Why is net radio buffering when movies are fine..?

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doobre

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#224302 12-Nov-2017 02:44

I have found that net radio on various boxes and various stations are not playing without stuttering/buffering while at the same time a movie is fine. The stations used are from overseas and local and the same problem is on myrepublic and 2degrees. Fibre 100/100 static ip..
I did not have this problem with the same stations when listening overseas..

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#1899475 12-Nov-2017 07:10

You are further away than you used to be - somewhere along that route will be a bottleneck that can't cope with the traffic.

Movies are usually delivered from a local CDN so no issue.

gzt

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#1899573 12-Nov-2017 12:34

I'd suggest contacting your provider for a check.

You could post a couple of problem streams here and see how other people on different or the same services compare.

doobre

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#1899590 12-Nov-2017 13:52

Don't think distance is the issue as i am having the issue with Bfm in auckland, which is of course now much closer.. I get the feeling that audio only streams are seen as low priority and not being being given the same considerations as others..
Stations examples linn jazz, hi on line world, audiophile jazz, all 320 mp3 and as mentioned bfm which i think is 256..
I will start a thread for some feedback, see what others find... But doubt it will improve..
Cheers

hio77

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#1899592 12-Nov-2017 14:00

doobre: Don't think distance is the issue as i am having the issue with Bfm in auckland, which is of course now much closer.. I get the feeling that audio only streams are seen as low priority and not being being given the same considerations as others..
Stations examples linn jazz, hi on line world, audiophile jazz, all 320 mp3 and as mentioned bfm which i think is 256..
I will start a thread for some feedback, see what others find... But doubt it will improve..
Cheers

If you are getting buffering on a stream coming off ausa (auckland uni) then i suspect your issue is far closer to home than your choice of RSP.

All examples listed are perfect over Vodafone and Spark DSL links.

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doobre

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#1899595 12-Nov-2017 14:04

I suggest you listen for an extended period like several hours, them you will see what i mean.. But thanks for the reply..

RunningMan

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#1899596 12-Nov-2017 14:08

doobre: [snip]Don't think distance is the issue as i am having the issue with Bfm in auckland, which is of course now much closer..

Your original post implied the opposite. What sort of connection are you on? Is it saturated? Not using a VPN back to another country?

I think the suggestion that audio streaming traffic has a lower priority is without merit, not really something to bother looking at.

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hio77

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#1899601 12-Nov-2017 14:13

doobre: I suggest you listen for an extended period like several hours, them you will see what i mean.. But thanks for the reply..

Wait are we not talking a dropout within the span of 5-10 mins?

if so i'd be saying bursts of saturation...

Remember most movie streaming is buffered by many seconds rather than realtime traffic.

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doobre

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#1899602 12-Nov-2017 14:13

Hi there
I wasnt trying imply anything as i wanted an authentic responce based on peoples experience here. And if anything in the case of bfm i am very much closer. So i was trying to remove thedistance option.
But thanks for your reply..

richms

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#1899604 12-Nov-2017 14:17

I dont stream live audio, but I do find that spotify is affected quite noticibly when my xbox is doing a download on my slow VDSL connection, whereas youtube on the whole is largly uneffected. Not sure why as it doesnt happen often enough for me to bother seeing if there is any QOS I could apply to help it along.

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doobre

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#1899605 12-Nov-2017 14:18

@That vdsl cat... Ok i should use "saturation ". Not very well voiced in Internet speak..
So yes sometimes there is a gap for a second or two, sometimes just a couple of beats...

RunningMan

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#1899606 12-Nov-2017 14:21

If you are getting buffering every few hours on a realtime stream, I suggest doing absolutely nothing!

Movies (or any other prerecorded content) often comes in from close CDNs in big bursts, so the buffer can be minutes or more long - I think iTunes with an ATV basically downloads the entire movie at line speed when you start, so the buffer could be over an hour. A realtime stream may or may not come from a CDN, and the buffer size may be a lot smaller to reduce the delay - the tradeoff is a little congestion along the route can have a more noticeable impact.

Depending on what software you are using, you may be able to alter the buffer size to help?

EDIT: spelling

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doobre

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#1899607 12-Nov-2017 14:21

Thanks for your reply @richms

HowickDota

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#1899608 12-Nov-2017 14:22

If it's happening after an extended listening period it could be the web player. Try listening to one of the streams in VLC. http://streams.95bfm.com

richms

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#1899611 12-Nov-2017 14:26

Could also just be clock drift between the source and yours meaning that it has to rebuffer because it has used it all up. Consumer audio gear doesnt really have to be exactly in sync with each other and I know when I record using my sound card and also video cameras that the same recording will sometimes be a few seconds different on the devices over a few hours time.

Real audio processing chains will allow for that by slightly varying the playback clock depending on the state of the buffer to keep it at the same speed as the source material, others will do sample rate conversion on them, but basic crappy shoutcast type streams that most stations use dont provide any information in them like a real mpeg transport stream does to let the playback device keep in sync with the source.

Richard rich.ms

techricky

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#1900349 13-Nov-2017 18:51

I look after that bFM streaming server so if you ever want me to check the logs or anything I can..

Transmit buffers are set quite long to give a bit of leeway but at the higher bitrates that goes pretty fast!

Increasing player buffer length may help but I'm not sure how clever clients are at adding and skipping samples to maintain long term sync.

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