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Vascular · 2012-02-26, 20:10

Allright, I have a ATV2 running ios 5.0.1 with beta3. Until beta3 I was able to play all 720p mkv's and most of my older xvid avi movies. My server is running ubuntu with nfs. The ATV2 is connected to my network via WIFI.

After upgrading to beta3 everything suddenly buffers. If you go through the logs you will see the same error again and again and again:

CDVDMessageQueue(audio)::Get - asked for new data packet, with nothing available

The weird thing is, downgrading to beta2 or beta1 doesn't solve the problem??

If I run a speedtest (downloading 1gb from a fast server) from the cli on the ATV2 I get a constant download of 2.0M/s.

log1:

http://pastebin.com/7vMhpcFE - Constant buffering not able to wacht the movie

log2:

http://pastebin.com/A1h9MXjK - Freeze frames and buffering every minute

log3:

http://pastebin.com/S1gEKr2t - Even the Big Bang Theory buffers.....

All these files are scene releases not edited by myself. All these files played without problems before beta3.

Let me know what you want me to try?

**Mister Negative** · 2012-02-26, 21:52

Vascular,

I'm getting the same errors in my log when hitting these constant buffering issues--

18:11:55 T:137342976 WARNING: CDVDMessageQueue(audio)::Get - asked for new data packet, with nothing available
18:11:58 T:129536000 WARNING: Previous line repeats 2 times.
18:11:58 T:129536000 WARNING: CDVDMessageQueue(video)::Get - asked for new data packet, with nothing available
18:11:58 T:129536000 INFO: CDVDPlayerVideo - Stillframe detected, switching to forced 23.976024 fps

This is from the other buffering thread currently on the front page of the ios forums (I start posting on page 18 - http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=114070) but I notice that you're on WiFi instead of Ethernet. In my case switching from Ethernet to WiFi actually cleared up my issues! I don't suppose it's possible for you to make a temporary switch to Ethernet to see if the problems persist? Maybe you can try an Ethernet over Power device, or move the ATV2 to a temporary location with Ethernet access and an HDMI display like a monitor? My issue is very obviously caused or resolved by changing the network interface as even the library navigation is faster, as well as seek speed when fast forwarding.

DLeavy · 2012-02-26, 22:36

davilla Wrote: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.

Just thought I'd post this bit from davilla - was a good explaination of that error.

Any chance you also upgraded your iOS version recently? Latest iOS version is sucking more resources (i.e. less for XBMC)

**Mister Negative** · 2012-02-26, 22:45

Hopefully I'm not hijacking Vascular's thread but you've certainly given me something to think about and to test. I was wondering how Ethernet could give worse performance than wireless (I even tried a new, store bought cable and bypassed by switch and in-wall wiring because I thought perhaps I was suffering packet loss) but now that you've mentioned Davilla's information I'm thinking it could be a QoS issue that my router is only applying over Ethernet.

I am and always have been running iOS 4.4.4 as that's what I did the jailbreak with. Weirdly I didn't experience these issues on Beta 1, nor did I update or otherwise change settings in my router, but that doesn't mean the router isn't at fault.

Thanks for the idea! I'll post back my results.

DLeavy · 2012-02-26, 23:15

@Vascular Have you tried the suggestions in the FAQ?

http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=XBM...choppiness

Vascular · 2012-02-27, 00:13

I have tried everything I could find, I also found the post somebody quoted from Davilla. Nothing changes my situation but the strangest part is the fact that it all started after upgrading to beta3.

My ios version hasn't changed, my network hasn't changed and my server hasn't changed. Only the xbmc version! But what makes the whole situation weird is the fact that downgrading xbmc to beta2 or beta1 doesn't solve my problems.

So I have no clue what is going on.....

Vascular · 2012-02-27, 00:17

I am getting a long network cable so I can test with the cable but that still doesn't explain why this suddenly started happening! And why downgrading doesn't solve it....
Devs, could there be something in a upgrade that stays even if you downgrade? Only other thing I could try is wipe the atv2 and start from scratch with beta1 without ever having beta3 installed? If that fixes the issue it could tell a lot about all the buffering issues everybody is having?

**Mister Negative** · (This post was last modified: 2012-02-27, 01:13 by Mister Negative.)

Okay, I'm back with the results of my findings...

My router is an E2000 running DD-WRT 16785. I made sure QoS was disabled and checked for any settings that would impact Ethernet performance but came up empty. I had the idea of just bridging the connection between my host computer sharing the content and the ATV2, so I used a cheap 10/100 switch to act as a coupler+crossover and only connected the two devices, each with their own static IPs.

