Another wireless question

[Firetoad]

I have a question for everyone that I haven't really been able to find a good answer to. I have looked through the wiki and the forums but just can't find anything. It is probably staring me in the face, but I am not seeing it.

Here is what I am running:

Server (Desktop): AMD Athlon XP 2400+, 1.5GB PC2100 SDRAM, OS Drive - ATA133 40GB, Recording Drive - SATA 320GB, Windows XP Home SP2

Client (Laptop): AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual-core processor TK-57, 2GB DDR2, SATA 160GB Drive, Windows Vista Home Premium

Network: D-Link DI-524 Wireless Router, 802.11g, Capping at ~22Mb/s actual data transfer rate


The problem that I am having has to do with streaming to the client via wireless. I am having a very bad stuttering problem. Doing a little experimentation, I found that capping at the ~22Mb/s via streaming is not enough to prevent stuttering over wireless with GBPVR (live tv and recordings). I then tried to hardwire and go over the 100 Mb/s ethernet. When streaming, I am only seeing between 8-12 Mb/s the exact same stream. I disconnected the hardwire connection and tried streaming just a captured mpeg from the server, over wireless through Windows Media Player. I was only seeing 5-6 Mb/s over the wireless network!

The question is, what is going on with GBPVR and/or my system over the wireless network that would require that much more overhead than streaming a recorded MPEG over wireless through WMP?

Thanks in advance for the help! (Hope my explanation above makes sense.)

[linene]

Couple of questions...are you trying to stream live tv or recordings? If recordings, are you recording digital (atsc) or from analog source?

If you are streaming atsc livetv, I have not had luck with that (nor have many others). If you are trying to stream a recording, are you able to play the file with vlc (or wmp) over the network?

In the past (prior to pvrx2 days) I have run client over wireless with 99.9% (approx.) of the time no stuttering. My transfer rate also maxs at about 22 Mb/s, but can run sustained at >20 Mb/s which should be good enough for streaming atsc (mpeg2) recordings. When streaming (wirelessly) atsc, it is not uncommon for me to see ~16 Mb/s transfer rate. A note here...I have optimized my wireless network and I have very little interference.

As a side note... what kind of video card do you have in the laptop? It can be tricky to get stutter free atsc with integrated video and codec combinations.

[Firetoad]

linene,

Thanks for the reply, as far as your questions, here are some answers:

- Trying to stream recordings or live tv through PVRX2 gives me this problem (with a high data transfer rate).

- Recordings: Streaming MPEG2 recorded from analog source video via S-Video & Composite Audio from a Dish DP-311 through a Hauppauge HVR-1600.

- Live TV: Streaming analog source video via S-Video & Composite Audio from a Dish DP-311 through a Hauppauge HVR-1600.

- Streaming a recording in anything (Like Windows Media Player, Quicktime, etc.) other than PVRX2 gives me a perfect stream.

Laptop Graphics Specs: NVIDIA GeForce Go 7150M (UMA) with 128MB of Dedicated Memory

Thanks again!

[linene]

Firetoad,

All of my recordings are ATSC, so I think they should require higher bandwidth than your encoded analog recordings (not quite sure of this).

I will try streaming with PVRX2 tonight (I have only streamed previously with gbpvr 99.5 i think) and report if I have success wirelessly.

linene

[Firetoad]

I did a little experimentation tonight and found something interesting. When playing a recording, I get a high data transfer rate for the first ~3 minutes of the recording in PVRX2. During this time, the recording can be quite choppy. After these first ~3 minutes, the data transfer rate drops way off and the recording plays very, very smoothly! Something obviously is going on that I am completely unaware of. Is there some type of caching or buffering going on early on that I am not aware of? I found that this does not occur with live tv and it remains choppy. Is it maybe constantly "buffering" and never catching up? I have attached a picture of my desktop for everyone's reference and viewing pleasure of PVRX2 and Windows Task Manager.

Any thoughts or comments?

[linene]

Firetoad,

I was able to view content on my client (laptop) last night wirelessly using pvrx2. No stuttering (though I spent some time trying different codecs to get there), and the bandwidth did not throttle down during my viewing. I probably watched for about 15 minutes.

I was veiwing an atsc hd recording and was using on average ~16 Mb/s data rate. I would assume you recordings would not require that high of data rate.

By the way, I find a better bandwidth monitor is "Bandwidth Vista" http://www.bandwidthvista.com/ I find it easier and more informative.

I was still not able to get livetv streaming, though I believe this is a problem with the mux (I use the dvrms mux, since others do not give me stable recordings). The dvrms mux does not allow streaming afaik.

[gazoo]

Yeah, I was about to say dvr-ms file recorded from 1080i sources should use about 16mbps. This is fine with most 802.11g equipment. It probably won't make it with 802.11b though.

[linene]

Yeah, I was about to say dvr-ms file recorded from 1080i sources should use about 16mbps. This is fine with most 802.11g equipment. It probably won't make it with 802.11b though.

ATSC definitely will not make it with 802.11b. I would say that "some" 802.11g equipment will do it. I have had experiences with some g equipment that would not do it. In addition, interference and signal strength are issues that need to be optimized to make it work consistently. I think streaming hd content (atsc) wirelessly is not for the faint of heart (ie. someone who just wants it to work with no effort on their part), but it is possible.

[gazoo]

Correct, I should have said the same caveats. It also depends on distance, interference, etc. that would determine your connection rate in addition to the equipment, encryption, etc.