Jittery HD MRV Solved

[ChrisM510]

Ok...I am *VERY* new to the CE scene. I will apologize in advance if putting this out as a new, full fledged, topic is bad form. Sorry...

Anyway, I too ran into the jittery playback of HD content using the new MRV feature. Unlike many people, I probably have a few more network resources to play with...I am a network engineer, by trade.

After performing some packet inspection on my network, and using several other tools, I came to the conclusion that the HD content was basically too much for a 100MB connection. (I'm trying to avoid getting too technical - I find most people glaze over if I delve too much into the "geek speak" in discussions.)

Even though the RJ45 Ethernet connection on the boxes only negotiate 100MB connections, the other overhead used by the network was taking away needed bandwidth.

Here is what I did:

First, in my livingroom, I connected all devices to a Gigabit capable switch. On the other end of the uplink (connected to a patch panel in my basement) is patched to another Gigabit switch. Each of my DTV receivers did connect at 100MB, but with the "backbone" now running at 1000MB/1GB, the jittery playback on all of my client boxes disappeared completely.

In a nutshell, the best way that I can recommend to eliminate the jitters is to get a Gigabit switch and plug all of your DTV clients into it. While the boxes will still only connect at 100MB, the switch will have the backplane bandwidth to not get bogged down with such high speed content.

Hope this helps everyone....just wanted to give back to everyone who posted here that allowed me to get started with CE so quickly!

Thanks,
Chris

 

[cfb]

As a retired network guy, I think I understand the problem. Many 100Mb/s switches, especially older ones, have a limited internal 'backplane' speed between ports, try to buffer the connections (sometimes unsuccessfully) or dont buffer and try to use collision control to stop excess traffic when the switch is overwhelmed.

Other thing that could be happening is that many older, cheaper switches cant do full duplex 100Mb/s while almost all gigabit switches will.

There might be an unbuffered gigabit switch with an inadequate internal bus speed, but I havent seen one yet. Even the cheap $20-25 ones have non blocking architectures and a ton of buffer memory.

The gigabit switch didnt solve any of my MRV issues, although the current CE is a lot better for me than the prior versions, at least so far. What I've observed when snooping the packets is that the box sending the MRV stream pauses for several seconds and then continues transmitting.

I still think theres a bell chart of MRV problems with a percentage of folks on one side that have network throughput/capacity/quality problems and a percentage of folks on the other side that are being plagued by HR software issues.

I wouldnt throw a bunch of time and money into troubleshooting network related issues unless you have the money and want to do some upgrading, but in some cases it might be beneficial. Especially if you're running wireless G, slower powerline, or really old, really cheap network stuff with a bunch of old patch cables you bought from the bargain bin at Fry's in 1997.

 

[ramimac]

i would agree with the cheap 100 switches that that is the issue.

I have pulled my BayStack 350 out of the closet and is the only thing between the two boxes. even with me downloading files i do not have any jitter problems with HD MRV

 

[armchair]

Ok...I am *VERY* new to the CE scene. I will apologize in advance if putting this out as a new, full fledged, topic is bad form. Sorry...

Anyway, I too ran into the jittery playback of HD content using the new MRV feature. Unlike many people, I probably have a few more network resources to play with...I am a network engineer, by trade.

After performing some packet inspection on my network, and using several other tools, I came to the conclusion that the HD content was basically too much for a 100MB connection. (I'm trying to avoid getting too technical - I find most people glaze over if I delve too much into the "geek speak" in discussions.)

Even though the RJ45 Ethernet connection on the boxes only negotiate 100MB connections, the other overhead used by the network was taking away needed bandwidth.

Here is what I did:

First, in my livingroom, I connected all devices to a Gigabit capable switch. On the other end of the uplink (connected to a patch panel in my basement) is patched to another Gigabit switch. Each of my DTV receivers did connect at 100MB, but with the "backbone" now running at 1000MB/1GB, the jittery playback on all of my client boxes disappeared completely.

In a nutshell, the best way that I can recommend to eliminate the jitters is to get a Gigabit switch and plug all of your DTV clients into it. While the boxes will still only connect at 100MB, the switch will have the backplane bandwidth to not get bogged down with such high speed content.

Hope this helps everyone....just wanted to give back to everyone who posted here that allowed me to get started with CE so quickly!

Thanks,
Chris

Chris, I've read your post twice and yet the same reaction; "please, do tell"!!

I tried a D-Link DGS-2208 Gigabit switch hoping to gain something with the Qos 802.1p based prioritizing but that did not help my MRV HD playback so I'm guessing that there is no compatibility with that standard and Directv.

