Stuttering/Buffering video

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scroggle
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Stuttering/Buffering video

Post by scroggle »

Hi all,

This isn't a problem as such, as it's intermittent, and I've become far too used to it, but I promise to upload a log soon.

I have been using XBMC for years now, and can admit I am reluctant to buy an ATV or something just so I can have a better processor and a handier remote etc.

My "issue" is that I use a NAS drive via homeplugs, and every now and again (maybe once a month...), the xbox will heavily buffer a film, or TV program.
For instance, I can live with it when it buffers on say Disney Pixar's Car's, due to the about of flashing "camera's" in the film, but when watching something like House, Family Guy or something simple, I find the xbox (I have two, and both do this) buffer, play for a couple of minutes, then buffer again.

Is there a way to flush the cache, or anything like that, which might help the box out?

As a good example, if I get irate with the xbox in my bedroom buffering something, I can go and do something, go to the one in my front room later and play the same file with no issues.

To help with diagnosing, here's the info on my network;

Belkin N Router feeds:
Main PC 1,
Homeplug connection
NAS Drive
Belkin 8 port switch

The 8 port feeds,
1 slave PC and any other network devices I need to add (mostly systems I repair).

Thanks guys,
evan_almighty
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Re: Stuttering/Buffering video

Post by evan_almighty »

do you know the speed of your homeplugs?
and do you get the same problem with the pc connected to the switch?
eXcEeDe
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Re: Stuttering/Buffering video

Post by eXcEeDe »

I have four XBOX's and I have never had a problem with buffering. However, I have installed CAT5 Ethernet in my house, so I use 100 Mbit to my NAS (which is a old PC with two mirrored 2 TB HDDs).
Oh yes, at one time I had your problems one one box, but when I switched boxes I realized it had to do with the room and not the actual box. So i replaced the ethernet cable in that room and ofter that all was fine again.

What I'm trying to say is that, in my experience, caching on the XBOX is sufficient if you have a decent LAN connection. So I would begin my efforts in that end. But you do have he option too increase cache under system settings. 8-)

Regards/
eX
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Re: Stuttering/Buffering video

Post by spicemuseum »

eXcEeDe wrote: at one time I had your problems one one box, but when I switched boxes I realized it had to do with the room and not the actual box
Exactly. I have 2 boxes connected via (DD-WRT) wireless bridges, and two connected via ethernet (CAT5). Guess which ones occasionally buffer...
scroggle
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Re: Stuttering/Buffering video

Post by scroggle »

Hi guys,

Thanks for the replies.

The homeplugs I'm using are 85mbps ones, however I know this continues on a 200mbps set of homeplugs.

To be fair, I'm just watching what happens for now, so far it's not done it stupidly, but tonight is ironing night, so we'll see :D

Sorry about not posting the logs off both boxes yet, had a lot happen, to the point we had to put one of our dogs down yesterday, so not been in the right frame of mind.
Will get it done though.
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Re: Stuttering/Buffering video

Post by whufclee »

I setup a Belkin switch at my parents and occasionally they have a similar problem and have to switch it off for a few minutes and then back on then all is good again for another few weeks. To be honest I still haven't worked out if it's the router or the switch that's causing the problems so I get them to switch both of them off. Might be worth trying incase you have a similar problem - I don't have this problem with my 8-port switch.
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Re: Stuttering/Buffering video

Post by BuZz »

Please try a nightly build from r31221 or higher (will be available under nightly downloads under download link) - I have changed the memory backed cache to xbmc mainline's circular cache, as well as changed the setting for "cachemembufsize" to "network/cachemembuffersize" and to be bytes rather than "MB". the cache before was only 3x256Kb - this larger default might help you if the connection is not perfect. the new default is 1MB, which means 2MB will be used in the circular cache for front/back buffers.

you can also experiment setting cachemembuffersize to "0" in advancedsettings.xml, in which case the video will be buffered to a file.

Code: Select all

<advancedsettings>
  <network>
    <cachemembuffersize>0</cachemembuffersize>
  </network>
</advancedsettings>
scroggle
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Re: Stuttering/Buffering video

Post by scroggle »

Thanks for the help guys.

Immediately after posting my reply, I started watching Toy Story 2 which is in avi format, since I'm not sure if any of this is important, I'll post it all.

The NAS drive I use, is an Arkara SATA NAS, which has a gigabit ethernet connection, going into the Belkin Router.
As the router feeds the homeplugs, the switch shouldn't be a prob, but I only rebooted the router and NAS last night to try and fix the issue (to no avail) - I actually got that narked off, I tried to find Toy Story 2 on Netflix, to no avail.

Video:

Frame Width - 624
Frame height - 352
Data Rate - 929kbps
Total bitrate - 1060kbps
Frame rate - 23fps

Audio:

Bitrate - 131kbps
Channels - 2 (Stereo)
Audio Sample rate - 48kHz

Playing this last night, I suffered till 40m in, then gave up, as I say, tried to find it on Netflix to continue watching while ironing.

I started watching over pizza with my livingroom xbmc, then switched to my bedroom xbmc since I needed to do my shirts, and got the same issue on both.
The livingroom, I actually upgraded to 3.2 stable yesterday, thought it may have been an issue with that, until I tried it on 3.1 which is on the bedroom machine.

