Hello All...

Ok, here I am with my first MacBook 13". New 2.2Ghz with 2 Gigs Ram that has AirPort N in it. You know what I mean I think.

Of course it has Leapord in it and thus the new Front Row. Very cool.

Ok, so here is my issue. I have added a Alias for my movie files on my network data storage. All the movies list, wish I did not have to click the alias first and they would all just show, but when I play back just a standard old vob it studders the playback. This is not even high def, just dvd type files.

I have an AirPort Extreme and have it set for 5Ghz N only.

Any thoughts?

Hi David, I suspect your issue is not Airport related. Which program on the Mac are you using to play the file back--Front Row, Apple dvd player, VLC? Do you just get stutter with Front Row or with the others as well?

When you say "standard old vob" you mean a ripped dvd but are you trying to play back an individual .VOB or a complete VIDEO_TS folder? OS X, Front Row and Apple dvd player.app prefer the complete VIDEO_TS folder. Though if you drag a single .VOB out of a VIDEO_TS folder, VLC will play it back just fine.

Where is your network data storage, how are those drive volumes formatted (FAT32 etc) and what network protocol (UPnP etc) are you using to communicate? In the Leopard Finder, the smiley double blue face, does your storage volume show up as a "shared" volume?

Where exactly are you putting the alias? In order for a Mac with Front Row to see a VIDEO_TS on your network, the alias has to be in the Movie folder on the Macbook. (I think is what you've done, and what you mean by the movies list. So so far so good.) There are others ways to get Front Row to see and play back certain types of video, but this is the most typical.

I'd simplify first--move a typical file that you're trying to playback to the Macbook's hard drive, and try it with Front Row, Apple dvd player and VLC. I think you'll find that if you just have extant .VOBs and not Video_ts, and don't want to convert/transcode them (with something like Handbrake or MPEG Streamclip) into something else that Front Row or iTunes recognizes (like H.264) you'll be limited to VLC for streamed network playback of those .VOBs.

What I do, and what most of us here do, is rip our dvds with MactheRipper, which results in a perfect video_ts folder, and leave them that way--Front Row now plays these natively.

Greetings...

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I guess I did leave out quite a bit.

It happens with Front Row (What I am trying to use), DVD Player and VLC. VLC seems to have much less of the stutter vs the other two. I do not have the issue moving the file to the local hard drive.

Yes, trying to play video_ts folders off a Ready NAS. (Infrant, now Netgear) I do not have it set for UPnP, it more or less is just a shared volume over IP. (Gigabit network) I do have Jumbo Frames on. (Not sure though of AirPort uses it.) I can see it and use it without an issue. I am not sure if it is Fat32 as I can not find a place that shows the drive format.

I have no issues with my WinXP media machines with the files.

If I hook the MacBook into the network via hard cable, no issues in playback. as such, I was looking at the AirPort settings to see if that may be it.

Thoughts?

David


Hi David, I suspect your issue is not Airport related. Which program on the Mac are you using to play the file back--Front Row, Apple dvd player, VLC? Do you just get stutter with Front Row or with the others as well?

When you say "standard old vob" you mean a ripped dvd but are you trying to play back an individual .VOB or a complete VIDEO_TS folder? OS X, Front Row and Apple dvd player.app prefer the complete VIDEO_TS folder. Though if you drag a single .VOB out of a VIDEO_TS folder, VLC will play it back just fine.

Where is your network data storage, how are those drive volumes formatted (FAT32 etc) and what network protocol (UPnP etc) are you using to communicate? In the Leopard Finder, the smiley double blue face, does your storage volume show up as a "shared" volume?

Where exactly are you putting the alias? In order for a Mac with Front Row to see a VIDEO_TS on your network, the alias has to be in the Movie folder on the Macbook. (I think is what you've done, and what you mean by the movies list. So so far so good.) There are others ways to get Front Row to see and play back certain types of video, but this is the most typical.

I'd simplify first--move a typical file that you're trying to playback to the Macbook's hard drive, and try it with Front Row, Apple dvd player and VLC. I think you'll find that if you just have extant .VOBs and not Video_ts, and don't want to convert/transcode them (with something like Handbrake or MPEG Streamclip) into something else that Front Row or iTunes recognizes (like H.264) you'll be limited to VLC for streamed network playback of those .VOBs.

What I do, and what most of us here do, is rip our dvds with MactheRipper, which results in a perfect video_ts folder, and leave them that way--Front Row now plays these natively.

Yes, trying to play video_ts folders off a Ready NAS. (Infrant, now Netgear) I do not have it set for UPnP, it more or less is just a shared volume over IP.

OK, so we know it's not software or file, and we have plenty of ReadyNAS uses here who have no trouble streaming video_ts. Question, though, which device is assigning it its IP address? Something has to act as the DHCP server--is it the Airport?

If I hook the MacBook into the network via hard cable, no issues in playback. as such, I was looking at the AirPort settings to see if that may be it.

OK, that also clarifies things, and this comment in particular is helpful. With the Macbook connected over ethernet, everything is fine. Is that with the ethernet plugged into the Airport? Is your ReadyNAS plugged into one of the Airport's gigabit inputs and do you have the Airport acting as DHCP server? Or are you plugging the Airport itself into a router?

So, since everything works fine when you wire up the Mac, it's totally a network configuration and network integration thing--getting devices to play nice with each other--I'm guessing you have some other device or devices in the mix as well, a router, a firewall, or is it just the Airport acting as both wireless and wired router? If the Airport is trying to assign IP, and you have another router assigning IP, that's a problem.

I'm sure one of the ReadyNAS guys will chime in soon and clear the settings up for you soon. Can you share something that's on one of your PCs over the network and have the Macbook play it back wirelessly?

The ReadyNAS supports 7936 byte MTU Frames, not the more common 9000 which may ultimately be causing some issues. I can't seem to find any confirmation the AEBS supports jumbo frames over the radio though. You might want to turn jumbo frames off and see what happens. BTW, do you have the newer gigabit AEBS or the older, and nearly identical looking, one with only 100Mbit model?

Hi to the both of you...

My intranet is setup like this... D-Link gigabit router acting as DHCP and internet connection. SMC gigabit switches. AirPort Extreme, the new one with Gigabit, wan port into a port on the SMC gigabit switch. Airport is set for N only and 5 Ghz. Also have Belkin F5D7230 wireless running for other devices.

Hey everyone - I am having the same problems. Mac Pro connected to airport extreme set in N mode 5Ghz (not sure about the last three letters) streaming video_ts off a NAS drive (WD Netcenter - two of them) connected to the extreme with 100 ethernet. Seems to work more or less okay with VLC but stutters with Front Row. Works fine on MBP connected to the extreme with 100 ethernet as well (older airport so I switched it off). Extreme is connected to a Zyxel Router which connects to the DSL line - have turned on DHCP so it can assign address to the extreme and also turned on DHCP on the extreme - have tried other combinations ie with router set to no IP "action" and "passthrough" or something like that. Can't figure out why it isn't working when it should in theory be as fast as ethernet which does seems to work. If I remember right it used to work with the MBP wirelessly connected to the Zyxel router at 54Mbs and the NAS connected directly to that router.

Any help much appreciated!

Cheers