Wd tv live wont stream 1080p files without stuttering

[pleo2005]

I have just purchased a Wd TV live but I am having problems streaming 1080p files from my PC.
I have tested the network speed by using my laptop and it is running at 20mbps which should be more than fast enough.

Can anyone help please

Cheers

[KAD79]

20mbps is not enough for most blu-ray

average blu-ray is 25 mbps

and I personal have some that are up to 45 mbps + you need room for protocol overhead

[pleo2005]

Is there anyway I can increase the bandwidth, maybe a faster router (I have a wireless n router)

[KAD79]

first check your router and make sure it’s set up properly

here’s a page about how to set up N spec routers

http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Wireless-N_Configuration

doesn’t matter that the artical is DD-WRT, the same security and specs apply to all N routers

also if check the location of your router

the more distance the signal must travel the lower throughput

also walls etc signal must path through will have an effect as well

[Strider_Nemesis]

If you’re willing to buy another router, you may as well try a WD Livewire or similar device, especially if you find it impossible to run an Ethernet cable from the router to the WD TV (which would be the best solution).

But before that, you could try tweaking your router’s settings. It appears that, even though your router is Wireless-N, you’re operating at Wireless-G speeds (~20 Mbps), unless you’re far away from the unit or your laptop doesn’t support 802.11n.

Without knowing the brand of your router, I can tell you to try the following:

• Make sure you’re running WPA2 security, as Wireless-N requires it.

• Check that WMM is enabled in your router (if the option is available), as the 802.11n specification says it’s required to achieve Wireless-N speeds.

• If you have a 300+ Mbps (as opposed to a 150 Mbps one), the WD TV works better with a 40 MHz channel width (which is needed to reach 300 Mbps), as the manual says.

• If your speed still suffers, try switching your router’s channel. Usually 3, 6, 9 and 11 are the best. It all depends on the amount of devices in your vecinity running on each one of these channels.

[pleo2005]

I will try all the above

Thanks everyone

[mike27oct]

@ pleo2005

First question:  is the 20mbps speed your speed when you test the internet speed, or your network speed of wireless?  There is a diff!

As stated above, it is very important that your N-router be set up accurately; especially if you have G and N devices both connected to your router.  If not, you will get ONLY G speed.  My N-router’s instructions give a “heads-up” regarding this and it explains how to set it up so N devices get the proper high speed connection, and the G devices get the 54mbps connection.

So, if your PC’s wireless connection is indicating 20mbps (and not 54mbps) you likely have a weak signal (bps slows down as signal get weaker).  Also, likely due to distance between units.  So, check into this, too. 

All this will require digging into the complete user manual of your router.  If you haven’t downloaded it yet, now is a good time to do so.

You should not have a problem if it is all set up right.  I could view 1080p OK using a G-router, even before I got the N router.  But then, I was getting 54mbps everywhere in the house, too.

[ncarver]

Certainly it is possible to view “1080P” files over wifi, if the files have low enough bitrate, but full blu-ray quality files are another matter.  The OP said nothing about the bitrate of the files he is having trouble with, and that would be very helpful to know.  In the experiments I have done with our SMPs, I was never able to get sustained streaming throughput of more than about 22Mbps over wifii, despite optimal settings, a directional antenna and 100% signal strength, and the wifi router reporting a 300Mbps connection speed.  Since many blu-ray ripped files are 25-40Mbps, I considered the wifi a bust.  Also tried a powerline device from Dlink that claims “up to 500Mbps,” and that was able to sustain a throughput of about 33Mbps.  Good enough for quite a few blu-ray rips, but not all.  Only a wired connection has worked flawlessly for all blu-ray quality files, which is not suprising given that test files of 60Mbps work fine.  My experiments led me to run Ethernet to my upstairs SMP (the downstairs already was connected that way).  If that had not turned out to be possible, I would have pursued producing compressed versions of the files.  With the 40" TV we have upstairs, 30GB blu-ray files can be compressed to like 10GB without really noticeable artifacts.  Such files, still 1080P, can be streamed over wifi without problems, but the 30GB originals cannot.

[mike27oct]

@ncarver

Interesting stats – I had not actually gotten measurements as you did.  Suffice to say that if one wants to watch quality BD ripped MKV files, wired is the way to go at the least – better yet, direct from attached HDD into WDTV, and that’s just how we watch them.  Rarely watch them going thru our (gigabit) wired home network or 5G wireless.  Most all work this way, too, though. 

