tried setting the parameter "Excessive Collision Mode" from it's default of "Discard" to the other option "Restart"

Unfortunately neither helped. I WAS, however, able to monitor the packets and error counts. At 100Mbit/Full I get a ton of Receive errors of the "Rx Fragments" variety and performance drops to a completely unwatchable, almost slow motion like speed. Basically only one of every few hundred frames winds up on screen and no audio.

Pushing it back to 1Gbit/Full eliminates any errors, but I wind up with three second bursts of video and audio, followed by pauses of 1-3 seconds. What's interesting is that it doesn't appear to be DROPPING the content, just resending it. You actually see and hear the full content, just with these few second pauses during playback.

Changes to the Excessive Collision Mode didn't seem to make a difference.

And the green settings are all turned off (Power Control is set to "Disabled" on all ports)

I'm going to try wireshark on the server NIC to see if I can see anything interesting.

Thanks!
Jason

[Evil_Attorney]

This sounds like a problem that many other people have had. I believe most people fixed the issue by either turning on or off flow control on the server.