Video stutter with M34a and GBPVR

[eurochild]

Hi all,

I'm having problems with video stutter when using my E-great M-34a to play video files using GBPVR. This has been going on for some time (as in, for as long as I've been using GB-PVR) going back to when I had a MediaMVP as my interface to the TV. I've tried everything I can think of to solve the problem myself but I'm out of ideas at this stage. Sometimes videos will play fine then begin to stutter at a random point during playback, playback continues without audio and with jerky, stuttered video. It can happen during playback of mkv or avi files.

My setup uses wireless G so I wondered if there was a bandwidth issue, however if the task manager is to be believed on the PC hosting GB-PVR only about 25% of the available bandwidth from that machine is being used at most, and there seems to be plenty of CPU. Its also reporting the wireless link speed as being 54 MBs. The PC communicates with the M34a through a Linksys Wireless G router and a Belkin Gaming Adapter connected to the M34a. I've upgraded to the latest 2010 version of mvpmcx2, the firmware on the M34a is up to date also.

I'm attaching the MVP-PVRX2.exe.log, as it seemed to be the only one which was getting written to during playback, I can fetch any other logs as needed. Any help is greatly appreciated, I've been a GB-PVR for several years between the MVP and now the E-great and its brilliant, I know Martin and sub have done a tonne of work to make it happen so a big thank you.

[sub]

It may not be what you want to hear but... It is most likely your wireless networking causing the issue. You can easily confirm that by switching to a wired network for a while and seeing if the problem goes away.

I wouldnt really recommend a wireless link for streaming video. They seem to cause nothing but problems.

[eurochild]

I was afraid you might say that! Wired isn't a great option for me as its a rental house and the host PC is on a different floor to the NMT. What about powerline networking, any experience with that? Could I create a point-to-point connection between the NMT and GB-PVR PC that way and bypass the router altogether?

Thanks for answering so quickly BTW.

[sub]

Regardless of whether wired isnt a permanent option for you, it still worth trying it wired to determine if that is indeed the source of your problems. You can always snake a long network cable through the house to test it for a couple of days.

[eurochild]

Regardless of whether wired isnt a permanent option for you, it still worth trying it wired to determine if that is indeed the source of your problems. You can always snake a long network cable through the house to test it for a couple of days.

Makes sense. Will get hold of some long lengths of Cat5 and see how it goes.

[eurochild]

I tried out video playback with everything cabled up and sure enough, all stutter was gone. Any suggestions for creative networking ideas gratefully received. At the moment I have the GBPVR PC sitting beside - and directly connected to - the router, from which I run a long cable to the NMT when needed. The cable TV box is upstairs though, which means I can't record anything with this configuration.

[pz1]

Earlier today I spotted this: http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/mvixu...-away-mak/
I don't know if this is an option. I vaguely remember the hiccups are inherent to wireless whatever speed you have..

[rscheller]

I honestly believe wireless MVP setups get a bad wrap here. My setup using two wireless MVPs has been 99.99% successful since Nov 2006. My biggest networking issue was late in 2008 when my D-Link DI-524 started having issues and I went to find a replacement router. The first router I tried, a new D-Link (I don't remember which model) had constant loss of connection to the MVPs, so I exchanged it for a LinkSys WRT-110 and everything has been great since then. Bottom line, I believe the wireless router used has more to do with the success or failure of a persons experience using wireless MVPs. I've not used any other networked media player systems besides the MVPs, so I can only speak to my experience.

[mvallevand]

rscheller it isn't personal and it isn't just the router. For every testimonial I've read about how well wireless works I've read another about how bad it is. The same applies from the inferior networking in the MVP to high grade wireless bridges

My beef with the wMVP isn't with wireless capability, it is that it only supports WEP However even though the NMT in this post has better wireless networking and supports WPA it doesn't mean it will perform better than what you have today.

Martin