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Stuttering on really high bit rate MKV

post #1 of 18
2/21/13 at 2:26pm
Thread Starter 
I put this in the Assassin Guide thread, but figured a dedicated thread would probably get a better response.

Just rebuilt my HTPC using the guide and having some trouble with an MKV I recently ripped.

My machine:

CPU: i3-3225
Motherboard: Biostar H77MU3
RAM: 8GB DDR3-1333 (Not sure the brand, but it was one of the major ones)
SSD: 120GB Samsung 840

My media is all on a server, attached by gigabit lan.

Setup:

Running 7MC, using latest MediaBrowser and LAV filters, all set up per the guide.

The movie in question is Amelie. My wife was watching the blu-ray rip I made and said it was stuttering (using TMT5). I've been moving to MKV , so I ripped it to MKV thinking maybe it was a TMT5 thing. No luck, still stutters.

The file for the movie clocks in about 39GB. Looking at it in MB, it shows the bit rate at 35660kps, which is higher than anything else I've seen in my media (granted, I have only looked at a few of my full quality MKV rips, and most were in the 20000kps to 30000kps). I have had no stuttering issues with any other media.

I'd say maybe its too much for the lan, but my desktop (E8400 with a Radeon HD 6870) plays it fine, at least in VLC (my codecs got messed up, so I can't test it directly until I rebuild the stupid thing).

So, is the i3 with its Intel 4000 just not enough to handle a video file with that high of a bit rate? I've tried to keep my HTPC as simple as possible to eliminate any possible problems with other programs running at the same time. Any ideas?
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post #2 of 18
2/21/13 at 3:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ncarty97 View Post

So, is the i3 with its Intel 4000 just not enough to handle a video file with that high of a bit rate? I've tried to keep my HTPC as simple as possible to eliminate any possible problems with other programs running at the same time. Any ideas?

None of this is a quick answer but I would try these things
  1. Attempt to play the movie from a flash drive or other physical media attached to the i3 machine
  2. If that works fine move on to troubleshooting your network
  3. In the short time I used WHS, I recall setting all my video shares as NFS. In mediabrowser config you have to modify your paths. While //MyServer/Videos would still work, you need to use nfs://MyServer:/Videos to test the difference NFS sharing would have compared to SMB sharing (notice every / requires a : in front of it)
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post #3 of 18
2/21/13 at 3:06pm
You might be able to save time by testing a clip of a high bit rate video

The 6th item on the list in this link has a hyperlink to some test videos. One is an unnecessarily high bit rate clip called "birds"

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=152005

I doubt its the processor, but I don't have that movie to test. I've never tested birds on my i3 with hd 2000. I can test that this weekend and let you know how my weaker gpu handles it
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post #4 of 18
2/21/13 at 3:52pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks! I'll give it a shot.
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post #5 of 18
2/21/13 at 4:03pm
Is this a 25fps European version?

Also, the movie is good so you don't have to put up the cover that it was your wife watching it!
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post #6 of 18
2/21/13 at 5:10pm
I converted the blu-ray movie "The Sound of Music" to an mkv file recently. The mkv file plays fine using my basement media PC, which has a GTX-560ti graphics card (the PC is used for other graphics intensive apps - hence the performance card). But the mkv plays horribly in my i3-2100 media PC with stock CPU HD graphics, continuous jigging as if frames are being dropped. Haven't had time yet to look into the problem. I also noticed lately some DVD ripped movies have some mild tearing with the i3-2100, but no issue with the 560ti equipped machine. I use VLC Player on both machines.
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post #7 of 18
2/21/13 at 6:57pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sammy2 View Post

Is this a 25fps European version?

I got it from Netflix so I assume it is a US version.
Quote:
Also, the movie is good so you don't have to put up the cover that it was your wife watching it!

I liked it the first time I saw it with her (I speak french and I always enjoy when the subtitles don't really match the actual dialogue!) but sadly, I only have enough time to work on my HTPC, I don't get to enjoy it!

Anyway, I am copying the mkv file directly to the SSD. That should eliminate any issues with transmission at least!
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post #8 of 18
2/21/13 at 7:04pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dark_Slayer View Post

None of this is a quick answer but I would try these things
  1. Attempt to play the movie from a flash drive or other physical media attached to the i3 machine
  2. If that works fine move on to troubleshooting your network
  3. In the short time I used WHS, I recall setting all my video shares as NFS. In mediabrowser config you have to modify your paths. While //MyServer/Videos would still work, you need to use nfs://MyServer:/Videos to test the difference NFS sharing would have compared to SMB sharing (notice every / requires a : in front of it)

In this thread: http://www.avsforum.com/t/1329827/nfs-vs-smb-for-streaming

It seems to indicate a maximum threshold of 35000kbps for SMB, so that could definitely be the issue. I think it might be easier to just lower the bit rate by reencoding it though.
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post #9 of 18
2/21/13 at 10:17pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ncarty97 View Post

In this thread: http://www.avsforum.com/t/1329827/nfs-vs-smb-for-streaming

It seems to indicate a maximum threshold of 35000kbps for SMB, so that could definitely be the issue. I think it might be easier to just lower the bit rate by reencoding it though.

You'd probably be surprised how easy NFS sharing is from WHS. It's not even a third party addon like your forced to use with W7/W8

I don't recall if you have a WHS, but if so you can follow this guide http://www.mediasmartserver.net/2011/12/23/guide-setting-up-nfs-in-whs-2011/

Afterwards your sharing tab is in the properties of each folder like this
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post #10 of 18
2/22/13 at 7:36am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ncarty97 View Post

Anyway, I am copying the mkv file directly to the SSD. That should eliminate any issues with transmission at least!

