[Jester]

Just out of curiosity, as an aside--is there a trick to running "top" on an ATV2? I just tried it, and got "command not found."

apt-get install top

[Jester]

@AngryFarmer

try getting some 720p .mkv H264 content and see if that plays fine.
and just for the fun of it, change your network cable

[menno]

There are two ways to get the dreaded "::Get - asked for new data packet, with nothing available".

1) Poor network speeds. Nuf said.

2) Trying to play something the atv2 cannot handle.
This one can mask as 1) but it's really easy to see in xbmc.log. If ffmpeg is used for software decode and you think it is 1), then it's most likely 2).

The internal player is trying to keep a/v in sync, it can't and then tried to skip ahead, that drains the demuxer queues and they need to be filled. When that does not happen in time... "::Get - asked for new data packet, with nothing available". Even if you look at 'top', CPU usage 'looks' ok but that's only because the internal player is thrashing about and not spending much time actually doing decode.

Well there is nothing wrong with my network speed, i got a 1gbit router, cat6 cable to it (atv2-router), and on the other end NAS/router (cat5) 1 gbit.
The Nas is a debian system running on a atom d525.

I must say that the videos never actually buffer but they just stutter an instant.

For point two, I only use scene rips which kinda eliminates that but heres a media info;

Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 2
File size : 3.27 GiB
Duration : 1h 23mn
Overall bit rate : 5 617 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2011-11-20 22:59:28
Writing application : mkvmerge v4.8.0 ('I Got The...') built on May 24 2011 03:12:58
Writing library : libebml v1.2.0 + libmatroska v1.1.0

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : [email protected]
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 5 frames
Muxing mode : Header stripping
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 1h 23mn
Bit rate : 4 110 Kbps
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 536 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 2.40:1
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.250
Stream size : 2.32 GiB (71%)
Writing library : x264 core 119 r2106 07efeb4
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=5 / deblock=1:-1:-1 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=umh / subme=7 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=12 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=4110 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / vbv_maxrate=50000 / vbv_bufsize=50000 / nal_hrd=none / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : Yes

Audio
ID : 2
Format : DTS
Format/Info : Digital Theater Systems
Muxing mode : Header stripping
Codec ID : A_DTS
Duration : 1h 23mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 1 510 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 24 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 899 MiB (27%)
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : Yes

[mylle]

Framerate on that file is 23.976 fps. ATV2 can only handle 50 or 60hz. That probably why you notice some stuttering. As far as i know nothing can be done about that on the ATV2 as developers has no control over the refreshrate unfortunately.

regards
Mylle

[canadave]

apt-get install top

Thanks worked.

[menno]

Framerate on that file is 23.976 fps. ATV2 can only handle 50 or 60hz. That probably why you notice some stuttering. As far as i know nothing can be done about that on the ATV2 as developers has no control over the refreshrate unfortunately.

regards
Mylle

All movies are 24p (almost all...) and I never suffered this before. 24p should be no problem, i am aware though that the atv2 cannot be put in a 24p output mode as it also cannot be put it a 1080p output mode.

[Berque]

Thanks worked.

Ent is this 'top' for? How this helps us?

[canadave]

top is a command that shows CPU and memory usage of running UNIX processes. I was just curious to see how the ATV2's usage was in those respects. Has nothing to do with XBMC.

[AngryFarmer]

Can somebody explain why does the network speed (download file using wget) falls by 50% when xbmc is running?

[Ned Scott]

Can somebody explain why does the network speed (download file using wget) falls by 50% when xbmc is running?

A lot is happening in a file transfer, so it requires some CPU resources. XBMC almost maxes out the CPU in some cases, depending on what it is doing and how the GUI is being rendered, etc.

[davilla]

Can somebody explain why does the network speed (download file using wget) falls by 50% when xbmc is running?

'top' and see how much CPU your network transfer gets vs what xbmc gets.

[g-off]

Can somebody explain why does the network speed (download file using wget) falls by 50% when xbmc is running?

XBMC will use all the grunt it can find to render the screen as quickly as it can - even if it is doing nothing.

[Berque]

'top' and see how much CPU your network transfer gets vs what xbmc gets.

top is a command that shows CPU and memory usage of running UNIX processes. I was just curious to see how the ATV2's usage was in those respects. Has nothing to do with XBMC.

Can you tell me what do i need to do after the installation of 'top' to see the usage?
What is the command and do i need to use putty?

[AngryFarmer]

Can you tell me what do i need to do after the installation of 'top' to see the usage?
What is the command and do i need to use putty?

Duh. Obviously the command is 'top' (no quotes).
Yes, you need putty or any other terminal (don't bother, just use putty)

[Berque]

GUUUUYYYSSSS ... What is the speeeeediest connection type with wirless? I'm using samba SMB and dont even know the other choices!