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AaronG85 · 2013-02-23, 11:52

Hey guys i have my main XBMC running in the lounge room and using a power line kit I've got a laptop in my bedroom (hard wired network) with a second XBMC, Now all my media is backed up with MakeMKV and are all full hd (1920x1080) movies. Now when i play these in the bedroom i constantly get buffering throughout the movie and i know this is because of the slow power line network kit.

What my feature suggestions is, is an option in the settings where whenever you play movie you can set intervals before a movie plays so it has time to buffer (maybe 1min, 5min, 10min) and maybe a small intervals for tv shows (30sec, 1min, 3min).

I know this is not an option for everyone, but i think a few people would benefit from this feature.

BUT

If anyone knows of a way to beat this problem (besides updating my network or going wireless as these are not an option) i am all ears.

Thanks In Advance

Oxyg3n · 2013-02-23, 18:14

This is an idea that I believe has been posed in some way before.

However, you say you know its the PowerLine issue, can I ask how you know its specifically that, what speed does it run at?
What's the bitrate for the movies you have making in MakeMKV, are you setting the bitrate un-nessecarily high then trying to push that over an uncapable network?

Wireless N is an "acceptable" solution, it is capable (5Ghz, 300mbps) of pushing a decently encoded mkv (8-15MB/s) with enough to spare to provide a laptop of two with internet access without the general slow down?

Is XBMC the only thing accessing the network at the point of you watching or do you have several downloads running which may slow you down? Segmenting your network is probably a more effective way of combating your problems if this is the case

I do not believe XBMC is the culprit to your problem, I believe (from information you have told us thus far) it's more a network throughput problem, and without upgrading your powerline/installing ethernet/using wireless technologies -- you are always going to suffer the same problem. If it's going to take 14s to buffer 8s, you are never going to have enough to "just play"

DasMarx · 2013-02-23, 19:40

Hey Aaron,

i had similiar Problems with Powerlan and Wlan. Using SMB i had buffering Problems with those slow networks.
After switching to ftp i do get much better usage of the avaible bandwith (and better cache support). Maybe you should try that.

AaronG85 · 2013-02-24, 02:22

ftp?

HeresJohnny · (This post was last modified: 2013-02-24, 10:31 by HeresJohnny.)

As far as I kow, http provides the fastest data transfer, but ftp should be better than SMB, too. A buffering solution probably won't help you - as more data is transmitted than the connection can handle, the buffer will eventually run empty without being able to fill itself in the background.

**da-anda** · 2013-02-25, 10:16

I'd probably go with NFS. You could also shrink the movies with Handbrake to ~8 GB which works fine even on 54Mbit wifi. But what PowerLan do you have - shouldn't modern PowerLan adapters bring up to 300Mbit?

**Memphiz** · (This post was last modified: 2013-02-25, 13:42 by Memphiz.)

PowerLan is the same crap like wifi. Don't expect more the 30% of the printed marketing throughput in average.

saitoh183 · 2013-02-25, 18:04

(2013-02-25, 13:41)Memphiz Wrote: PowerLan is the same crap like wifi. Don't expect more the 30% of the printed marketing throughput in average.

Its only crap if your plugs are on the same electrical wire. I get great transfer rate(always green light) on my XBMC downstairs that is right next to my office but very average(Amber to red and sometimes green light) on my upstairs XBMC. So Powerlan is as good as your electrical setup...depending on where you plug it.