[mythtv-users] how to troubleshoot network congestion problems with mythtv

[Tim Coote]

Hullo
I seem to have quite a nasty variation in the latency of my home  
network (ethernet over power, using upa, Comtrend kit). I've got a  
simple set up with two computers. However, the ping times have a std  
dev of approx. 2x the mean ping time. With no traffic the ping time is  
~4ms, with peaks of 100ms+ every few seconds or so, when streaming  
live or recorded tv, ping times go up to >20ms (I've not yet measured  
the variation).

I cannot think how to troubleshoot the network, short of replacing the  
components, or maybe directly connecting the back/front end machines  
to ensure that the issue isn't the ip stacks on the computers. Is  
there any simple way to put in/increase the stream buffering that  
mythtv uses? I'm using 0.23 on fedora 12.

It would also give me some comfort to hear that my ping time variation  
is either common or rare, so that I can establish whether it's even  
worth trying to troubleshoot the network.

fwiw, the impact of the variation/congestion is stuttering on HD tv  
(live or recorded). cpu is very low (~20% of one cpu on frontend in  
top): I'm using vdpau. I think that as the issue arises for both  
recorded and live streams, then it shouldn't be disk related and the  
large variation in ping times between an empty and a used network  
indicates that it's a network issue.

tia

Tim