Lo and behold everything plays great over Ethernet. Even my Xvid test file that normally makes my ATV2 buffer every 15 seconds over Ethernet and skips terribly on wireless performed, get this, flawlessly. H264 files were all okay. I power cycled the router and plugged both devices back into it (keep in mind there are no switches in line between them) and instantly all of my problems returned. I'm using all of the exact same wiring with this test, which confirms that the problem lies in either my router or in the way XBMC handles buffering. I didn't have this problem until beta 2 and I hadn't so much as power cycled my router since beta 1 but my fix is a direct connection, with wireless being the second best option.

I have two Ethernet drops by my home theater computer and since it only had a 10/100 card on-board I have a gigabit PCI card installed in it. I'm just going to connect the gigabit connection to the switch in the home theater and use what used to be the dedicated cable directly from the computer's 10/100 port to the ATV 2, bypassing all other network devices entirely. I'll post back my results later.

Edit: Wait, that's a terrible idea if I want online functionality for the Apple TV. I guess I'll keep digging...

**Mister Negative** · 2012-02-27, 04:43

Quick update: I added a gigabit switch with the ATV2 on one port, the hosting computer on another port and then connected the switch to the router. Now I've got full performance, full connectivity and full reliability. I'll keep testing, but no news is good news!

Thanks everyone.

**akevit** · 2012-03-06, 02:05

Was anything else plugged into your router? What about to your switch? Either will slow down speeds to the slowest device on your network.

**Mister Negative** · (This post was last modified: 2012-03-06, 02:15 by Mister Negative.)

akevit Wrote:Was anything else plugged into your router? What about to your switch? Either will slow down speeds to the slowest device on your network.

ATV2 was plugged into one port on the router, sharing computer on another port. Often times these were the only devices powered on throughout the network (not counting another switch with no active devices at night), and moving them to a switch connected to the same router entirely fixed the problem. See the other buffering thread for more insight.

And proper networking equipment will only resort to the lowest common denominator during communication between those devices. I never expected the ATV2 to operate at gigabit speeds (and as I've proven in my test, it doesn't need to).

**Memphiz** · 2012-03-06, 11:03

Wonky router then. Or wonky router setup (might even not have a setting to change this).

ATV2 only has 100mbit/s ethernet. This is totally sufficient. I formyself use a tp-link wr1043nd running openwrt. It has a gigabit switch in it and i have connected my atv2 and nas directly to it and some other stuff via wlan. The switch only acts as a switch on local traffic. Thats how it should be for all routers (even with stock firmware). Obviously there are routers out there someone just didn't make his home work.

(of course i can imagine thousands of setups where the local traffic is routed over the wan interface and back for doing shaping or inspection or firewalling or whatever. But that would be a crap setup then ...)

**Mister Negative** · 2012-03-06, 19:26

I have no doubt that if anything is misbehaving it's my router as there's no reason for LAN traffic crossing it to get shaped in that manner. I have DD-WRT set to nearly stock settings, save for its wireless configuration.

For some reason connecting the Apple TV 2 to the router via wireless and the SMB share to Ethernet also worked. I still can't wrap my head around that behavior, but maybe wireless traffic is given some sort of priority in my router's firmware, especially since I use WPA2-AES.

The purpose of my posting all of this isn't to derail the developers into investigating the behaviors of cheap, low-end routers but to give other members a quick way to troubleshoot whether or not it's their very network causing the issue. The developers (Memphiz) giving me the idea to just copy a test file straight onto the ATV2 was great and it set me in the right direction.

For anyone having these buffering issues just try to eliminate your network entirely as a test. It really shouldn't take too long for someone comfortable with manual IP addresses to connect the player and the source straight together with Ethernet and try again. If it works, try my fix or start digging into your router. If it doesn't you can copy the file onto the device long enough to determine if it's a codec issue.

**akevit** · 2012-03-06, 19:51

It seems like my issue has been fixed by setting the audio output to Optical/Coax in the Audio Output (even though I'm using HDMI). This is outlined in the FAQ but I forgot to do this on my new ATV. The other one seems to be performing better with the latest nightly, however I haven't recreated the test environment of heavier network usage while someone else is home.

luca_c · (This post was last modified: 2012-03-13, 19:17 by luca_c.)

if you have problems playing SD videos try to turn off Interlacing..... it work fine for me
....during playback, in video settings

Smile