Serviio

Hello and firstly thanks in advance for the time to help me out.

I have set up Serviio and am very happy and impressed with it, however I have a problem when I try to play certain movies off my computer. Let me describe my set up and the problem:

I have lots and lots of Blu Ray's I've been ripping straight to my computer in .MKV format, they are pretty large (15-35Gb). I use a dual band Netgear router with the 2.4Ghz signal turned off, and only send data from my PC to a Samsung TV on the 5GHz channel (They are only about 2 metres apart). For all Blu Ray TV shows and all DVD movies playback is flawless with zero issues, but in most Blu Ray movies there is certain sections (the same sections in each respective movie, eg. "A Good Day to Die Hard" freezes for a few seconds at 23min26sec every time without fail) which stop momentarily. This kind of leads me to believe that maybe my Samsung TV can't handle the bitrate at that section, but after using "Bitrate Viewer" it does not seem to show a higher bitrate at the point it freezes, compared to just before and after. When I monitor the wireless signal using Task Manager on Windows, at the point where it freezes the signal stops sending from my computer while it's doing what ever it's doing (I think the signal is around 40MBps just before that point). I do not use any transcoding.

Any ideas?

Cheers
Josh

Signal strength meters rarely give a good indication of available bandwidth over WiFi. Also if your network setup is like this:

PC <--- WiFi ---> Router <--- WiFi ---> TV

Then remember that that bandwith is being shared, so plus the overheads and collisions from having two devices transmitting large amounts of data at once, it will be less than half what Windows says is available. The stalling you see may be due to the router still being busy talking to the tv.

Just to rule out your TV, can you do

PC <--- LAN Cable ---> Router <--- LAN Cable ---> TV

If that works then its probably the WiFi, so you can then try

PC <--- LAN Cable ---> Router <--- WiFi ---> TV

or

PC <--- WiFi ---> Router <--- LAN Cable ---> TV

and see if thats OK. If not, then either stick to LAN cables, or get a pair of power line adapters.

I have a separate router for internet to my PC so ignoring that I'm running:

PC -> Ethernet cable -> Router -> Wi-Fi -> TV

With only 1 or 2 metres in between the TV and router. Nothing else is on this network but the TV.

I will try the cable to the TV too and get back to you, thanks for the speedy reply.

Hey Will,

It looks like having it wired from the TV to the router fixes the problem (well at least in the sections of movies I've been using to test this that used to freeze, they no longer do when wired).

So does this mean there will be no way to have it wireless unless I reduce the quality of the movies? The router is supposed to be able to send > 450Mbps, perhaps my series 6 Samsung TV can't handle 40MBps.

Cheers
Josh

Looks like it. The WiFi card in your TV might not be as good as your router. LAN cables or power lines are always best.

I was hoping to avoid cables but I guess it's the only option, the wireless adapter in the TV must not be able to handle above 40MBps. Thanks a bunch for your help!