As an experiment, I have actually watched some BD MKV files (I’ve created for TV viewing) streamed through the 5G wireless to my iPad, and they worked well.  Program doing the streaming is VLC Streamer app running on iPad and concurrently on PC.  The success rate can be spotty, and due to differences in BD qualities and bit rate, I’m sure. 

I do think the OP’s problems are simply weak wireless signal, for all the afore mentioned reasons.

[Huggy]

@ the OP.

It would be useful to know what form your 1080p files are in. Unencoded or encoded. As Mike27Oct says, you would have a better chance of less stuttering if they are compressed.

[pleo2005]

I think its my internet speed I’m testing not my wifi speed

What’s the best way to test my wifi speed

[Techflaws]

Concerning compressed or uncompressed video: just download Bitrate Viewer and scan the file that’s stuttering and report back the average and peak bitrate.

[ncarver]

One of the easiest ways to get an idea of what throughput you can get to your SMP is to download the Jellyfish Bitrate Test Files, and work your way up until you start to get rebuffering problems:  http://jell.yfish.us/

[pleo2005]

The file I’m trying to play is a film called expendables 2 and I ripped just the film from the bluray.
The file is 22.8gb and bitrate viewer says the average bitrate is 34906 and peak bitrate is 40435.

I guess its too big to stream

Would 200mbps home plugs be any better

[Huggy]

Suggest you encode it in handbrake.  That will get it down to about 8Gb, and may give your streaming a chance without paying out for anything more.

[ncarver]

As I already stated, my experience with “500 Mbps” Dlink powerline/HomePlug units was that while they were faster (and more reliable due to paired usage) than “n” wifi, they could not sustain the bitrate required for the listed video.  Also, the speed the HomePlug devices can achieve is wiring dependent.  I found that the two plugs I wanted to use reported highest speed range.  Other plug pairings I tried were worse (sometimes much worse) than the 33 Mbps sustained I reported.

[KAD79]

powerline and wifi both work just fine for me

and since I’m the only person that I know of that has run reliable throughput testing on the SMP

Powerline is heavily dependant on the wiring, and how much you have going through the same plugs

wifi depends on setting up your router correctly, distance from device, signal interference etc

protocol used will make a big difference NFS vs SMB vs DNLA

SMB (windows file sharing) is generally the slowest option available

here’s some original test results

test bed

Ubuntu Server 12:10

Switch ASUS GX-D1081

Router Linksys E3000 (running DD-WRT) actually the switch will by pass the router completely

powerline adaptor Linksys PL300

file used for test is on an external drive connected to PC

The results NFS

~ # uname -a
Linux WDTVLive 2.6.22.19-49-4 #11 PREEMPT Wed Oct 24 11:51:56 CST 2012 mips unknown
~ #
~ # /usrdata/.wd_tv/theme/Beta/bandwidth_test “/tmp/media/nfs/192.168.1.123/Action2/Fire With Fire.avi”
Pass #1:Timing ‘Fire With Fire.avi’(769085 KB)… Time: 1:33 min, 8 MB/sec (67 Mb/sec)
Pass #2:Timing ‘Fire With Fire.avi’(769085 KB)… Time: 1:36 min, 8 MB/sec (65 Mb/sec)
Pass #3:Timing ‘Fire With Fire.avi’(769085 KB)… Time: 1:37 min, 8 MB/sec (64 Mb/sec)
Pass #4:Timing ‘Fire With Fire.avi’(769085 KB)… Time: 1:37 min, 8 MB/sec (64 Mb/sec)
Pass #5:Timing ‘Fire With Fire.avi’(769085 KB)… Time: 1:37 min, 8 MB/sec (64 Mb/sec)
Pass #6:Timing ‘Fire With Fire.avi’(769085 KB)… Time: 1:37 min, 8 MB/sec (64 Mb/sec)
Pass #7:Timing ‘Fire With Fire.avi’(769085 KB)… Time: 1:38 min, 8 MB/sec (64 Mb/sec)
Pass #8:Timing ‘Fire With Fire.avi’(769085 KB)… Time: 1:40 min, 7 MB/sec (63 Mb/sec)
Pass #9:Timing ‘Fire With Fire.avi’(769085 KB)… Time: 1:37 min, 8 MB/sec (64 Mb/sec)
Pass #10:Timing ‘Fire With Fire.avi’(769085 KB)… Time: 1:37 min, 8 MB/sec (64 Mb/sec)

