27 replies to this topic

[Ozpol]

Hi Guys,

I have just finished building my whs2011 and have connected the HTPC to the server.

One of the things that I want to do is to play all of my blurays, DVDs etc from the server. The DVDs work well but with Blu Rays I am struggling.

I am running Total Media Theatre 5 latest patch 114. I have about 3 drives on the whs with movies and have mapped these in my HTPC. Most of the movies are in file/folder structure with 3D Blu Rays in iso.

I am using Media Browser as the front end for my movies in the HTPC.

Generally once playing, everything is fine, but when I am FWDing or Rewinding and then press play, the audio is way out of synch with the video and TMT5 usually stops the video (still picture displayed) and keeps playing the audio until the two have "caught up to each other". Have tried a lot of things but cannot get this fixed. TMT3 works without a problem. At the moment seems as if I have wasted my money with TMT5.

Guys any ideas would be very very greatfully accepted.

Just some info on the Hardware:

SERVER
Gigabyte H67MA-USB3
core i3-2100
8Gb RAM
8 disk without any Raid

HTPC
corei3
4Gb RAM
Gigabit LAN (connected to server with cable)

Many thanks in advance

Krys S

[Greg Welch]

I stream iso and folder/vob's from WHS 2011 to my HTPC WMC/TMT5 with no problems,

might you be willing to try just windows media center and TMT5 first then add in media browswer later


also how are you sending your audio to the speaker, thru amp ,hdmi,

Edited by welchwerks, 12 September 2011 - 07:36 AM.

[pcdoc]

I agree with Welchworks to remove any variables, but I would also check you network speed. You need 20-30 megs/sec to stream BD. Try to reproduce the problem off of a USB drive attached to the media center if it works off of a USB drive, then your issue is in the network/server. Sub level performacne of network/server is the reason for this issue and based on your hardware you should fly through blu-ray. I ran this exact setup for about a month with no issues at all. My "guess" is something is bogging down you server or network. Also, base on a recent issue I had, what add-ins are you running?

[ikon]

I would do what pcdoc suggests, but I do find it interesting that it works fine with TMT3, but not TMT5. I seem to recall other posts where people said they had issues with TMT5. You might want to search for them.

Edited by ikon, 12 September 2011 - 12:22 PM.

[Greg Welch]

When you say connected to the server by a cable? Through a switch ,hub cross over. Cat 5e ,6

I agree throughput should be checked

[Ozpol]

Hi Guys, It is Tuesday morning here in Australia so just about to head off to work.

Many thanks for the replies and will try the suggestions tonight.

My network is gigabit, running through 2 x TP-Link switches. One of the switches is located very close to the server, the 2nd switch is located very close to the HTPC and switches the network between the HTPC and a logitech squeezebox player. I have an intel NIC in the HTPC and have the onboard realtek NIC on the server.

I have the HTPC connected to my Onkyo amp through an optical SPDF connection and to the TV via HDMI.

I built this server about 1 month ago and it replaced an AMD 5050e based whs2011. Had the same problem with that setup which would seem to indicate that it may not be the server but somewhere further down the line.

Guys I really appreciate the suggestions and confirmation that at least one person has had this sort of setup running without any issues.

Will investigate further and let you guys know.

Cheers

Krys S

[Ozpol]

Sorry guys, after rereading the above replies I have not answered all of the questions.

I only have one addin which is lights out. I am very fussy with what is running on the server and also try to keep the power requirements of the server to a minimum. Have started playing around with My Movies on my test server and this looks good.

The network is running a cat5 cable between the switch near the server and the switch near the HTPC. The network properties sdays that it is connected at Gigabit speeds.

Krys S

[vinylfreak]

How do your Blu Ray rips play outside of Media Browser. Try to play them just within the TMT5 software and see if you have the same experiences.

It could be some "Wonkyness" within Media Browser.

That being said I have seen some forum posts at ArcSoft with people having various problems with the 114 patch for TMT5. I am currently using it within MC7 streaming Blu Ray rips from my WHS 2011 box without issue.

