MVP resets connection during long file playback (includes possible fix)

[navyguy]

This is another problem that I ran into while trying to get DivX playback to work for me. I was getting in the gbpvr.exe.log:

5/9/2005 7:44:43 PM.359 VERBOSE [34] MVP data taking too long, connection must have been dropped!

and

5/9/2005 7:44:43 PM.375 VERBOSE [35] MVP media connection recycle requested
5/9/2005 7:44:43 PM.562 ERROR [34] MVPWorkerThread - Connection lost, waiting a new one

Now for the long explanation of why I think this happened, to me at least, and how I fixed it:

The majority of network devices and network cards default to 'auto-negotiate' for link speed and duplex mode at installation. This is great in theory but the problem with this is in a multi-vendor environment auto-negotiate doesn't work very well in actuality. And even when it does work it adds overhead on rebuilding a dropped network connection (which can lead to choppy playback or even MVP timeouts/reboots if it takes long enough to rebuild the connection).

We can't, unless there's a way I haven't found yet, manually set the duplex and speed on the MVP. However you can set this on your computer and on your switch if you are using a switch (not applicable to most hubs which is why some people report better results when they change out their switch for a hub which is counter-intuitive at face value but actually is true as it removes some of the auto-negotiation from the mix)

What I have working now is setting my laptop's network card manually to 100Mbit Full Duplex. Even if the MVP is trying to auto-negotiate this will still have better results (I'm using a crossover cable) as the auto-negotiate process (if the MVP is trying to auto-negotiate which I'm pretty sure the MVP is attempting) will see the computer as 100FD only and set itself to that much quicker than trying the full negotiation process.

So short version:
If using a switch: manually set all ports involved to the max ability of the device attached to that port
On the MVP: nothing can be done that I know of
On the PC: manually set your network card to the same setting you set your switch port. or if using a x-over cable manually set your network card to 100Mbit Full Duplex (although earlier versions of the MVP might not be capable of this, might need some trial-and-error here) or if using a hub manually set your network card to whatever your hub is rated at (10/100Mbit & FD/HD)

And after all that I still had to roll back to the Hauppauge 2.4.23038 because the 2.4.23104 would not create a stable link at any level on my laptop's network card manually configured (I'm using the dongle.bin from Hauppauge not GB-PVR which includes the network support on the MVP). And after each speed/duplex configuration I tried I had to power cycle the MVP to get it to come back up.

One thing to note is that the only setting I found to work with smooth playback is to run at 100Mbit Full Duplex. All the other settings didn't give me enough speed to not stutter during playback or just flat out refused to make a connection. However YMMV as this can and will be affected by cable quality (mine is just an off the shelf x-over cable) so someone else may be able to run just fine at 100Mbit Half Duplex or even one of the 10Mbit configurations if they have higher quality cabling.

If anyone knows how to manually set the MVP please post here as I'd like to know how if it is possible.

Hope this helps!