Wifi media player behaviour

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Rickles

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#98920 8-Mar-2012 23:12

I have used a wifi network-connected media player for some time now so that I can view video and play music (off the computer's hard drive) on the TV ... an analogue 29 inch, and this works fine for movies etc off the network.

Recently I installed a large digital flat screen, and connected the media player to that. Now, however, any selection of a video file takes ages to buffer and plays very stutteringly.

I'm wondering why this should now be happening? Surely not the increased screen size?

Cheers,

R.

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#592612 9-Mar-2012 06:12

Maybe.

What model media player?

I assume you had it connected via Composite to the 29" and now HDMI to the panel?

Maybe now that it is outputting in HD, it requires more bandwidth back to your PC.
Have you any way of running a cable from media player back to your router so that you can discount WiFi as the cause of the problem?

Rickles

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#592641 9-Mar-2012 08:44

Rob, media player is an Astone, and like I said has worked perfectly with the analogue TV.

Previous connection was as you surmise, composite video cable and two (L & R) RCA cables for sound.

I'm considering running CAT cable from router to media player, but the wifi is convenient .... so yes, will get hold of cabling to eliminate wifi for testing purposes.

Just trying to understand wht different technology and/or size Tv causes this.

R.

Deev8

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#592873 9-Mar-2012 18:46

Rickles: Previous connection was as you surmise, composite video cable and two (L & R) RCA cables for sound.

Have you tried using the same composite video cable and two (L & R) RCA cables for sound to connect it to the new TV - just to see if it then behaves the way it used to?

I know that won't be how you want to connect it to the new TV in the long term, but trying it might help work out where the issue is.

Rickles

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#592896 9-Mar-2012 19:32

Deev8, no not yet but I did think I'd try that tomorrow morning.

Will post results of that and the fixed-wire test.

Cheers,

R.

robjg63

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#592904 9-Mar-2012 19:44

So your suspicion is that the unit is struggling to upscale to a higher quality (larger) panel?
That would be my suspicion as well from the info you have given.
If it played a certain file ok over wifi before to your old TV and is now struggling it doesnt sound like your network connection should be the issue. More like the unit cant upscale the picture quickly enough.

Have you got the latest software installed on the unit?

Is your panel 1080p? Can you perhaps set the HDMI setting on the player to perhaps 720p and see if that plays better.

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

Rickles

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#592921 9-Mar-2012 20:07

Hi Rob,

Yes, that is my suspician but I've no idea why it happens ... a digital transmission is a digital transmission?

Media player has latest firmware, and the new TV is a Samsung 51 inch plasma with display resolution of 1360 x 768.

Ironically, it loads/buffers music perfectly well ... same as old set up. Playing video off an external hard drive via USB connection also works fine, and in fact the Samsung's built-in media player handles more formats than an older media player I had, so kudos to them for that.

Looking at the media player manual, component and hdmi outputs are rated 720 and 1080 so I'll also test changing those settings as you suggest.

R.

robjg63

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#592998 9-Mar-2012 21:41

If it plays a vid via USB drive fine but wont play the same file over the network then that would point back to a network issue as you first suggested.... Could it be that something has coincidentally changed on your wifi network recently?

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trig42

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#593020 9-Mar-2012 22:21

Just a thought.

Is your TV network connected? (I don't know if those HD-Ready Sammy plasma's are). Just that if it was, you could turn whatever is serving your content into a DLNA server and get the TV to do the work (thus rendering the media player unnecessary)

Rickles

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#593029 9-Mar-2012 22:44

trig42,

Yes, this TV is network capable, just needs Samsung's wifi dongle and I have thought of going that route.

However, for music the TV's media player only accepts MP3, and a I have disk full of WMA ... not that I couldn't run a mass conversion.

I'll run various tests tomorrow and take it from there.

Cheers,

R.

djtOtago

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#593030 9-Mar-2012 22:49

Just a thought.
It's possible the new TV is shielding the media player from the wireless signal causing lower connection speed. Try moving the the media play away from TV.

Rickles

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#593044 9-Mar-2012 23:07

UPDATE:

Couldn't go to bed without trying media player settings, so changed the TV System to "HDMI Auto" ... this setting takes the maximum resolution that the TV has available, in this case 1920 x 1080.

Tried a movie and then a TV recorded file, and it is now virtually back to what I was getting with the old TV, just a slight delay loading/buffering. After using fast-forward there is a slight 'stutter', but nothing bad and I'm guessing this is because my wifi router is still 802.11g.

Will still test using hardwire cable, but at least immediate problem solved, so many thanks to all who contributed.

gjtOtago - I have ferrite cores on each end of the TV's power cord (came with the TV) and also a spare one which I will place on the HDMI cable.

R.

Rickles

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#593095 10-Mar-2012 08:57

I spoke a little too soon because trying a few more movies and TV recordings either froze the media player or took inordinate time to load/buffer/convert.

Tried lower resolutions but same result, so leads me to suspect wifi too slow thereby media player not getting data fast enough to convert/upscale etc and push to larger TV screen OR, as suggested by djtOtago, wifi interference.

Next tests = 1: moving wifi away from TV, 2: hardwire network connection.

In the TV manual section dealing with Samsung's built-in media player and dongle combination it does say that videos may not play smoothly unless 802.11n is used, but maybe that is something specific to their proprietary setup ... or not!

Lovely sunny morning in Wellington ;-)

R.

xarqi

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#593099 10-Mar-2012 09:33

Have you tried the composite cable idea yet? That's the only way you are going to prove that the issue is one of media player processing power or similar (probable), or a network issue (very unlikely).

Rickles

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#593103 10-Mar-2012 10:03

xarqui,

No, haven't tried the composite cable yet, and TV doesn't have composite, just component/audio, but would prefer to stick with hdmi single cable of course).

BUT have just tried using a network cable from router to media player.

Result = stunningly fast load and play !! Obviously the larger digital screen does need more data quicker than the old analogue TV.

So the choice seems to be upgrade router to 802.11n, or hardwire network patch panels and cable.

R.

xarqi

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#593106 10-Mar-2012 10:15

Well, I'm glad you have a solution. It baffles me a bit though

The data the player needs to retrieve from the server is the same no matter what device it is then sending it to (possibly after some processing depending on the interface), so if it worked with the old system, it should work with the new. That didn't change, short of some bizarre network contention caused by the new TV, but as it isn't attached to the network, I don't see how that is possible, except maybe through RFI, and that would have to be pretty bad.

Maybe it is still a processor limitation in the player, or bad task scheduling. If it is bogged down doing upscaling for HDMI, maybe it doesn't get around to requesting new data from the server quite as quickly as it should. With a fast network link, it still arrives just in time, but with a slow one, it is late. If it is just going out as composite, it has less work to do and can request new data in time for it to arrive over a slow WiFi link.

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