You could always rev back to an earlier build of TMT 5 and see if that solves your problem.

[Ozpol]

Hi Vinylfreak,

Well I actually upgraded from TMT5 version 87 (where the problem was identical) to version 114 with the hope that the issue will be fixed.

At least I know that the problem is probably somewhere with me. Will actually take out the media browser nad run TMT5 witihn MC7 and see how it goes. Was also thinking about replacing media browser with My Movies?? Have you had any experience with this package. I have heard "the boys" talk about this package on the podcast and sounded OK.

Cheers

Krys S

[Greg Welch]

I agree with Welchworks to remove any variables, but I would also check you network speed. You need 20-30 megs/sec to stream BD. Try to reproduce the problem off of a USB drive attached to the media center if it works off of a USB drive,

i left the i agree with welchwerks in, it has i nice ring,

network speed test, try http://download.cnet...4-10908738.html

[vinylfreak]

Hi Vinylfreak,

Well I actually upgraded from TMT5 version 87 (where the problem was identical) to version 114 with the hope that the issue will be fixed.

At least I know that the problem is probably somewhere with me. Will actually take out the media browser nad run TMT5 witihn MC7 and see how it goes. Was also thinking about replacing media browser with My Movies?? Have you had any experience with this package. I have heard "the boys" talk about this package on the podcast and sounded OK.

Cheers

Krys S

I have been using MyMovies and TMT within Media Center for over 2 years now. All three pieces have matured over the years. They work very well together. MyMovies isnt as customisable as Media Browser is, but it integrates into Media Center very nicely.

I still think it would be a good idea to see if your rips play OK just within the stand alone TMT 5 player to rule out problems with Media Browser.

I included a link to a Forum post from awhile ago I did on my setup. Its a little outdated though, I was running MyMovies 3 , TMT 5 at the time and using WHS ver1. I am currently running MyMovies 4 ,7MC - WHS 2011 and TMT 5. The functionality is basically the same.

http://homeserversho...__fromsearch__1

Edited by vinylfreak, 12 September 2011 - 06:58 PM.

[Ozpol]

Hi guys, Am getting 51megabytes/sec writting and 90megabytes/sec reading through my network which would seem to indicate that this is OK. These figures were achieved using a 4Gbyte file in the netork speed tester program. (Thanks Welchworks)

Will now try to run TMT5 natively and not through media browser. The other interesting observation is that if I forward or reverse by chapters all audio and video is in synch. Problems only occur with synchronisation when ffwding and rewinding.

Shall keep you guys informed of progress.

Vinyl freak, many thanks for the video. Quite amazing hearing you in the podcast about a month ago and now talking to you guys.

[pcdoc]

Interesting that you are getting that much performance and still can not play it. the real test is can you copy a couple of movies you are having issues with to a USB drive or you hard drive and see if they play locally. I have been using TMT5 for awhile now with no issues either. What software is running on the HTPC? You might run the resource monitor while you are trying to play to see what the CPU usage is.

[Ozpol]

Hi guys, Well, wife was out all day so had time to play with the HTPC and my streaming problem.

Have checked everything, played back via the server, still stuttering on fwd and rev. Brought the server next to the PC but still the same problem. Played through the original disc and also the same problem. Eventually managed to lacate the problem.

I have the HTPC connected to a Samsung TV via a HDMI cable while the sound goes through the onboard spdif optical output to an older Onkyo amplifier. If I configure the sound to go through the HDMI and listen through the samsung TV the problem goes away.

So anyway, I now know that the onboard realtek spdif output is the problem. How to find a solution.

Hope that this helps somebody. As soon as I find a solution will also post this.

Many thanks to all for help.

[ikon]

Hi guys, Well, wife was out all day so had time to play with the HTPC and my streaming problem.

Have checked everything, played back via the server, still stuttering on fwd and rev. Brought the server next to the PC but still the same problem. Played through the original disc and also the same problem. Eventually managed to lacate the problem.

