Choppy wireless client, but fine with VLC player ?

[Highlander123]

Hi,

Just installed the latest version of GBPVR on my Main Computer and Laptop, with the laptop connecting quite happily over a wireless connection.

When viewing live TV on the client, however, the program is very choppy and doesn't play smoothly at all. When wired with an ethernet cable the problem
goes away.

What's bothering me though, is that if I use the client to tell the main machine to start a recording, and then leave it a few seconds whilst the main machine starts to record the program, and then using the wireless laptop to navigate to my shared recordings folder, I can quite happily use VLC player to watch the recording as it happens, only a few seconds behind the actual program.

To me this proves that the wireless network is good enough to stream the video, but asking GBPVR to do it ends up with a choppy program.

Any ideas anyone ?

Many thanks for any help,

Highlander

[sub]

GB-PVRs client is known to be very heavy on the network. This is because some of the 3rd party components used are designed to work with local files where they can expect much quicker I/O times, and are regularly check file duration etc - this is causes a lot of traffic when accessing a remote file. Its not recommended you try to run it over a wireless link. Sorry.

[fuzzweed]

Use the EWA over a wireless network. It's basically a tidy way of managing your 'workaround' with VLC.

[Highlander123]

Thanks for the explanation Sub, I guess that leaves me with option two, which sounds really interesting, which is the EWA route of using VLC.

I've got to admit to not having any experience of the EWA side of things at all. I've been happily (Thanks Sub!) using GBPVR for a number of years simply as a Client/Server relationship set-up, but I'd be happy to learn how to use the EWA feature to get VLC to be the default player, if this is what you mean ?

I'm just after a way of using GBPVR to set off the recording on the server, and want to use VLC to watch a delayed stream.

Hope you can help me out, many thanks.

Highlander

[gazoo]

Are you using a wireless b or g link? Is the material high def or standard def? You should be ok (I would think) with standard def even if using the client. Now, if the client is trying to get tv listings at the same time you are watching something that would be a problem.

You may already know this, but whenever you start up a client pvrx2 session, there's is a TON of network information being exchanged. On a 100base t connection and a newer dual core cpu (on at least the server or the client), that activity should be over with after the first 45-75 seconds of startup. I would let the client be idle for 2-4 minutes before testing viewing a program. Also, I would not get anywhere near tvguide or tvlistings immediately before doing the viewing tests - those will tie up your client for a few minutes more.

Wireless G bandwidth is in the 17-22 mbps range. I usually get around 15mps or so at a nice distance from the router at the bottom floor of my house. Mpeg recordings range in like 6-10mpbs (please correct me if I'm wrong). You should be ok. You would probably be ok with high def too, but should have much better luck with standard. PVRX2 shouldn't be doing too much talking other than sending the video (and I'm referring to file sharing mode now) if you had let it sit for a while.

I don't have a wireless pvrx2 client, but I have been watching the network bandwidth real closely for a while now. However, I can still be wrong and I welcome someone else with wireless to comment.

[ACTCMS]

I've been running gbpvr/pvrx2 in client mode on a wireless g laptop for nearly a year. I used to have all sorts of problems which were due to a messy network - I had a broadband router and a domain server arguing about who should provide DHCP services (I also had a second wireless router acting as a hub which didn't help).

After I put a second NIC into the server purely to handle the broadband connection and moved all my machines onto the domain server's internal LAN and disabled the wireless side of the broadband router, I stopped having problems.

I suppose the relevant factors are that:
I have a strong wireless signal
I now have only one active wireless router (so no interference)
I now have only one DHCP server
The laptop is my only wireless device.

It works fine for me, so it may be worth your while spending a bit of time trying to figure out what is causing your problems.

[fuzzweed]

well i'll counter that and say I can't get a non choppy client running on a 54meg router with a reasonable spec laptop al all
I guess you probably need good quality hardware to really sqeeze the best out of it.

[ACTCMS]

well i'll counter that and say I can't get a non choppy client running on a 54meg router with a reasonable spec laptop al all
I guess you probably need good quality hardware to really sqeeze the best out of it.

On a Core2 duo T5500 1.66GHz with 2GB, taskmgr shows total cpu at about 8%, PVRX2.exe at about 5%, network about 10%, memory 112Meg.

OK I know taskmgr ain't the most accurate tool in the world, but it does give a reasonable ball-park figure.

[stustunz]

its to do with gbpvr using full duplex in streaming mode (which is needed for live tv watching)
wireless is only half duplex
when using vlc the data only has to go one way

[Highlander123]

Can I just say many thanks for all the help and brilliant information people have offered up on this thread.

The forums search facility is one of the best I've ever used, and hopefully this thread will help if others also have this problem.

After messing about last night with the wireless side of things, and then getting down and dirty with the EWA utility, I've decided that the best way forward is simply to use the PVRX2 program on the laptop wireless to set the server doing a "quick record" of whatever I want to watch, then simply come out of PVRX2 and use VLC player to look in my shared recordings folder for the program I'm recording, and just watch it with that.

I played with the EWA program, and whilst it's great for off-site viewing and a brilliant side of GBPVR that I'd not known existed before now, it's just a little more fiddly when compared to my quick and easy VLC method above.

It's a shame SUB can't somehow have an option for all clients to use VLC as a full-screen viewer on wireless networks, and I can imagine it might be possible to even have a seemless transition, so that when you clicked "watch" on the TV guide then VLC just kicked in and showed the program rather than PVRX2, which seems to need a LAN connection rather than wireless.

Maybe something for a future release SUB, or is this just not possible ?

Many thanks again,

Highlander