I assume it plays back fine on the local machine?

I don't know for sure if that 35k limit is true for SMB, nor do I see any evidence of how anyone would arrive at that conclusion. The problem your experiencing does seem network related, but WHS to W7 samba sharing is good enough for simultaneous blu rays over a gig network. I've run into this problem a little, and I think it's due to Windows to OpenELEC samba sharing. Different streamer setups may suffer from an old samba protocol that still "works" but doesn't work as good as the current MS version. For you, that doesn't matter since it sounds like your going windows to windows. Just letting you know why you'll read so many "samba sucks" threads and opinions out there.

It doesn't make sense to me that a single high rate mkv would struggle because of the network protocol, but I thought it was worth testing because the entire setup shouldn't take you more than 5 minutes. You can add the specific Amelie folder as a separate NFS share, and add it back into Mediabrowser as a separate collection. Just be sure to use the NFS path for that share.

If that doesn't make any difference, then it wasn't the problem. Then it's time to call in the experts biggrin.gif
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post #11 of 18
2/22/13 at 9:57am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dark_Slayer View Post

You'd probably be surprised how easy NFS sharing is from WHS. It's not even a third party addon like your forced to use with W7/W8

I don't recall if you have a WHS, but if so you can follow this guide http://www.mediasmartserver.net/2011/12/23/guide-setting-up-nfs-in-whs-2011/



Afterwards your sharing tab is in the properties of each folder like this

I do have WHS2011. I'd read that NFS can cause some issues with fast forwarding and rewinding though.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dark_Slayer View Post

I assume it plays back fine on the local machine?

I copied it over last night and then went to bed. Will test when I get home tonight.[/quote]

Quote:

I don't know for sure if that 35k limit is true for SMB, nor do I see any evidence of how anyone would arrive at that conclusion. The problem your experiencing does seem network related, but WHS to W7 samba sharing is good enough for simultaneous blu rays over a gig network. I've run into this problem a little, and I think it's due to Windows to OpenELEC samba sharing. Different streamer setups may suffer from an old samba protocol that still "works" but doesn't work as good as the current MS version. For you, that doesn't matter since it sounds like your going windows to windows. Just letting you know why you'll read so many "samba sucks" threads and opinions out there.

It doesn't make sense to me that a single high rate mkv would struggle because of the network protocol, but I thought it was worth testing because the entire setup shouldn't take you more than 5 minutes. You can add the specific Amelie folder as a separate NFS share, and add it back into Mediabrowser as a separate collection. Just be sure to use the NFS path for that share.

Thanks for the explanation, I really don't know much about networking outside of plug it in and pray!
Quote:
If that doesn't make any difference, then it wasn't the problem. Then it's time to call in the experts biggrin.gif

Wait, I though the posters here were the experts!?!? smile.gif
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post #12 of 18
2/22/13 at 11:41am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ncarty97 View Post

Wait, I though the posters here were the experts!?!? smile.gif

There are, but not me biggrin.gif

I can't explain every minute detail the way others here would be able to. I've always taken more of a Sir Arthur Conan Doyle approach
Quote:
Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains--no matter how improbable--is the truth
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post #13 of 18
2/22/13 at 5:53pm
Thread Starter 
Well it must have been a network issue. I played the copied version and it played just fine. I then went back and played the network version and it played fine too! Maybe my network had some load on it when I was trying to play it last night. If it happens again, I'll give the NFS a shot. Now if I could just figure out those subtitles! but that's another thread....
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post #14 of 18
2/22/13 at 6:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mfusick View Post


http://www.thehtpc.net/htpc-tips-and-tweaks/network-tips-and-tweaks/improve-vista-and-windows-7-network-performance/#more-%27

and
Quote:

The first one we are going visit is bandwidth throttling. This was introduced in Vista and subsequently leaked over into Windows 7, continuing to cause many people grief. Open your registry editor by running regedit from the Start -> Search programs and files field. You should be an administrator of the system you are doing this on. We now want to browse to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\LanmanWorkstation\Parameters

DisableBandwidthThrottlingOnce there, a new DWORD value needs to be created called DisableBandwidthThrottling. Create that value and double-click it to open it for editing. Change the Base radio button to Decimal then change the Value data entry to 1. Click OK to accept the new value.

Now, I recommend you go ahead and reboot at this point and once getting back to your Desktop, try streaming a file that has always been troublesome before. If you stream without choppiness, stutter or skipping, you’re problems are solved and you can end here. If you are still experiencing trouble, continue on and try the next registry change.
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post #15 of 18
2/22/13 at 6:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mfusick View Post

have you tested your network speed ??

http://www.totusoft.com/lanspeed1.html

Try this.

It is pretty easy to test your network speed. You can instantly see if that is the problem.

What is the issue with your codecs? What player ?

(i'm pro at solving that smile.gif )
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post #16 of 18
2/22/13 at 7:10pm
Thread Starter 
I probably should test it again, but when I set everything up,I was getting gigabit speeds
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post #17 of 18
2/23/13 at 7:06am
It could just be net trafic.

Sometimes bends or kinks in your cable can mess you up too.
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post #18 of 18
2/23/13 at 7:51am
You can also try enabling Jumbo frames on both the client and server to see if this helps, just make sure that your switch supports this. I found turning this on fixed a lot of the same issues you seem to be having with stuttering playback and it definitely improved transfer speeds between my machines.
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