Plugin: Mobile Web Interface Version 2

[jreichen]

Originally Posted by nspindel

As for the problem - I've got it working from within my own network, but can't seem to connect over 3g.

But when I turn wifi off and try to go through the 3g, via http://<mydyndns>:8080/sagem/m, safari times out with a message saying that the server stopped responding. I do run a few other gadgets on the server that I can connect to without issue from outside, so I know dyndns is working fine.

Anything else I need to do in order for external access to work?

It sounds like you have everything set up correctly.

• Can you connect on another wifi network using your dyndns? What about with the IP address?
• Can you connect with a desktop browser?

[nspindel]

I've tried from desktop browser from another wifi network and it's not connecting. My money is on my isp has blocked port 8080, mainly because I can't think of any other logical explanation. I'm going to try changing the port, I'll update after I test. Thanks...

[nspindel]

Yup! That was it. Changed to 8880 and all's well. Just another reason why I hate Cablevision.

Once again, thank you so much for this wonderful plugin. Your efforts are truly appreciated.

[mickdaly]

I finally got your plug-in working, but on one iphone (here at home using 3G) and 2 ipads (at my sons' homes on Wifi connections)), we see the same problem: once the recording loads it plays for 10 seconds, then stops and we just see the "Loading Movie..." message - for ever!

Ideas?

[nspindel]

I also get this behavior, where it seems to play fine for a bit and then locks up. However, it only happens when I connect over 3g (regardless of signal strength) or from an external wifi connection. Inside the house, this does not happen. Interested to know if others experiencing this behavior can replicate this.

My theory here is that the lock up is due to upload bandwidth of my internet connection (hey, my last problem was ISP's fault, so they're an easy target). The video takes a bit of time to start, obviously while a buffer is being built up. When playback begins, all looks good because it's just playing from the buffer. But if upload speed in my house is a bottleneck,the buffer quickly runs out and lockups/skipping begins. If this is indeed the issue, it's a solvable problem by paying Cablevision an extra $10/month for their Boost service, which will give me much better bandwidth.

Further evidence that this is the issue - I have the same behavior when using the PlayOn app for the iPhone - works fine on home wifi, skips over 3g or external wifi. I also know another Sage user with the Cablevision Boost service, who seems to be perfectly happy streaming from Sage over 3g.

I'd appreciate any feedback from the experts here - if I'm on target I'll sign up for the Boost service, but I really don't feel like putting any more money in the cable company's pockets than I already do.

[Taddeusz]

It kind of sounds like your cable internet connection may be disconnecting once in a while.

[mickdaly]

Originally Posted by nspindel

I also get this behavior, where it seems to play fine for a bit and then locks up. However, it only happens when I connect over 3g (regardless of signal strength) or from an external wifi connection. Inside the house, this does not happen. Interested to know if others experiencing this behavior can replicate this.

My theory here is that the lock up is due to upload bandwidth of my internet connection (hey, my last problem was ISP's fault, so they're an easy target). The video takes a bit of time to start, obviously while a buffer is being built up. When playback begins, all looks good because it's just playing from the buffer. But if upload speed in my house is a bottleneck,the buffer quickly runs out and lockups/skipping begins. If this is indeed the issue, it's a solvable problem by paying Cablevision an extra $10/month for their Boost service, which will give me much better bandwidth.

Further evidence that this is the issue - I have the same behavior when using the PlayOn app for the iPhone - works fine on home wifi, skips over 3g or external wifi. I also know another Sage user with the Cablevision Boost service, who seems to be perfectly happy streaming from Sage over 3g.

I'd appreciate any feedback from the experts here - if I'm on target I'll sign up for the Boost service, but I really don't feel like putting any more money in the cable company's pockets than I already do.

Many thanks for this - I suspect this is the problem, esp. as I have problems placeshifting too. Sadly there's no 'boost' service available from Centurytel which is our only provider!

[nspindel]

I doubt it's actually disconnecting, a disconnect would affect downloads as well as uploads, and I can do things like stream netflix into the house with no issue. But if the upload bandwidth, which is definitely capped with basic cable internet service, can't keep up with the video playback, it would make sense for lockups and skipping to begin as soon as the initial buffer runs out.

[nspindel]

Originally Posted by mickdaly

Many thanks for this - I suspect this is the problem, esp. as I have problems placeshifting too. Sadly there's no 'boost' service available from Centurytel which is our only provider!

What happens with playback inside your house? If you connect your iPhone to your internal wifi, therefore removing your isp from the equation, and play a Sage recording via this plugin, do you still get the lockup after ~10 seconds? I did that exact experiment and playback was just fine.

[mickdaly]

Originally Posted by nspindel

I doubt it's actually disconnecting, a disconnect would affect downloads as well as uploads, and I can do things like stream netflix into the house with no issue. But if the upload bandwidth, which is definitely capped with basic cable internet service, can't keep up with the video playback, it would make sense for lockups and skipping to begin as soon as the initial buffer runs out.

My download speed is 9Mbps and upload is .77Mbps - that may be the problem.

[mickdaly]

Originally Posted by nspindel

What happens with playback inside your house? If you connect your iPhone to your internal wifi, therefore removing your isp from the equation, and play a Sage recording via this plugin, do you still get the lockup after ~10 seconds? I did that exact experiment and playback was just fine.

