[Melzas]

I'm new here, so please be gentle

I have encountered a strange problem with XBMC. If I try to stream
(wired network) HD content from my pc to my htpc it just freezes after
a few seconds. When I use MPC HC it plays flawlessly. I took some screenshots to demonstrate the difference in network activity between the two programs:

Here's how it looks when I try to stream to XBMC:

It just stops after a couple of seconds, and there seems to be a
bandwidth cap at about 12 %.

And here is how it looks when I use MPC HC:


I have tried setting the network speed to 100 Mbps Full Duplex (as you
can see in the pics) but it didn't improve at all.

My htpc:

AMD Athlon II X4 600E 2,2GHz
4 gb RAM
Nvidia GeForce GT 220
The included network card on Asus M4A785TD-M EVO

The other PC:

Intel i7 860
4 gb RAM
XFX HD5770
The included network card on Asus P7P55D-E PRO

Router: Linksys WRT54GL with the latest Tomato firmware.

Both computers use Windows 7 x64. I have tried with XBMC 9.11 and the
nightly build r28586.
I have tried to mount the shares in XBMC in three different ways with the same result:

1. Map the shares as network drives on my htpc, and then just adding the
share in XBMC.
2. Exit home group. Add the shares as "smb://The IP of the computer/share name"
3. Exit home group. Add the shares as "smb://computer name/share name"

What am I doing wrong?

[kazama42]

which version of XBMC are you running?

[spiff]

it's called hardware accelerated decode. check the dsplayer branch and/or a new build of xbmc which has native dxva2 support (vista/7 only).

[Melzas]

which version of XBMC are you running?

I have tried both XBMC 9.11 and the nightly build r28586.

[Melzas]

it's called hardware accelerated decode. check the dsplayer branch and/or a new build of xbmc which has native dxva2 support (vista/7 only).

Yeah I know, but the files run without problems when I run the movie from the htpc's harddrive. That should mean that it's not a problem with my hardware? And besides, I have tried a recent build with DXVA enabled. That is not the problem.

[Melzas]

By the way, last night I tried VLC. It worked too. I don't understand why XBMC won't work unless I run the file from the htpc's harddrive!

[lefty420]

XBMC does will play back when you have installed the version that supports dxva2 as spiff kindly pointed out.
Grab xbmc-r28256-trunk.exe from here http://www.nl.kernel.org/pub/xbmc/nightlies/win32/ and remember to enable dxva in settings/video.

[Melzas]

XBMC does will play back when you have installed the version that supports dxva2 as spiff kindly pointed out.

First of all, I am very grateful for the replies!
But I must be a complete idiot, because I can't understand what difference the DXVA support (plus I already have DXVA enabled in XBMC) will do?

-The movie plays flawless from my htpc's (A) harddrive with or without DXVA enabled.
- It also plays perfectly on my other computer ( B ), with or without DXVA.

The problems occur when I try to stream files with XBMC from (A) to ( B ) or vice versa. As I have said before, I have tried with the latest build (r28256) so I have DXVA support. I can't understand why it works on MPC HC and VLC but not on XBMC.

Or am I totally missing the point? I really want to keep using XBMC!

[kraqh3d]

When it "stops", does it ever start back up again, or does Xbmc eventually go back to the menu? Reproduce the issue in debug mode and post a debug log for review.

[Melzas]

I would say that it's about 90/10, most cases it goes back to the menu after a while - but there have been times when it has been able to resume for less than a minute before stopping again.
I will run XBMC in debug mode when I get home from my business trip and hopefully find a solution, thanks man.

[Melzas]

When it "stops", does it ever start back up again, or does Xbmc eventually go back to the menu? Reproduce the issue in debug mode and post a debug log for review.

Ok, so first of all I would like to say that I reinstalled Windows 7 to see if there was some issue in the W7 install that caused this. But it turned out that the problem is unchanged. As I said before, if I play the same file from my htpc's harddrive it runs without a problem, if I try to stream it from my other pc XBMC freaks out after a while. The issue does not occur on Windows Media Center, VLC or Media Player Classic HC.

Anyway, I use the nightly r28586 as last time. I managed to get a debug log and hopefully someone can help sort this thing out.

http://pastebin.com/2tVkLLdH

[Melzas]

Btw, the render method was on auto detect on both times (when playing the file over the network and when playing the file from the harddrive of the htpc). The cpu usage was never over 30%.

[Snegir]

Hve you tried using an external player? Since MPC HC is working you might as well use it instead of using XBMC's internal player? It's a little more work though so it would be better if you could find another solution...

[Melzas]

Thanks for the tip, I'll keep it in mind but I would really want to make it work the ordinary way. But if it doesn't work I'll be sure to try the external player!

[Melzas]

Anyone?