Average Transfer speed after 10 passes is: 64 Mb/sec

and the same File via Samba

~ # /usrdata/.wd_tv/theme/Beta/bandwidth_test “/tmp/media/samba/DYGERTSERVER/Extra/Action2/Fire With Fire.avi”
Pass #1:Timing ‘Fire With Fire.avi’(769085 KB)… Time: 13:23 min, 0 MB/sec (7 Mb/sec)
Pass #2:Timing ‘Fire With Fire.avi’(769085 KB)… Time: 13:26 min, 0 MB/sec (7 Mb/sec)
Pass #3:Timing ‘Fire With Fire.avi’(769085 KB)… Time: 13:22 min, 0 MB/sec (7 Mb/sec)
Pass #4:Timing ‘Fire With Fire.avi’(769085 KB)… Time: 13:16 min, 0 MB/sec (7 Mb/sec)
Pass #5:Timing ‘Fire With Fire.avi’(769085 KB)… Time: 13:9 min, 0 MB/sec (7 Mb/sec)
Pass #6:Timing ‘Fire With Fire.avi’(769085 KB)… Time: 13:25 min, 0 MB/sec (7 Mb/sec)
Pass #7:Timing ‘Fire With Fire.avi’(769085 KB)… Time: 13:23 min, 0 MB/sec (7 Mb/sec)
Pass #8:Timing ‘Fire With Fire.avi’(769085 KB)… Time: 13:26 min, 0 MB/sec (7 Mb/sec)
Pass #9:Timing ‘Fire With Fire.avi’(769085 KB)… Time: 13:27 min, 0 MB/sec (7 Mb/sec)
Pass #10:Timing ‘Fire With Fire.avi’(769085 KB)… Time: 13:23 min, 0 MB/sec (7 Mb/sec)

Average Transfer speed after 10 passes is: 7 Mb/sec

The Samba results, are absolutely horrible and yes the numbers are correct 7 Mb/sec

Wirless Test

~ # uname -a
Linux WDTVLive 2.6.22.19-49-4 #11 PREEMPT Wed Oct 24 11:51:56 CST 2012 mips unknown
~ # iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

tunl0     no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11bgn  ESSID:“DYGERTNET”  Nickname:“WIFI@REALTEK”
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.437 GHz  Access Point: 68:7F:74:A9:68:A0   
          Bit Rate: 300 Mb/s   Sensitivity:0/0  
          Retry: off   RTS thr: off   Fragment thr: off
          Encryption key:****-****-****-****-****-****-****-****   Security mode: open
          Power Management: off
          Link Quality=58/100  Signal level=-66 dBm  Noise level=0 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

~ # ifconfig
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:90:A9:C3:41:21  
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:128
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
          Interrupt:65

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:42143 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:42143 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:6264151 (5.9 MiB)  TX bytes:6264151 (5.9 MiB)

wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:90:A9:C3:41:21  
          inet addr:192.168.1.108  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          UP BROADCAST NOTRAILERS RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:132633 errors:0 dropped:9502 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:8674 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:197099896 (187.9 MiB)  TX bytes:1550873 (1.4 MiB)

So first using NFS

~ # /usrdata/.wd_tv/theme/Beta/bandwidth_test “/tmp/media/nfs/192.168.1.123/Action2/Fire With Fire.avi”
Pass #1:Timing ‘Fire With Fire.avi’(769844 KB)… Time: 2:34 min, 5 MB/sec (40 Mb/sec)
Pass #2:Timing ‘Fire With Fire.avi’(769844 KB)… Time: 2:19 min, 5 MB/sec (45 Mb/sec)
Pass #3:Timing ‘Fire With Fire.avi’(769844 KB)… Time: 2:22 min, 5 MB/sec (44 Mb/sec)
Pass #4:Timing ‘Fire With Fire.avi’(769844 KB)… Time: 2:23 min, 5 MB/sec (44 Mb/sec)
Pass #5:Timing ‘Fire With Fire.avi’(769844 KB)… Time: 2:30 min, 5 MB/sec (42 Mb/sec)
Pass #6:Timing ‘Fire With Fire.avi’(769844 KB)… Time: 2:26 min, 5 MB/sec (43 Mb/sec)
Pass #7:Timing ‘Fire With Fire.avi’(769844 KB)… Time: 2:22 min, 5 MB/sec (44 Mb/sec)
Pass #8:Timing ‘Fire With Fire.avi’(769844 KB)… Time: 2:33 min, 5 MB/sec (41 Mb/sec)
Pass #9:Timing ‘Fire With Fire.avi’(769844 KB)… Time: 2:31 min, 5 MB/sec (41 Mb/sec)
Pass #10:Timing ‘Fire With Fire.avi’(769844 KB)… Time: 2:31 min, 5 MB/sec (41 Mb/sec)

