[themagicrat]

Quick background. Jailbroke my ATV2 about 7 or 8 weeks ago. Awesome. Watched some movies - mkv blur-ray rips. Everything was great.

Went out purchased another ATV2 to replace the one I took from the living room upstairs. Jailbroke it. Great. My wife was able to watch True Blood Blu-ray rips upstairs.

Then we tried to watch NINE - a dvd-rip. Buffering. Lots and lots of buffering.

Did research. Concluded from this forum that it had to be the file format that wasn't supported. Someone suggested because it was a 720divx file. Fine. Tried for a few more days then returned the second unit.

I then purchased a WDTV unit. Returned it. Debated making a unit - just not in that frame of mind at the moment (twins were on they way - they are here now - I am currently at work on my break which is way I am able to write this). Purchased a Boxee Box worked great - love the 1080p - hate the lack of fanart and the way the movie menu is sorted (or lack of sorting options), most of my files are DVD rips so not missing much with the 720. Spent the last two weeks debating whether or not to keep it.

Returned it last night. And repurchased an ATV2. Why? I'll tell you why.

Because that same file - NINE (there were others that I tested before I returned the unit originally that wouldn't play - Deadwood episodes for example) started to play. Out of curiosity I went to my first Jailbroken ATV2 and gave it a go. No buffering. At all. Why? Not wanting to lose out on my ability to return the Boxee Box - it was returned. Still need to re-jailbreak the new ATV2.

Long story long. My question is this why is it playing all of a sudden? I didn't not update the XBMC. Computer and router the same. The only difference is the Hard-Drive (external usb - WD). Last week I purchased a new hard-drive for backup purposes and it is currently acting as my master drive.


Is it possible that it was the hard-drive all along? I watched several hours of programing last night - solely DVD rips - the same type that was buffering just weeks earlier - with no issue.

Thanks
C

ps sorry for the length of this post - but my story had to be told.

[hafr]

I have a very hard time believing it was the hard drive. I can't play any 720p xvid rips at all, but there is no problem playing other things with three times the bit rate.

But why don't you just put the file on the old disk and try again?

[themagicrat]

haha I guess I was too excited or baffled that the files were playing. Or convinced that it was in fact the drive itself.

I will test it tonight.

But without a doubt this file would not play a few weeks back, and now it does. Several attempts made to play it. I could probably recite the opening five minutes of the film verbatim that is how many times I re-watched the scene trying to determine the issue.

Just for clarification it was a divx file. I know essentially the same as xvid.

I have tried several films last night that are 720p DVD files that all played.

[Memphiz]

dvdrip with 720p resolution? how stupid is that? DVD has only sd resolution - it doesn't benefit from blowing it up to 720p...

beside that ... are you using wlan on the atv2 units?

[themagicrat]

dvdrip with 720p resolution? how stupid is that? DVD has only sd resolution - it doesn't benefit from blowing it up to 720p...

beside that ... are you using wlan on the atv2 units?

I know right? This was point a made a few weeks back. All I know is that when I rip a newer DVD the output after running through DVD convertor is a file that is roughly on average 1.8gigs. Sometimes a bit less or more.

Regardless the file that didn't play now plays.

To be honest whenever I feel like I understand the whole DVD quality issue something comes up to make me doubt my understanding. All I know is that newer DVDs always output a better quality than my older ones. Obvious I know, but results in a different output file.

Thanks for the discussion

[johnny121b]

Just a thought:

If your ATV2 is operating via wireless, it may be connecting at differing rates.

If your XBMC is set up to update the library upon startup, it may also be busy in the background.