better protocol than SMB (but no transcoding?)

Monty Burns

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Hey guys

I'm yet again looking at trying to stream my media around the house and finaly, i think im right on the edge of doing it :thumbsup:

Ok, so I have a self-ripped blu-ray thats about 15gig in size that I have always used as my maximum benchmark and its always failed horribly within the first minute. Tonight however, it played for a good couple of minutes with almost no pre-buffer time!

So, I think the bandwidth is ALMOST there BUT, im using SMB. Is there an easy way to get windows Vista (actually, Windows 7) to use a quicker network protocol?


(I've tried all these transcoders but none play all the formats so I really don't want to a*&e around with this solution anymore.)


The server is a Windows 7 I7 6gig ram system (need help with this serving protocol)
The client is a Core 2 Duo laptop (running KMPlayer (awesome! Spanks VLC))
All running over a 1gig home network APART from the pants 200meg home plugs


So, can you suggest a better protocol/method to share that doesn't require re-encoding or transcoding?:confused:


Many thanks!!!!!!:thumbsup:
 
What OS is the client laptop running ?

Please don't say Vista.

SMB gets me cool 700mbps+ rates between XP and linux so it's not the protocol ... maybe something else ?

I've found Vista's tcp stack out of the box absolutely awful I'm afraid.
 
actually, Windows 7

sorry, the "server" is running Vista.


Ummm .... how do you get your bandwith, are you Fiber or are you getting confused between Bits/Bytes and the actuall windows reported rate (which is also misleadin)????

edit: anyway, sorry. The problem is the homeplugs are running maxed out over my house wiring and I think if I change to a protocol with less overhead I should be OK.
 
Ummm .... how do you get your bandwith, are you Fiber or are you getting confused between Bits/Bytes and the actuall windows reported rate (which is also misleadin)????

mega bits.

Running fibre at home is crazy the bottle neck before the network are your disks.

Nice RAIDs on both sides of your plain old fashioned gigabit network will get you over >500mbps easily

edit: anyway, sorry. The problem is the homeplugs are running maxed out over my house wiring and I think if I change to a protocol with less overhead I should be OK.

HMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Interesting maybe you have a point there

I would recommend you try using UDP but alas if that doesn't work maybe turn off all the lights and heating in your house :suicide:

Sorry my bad :devil: ! So many ppl have problems with these homeplugs unfortunately
 
man, talk about timing!

Just speaking to a mate in Eve-Online and he pointed me to this:

MS Bandwidth Throttle... why MS!? Why???


Windows throttling mechanism

Because multimedia programs require more resources, the Windows networking stack implements a throttling mechanism to restrict the processing of non-multimedia network traffic to 10 packets per millisecond.

The throttling will come into effect only when you are running multimedia programs that are time sensitive. However, this throttling mechanism can potentially cause a decrease in network performance during the active multimedia playback period. This decrease in performance is likely to occur only on high speed networks that are saturated to maximum capacity.
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How to improve network performance in Windows Vista
Warning Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall the operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk.

In circumstances where you experience a decrease in network performance, you can control the throttling rate to improve network performance in Windows Vista. However, you must do this with caution because this may affect the quality of multimedia playback.

To configure the throttling rate, change the value of the NetworkThrottlingIndex registry entry under the following registry subkey:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Multimedia\SystemProfile\
Name : NetworkThrottlingIndex
Value type : DWORD
Value data : From integer 1 through integer 70 (Decimal) (Decimal)

By default, the value for the NetworkThrottlingIndex registry entry is set to 10. When the NetworkThrottlingIndex registry entry does not exist, the behavior resembles the default behavior. Network throttling can be completely turned off by setting the value to FFFFFFFF (hexadecimal). You must restart the computer after you make a change to the value of the NetworkThrottlingIndex registry entry.

Important The default value is unlikely to cause degradation in network performance in most common Internet usage scenarios that use broadband connections. We recommend that you only use the throttling mechanism after you fully understand the tradeoff between multimedia playback quality and network performance.


And....................


Backed up by another post
 
Good luck mate....

I've been down that road. It's slippery and twisted....

1 reg hack after another until finally format disk,install windows xp worked perfectly :cool:
 
Not sure on your figures myself. Im running twin raptors, dedicated raid card etc on an i7 mobo but.... great if you can get a zeplin through a straw!


Its hardly a hack, its configurable parameter that MS tell you about and describe and show you how to change.

ok well thanks anyway.
 
Not sure on your figures myself. Im running twin raptors, dedicated raid card etc on an i7 mobo but.... great if you can get a zeplin through a straw!

Yes but have you configured your MTU and jumbo packets ?

Its hardly a hack, its configurable parameter that MS tell you about and describe and show you how to change.

ok well thanks anyway.

Welcome, ps the hacks come later :smashin:
 
I have no problems playing raw Blu-ray rips over my 1Gb network running Win7 on both machines & from my Synology NAS (uses SMB2.0). Jumbo frames is enabled on all.

If the PC playing is connecting to the home plug then thats probably the problem. If its not and is still stuttering I'd check out the jumbo frames settings or alternatively purchase a dedicated network card (see Intel Nic's) & stick that in the PC server or look at an alternate nic for the playing PC.

As for switching protocols try UPnP, if you install a UPnP server on the PC server then use a player which supports UPnP if all goes well it should play.

Twonky as a server is worth checking out (no transcoding) or PMS which is free (has transcoding but you should be able to turn it off) or myihome (intended for Popcornhour but may work with other UPnP players).

XBMC player supports UPnP sources as does WMP12 in Win7 but has more limited media support.

Edit: Win7 WMP12 is also a UPnP/DLNA server but obviously media support is an issue still.
 
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