Placeshifter problems

[TomH]

I'm a new sageTV fan. My server is a pentium dual 2.0GHz, 4GB RAM, with a Hauppauge HD tuner. I have an HD Theater at my HDTV. Both the server and the HD Theater are on a wired network that reports 100MB/sec. The setup works perfectly.

I want to watch the server output at other places at home (kitchen, bedroom), and I installed placeshifter on a core duo 1.06GHz, 3GB RAM notebook. I can't get it anywhere close to stable or watchable. I have uninstalled & reinstalled Java, and now have degraded the placeshifter streaming setup to video bitrate 200, resolution 352x240, 15 frames/sec, audio 32 kbps. My server cpu is running 50%, network is 1-2KB/sec, and the image looks like slow motion, and goes black after about a minute. If I watch HD on the TV, the cpu is 15% and the network is 2-4MB/sec.

It looks like the server-placeshifter combo is not able to use the network properly. Any ideas??

[freedml]

Is your video storage hard disk formatted in 64k clusters?

[vikingisson]

What is the HD source you are trying to watch? Is it from an HD-PVR (H2.64 .ts file)? That combo does the same for me. Using the Client app vs Placeshifter solves the problem. You might give that a try (21 day trial).

[TomH]

I am using my system (fairly new Dell vista home premium) C drive for video storage, and I don't know how it's formatted. I have a 500GB MyBook USB drive available, that I can reformat if necessary.

As for the file format, I just tried to watch a ripped DVD film from the server to the placeshifter pc. It's an avi file, I think 640x480, and it streamed perfectly! Server cpu was around 10%. What does not work are SageTV recordings of broadcast HDTV. They are ts files. They play fine on the server and when streamed to the HD Theater, but not on a placeshifter pc.

I also just tried client (I've tried it on 2 notebooks), and I always get the playback exception error (-4,0x80040217). I got the error with the avi file as well.

[vikingisson]

Your exception error is a different problem.
I'm certain that the .ts files are a problem under placeshifter. Try this, run placeshifter on the server and I'll bet you get the same .ts issues. Then try client and it will work. Too bad for me that under linux there isn't a client option that works for .ts files yet. Windows no problem except under placeshifter.

[kevine]

Have you tried the option in PS to force using the LAN connection? Just a thought.

[TomH]

The first bullet on the sagetv website advertising placeshifter says:

•Watch live or recorded TV on your laptop wirelessly over your 802.11 a/b/g home network or your wifi connection anywhere.

That's exactly what I want to do. Am I wasting my time?

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by TomH

The first bullet on the sagetv website advertising placeshifter says:

•Watch live or recorded TV on your laptop wirelessly over your 802.11 a/b/g home network or your wifi connection anywhere.

That's exactly what I want to do. Am I wasting my time?

And if you would have clicked on the learn more button and looked at the spec requirements:

For HDTV Playback: 3Ghz processor or higher or a slower processor in combination with a video card utilizing DXVA support and using a decoder which supports DXVA

You're trying to play this on a 1 GHz processor. Dual core no doubt but I don't think it meets the specs. It should work fine with a SD recording.

Gerry

[vikingisson]

Originally Posted by gplasky

And if you would have clicked on the learn more button and looked at the spec requirements:

You're trying to play this on a 1 GHz processor. Dual core no doubt but I don't think it meets the specs. It should work fine with a SD recording.

Gerry

I don't think that is the problem he's seeing. Placeshifter and .ts files (as I see them from an HD-PVR) simply isn't watchable. On the same machine but using the Client app it does work. A good test is to play the same .ts file on the actual server via placeshifter, it doesn't work but from the server UI or Client app it does work. Also from Linux it isn't watchable since the client is essentially placeshifter.

[TomH]

The server cpu is a dual 2.0GHz (see the first post). The system specs call for a single core 3GHz, so I don't think that's the problem. If it really is the only thing keeping this setup from working, I would gladly get a more powerful processor and be done with it.

[kevine]

Originally Posted by vikingisson

I don't think that is the problem he's seeing. Placeshifter and .ts files (as I see them from an HD-PVR) simply isn't watchable. On the same machine but using the Client app it does work. A good test is to play the same .ts file on the actual server via placeshifter, it doesn't work but from the server UI or Client app it does work. Also from Linux it isn't watchable since the client is essentially placeshifter.

This is easy enough to try and he has suggested it twice now. Have you tried this? What are your results?

[TomH]

Kevine, I appreciate the help, but I don't see the point. The files in question were created by SageTV on the server, recording broadcast TV with default settings. If ps and/or client will or won't play them when installed on the server, how does that get us closer to playing them on a remote pc?

Maybe this is the path to success and I'm too dense to see it??

[vikingisson]

Originally Posted by TomH

Kevine, I appreciate the help, but I don't see the point. The files in question were created by SageTV on the server, recording broadcast TV with default settings. If ps and/or client will or won't play them when installed on the server, how does that get us closer to playing them on a remote pc?