I have the HTPC connected to a Samsung TV via a HDMI cable while the sound goes through the onboard spdif optical output to an older Onkyo amplifier. If I configure the sound to go through the HDMI and listen through the samsung TV the problem goes away.

So anyway, I now know that the onboard realtek spdif output is the problem. How to find a solution.

Hope that this helps somebody. As soon as I find a solution will also post this.

Many thanks to all for help.

Not sure if you can do this, but I have my HTPC HDMI OUT connected to one of the 3 HDMI IN ports on my Onkyo. The HDMI OUT from the Onkyo goes to the TV. At one time, I had the SPDiF OUT from the TV going to my receiver, but I can't recall if that was the old Sony receiver or the new Onkyo. I will check when I get back home. In any case, I have the TV set to use external speakers, so it sends the audio out the SPDiF instead of its own speakers.

[Ozpol]

Hi Ikon, thanks for your reply.

My main problem is that the Gigabyte motherboard uses a Realtek audio chip to get the onboard optical spdif running and TMT5 does not support realtek audio chips.

My Onkyo amp is rather old and does not have a HDMI input. Was thinking about coming out of the TV and into the Onkyo, but the TV output will only give a stereo signal, so this will not work.

I have been living with this problem for a while and want to fix it as cheaply as possible and to get the WAF up :-)

Thanks

Krys S

Am thinking about getting an Asus Xonar DS sound card but want to establish if TMT5 will play nicely with it.

[vinylfreak]

Hi Ikon, thanks for your reply.

My main problem is that the Gigabyte motherboard uses a Realtek audio chip to get the onboard optical spdif running and TMT5 does not support realtek audio chips.

My Onkyo amp is rather old and does not have a HDMI input. Was thinking about coming out of the TV and into the Onkyo, but the TV output will only give a stereo signal, so this will not work.

I have been living with this problem for a while and want to fix it as cheaply as possible and to get the WAF up :-)

Thanks

Krys S

Am thinking about getting an Asus Xonar DS sound card but want to establish if TMT5 will play nicely with it.

In my current version of my HTPC I am running a Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 MB. I also am running a Asus Xonar D2X sound card. I have owned this Xonar card for almost 4years now. I have run it on an older ver Gigabyte and an even older version (939) Asus MB with no problems. As I have stated before I run MyMovies with TMT5. TMT5 likes the Xonar card just fine. I pump all my audio through my Xonar D2X, It is connected to my Onkyo SR608 through an optical toslink .The sound quality for Music playback is absolutely stunning! Actually it does a fantastic job at whatever you throw at it. With the Dolby Digital Live functionality on the Xonar chipset it converts all audio into Dolby Digital sound.

The only time I don't put my audio signal through my Xonar card is when I'm watching a Blu Ray rip that is encoded with DTS Master Audio or Dolby TrueHD. The Xonar cannot play these formats back. For the High Def Audio codecs I just switch to the on board HDMI connection and it works just fine. It is however a little annoying to have to go into Sound control panel and switch inputs.

I have never used the Asus Xonar DS,but I don't know why it wouldn't work with TMT5.

I posted a link to the specs of the Xonar D2x. Its an older card but I've seen it on NewEgg and Amazon.

http://www.asus.com/...ards/Xonar_D2X/

[pcdoc]

There should not be a difference between HDMI and Optical unless it is configured to run both at the same time. If you are running toslink, make sure you kill the HDMI sound device. It may help the issue. Although a more expensive way, you might look a for sale on a slightly new Onkyo and use HDMI for everything including using it as a switcher. Might be better money spent in the long run.

[thepregnantgod]

I have a very nearly identical setup. I was also having stuttering problems in TMT5 despite 50+MB network speed.

Turns out on my Win7x64 HTPC there is a default network throttle in the registry (read here http://support.microsoft.com/kb/948066) -

I tweaked my registry to 70 and - no problems since. I can stream easily, no stuttering, smooth playback.

Hope it works.

[Greg Welch]

nice find, we might need to scour this site and put tips like this under a collection topic