Stuttering Galore

[LongbowFoSho]

My first post on here, but definitely not my first go-around with a media server. I gave up on Tversity after the PS3 firmware update last year that suddenly severely limited the streaming bandwidth.

Let me first say I'm glad someone has decided to try to make this work. I wish I was smart enough to do this kind of thing, but hey I'm just a pilot.

OK, here's the problem: same as w/ Tversity, I cannot stream HD content (720p) without stuttering. Other than the faster (and easier) setup, I have not been able to get PSM to stream video to my PS3 any better than Tversity.

Disclaimer: I'm fairly capable with computers but I don't know how to edit code or anything like that. If I'm given step by step instructions, I can follow them easily.

Here's my equipment:

HP Laptop w/ Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 Ghz and 4 GB RAM on Vista 64 bit Home Premium. **Note: The laptop is also connected wirelessly. I would stream from my desktop, but is an old Dell w/ a P4 3.4 Ghz**
Router is a WRT54G w/ Tomato firmware.

I have tried every setting I can think of. I've tried Tsmuxer, I've tried Mencoder, I've limited bandwidth to 10 and put mpeg quality on low. Most of my files are already in TS format, but I've tried transcoding anyways.

No matter what I do, every HD file I have begins to stutter 5 seconds into the video. I monitor my bandwidth while I'm playing the file, and even with it capped at 10, the stream still shoots up to 20 or more.


I would really appreciate some in-depth help here. I've scoured this forum and really haven't seen much helpful info.

Thanks in advance.

[meskibob]

Looks like wiring up your network is probably the only thing that'll help you out. I guess one other possibility is that there's a bunch of interference on your router's current channel. Try using something like Network Stumbler (http://www.netstumbler.com/) to see what routers are around you and what channel they're on, and then switch to the least populated.

Edit: also, if you're just streaming the files or remuxing with TSMuxer, your old Dell should be just fine. It probably won't be able to handle a full 720P transcode with MEncoder.

[LongbowFoSho]

Thanks meskibob.

I will try it on the Dell and see what happens.

[LongbowFoSho]

Well, no luck on the Dell, either. The stuttering is improved, but still stutters within 30 seconds of starting. Seems to work well for short clips like a 1GB episode of Heroes, but won't play Planet Earth in AVI or other movies in MKV muxed to TS.

I will try moving the bandwidth cap even further down to 10, but I seriously doubt that it will help.

Of course, this is all just straight streaming with no transcoding, so I'm sure transcoding would make it even worse. *sigh*

Has ANYONE been able to get this to work without using a super-fast setup? It seems ridiculous that you have to have a quad core with 20 GB of RAM and a fiber optic network to get this to work. Of course, none of this was a problem until Sony put the wireless streaming bandwidth cap into that firmware update last year. Thanks, Sony.

[meskibob]

I will try moving the bandwidth cap even further down to 10, but I seriously doubt that it will help.

If you're completely wired (including the PS3), then you pretty much have the full theoretical bandwidth available. Try the Dell again but increase the max bandwidth setting to 90 mbps. The Planet Earth crane scene may get above that for 720p though.

[LongbowFoSho]

I guess I will have to wire it when I get the money and time. It just refuses to play anything without stuttering, including the small 1GB files I mentioned before. I'm convinced that is a problem with the PS3, not this software. Again, thanks Sony.

[mitzi]

Network bandwidth on wireless is not enough to stream HD to the PS3. Have you done a test by trying to copy files to the PS3 through the network? To stream HD, you have to do at least 20Mbit constantly. Short story is wireless and HD = stutter. If you can't put cat5 between the computer and PS3, look into 200Mbit powerline or Media over Coax bridges.

[LongbowFoSho]

Network bandwidth on wireless is not enough to stream HD to the PS3. Have you done a test by trying to copy files to the PS3 through the network? To stream HD, you have to do at least 20Mbit constantly. Short story is wireless and HD = stutter. If you can't put cat5 between the computer and PS3, look into 200Mbit powerline or Media over Coax bridges.

Its only 15 bucks for 100 feet of CAT%, so I will have to do that eventually.

Could it also be that I'm streaming it from an external USB hard drive? I hear that USB transfer rates are poo for this type of stuff.

EDIT: I looked up the powerline stuff and I had no idea that even existed. Thanks! Now I have a question, though. Do I need 200Mbit/s for HD content, or would 100Mbit/s be enough?

[mitzi]

200Mbit Powerline is actually the marketing speak for, up to 200 Mbit bi-directional. There is also 85Mbit power line, which is up to 85 Mbit bidirectional. I've used 200Mbit Powerline, and got at most 70Mbit stream from Computer two rooms away, to the PS3 in the bedroom. I recently got the Netgear over Coax kit (expensive), and it just as fast as 100Mbit Ethernet.

My computer is always running in the other room, but I can't run cat5 through the rented apartment, so I had to look for alternative solutions.

[pancakeman86]

Yes I would try not using an external USB harddrive. I had a very similar problem, and I tried everything to fix it. I have a fairly fast computer, it is a intel core2 duo 3.16 gHz processor with 5 gigs of ram. I kept thinking maybe the computer wasn't fast enough but it played fine on the desktop. So than I rearranged my network so the ps3 is directly connected to the computer since there both gigabit ethernet. That still didn't work I got crazy stuttering.

So I transferred the files from my usb drive to the internal drive and everything worked perfectly. I am not sure why this is, I always though usb 2.0 had high transfer rates....around 400 mbits a second. Shouldn't this be fast enough to transfer HD video and decode it on the fly...i mean when I check the video settings on the ps3 even the most intense hd sense in 1080p never go over 50 Mbps...so I am not sure why the usb hardrive makes a difference...but in my experience using an internal drive improved it dramatically.