Maybe this is the path to success and I'm too dense to see it??

It tells us what the problem is. Doesn't fix it but points us in the right direction. No wonder I was getting frustrated trying to help....

[stuckless]

tom, 2 cores @ 2ghz is not > 3ghz. More cores simply means that your computer can do more concurrent tasks, it does not mean it can do them faster.

In your first post, you mentioned that your cpu usage on the server is 50%. That means that you are maxing out 1 core of your dual core setup. ie, one core is running at 100%, then other core is idle. Because the server has to "transcode" the HD content on the fly for the placeshifter, it is only using a single core, since transcoding, for the most part is a single core operation. And the server is maxing out it's cpu in the process. So if the minimum requirements for transcoding HD on the fly is 3ghz, then you'll need a core that is at least 3ghz. The great thing about a dual core setup is that even though 1 core is maxed out transcoding the video stream to the placeshifter, the machine is still responsive because of the second core. Since your cores are only 2ghz, then it wouldn't matter if you have 1 or 20... you simply don't have the ghz horsepower required to transcode HD on the fly.


I hope this better clarifies the cores vs ghz confusion.

[TomH]

Thanks, stuckless. I don't know a thing about processors.

I have installed placeshifter and client on the server pc.

Placeshifter runs like it does on the remote pc - jerky slow motion.

Client runs very well. Playback of HD recordings is fine. It looks like it is SD quality, but that's fine for what I'm trying to do. CPU on the server runs about 65% when client (installed and running on the server) is showing recorded HD.

Does this get us closer to a solution?

[vikingisson]

See, now we're getting somewhere. It does sound like what it does to me. It isn't the SD doing it, it is the .ts format content. First thing to do is to upgrade to the latest .17 beta for the server and placeshifter. If you don't have much setup yet then even better to start fresh if you want.

In Placeshifter options before you connect check 3D Acceleration if that works for you. Under the Streaming tab check the Manually specify option and then your settings. I used close to the max settings; 1,980kbps, D1, and the rest at default, 30-,10-,64kbps audio. I'll wager that this gets you very close to a smooth video and sync'd audio. Adjust to taste which is where your CPU might come into play if you go too far.

I'm just tickled that I can now finally watch video from my HD-PVR over placeshifter, even from linux.

[PeteCress]

Originally Posted by TomH

I want to watch the server output at other places at home (kitchen, bedroom), and I installed placeshifter on a core duo 1.06GHz, 3GB RAM notebook. I can't get it anywhere close to stable or watchable.
It looks like the server-placeshifter combo is not able to use the network properly. Any ideas??

You might be jumping to cause on the network assessment bc HTDV takes a little less than 20 mbps of bandwidth.

Italics bc I have had problems with my own laptop when my WiFi was degraded to 40 mbps. Whether that was causation or just correlation is another question..... but at 65, there's definately no problem.

I run PlaceShifter on an Asus 901, which uses a 1.something GHz Atom processor. While I can live with it, I can imagine that others might find it unacceptable.

To get the Asus to where it is now, I had to tweak the settings available at the bottom left of PlaceShifter's Login screen to not use some sort of enhancement (I don't have the laptop with me right now, so I can't put a name on it) and to use the slower of the two optional frame rate/resolution choices.

With those two changes in place, there is still obvious pixellation with even a modest amount of movement on the screen, but the audio and video are perfectly smooth.

However if you want "real" TV, the way to go is an HD200 feeding a television set or the screen of a portable DVD player.

If ethernet/portability is an issue, then you're talking an extra $100 for a bridge like the DLink that I used for the StairMaster in the garage (where I feed the video to an old el-cheapo portable DVD player w/7" screen) until I finally ran Ethernet to that location and did away with the bridge. The Bridge worked A-OK for me.

For a "Portable" (i.e. all it needs is AC power) TV, I'm about to try this:

1. Either go to Best Buy and get their smallest, most el-cheapo LCD TV
   OR go dumpster diving/thrift-shop shopping for a used analog version of same.
   
2. Velcro an HD200, a D-Link bridge, and a small power strip to the back of same.
3. Concoct some sort of handle for the whole schmeer.

Practicality of above depends on WiFi coverage in areas of proposed use.

My coverage is pretty good through most of the house, but falls apart on the back patio.

To that end, I'm fooling around with a second WAP in the kitchen.

The joker in the deck seems tb the practicality of mating one bridge to two different WAPs.

Having to re-mate depending on location would be a show stopper for me.

[freedml]

Placeshifter can work on the local network and over the internet.

On your local network, it finds the server itself, but it doesn't transcode (make the quality match the available bandwidth) so if you're on a wireless network playback can be problematic.

On the internet, PS has to let the Sage central server know its IP address and Sage confirms that it can communicate with your server. If the response can't get through, Placeshifter won't work over the internet. So, unless the uPnP function works properly, you have to change settings on your server (static IP address) and in your router (port forwarding to that address) to get the response through to your server. I learned how to do this by getting tech support from my router manufacturer.