Jerky playback on BD content

[shinnlly]

I am hoping someone may be able to point me in the right direction with an issue I am having.

I have the HD200 and I am running it in Extender Mode. I have updated to the beta firmware (v6.5.1.1) on both the HD200 and my SageTV server.

When I play a HD video, the video plays, but about every 5 to 8 seconds, the video stutters for a 1/4 second or so. This behavior is consistent on my limited HD video collection.

I originally noticed the problem on my BD rips that I converted to .ts files with TSMuxer.

With the introduction of the beta, I have also tried playing back the original BD content directly (cool feature btw). The exact same problem occurs with it as well.

I have copied one of the BD rips to the hard drive of my SageTV server, but that did not make a difference. I do not think it is network related though since both my PCH and my XBMC HTPC play the files just fine. Also, my network is wired (no wireless).

The movies I have tested on so far are:
Pirates of the Caribbean #1
Pirates of the Caribbean #2
The Patriot
Batman Returns

They all have the same issue when played with the HD200.

Any ideas?

[HelenWeathers]

Originally Posted by shinnlly

The movies I have tested on so far are:
Pirates of the Caribbean #1
Pirates of the Caribbean #2
The Patriot
Batman Returns

They all have the same issue when played with the HD200.

This won't help you, but I have all four of those copied to my server running Sage. (You have good taste in movies) They all play fine on my HD-200 as m2ts files. I'll have to check later on BDMV folders as I watched them before the HD-200 20090225 beta firmware came out with folder support. So I know it's possible.

I too am running SageTV 6.5.11 beta on my server.

[shinnlly]

I see this has been moved to the Beta area, but I should point out that it does not make a difference whether or not I am running the current released firmware or the beta, the same problem exists. So it is not a beta issue. I should have mentioned that in my original post.

[cncb]

I have noticed similar behavior (although it is worse on some movies for me) that I described in the "Extenders" forum thread about Blu-ray playback. I submitted this as a bug and they indicated that they thought it will be fixed in the next Beta update.

[shinnlly]

I just installed v6.5.1.2 and it plays my problem .mkv files substantially better than before. Earlier, a very high bit rate clip I have was just a big pixelated mess. Now the pixelation is completely gone. It does stutter a bit in the most demanding portion of the clip. But that is not a big concern since the bit rate hits 40 in portions of the clip.

However, when I try to play a BD using the new ability in the beta to recognize a BD file structure on my hard drive (which is fantastic), I am still getting stuttering. It is no longer consistent. On the Pirates movie (#1) I mentioned above, rather than stuttering every 5 seconds or so, it will now play for up to 30 seconds w/o stuttering. In some portions, it stutters more often though. Still not watchable, but we are moving in the right direction.

My concern now, since only a few people seem to be having this issue, is that the problem is with my unit.

BTW, I moved my high bitrate clip over to a USB thumb drive and it plays about the same as it does streaming over the network.

Next steps:
1. Move a BD rip over to a USB drive and play it from there, eliminating the network.
2. Change my java heap size and reboot my server.

I'll post my results later today.

[cncb]

In my limited testing with the new Beta, BD stuttering seems to be fixed for me when playing off the hard drive and the BD drive itself (I am only trying the folder structure playback).

[shinnlly]

Changing the Java Heap Size to 200 (hex) has seemed to improve performance just a bit.

I tired playing a BD file structure from a USB drive in Standalone mode and performance was actually worse than streaming.

I tried doing the same thing in Extender mode and could not get the HD200 to see anything on the drive, so I was not able to do this test.

[shinnlly]

Helen, can you do a test for me? Try playing the Pirates #1 movie using the new BD feature. From the very beginning of the movie to when the man on the ship places his hand on the little girls shoulder (because she is singing about pirates), count the number of pauses/stutter you see. That entire sequence is maybe 45 seconds long or so. I count 10 pauses/stutters in Standalone mode and 4 in Extender mode. I did this test twice in Extender mode and it was 4 both times, but not in exactly the same place. The pauses/stutter continues for the rest of the movie, sometimes going as long as 30 seconds or so w/o an issue.