Next, I tried connecting the remainder of my network (just added a VOIP and my PC and connected the switch to router with the WAN connection only) and that may be a bit better, AFAICT.

Tomorrow, I have a managed switch coming via UPS (Netgear GS108T) and thinking about just using it for my two HD22s but I don't know where would be the best place to connect it in my network (three choices):

1) to the Gigabit switch(DGS-2208) ,
2) the router (D-Link DIR-615, my WAN connection) or
3) the VOIP device (Vonage V-Portal has one ETHERNET port)?

The third is probably not a good choice but what do think? Any suggestions? If the DGS-2208 is not adding any value to my network, I'd like to return it for a full cash refund (I guess that makes four choices). TIA

 

[FrankoQ]

So what is the deal with MRV?

My set up:
D-Link DI-624 wireless router.
HR22 wired to the router.
H23 wireless connection to the home network.
Not too long ago, I had no problems. I could watch content and there were no pauses/jittery.
Now, content pauses like every 2 seconds.
Is it the Hr-22 box?

 

[cfb]

Could be the box pausing, could be your wireless network.

Got any long wires you can plug in temporarily to eliminate the wireless as the cause?

 

[Matt L]

So what is the deal with MRV?

My set up:
D-Link DI-624 wireless router.
HR22 wired to the router.
H23 wireless connection to the home network.
Not too long ago, I had no problems. I could watch content and there were no pauses/jittery.
Now, content pauses like every 2 seconds.
Is it the Hr-22 box?

How long ago? did you do an software update? The previous CE software was MUCH better than the last with MRV which for me it total crap. I was waiting this week for an improvement but no MRV so no download. Odds are it will be weeks before we get another fresh MRV fix.

 

[Dale Jr.]

ChrisM510

Could you specify what switch's exactly you used?

 

[FrankoQ]

Could be the box pausing, could be your wireless network.

Got any long wires you can plug in temporarily to eliminate the wireless as the cause?

Good idea.
I will try to do a wired connection just to see if the same happens with a wired
vs. wireless connection.

And yes, I did a software upgrade about 2 weeks ago for both the HR-22 and the H-23.

 

[FrankoQ]

How long ago? did you do an software update? The previous CE software was MUCH better than the last with MRV which for me it total crap. I was waiting this week for an improvement but no MRV so no download. Odds are it will be weeks before we get another fresh MRV fix.

Yes. I upgraded software on the HR22 and H23 about 2 weekends ago.
Before, I had no MVR at all.
Now it's back but useless.

I don't think its the wireless because it was working fine before.
But, I'll try to do a wired connection from the H23 to the router just to see if the same happens.

 

[armchair]

So what is the deal with MRV?

My set up:
D-Link DI-624 wireless router.
HR22 wired to the router.
H23 wireless connection to the home network.
Not too long ago, I had no problems. I could watch content and there were no pauses/jittery.
Now, content pauses like every 2 seconds.
Is it the Hr-22 box?

Have you checked your wireless setup to make sure nothing has changed? It's also a good idea to verify all your IP addresses and network services ports. If you've forwarded ports and not using static addresses, a DHCP change of IP addresses will effect your network.

Cycling power to router or wireless device can also reset or disturb your settings. And there is always a possibility that one of your MRV Servers is in need of a reboot. You could try k/w search LOSEMRV/BRINGMRVBACK and menu restart. I use the the recent search list for keywords to avoid misspelling and triple tap errors.

 

[armchair]

Yes. I upgraded software on the HR22 and H23 about 2 weekends ago.
Before, I had no MVR at all.
Now it's back but useless.

I don't think its the wireless because it was working fine before.
But, I'll try to do a wired connection from the H23 to the router just to see if the same happens.

I've been able to duplicate the pausing by changing Ingress/Egress settings ( too slow will pause the stream or even lose MRV temporarily).

Another duplication occured when I tried to hard set port speed to Full duplex, 100Mbps; Auto detect works for port speed but I can select full duplex with no problems.

It doesn't seem a good idea to change these settings from default. You may need to reset your defaults or check some settings on your devices.

 

[FrankoQ]

I've been able to duplicate the pausing by changing Ingress/Egress settings ( too slow will pause the stream or even lose MRV temporarily).

Another duplication occured when I tried to hard set port speed to Full duplex, 100Mbps; Auto detect works for port speed but I can select full duplex with no problems.

It doesn't seem a good idea to change these settings from default. You may need to reset your defaults or check some settings on your devices.

Thanks. I have not made any changes to the router settings.
All is pretty much default.
I will reset the HR22 and will disable-re-enable MVR to see if that helps.

Thanks again