MVP slow when other computers are on.

[Hutch]

I have 3 computers, an MVP and a printer server on my home network. The Sage only computer is in the basement and is dedicated to SageTV. If I attempt to watch a recorded show in the living room using my MVP all the other computers must be off to get a less stuttered viewing, believe me its bad, unwatchable with another machine on. Actually the computers must be OFF completely, not just off the internet.

My Machine
733mhz Dell PIII, 256 Ram with a Happauge 150 card

Wired Network

Router
Linksys Router BEFSSR41 Ver 2 (4 port with DSL)
and
Linksys 8 port Switch EZXS88W Ver 31.1

Is this router the problem? I've seen some nasty thing written about Linksys.

I've had SageTV for about a year and read this forum all the time trying make the system run better, this is my first post. Thanks to all for the great info.

[waynedunham]

I'm assuming all the components are 10/100 network? Are they all set to auto so they can get the best speed? Are they all full duplex?

I'm running a wired network with 2, sometimes 3 computers, 2 ReplayTV's (broadband), MVP, MediaREADY 5000 (Linux Sage box) all at the same time and have no problems playing Mpegs ( at approx 2 gigs per hour quality ) on the MVP while the other computers are on.

Granted other than the Sage Server nothing much is too network hungry while I'm watching Tv. Basically other than the normal "pings" going on by the various machines the only thing hitting the network is my Email program on my main computer checking the mail every 10 minutes.

Also the client for the MVP is running on the same machine as the Sage server so there's one less level of network traffic I believe. I'm not exactly sure how SageClient sends/receives, i.e. whether it gets the files from the Sage server and then resends them to the MVP, or if it just has the Server send them directly to the MVP.
I'm sure that information is out there, it's just always worked great for me so I haven't looked into it.

I'm now on a Gigabit network with the Sage Server, and my main PC Gigabit and all the other stuff 10/100. Prior to adding the Gigabit switch in the basement I was all 10/100. Since the Gigabit the only things that have changed are adding the MediaREADY 5000 and the later Sage 3 beta's and now 4.0.

[rickw]

I've got a comparable system without any problems using the MVP.

700Mhz Dell PIII 512M Ram
PVR-150
PVR-250
Dlink 8 Port Wireless/Router
Windows XP Pro
SageTV running as a Service

I routinely have the MVP going in the living room and someone watching a show on a PC (not the Sage box).

My guess would be the amount of RAM in your server. I saw a huge improvement in performance when I upgraded to 512M of RAM.

[waynedunham]

Forgot to mention I'm also using a Dlink switch. Also Dlink router, but since the path I'm running is incoming cable/Dlink Router/Dlink switch/all my stuff the router doesn't make any difference for me.

[Hutch]

Thanks for the replies....more RAM is a good idea. I really don't know how the server machine can drag down the whole network though.

That Dell uses some uncommon type of RAM which is a few bucks more than "normal" ram. It's worth a try, but just getting into the Dell can be a challenge, talk about a user unfriendly machine, no space at all.

[heffe2001]

That Dell probably uses RDRAM, which is expensive compared to DDR or SDRam. If you're going to upgrade the ram in that system, just make sure it's made to work with that PC, alot of places won't let you return RDRam if it's been opened.

[Hutch]

All my problems were because of a bad 40 foot Cat5 wire. Those problems included studdering video, slow loading of the MVP driver, and also why all the other computers had to be off when playing a video to the TV thry the network. Case closed I now love my Sage setup with the MVP. !