Again, this most recent beta is much better than the previous beta (or the released firmware). In both of those earlier versions, all my HD stuff paused/stuttered every 5 seconds or so.

[HelenWeathers]

Originally Posted by shinnlly

Helen, can you do a test for me?.....

Just saw your post. Will do test tomorrow afternoon when I get home and post when done.

EDIT: Did you play from BD drive or ripped copy? If you tell me how you ripped I'll duplicate your method, ie just ripped with ADHD, muxed with tsMuxeR (if so what about audio, tracks? any downconversions? etc).

[shinnlly]

I ripped with AnyDVD HD to my hard drive. I have made no other changes to the files. So it should be exactly like it is on the disk itself.

[HelenWeathers]

shinnlly: My Blu-ray drive and my hard drive are both set up as import folders in Media Player (standalone) mode and in Media Extender mode as well.

IN MEDIA PLAYER MODE:
Playing m2ts file using Filesystems, Browse Local Network or using Videos (from main menu - for import folders) from the BD disc or the hard drive has the same result for me: 24-25 pauses and a few stutters in that first minute then frequent random pauses and ultimately the video freezes after 6 or 8 minutes. Progress bar continues to move. Stop lets me out but if I try to play again from beginning I get no audio/video until I unplug the unit and restart.

IN MEDIA EXTENDER MODE:
In Sage menus I navigate to Videos, locate the folder and press play. No pauses plays fine (watched 30 minutes).


In Media Player mode, I decided to try the m2ts file from the folder I created with tsMuxeR with only video and AC3 audio tracks. I get a couple of pauses in the first minute, two more pauses about 90 seconds apart, then smooth playback for the rest of the first 30 minutes at least. In Media Extender mode the m2ts file plays perfectly.

HD-200 firmware is 20090313 2. SageTV version is 6.5.12.
The m2ts file on the BD disk and hard drive is 31.4GB. The m2ts file from my tsMuxeR folder is 21.6GB.

[shinnlly]

Thanks so much for testing this. Just to make sure I understand, in the first set of tests (before using tsMuxeR) were you playing from your hard drive? Or where you playing from the BD drive?

I am running the same versions on my HD200 and server.

The only other thing I can think of is to ensure I have a gigabit line from my server to my HD200. Right now my Linksys router (100 Mbps) is also serving as a switch between the two. I guess I will stop by Best Buy on the way home tomorrow.

I have about given up on running in Media Player (standalone) mode. I wanted to run this way since my large DVD library is all in .iso, but at this point, the hardware does not seem to be there.

I will try tsMuxeR to rip to a BD file structure like you did to see if I get better results. I have tested this method previously, but I created a .ts file. In extender mode, it plays about the same as BD structure. In standalone mode, it does not play at all. Instead, the HD200 reboots.

[HelenWeathers]

Originally Posted by shinnlly

Thanks so much for testing this. Just to make sure I understand, in the first set of tests (before using tsMuxeR) were you playing from your hard drive? Or where you playing from the BD drive?

Both, and both worked out the same through File Browser or Videos (imported folders) in MEDIA PLAYER mode.

In Media Extender mode I played from both as well.

The only other thing I can think of is to ensure I have a gigabit line from my server to my HD200.

I use a GigaBit switcher even though the HD-200 is not GigaBit.

I have about given up on running in Media Player (standalone) mode.

Don't give up until you try tsMuxer outputting to Blu-ray format. It preserves the BDMV structure, shows up under (imported) Videos and allows for cover art as well.

[shinnlly]

I tried tsMuxeR and just included the video and AC3 audio. Nearly identical results. No noticeable improvement. This is in Extender mode. I tried playing the m2ts file directly and it gave an error.

I can't get it to play at all in standalone mode. It gives an error after about 15 seconds of starting the video.