It works - sort of ... lots of stopping and starting.

It seems to conflict with other activity on the server - placeshifter on my desktop PC and the other HD extenders.

WHS CPU usage shows at 100%, even after closing down the Safari window on the iphone. It stays there, blocking all other use of Sage until I stop/start the Sage service.

In 'steady state' with one extender or placeshifter running, CPU is mostly below 10%.

[Taddeusz]

Come to think of it I actually have similar problems with my SageTV server. However, Air Video works fine for me and uses ffmpeg for transcoding just like the Mobile Web Interface.

[nspindel]

Originally Posted by mickdaly

My download speed is 9Mbps and upload is .77Mbps - that may be the problem.

I wouldn't put a whole lot of faith in those numbers, either. A lot of times the isp's configure your connection so you can get decent up load speed for a short period of time, so a burst of data can flow through relatively quickly. Often that speed can't be sustained for very long, so things like ongoing streams can be affected. This gives you decent performance for most "normal" uses of your upload bandwidth, like sending an email with an attachment, etc. It also makes their customers happy when they run speed tests

[nspindel]

Originally Posted by mickdaly

It works - sort of ... lots of stopping and starting.

It seems to conflict with other activity on the server - placeshifter on my desktop PC and the other HD extenders.

WHS CPU usage shows at 100%, even after closing down the Safari window on the iphone. It stays there, blocking all other use of Sage until I stop/start the Sage service.

In 'steady state' with one extender or placeshifter running, CPU is mostly below 10%.

Well, that's not a meaningful test, then. If your cpu is spiked to 100%, nothing's going to work right. Try the iPhone/wifi experiment with no other client activity, and make sure cpu utilization is low before starting. You want to eliminate the other "noise" in the equation when you're evaluating something like this.

[mickdaly]

Originally Posted by Taddeusz

Come to think of it I actually have similar problems with my SageTV server. However, Air Video works fine for me and uses ffmpeg for transcoding just like the Mobile Web Interface.

Where can I see details of Airvideo and Sagetv?

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by mickdaly

Where can I see details of Airvideo and Sagetv?

What do you mean? I have Air Video set to share my SageTV recording drives and media imports. All it does is share the files via an iPhone app. No kind of interface directly to SageTV.

[mickdaly]

Originally Posted by Taddeusz

What do you mean? I have Air Video set to share my SageTV recording drives and media imports. All it does is share the files via an iPhone app. No kind of interface directly to SageTV.

Never seen Airvideo so ... you just see the Sagetv folder and it's contents, and scroll down to what you want to watch?

When watching videos remotely (Wi-fi or 3G) what upload speed do you get from your Sage server?

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by mickdaly

Never seen Airvideo so ... you just see the Sagetv folder and it's contents, and scroll down to what you want to watch?

When watching videos remotely (Wi-fi or 3G) what upload speed do you get from your Sage server?

Yes, it's just a listing of the files. As you say you just scroll and select what you want to watch.

I have no idea how Air Video determines how much bandwidth to use or, for that matter, what resolution video it transcodes to. It's not a continuous stream but it appears to burst the data at usually between 800kb-1Mb. That was through wifi at work. I don't have 3G service, jailbroken iPhone on T-Mobile with no data plan. So I'm tied down to using wifi hotspots for any data service on my iPhone. I've watched entire movies through Air Video without any issues. I have Cox Cable's "preferred" internet package which appears to be 12/1.5 up & down without "PowerBoost" and 15/1.8 with. I did see a couple spikes that hit near 2Mb/s but that may have just been the fact that I was remoting in.

[mickdaly]

Originally Posted by nspindel

Well, that's not a meaningful test, then. If your cpu is spiked to 100%, nothing's going to work right. Try the iPhone/wifi experiment with no other client activity, and make sure cpu utilization is low before starting. You want to eliminate the other "noise" in the equation when you're evaluating something like this.

Ok, with nothing else using the WHS/Sage service, CPU at 1-2%, using my iphone:

- using 3g I see 10-15 seconds at 100% CPU usage (and the video is frozen), followed by around 5 seconds of <5% CPU (when the video runs);

- using in-home Wifi I see 100% CPU continuously, the video plays for longer (10-20 secs.) but freezes just as often.

In both tests the audio and video are out of sync.

When I tried starting placeshifter on my desktop PC, it took 30 seconds to connect, then the dreaded busy circle dominated the window - unusable! The video continued to play and stop on my iphone just as it did before starting placeshifter.

Conclusions?

[nspindel]

Uh-oh, you're not going to like the answer. Don't take my word for it 100% before other's give their opinions, but it sounds to me like your server isn't up to spec for the transcoding. It takes much a much greater horsepower processor to transcode the audio/video to a lower bitrate for external streaming than it does to simply stream the high bitrate content out to your extenders straight off the capture devices through your home network. Sounds to me like if you're serious about placeshifting or streaming to the iphone, you need a beefier server.

What are the specs of your server? I'm using a 2.8ghz core 2 quad with 4gb of memory, running Windows 7. When I'm streaming to the iphone I'm seeing the cpu at about 30%.