Average Transfer speed after 10 passes is: 42 Mb/sec

next up is Samba

~ # /usrdata/.wd_tv/theme/Beta/bandwidth_test “/tmp/media/samba/DYGERTSERVER/Extra/Action2/Fire With Fire.avi”
Pass #1:Timing ‘Fire With Fire.avi’(769844 KB)… Time: 10:43 min, 1 MB/sec (9 Mb/sec)
Pass #2:Timing ‘Fire With Fire.avi’(769844 KB)… Time: 10:20 min, 1 MB/sec (10 Mb/sec)
Pass #3:Timing ‘Fire With Fire.avi’(769844 KB)… Time: 13:23 min, 0 MB/sec (7 Mb/sec)
Pass #4:Timing ‘Fire With Fire.avi’(769844 KB)… Time: 10:49 min, 1 MB/sec (9 Mb/sec)
Pass #5:Timing ‘Fire With Fire.avi’(769844 KB)… Time: 10:19 min, 1 MB/sec (10 Mb/sec)
Pass #6:Timing ‘Fire With Fire.avi’(769844 KB)… Time: 10:28 min, 1 MB/sec (10 Mb/sec)
Pass #7:Timing ‘Fire With Fire.avi’(769844 KB)… Time: 12:49 min, 1 MB/sec (8 Mb/sec)
Pass #8:Timing ‘Fire With Fire.avi’(769844 KB)… Time: 12:36 min, 1 MB/sec (8 Mb/sec)
Pass #9:Timing ‘Fire With Fire.avi’(769844 KB)… Time: 11:58 min, 1 MB/sec (8 Mb/sec)
Pass #10:Timing ‘Fire With Fire.avi’(769844 KB)… Time: 11:6 min, 1 MB/sec (9 Mb/sec)

Average Transfer speed after 10 passes is: 8 Mb/sec

now, I’ve put some new hardware in

Wireless Test over NFS

Ubuntu Server

Asus RT-AC66U

Switch HP1910-8G

~ # /conf/bandwidth_test /tmp/media/nfs/192.168.1.123/Action2/Lawless.avi
Pass #1:Timing ‘Lawless.avi’(877120 KB)… Time: 1:14 min, 12 MB/sec (97 Mb/sec)
Pass #2:Timing ‘Lawless.avi’(877120 KB)… Time: 1:10 min, 12 MB/sec (102 Mb/sec)
Pass #3:Timing ‘Lawless.avi’(877120 KB)… Time: 1:14 min, 12 MB/sec (97 Mb/sec)
Pass #4:Timing ‘Lawless.avi’(877120 KB)… Time: 1:19 min, 11 MB/sec (90 Mb/sec)
Pass #5:Timing ‘Lawless.avi’(877120 KB)… Time: 1:13 min, 12 MB/sec (98 Mb/sec)
Pass #6:Timing ‘Lawless.avi’(877120 KB)… Time: 1:15 min, 11 MB/sec (95 Mb/sec)
Pass #7:Timing ‘Lawless.avi’(877120 KB)… Time: 1:17 min, 11 MB/sec (93 Mb/sec)
Pass #8:Timing ‘Lawless.avi’(877120 KB)… Time: 1:19 min, 11 MB/sec (90 Mb/sec)
Pass #9:Timing ‘Lawless.avi’(877120 KB)… Time: 1:19 min, 11 MB/sec (90 Mb/sec)
Pass #10:Timing ‘Lawless.avi’(877120 KB)… Time: 1:19 min, 11 MB/sec (90 Mb/sec)

