Streaming issues with ASUS AC66u and WD TV Live

[ryancharles]

This is my current situation:

I am running Merlin's 3.0.0.4.374.38_2 on the ASUS AC66u

My goal is to be able to stream blue-ray ripped MKV files to my TV. It seems simple, but I am getting juddering/buffering every now and then when I am using my WD TV Live, which I just purchased.

I have a qnap-TS212P which is connected to the AC66u router via gig Ethernet. All my movies are stored on the NAS. My WD TV live is also connected to my router via fast Ethernet. It’s connecting at 100mbps full duplex. My WD TV live is connected to my Samsung TV via HDMI.
When I play high bitrate movies, such as Avatar I get buffering (loading icon) every now and then.
DVDs play without any issues.

I am able to stream movies to anywhere in my house with VLC and I configured it to buffer for 10sec. Everything plays smoothly over wireless.
I posted to the AVS forum and I received the following two recommendations

1) There's been a number of people in this thread that have discovered that their network switches aren't up to the task of handling Gigabit-Sources to FastE Destinations -- they drop the packets when their buffers get full.
You can test this theory by setting your NAS (and your switch) to 100-Meg / Full Duplex, or by temporarily swapping your Gig-switch for a FastE Switch.

2) Aside from the hardware experiments suggested, you could try a software experiment. Download a copy of TSMuxer from Videohelp.com and convert the MKV to .m2ts. BluRay native .m2ts files play perfectly on the Live-SMP whereas some MKV can have problems. If you still see stuttering with .m2ts then I would be looking for a network problem.


I just couldn’t believe it was the router, so I tried #2 and it helped, but then vlc chocked on the m2ts files. I finally tried #1. I forced my NAS to 100mbps and played the MKV file and boom, problem solved.

Merlin…how can this be? I figured you or someone on the forum is streaming and could weigh in.

 

[admiral2145]

That is weird... I have a freenas box with 7x2tb hdds that streams to 2 pivos boxes no problem DTS ma 7.1 1080p 50 gig BluRay... All hardwired gigabit... My little brother has something similar but his pivos box is connected with a wireless ac bridge no issue streaming the same thing...

Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk

 

[ryancharles]

admiral....I think the issue is that my NAS is connected to the router via gig ethernet and the WDTVlive or my TV are connected by 100mbps. I tried removing the wdtv live from the equation and I have the same issue with the NAS plugged into a port and my tv plugged into a port. ASUS is having issues with delivering content from a gigethernet to fast ethernet. I am just shocked!!

 

[sinshiva]

i'm wondering if playing with tcp scaling options might help with this;

admin@nerieus:/tmp/home/root# cat /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_rmem
4096    87380   4194304
admin@nerieus:/tmp/home/root# cat /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_wmem
4096    16384   4194304

the default tcp_wmem size is a lot lower than the default tcp_rmem size

you could try;

echo "4096 87380 4194304" > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_wmem

maybe it'll make a difference. i was playing with a bunch of tcp options a few days ago when i noticed this.

 

[ryancharles]

I will try. Will that survive a resave/reboot of the router, or do I have to script something?

 

[ryancharles]

SINSHIVA,

I tried. I bounced the router and reset back to normal. How do I set this and keep the setting? Once I do this, do I have to restart any services or will this just tale effect?

 

[sinshiva]

did it seem to make a difference with streaming? it should work immediately, i'd imagine

you'll have to add it to a start script, i think init-start would work.

#!/bin/sh
#
echo "4096 87380 4194304" > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_wmem

save it to /jffs/scripts/init-start on the router (with JFFS enabled under admin.)

chmod a+rx /jffs/scripts/*

 

[ryancharles]

SINSHIVA,

Just tested it a no, it did not resolve the issue. I can't believe the ASUS ac66u is struggling with this. I set the NAS back to 100full and problem solved.

Any other suggestions? Should I try going back to stock firmware maybe?

I don't want to as I like Merlin's

 

[sinshiva]

i'm not surprised, i'm afraid. the tcp options didn't do much for me either. i'd also be (very) surprised if the following worked for you;

iptables -I FORWARD -p tcp --tcp-flags SYN,RST SYN -j TCPMSS --clamp-mss-to-pmtu

which would be added to /jffs/scripts/firewall-start like thus;

#!/bin/sh
iptables -I FORWARD -p tcp --tcp-flags SYN,RST SYN -j TCPMSS --clamp-mss-to-pmtu

chmod a+rx /jffs/scripts/*

but i know what it's like to be desperate for better performance and willing to try anything.

 

[admiral2145]

Is 100 mbit(11 megabytes) a sec fast enough to stream full BluRay?

Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk

 

[ryancharles]

It's working for me. I forced by QNAP back to 100full and I played the hobbit, which is a direct rip into an MKV file and it played without any issues though the wdtvlive to my TV via HDMI.

