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Hello everyone,

Thanks for your help on my previous topic, now new problems have emerged.

From Mac via SMB(SMBup):
+Excellent video/sound quality, no subtitle issues
-Buffering issues with files larger than 5GB normally
-Playback is not constantly perfectly smooth. Some periods it is, some sequences are a bit choppy(dropped frames?).
-Files pause randomly for buffering (i.eg. after 30 minutes) and if I press play button twice it keeps playing. It seems like the connection gets killed sometimes?

From Mac via AFP (I don't use this!):
+Excellent video/sound quality
-Buffering issues with files larger than 5GB normally, subtitle issues, playback is not constantly perfectly smooth. Some periods it is, some sequences are a bit choppy(dropped frames?).

NFS does not work whatsoever on my Mac.

ICEFILMS:
+ Excellent video/sound quality, no buffering issues, no subtitle issues
- Playback is not constantly perfectly smooth. Some periods it is, some sequences are a bit choppy(dropped frames?).

Setup:
ATV2 connected via HDMI to Sony Bravia TV
Optical sound is connected to the TV - Sound is sent through HDMI on the ATV
Both ATV and MacBook Pro(late 2008) is connected to my router via wireless (g, not n)
Running the latest stable XBMC, not nightly or monthly or anything.


Any solutions for the smoothness? Also anyone that has some ideas for the random pausing over SMB? The buffering issue with big files is not an important problem, I think this is just due to the files being too big for my network to handle.

First: Did you try a wired connection instead of wireless (especially as you are using g not n)
Second: Where is your log file?
Third: Did you check what the Wiki suggest about buffering issues?

And read the nfs wiki for get the nfs working (link in my signature).

Thank you for your answers guys.

I did the following:
-Mac, after hours and hours of setting up, NFS is finally running, and I am using this. Disabled SMB and AFP altogether
-Running wired on ATV now: This made me able to stream bigger files with no or less buffering, like 1080p MKV's, while the MacBook still being on the g wifi
-ATV2 menu: Chose 720p@50hz
-ATV2 menu: Chose 16 bit as Audio Output
-ATV2 menu: Disabled the native Airplay server
-XBMC menu: Chose Optical/Coax, even though I run sound through HDMI
-XBMC menu: Made sure "Sync playback to display" is disabled
-XBMC menu: Disabled "Extract thumbnails and video information
-XBMC menu: Ensured that "Allow hardware acceleration (VideoToolbox) is enabled
-SSH: Cleared cache except .plist at /private/var/mobile/Library/Caches/AppleTV/Video/LocalAndRental

Providing a log file - hope it's not too big:

LOG FILE

-I started playing a 7GB MKV. It buffers about every minute, in the start, and then gets ofter and ofter. When playing, the playback is not completely smooth(dropping frames?), a bit better than for I recon though.
-Then I put on a 4GB MKV. No buffering issues. When playing, the playback is not completely smooth(dropping frames?). Enabled subtitles and that did not worsen/improve anything.
-Then I started a video from "an online stream", skipping a bit around to find some light scenes. No buffering issues.When playing, the playback is not completely smooth, also better than before I recon though(dropping frames?).
-Started another "online stream" video, same as previous.
-Started one last, same.

Any suggestion as to how to get the last judder/stutter/dropping frames or whatever it is away?

Also, is the only thing I can do to get rid of buffering on the big (5+ GB) files on NFS to get a faster router or connect my Mac wired?

Thank you for your help guys!

Just throw wifi g out of the window. I refuse to support this. Get it wired or at least N wifi on the mac to router side.

For the files the mediainfo (wiki) output might be interesting though.

I'm not quiet sure if disable sync to display (do you mean vsync?) is a good idea. Beside that you could try with 60Hz instead of 50Hz. If its microjitter its mostly because of 23,96fps content played back on tv refreshrates which are not multiple of that.

And your log is not usefull because you didn't enable debug logging (settings->system->debug).

Ok, ignore the wifi related issues, and let's just focus on the online streams, since the ATV2 is connected with ethernet.

Sync to display is disabled by default, and it seems like a lot of people say this is how it should be, including the FAQ. I have tried both 60 and 50hz, it seems like it's exactly the same?

I will provide a new log as soon as pos with debugging on.

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