[mythtv] Video library playback using 802.11g wireless network

[Geoffrey Kruse]

  On Jul 13, 2005, at 5:21 AM, Eskil Brun wrote:

> After googling and searching the mythtv mailing lists I have not  
> found an answer to the following:
>
> I have just set up a mythtv backend (2.4ghz P4 with two pvr150  
> cards) that works just fine. Great work, guys!
>
> I use a 802.11g wireless network in my house. So far this has been  
> sufficient.
>
> I have been using mythfrontend on my macintosh Powerbook.
>
> Playing around with encoding and transcoding settings, I have found  
> out that MPEG4 with 1 megabit of transfer rate will give me  
> acceptable quality.
>
> Using the mythfrontend, playback will abort and return to the  
> frontend anywhere from a few minutes to a few seconds after starting.
>
> In the log on the backend I get this message:
>
>     WriteBlock zerocnt timeout
>
> Using HTTP for streaming the .nuv file from my backend to VLC on my  
> powerbook, playback is flawless and uninterrupted.
>
> Since I can use the frontend with a 100MB ethernet connection (i  
> have a switch) to my backend with no problem, I assume that the  
> unregular data rate of my wireless network combined with  
> insufficient video buffering is causing this.
>
> Both my frontend hosts have 1GB of system memory and I would like  
> to increase the buffering capacity of the mythfrontend software.
> Since my wireless network is fully capable of 1 megabit rate in  
> average (but not substained) this should solve my playback problems.
>
> My question is: Is this not possible due to how the frontend player  
> works? I know little about its workings.
> If possible, any hints to where in the source code I could try out  
> increasing buffer capacity would be helpful.
> Also, any comments about about what I would like to do is welcome.
>
> Also, where could I change the behaviour of the frontend from  
> aborting? Is it the backend aborting the stream?
>
> I could go diving in to the source code myself, but I would very  
> much like some advice.
>
> Eskil...
> :-)
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>

I have had similar issues.  Seems that using the myth protocol more  
than double the necessary data is being sent over the network.  So  
while everything is fine in vlc, using the myth protocol, 802.11 g  
runs out of bandwidth and the buffer runs out.  This causes the  
frontend to believe it has reached the end of the recording and it  
aborts.  I have not had time to track down why exactly myth is  
sending so much data but it has been doing so for a while.  Check for  
my previous thread regarding this topic.  It was recommended that I  
use nfs instead.


Geoff Kruse
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