I am having another issue, below..but apparently this is common with QNAP and WDTVlive

This is a weird one. I purchased a WD TV Live about 4 days ago. My QNAP and my WT TV Live are both hard wired to my router via ethernet. All my movies are stored on my NAS in MKV form. I am having an issue where I can't stop playing certain files. The files play fine through the wdtvlive, but when I hit the stop or home button on the remote I can still hear the movie audio even though the home screen has come up.If I navigate through the menu back to the movie and click on it, it's still there playing! I have even rebooted the wdtvlive and when it comes back up it is still playing, so I think it's a QNAP issue. The only thing that solves it is to reboot the NAS. I read on another post that disabling UPNP on the NAS fixed the issue. I tried that and it appeared to work, but after 15min the problem re-occurred. Has anyone experienced this?

 

[sinshiva]

sorry, are you saying the iptables command helped ? just curious. i'm afraid i've nothing to offer on the qnap weirdness. sounds like something to do with whatever audio system they're using

 

[ryancharles]

No I am saying non of the suggestions have worked to resolve the issue. I tried both suggestions, set my NAS back at 1000mbps and I am getting studder/judder. Setting the NAS to 100mbs is what I have to do. BTW I have removed the WDTVlive from the equation and connected my samsung tv directly to the router via it's 100mbps ethernet port. I left the NAS at 100mbps and now it's playing relatively smooth. It's not perfect, but it's much much better than when the NAS was at 1000mbps. The WDTVLive must be doing some buffering on it's end because it was smooth when that was in the middle.

I will probably return the WDTVLive and try something else. I am still within my free return period. I heard the Boxee Box is decent.

 

[p71]

No I am saying non of the suggestions have worked to resolve the issue. I tried both suggestions, set my NAS back at 1000mbps and I am getting studder/judder. Setting the NAS to 100mbs is what I have to do. BTW I have removed the WDTVlive from the equation and connected my samsung tv directly to the router via it's 100mbps ethernet port. I left the NAS at 100mbps and now it's playing relatively smooth. It's not perfect, but it's much much better than when the NAS was at 1000mbps. The WDTVLive must be doing some buffering on it's end because it was smooth when that was in the middle.

I will probably return the WDTVLive and try something else. I am still within my free return period. I heard the Boxee Box is decent.

I have exactly the same WD TV Live equipment with AC66u. The main question here why do you force the cable connection and not utilize the built in WIFI connection of the WD TV Live? Wifi is faster than the wired 100mbit connection.

 

[ryancharles]

Is there away I can increase the buffering within the router?

 

[ryancharles]

P71,

where are your movies stored? is it on a NAS which is connecting at 1000mbps? Let me try wireless and I will let you know. I was told to stay wired of possible.

 

[ryancharles]

I just tried wireless and it made no difference.

 

[p71]

P71,

where are your movies stored? is it on a NAS which is connecting at 1000mbps? Let me try wireless and I will let you know. I was told to stay wired of possible.

I have a WD Live Duo NAS connected to the AC66u (Gigabit connection).

How large files did you try to stream?

 

[ryancharles]

P71

The size depends on the movie. My Avatar file is 32.5GB. It was direct blu-ray rip with makemkv.

Here's the history:

starting scenario

QNAP(1000gbps) -> ASUS router -> WDTLLive (100mbs) ->Samung TV (HDMI)

I get studder/judder playing blu-ray MKV files

Later scenario

QNAP(100gbps) -> ASUS router -> WDTLLive (100mbs) ->Samung TV (HDMI)

forced QNAP to 100mbps which completely solved the issue. I believe my router is the problem.

In both scenarios I have the following issues

1) After about 15-20 minutes. I can't stop playing certain files. The files play fine through the wdtvlive, but when I hit the stop or home button on the remote I can still hear the movie audio even though the home screen has come up.If I navigate through the menu back to the movie and click on it, it's still there playing! I have even rebooted the wdtvlive and when it comes back up it is still playing, so I think it's a QNAP issue. The only thing that solves it is to reboot the NAS. I read on another post that disabling UPNP on the NAS fixed the issue. I tried that and it appeared to work, but after 15min the problem re-occurred.

2) If I reboot the WDTVLive I lose my network share connection and can't re-establish it. The WDTVLive just tells me it cant find any windows shares to connect to. I have to reset the WDTVLive to factory defaults to get the options to re-connect.

I have tried this as well:

QNAP(1000mbps/100mbps) -> ASUS router ->Samung TV (100gbps)

With the QNAP set at 1000mbps it buffers often enough. with the QNAP set at 100mbps it is much better, just the occasional buffer/studder.

Is there away for me to increase the buffer in the AC66u router?

 

[KAD]

if you content is all on the qnap

why not enable NFS
then on WD enable linux file sharing

NFS on these devices has proven to be much better for streaming

smb just has a ton of protocol overhead

here's a little read on it
http://wiki.wdlxtv.com/Wifi_Performance

based on the prior gen WD device but the principle and theory is the same