I know it happens when lots of things are happening on the screen, such as an episode of House last night, where the camera "pulled back" through the universe last night, but after that buffer, it was fine.

I notice it does it on the Big Bang Theory's opening credit sequence, but this only happens on the Bluray rips, never happened (touch wood) to the DVDRips.
Ozzy1980
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Re: Stuttering/Buffering video

Post by Ozzy1980 »

I just upgraded from XBMC_XBOX_30837 to 3.2 and I am now experiencing shuttering and buffering that I did not have with the previous version I had installed..
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Re: Stuttering/Buffering video

Post by BuZz »

Ozzy1980 wrote:I just upgraded from XBMC_XBOX_30837 to 3.2 and I am now experiencing shuttering and buffering that I did not have with the previous version I had installed..
Please see http://www.xbmc4xbox.org.uk/forum/viewt ... p?f=6&t=65
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Re: Stuttering/Buffering video

Post by nidge »

I have a similar problem to this on my Xecutor 3 modded xbox? Thing is in my case it can`t be software, because if I put the HD in my other modded Xbox there is no problem? I have other problems with the Xecutor 3, but will get to them another time? :)
http://www.theoriginalxboxshoppe.weebly.com
http://www.ebid.net/uk/stores/Computers-and-Consoles


Crystal Xbox v1.4, Xecuter 3, 500gb sata hard disk, 1ghz CPU, 128mb RAM, HD component 720p, blue LED's.
Crystal Xbox v1.4, Xecuter 3, 320gb sata hard disk, stock CPU, 128mb RAM, HD component 720p.
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Re: Stuttering/Buffering video

Post by EFORCE »

I also experience more buffering issues lately, seemed to have started around 3.1 stable. Tonight I watched the movie Bad Ass with debug on. Unfortunately it didn't happen as often as it normally does, but it did happen twice during the movie. The debug is posted here : http://pastebin.com/CPSeGeUv (valid for 30 days). I hope it gives some more insight....
It doesn't seem a memory issue, since it looked like I had an average of 13 MB free memeory during playback...

PS Bad Ass playback starts at line 859
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Re: Stuttering/Buffering video

Post by EFORCE »

Just wondering if there is anyone who is able to read the debug log and explain what is causing the stuttering ;-)

Edit: logged an issue on bugtracker (bug #214)
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Re: Stuttering/Buffering video

Post by evan_almighty »

Hi Scroggle,

This is strange, I'm using a Belkin N-Port router (wireless and 4 physical lan ports)
This feeds 2x PC's and a 500Mbps Belkin Play homeplug, and any wireless devices, i.e. laptop and phone.

I've now got 4x working xboxes in the house, all using a 200Mbps homeplug connection, one in the front room and 3 upstairs, one in each of the kids bedrooms and one in my own. I'm using a mixture of XBMC4XBOX builds, 3.0, 3.1 and 3.2 and I don't suffer any buffering issues at all.

The only time I ever get any video buffering is if I'm using the wireless connectivity to play a video.

One thing I'd try to start with would be to try and rule XBMC4XBOX out of the equation by directly connecting the xbox to your router, rather than going via the homeplug setup. Can you do that and let us know the results?
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Re: Stuttering/Buffering video

Post by BuZz »

most of the time / or almost all of the time these issues point to networking issues.

the debug log basically says "waiting for data" so it suggests data is not coming in quick enough. if it was a big issue with the VFS layer, it would show up on many more peoples machines.

I see you opened a issue on the dev site. i'll reply with a similar message but hold the bug open for a while also.
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Re: Stuttering/Buffering video

Post by EFORCE »

Thanks Buzz. I will try your advance settings mod. The only thing that worries me a bit is that I never experienced this before and no network changes have been made. I will also try to see if I still have an older build somewhere (which I doubt, since I usually only keep the latest and previous one used) to see if the problem exists there as well....
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Re: Stuttering/Buffering video

Post by EFORCE »

The advancesettings mod didn't work for me. I tried setting the cache size to 0 so it would cache from the HDD but still had the same buffering issues... Need to keep researching....
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Re: Stuttering/Buffering video

Post by EFORCE »

Still struggling with this.

I watched BATTLESHIP DVD9 ISO from my Cubestation NAS, and it was buffering frequently since the beginning of the movie. I watched it using XBMC for W7 on my laptop over the same network and didn't seem to have these problems. I also watched the Hobbit from the XBOX's local drive and had NO buffering issues at all. Could it be my xbox is dying on me? Especially the network connector?
With music play I never have buffering issues.
Thinking about buying a PI to see if this works better.
Any suggestions are welcome. I am not a networking expert, so there may be things I could try.
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Re: Stuttering/Buffering video

Post by Dan Dar3 »

Continuously ping your Xbox from your PC, before playback and then during (Windows: ping xbox_ip -t -4) and see if packets get delayed or dropped.

Try to switch cables or temporarily connect your xbox directly to your router / switch, see if things improve. If so, it's a network issue rather than anything with the Xbox.
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Re: Stuttering/Buffering video

Post by EFORCE »

Thanks, will give it a shot....
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