Menus are slowww

[band80]

Video streaming is fine (not perfect), but it takes forever for any menu to load/display. For example, "SageTV Recordings" takes 30 seconds of waiting before displaying, and the list of episodes of a show can take another 20 seconds. This seems ridiculous considering the high resolution of the video being streamed once I start watching a show.

Can SageTV PLEAASASE fix this so that the menus are transmitted in a non-idiotic, more efficient manner? While we're waiting for this, does anyone have any tips for how to improve the speed of menu loading?

In an entirely-related issue, menu transition animations are insanely choppy - like two "frames" of animation over 2 seconds.

[evilpenguin]

It'd help to tell people what your system specs are also.

[reggie14]

I'm not the OP, but I agree that the Placeshifter menus seem pretty slow at times. My server is an Athlon X2 3800+, so its not terribly powerful, but not slow either. I think its probably unavoidable with the way Placeshifter works, but it would be nice if there wasn't a 2 (or more) second delay every time I press a key before the screen responds. I don't think it takes me 30 seconds for the recordings screen to display, but it wouldn't surprise me if it takes 10-15 seconds. I can check it tomorrow.

[band80]

ok - it's more like 10-15 seconds, which is still incredibly ridiculous

the intra-screen animations (e.g. changing which menu item is selected) are also incredibly slow/unresponsive (5-10 seconds)

why is the user experience so miserable over an internet connection capable of streaming decent-quality video?

[flavius]

I'm running placeshifter with SageMC on my recent iMac. For server specs see sig. Even with core animation enabled all menus rendering a couple hundred shows and even more DVD's are just fine.

[herrdude]

Originally Posted by band80

ok - it's more like 10-15 seconds, which is still incredibly ridiculous

the intra-screen animations (e.g. changing which menu item is selected) are also incredibly slow/unresponsive (5-10 seconds)

why is the user experience so miserable over an internet connection capable of streaming decent-quality video?

I had the same problem as you on Placeshifter. So I turned off Animations (Setup/Detailed Setup/General/Animation Options/Disabled). It makes a big difference. I prefer speed over eye candy. Try it out!

[band80]

That definitely speeds things up. My biggest complaint is the login screen. Just tabbing between username and password and the Submit button takes SECONDS.

SECONDS?!! To tab between input fields?!

[evilpenguin]

I just loaded it up from work the other day and it everything was very snappy. Have you tried it from within your network to see if you're router could be the problem?

[band80]

The point is that tabbing between menu items should NOT be using the network connection. Thus, the router shouldn't matter.

But, yes, on the LAN it's much faster. That doesn't solve the problem, however, because the point of Placeshifter is to shift my place away from the LAN!

[evilpenguin]

Originally Posted by band80

The point is that tabbing between menu items should NOT be using the network connection. Thus, the router shouldn't matter.

Not true actually, the network connection will affect every aspect of the placeshifer experience. If your home router or the router you're behind at the placeshifter machine isn't configured properly then it could be causing these problems (lost packets, big latency times, etc.). The placeshifter manual should have a section about network trouble shooting that you should check out.

[band80]

I'm not debating whether the router is causing the problem. Maybe it is maybe it isn't.

What I /am/ saying is that the users should not experience slowness /within/ a menu because of network latency. It creates an awful user experience. The SageTV developers need to get their act together and make a smooth-flowing experience where a menu is fully-smooth once it has loaded.

[sic0048]

Originally Posted by band80

I'm not debating whether the router is causing the problem. Maybe it is maybe it isn't.

What is /am/ saying is that the users should not experience slowness /within/ a menu because of network latency. It creates an awful user experience. The SageTV developers need to get their act together and make a smooth-flowing experience where a menu is fully-smooth once it has loaded.

But if it works much better on the LAN, doesn't that point to a network problem and not a software problem? If it works on the local network, but doesn't work off the local network, how can you say it is a software problem?

[band80]

sic0048, this is not about what IS causing the problem (yes, probably the network), it is about whether the problem is 1) legitimate or 2) the result of poor design. I am saying it is the latter. The software should not be so choppy and jerky within menus!!

Moreover, I have a strong suspicion that the menus themselves are not being transferred over the internet very efficiently because SageTV Web loads all of the same data MUCH faster than SageTV placeshifter loads some of the data (e.g. All Recordings vs. the first five records)

I've been using SageTV and Placeshifter for many years, and I am shocked that 1) the reliability of the system has not measurably improved, 2) a better competitor hasn't been released that supports serial cable tuning of cable boxes.

[herrdude]

Just out of curiosity, when you double click placeshifter and you see your server list, if you click on Settings what do you have checked?

I know at work I couldn't put "Enable 3D Acceleration", it was painfully slow. Try playing with this option and "Enable Video Post Processing".

And Evil Penguin is right. Try to eliminate all the usual suspects, ie: internet speed, internet connections, update to the latest version of Java, do ctrl-alt-delete to see what other programs are taking up memory, etc..

On my home network Placeshifter is crisp. At work and elsewhere, it's slower but tolerable.

Good luck!

[davephan]

Originally Posted by evilpenguin

It'd help to tell people what your system specs are also.

Why do you keep posting without posting your system specs? You were asked right away to post your system specs, and you didn't. I don't know how you think anyone can help you without additional information.

Dave

[RonH]

I agree the menus are way too slow. I have use 2 different Dell laptops at 3 different location (different internet connections). It is always very slow. The server I am connecting to has 6mb down and 1mb upload speed.

If you have enough bandwidth to stream video they should be able to do much better on the menus!!!! The video looks good.

[band80]

Originally Posted by davephan

Why do you keep posting without posting your system specs? You were asked right away to post your system specs, and you didn't. I don't know how you think anyone can help you without additional information.

Dave

Because it runs fine on the LAN so it's obviously not the system

[band80]

Originally Posted by RonH

I agree the menus are way too slow. I have use 2 different Dell laptops at 3 different location (different internet connections). It is always very slow. The server I am connecting to has 6mb down and 1mb upload speed.

If you have enough bandwidth to stream video they should be able to do much better on the menus!!!! The video looks good.

100% agree

[etk29321]

Does the Sage auto adjust mech for streaming use ping times or something? I have extremely slow (30+) second menu times with it enabled, and about 2-4 second menu navigate times with a static transcoding rate (still unacceptably slow, but in line with what I was getting before I upgraded to the latest version of sage on my server).
Furthermore, why should adjusting the streaming settings have any effect AT ALL on the menus? Placeshifter in v5 didn't have any of these problems for me.

[Taddeusz]

If your menus are very slow on Placeshifter or your media extenders you need to check your JVM Heap Size usage. Make sure your not hitting the maximum. If you are hitting the maximum you need to increase it and then the menus should return to normal speed.