Average Transfer speed after 10 passes is: 94 Mb/sec

Same File using Samba

/conf/bandwidth_test /tmp/media/samba/DYGERTSERVER/Extra/Action2/Lawless.avi

Pass #1:Timing ‘Lawless.avi’(877120 KB)… Time: 14:12 min, 1 MB/sec (8 Mb/sec)
Pass #2:Timing ‘Lawless.avi’(877120 KB)…

Sorry, I’m not patient enough to let it run a full test on Samba

btw if anybody wants a copy of the bandwidth_test script just let me know, but to run it you will need root access,

which I’m not helping anybody with

[mike27oct]

@KAD79

Thanks for all the detailed “minutia” regarding your tests above. As helpful as it may be to some, the BOTTOM LINE for most people is as follows:

*  If you attach a drive to your WD with your ISO and MKV movie files on it, you likely won’t have any problems viewing your movies on your TV, unless you have your WD configured incorrectly or your movie files are ripped incorrectly.

*  If you attempt to view your movie files via wired network shares from a location other than an HDD on the WD player, you likely won’t have problems viewing standard 1080p movies made from a DVD.  If you have a gigabit network with great throughput, you likely won’t have many problems viewing blu-ray movie MKV files.

*  If you attempt any of this via a wireless network and network shares;  good luck!  Your wireless network needs at least to be from a G router (although  N is much better) and you need excellent and consistant signal strength at 54mbps or better for good streaming of 1080p HD files from a standard DVD; and you most likely will get stuttering if viewing an MKV made from a BD disc.  Some, but not all, can play correctly without problems (e.g. stutter). 

*  If you have a top-notch wireless setup using a high-end router with great throughput, then most, but not all, of the most demanding videos will stream well.

Again, for the best and most trouble free viewing experience, put the movies files you want to watch on your TV, onto a drive connected to the WD unit.

A note to those who complain about crummy viewing via a wireless setup – don’t blame the WD unit – blame your wireless network conditions.  Make them better, and most ( if not all) of the problems you experience will be gone.

[ncarver]

I would definitely be interested to see what KAD79 is using in his bandwidth_test script, if he doesn’t mind.  Looks very interesting and useful.

I admit that I have not tried NFS shares with the SMPs; my media files are served by a Linux machine via Samba.  Maybe I would get higher throughput via wifi and powerline if using NFS, though I am skeptical enough that I haven’t spent an hour to test that hypothesis.  Certainly KAD79’s experiments using NFS show a little less than twice the throughput I found via wifi and homeplug.  On the other hand, I don’t understand his Samba results, since my experiments showed sustained rates of 2.5 to 4 times what he found with Samba.  Part of the reason I am skeptical that Samba is some kind of bottleneck is that I can easily play 60 Mbps test files via Samba, over a wired connection.  I do believe that Samba uses “jumbo packets” by default, and has a number of networking settings, so maybe the Ubuntu defaults don’t play nicely with the networking gear being used in KAD79’s testing.  Actually I just got over 77MB/s (yes, bytes) pulling a file off the server via Samba, so Samba is definitely not an inherent bottleneck (the external USB drives can manage only about half that rate–this test was from an internal drive).

[KAD79]

I don’t think a G wireless router can really stream blu-ray

G has a maximum link speed of 54 mbps

actuall throughput in optimal conditions is going to be approx half

54 div 2 = 27

average blu-ray bitrate is approx 25 mbps

and blu-rays can range all the way to 50 mbps

so my G conclusion is that in a perfect world it’s just barely capable of handling an average blu-ray

and slightly larger blu-ray will studder

and again this is if there is no signal interference, etc …

as for Samba it has higher protocol over head than NFS

but I must admit I was surprised that even with my new hardware, that 1 pass smb test was not substantially higher than the older hardware

anways bandwidth_test script is here http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?uvkjrmlk5zpc3js

original script is from the the wdlxtv.com firmwares for the older devices live and live plus

this is just a version I’ve edited to correctly run on the SMP

if anybody has the choice of a hardwired connection, it solve alot of throughput problems

I’ve never run my SMP or older devices hardwared, it’s just not convienent

but I’ve heard many report, if hardwared, they are able to achieve enought throughput using samba

and since jumbo frames are mentioned

I really recommend to turn those off

for jumbo frames to really be effective

every device on the network must support them and be set to the same size

i.e. 9000 mtu

my personal operservations is that the WD does not play well with jumbo frames

and enabling jumbo frames is one of the common reasons that NFS shares will not connect on the SMP