Tomorrow, I am going to get my server, NAS drives and HD200 all on the same switch in the same room and try again. I'll report back.

On an unrelated but equally frustrating note, I can't seem to get the HD200 to see the files on a USB drive in Extender mode. It sees them fine in standalone mode. It is formatted as NTFS. The popup opens and has the option to play files on the drive, but when I select this option, the new window only has a cancel button. The BD folder is not displayed. Anyone ever run into this issue?

[HelenWeathers]

Originally Posted by shinnlly

Tomorrow, I am going to get my server, NAS drives and HD200 all on the same switch in the same room and try again. I'll report back.

Are your m2ts files on the NAS drives? If so, try copying the muxed m2ts file to an import drive\folder inside your SageTV server. That will eliminate the network traffic between the NAS to Sage server and leave only the Sage server to HD-200 traffic. Play it back from there and see if that makes any difference.

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by shinnlly

I
On an unrelated but equally frustrating note, I can't seem to get the HD200 to see the files on a USB drive in Extender mode. It sees them fine in standalone mode. It is formatted as NTFS. The popup opens and has the option to play files on the drive, but when I select this option, the new window only has a cancel button. The BD folder is not displayed. Anyone every run into this issue?

I didn't think the HD200 in extender mode would pull anything in from the USB Ports. I thought in extender mode everything had to run thru the server, hence extender. Can someone verify whether this works or not? I've never tried it myself in extender mode....

[shinnlly]

Since I cannot get it to work, it is hard to disagree with your assessment (Extenders mode does not support USB device).

However, when I plug in a USB drive in Extender mode, a popup opens with 4 choices:

Copy media to USB device
Copy media from USB device
Play media on USB device
Cancel

I am going from memory as far as the wording.

When I selected either "Copy media from..." or "Play media...", the next popup did not display any data, just a cancel button.

So, it seems like it should work.

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by shinnlly

Since I cannot get it to work, it is hard to disagree with your assessment (Extenders mode does not support USB device).

However, when I plug in a USB drive in Extender mode, a popup opens with 4 choices:

Copy media to USB device
Copy media from USB device
Play media on USB device
Cancel

I am going from memory as far as the wording.

When I selected either "Copy media from..." or "Play media...", the next popup did not display any data, just a cancel button.

So, it seems like it should work.

From the previous release notes:

2. Added support for importing BluRay BDMV folder structures. These are now recognized as a single MediaFile. They currently will appear along with DVDs so STVs won't need modifications yet to show them. The ONLY playback mechanism for these currently is the HD media extender (firmware update required). This only plays the main movie of the BluRay; it does not support any menus or other interactive features currently. It does support multiple audio tracks, chapter selection and all the standard playback controls. Subtitle support is in progress.

I added the bold to the sentence. So since one of the choices from a USB device is NOT to import the file I would suppose that is why it is not working the way you think it should.

Gerry

[_Demo_]

Originally Posted by shinnlly

Since I cannot get it to work, it is hard to disagree with your assessment (Extenders mode does not support USB device).

However, when I plug in a USB drive in Extender mode, a popup opens with 4 choices:

Copy media to USB device
Copy media from USB device
Play media on USB device
Cancel

I am going from memory as far as the wording.

When I selected either "Copy media from..." or "Play media...", the next popup did not display any data, just a cancel button.

So, it seems like it should work.

Those options shouldn't appear yet since the support for usb devices in extender mode is not completed, the partial implementation must be triggering a bug. You can ignore them for now and simply choose cancel until they are finished.

_Demo_

[shinnlly]

Thanks _Demo_, I will stop trying to get it to work.

Just to update my progress, I added a new gigabit switch and I am no longer using my Linksys router as a switch, only as a router.

The result... no improvement.

I am in the process of setting up a small 720p TV in my basement in order to run some tests with all the components (HD200, NAS, SageTV server) on the same switch. I am also copying that tsMuxeR'ed BD file structure I created earlier over to the SageTV server to see if that helps (as HelenWeathers suggested above).