Old MBP, new Samsung TV, varying playback quality
- I'm running Serviio 2.2 on an old but upgraded Macbook Pro (early 2011) with 500Gb SSD (OS install), 2Tb HDD (Serviio library), 16Gb Ram, OS 10.13.6
- Transcoding disabled
- The TV is Samsung QE43Q60TAU and I'm using the Samsung DLNA
- In Serviio the generic DLNA profile is used (no Samsung Q series to choose in the menu)
- WiFi network connection, tested with speedtest resulting in 100Mbps connection, so this shouldn't cause any problems whatsoever
The library consists of filetypes mostly mkv and mp4, and quality usually up to 1080. I initially set up Serviio since a HDMI cable (tried many of them) produces an annoying jitter in the playback – to my rather big surprise since a previous HD monitor worked fine. As of now I don't have any reasonable and bullet proof way to watch the library with the Samsung TV.
My problem with Serviio playback is that it has played long HD movies without any fuss at least at some point, but other times I might get buffering problems. And there seems to be no logic as to why. For example right now I checked hat almost any file I play cannot be properly fast forwarded (not enough buffer). And usually when this is the case, once I start watching a movie I can be sure that at some point of it it starts to stop to buffer every half a minute or so, even if I would wait for it to buffer. But then some files don't have any problem with this. For example the whole 11 season library of Frasier or the Season 3 of Twin Peaks can be fast forwarded right now without any problems. It doesn't seem to have anything to do with the filetype. For example the Frasier files are of course smaller and therefore need less buffering but there just doesn't seem to be any logic regarding this.
Also, the ffmpeg process in osx runs at 300 % CPU usage (and naturally high fan speeds) during most of the attempts. Yes, this indicates that the MBP CPU can't keep up, but then again I've watched whole movies without problems. And also worth noting is that for example yesterday I watched a HD version of The Green Knight with completely silent fans and no problems whatsoever. So could it have something to do with how MBP and Serviio handle the ffmpeg process? I find it weird that sometimes it eats CPU and sometimes (though seldom) not. And like I wrote, transcoding is disabled so at least that is not the cause of high CPU.
So I would just like to understand what the logic is here. So any time I start Serviio everything sort of "starts all over again"? In other words, the program only sends the file played by MBP to the TV and there is no backup process which would store/buffer the stuff for future use? And in this sense the transfer (and therefore buffering) always happens on the go?
It's just so annoying that it *almost* and *sometimes* works, so I would appreciate a helping hand, or would like to hear if Mac/Samsung users have had similar problems. I know the laptop is old, but I still feel there's something more to the problem. For example, I've never had any buffering problems streaming from some of these illegal sites that offer full HD movies, but the subtitles don't get sent to Samsung from those players (and if someone happens to know why that is the case, I'd appreciate that too!). Also, sorry for the wall of text and also my sort of poor understanding of DLNA stuff, as this might be some kind of no brainer, but the search didn't provide any help.