Streaming BR over Network

[crackinhedz]

make sure it's a 1Gbit router, not 100Mbit.

100Mbit = 1 GBit, no?

[GregiBoy]

Here is where I think your bottleneck is:-

From CNET Review:-

The MyBook boasts a high-bandwidth gigabit LAN connection, which can shoot files across at a maximum of 128 MB/s. But with our testing, we found that this "theoretical maximum" was a long way from being threatened. Using SanSoftware Sandra's hard drive benchmark we found that the MyBook had a sequential read speed of 6.8 MB/s -- which is about 85 per cent slower than an internal drive.

[GregiBoy]

And more bad news:-

By comparison, the Maxtor Shared Storage Plus, which has a slower, 100 Mb/s network connection, actually performed better with a score of 7.53 MB/s.
Sequential writes on the MyBook were lower at 4.7 MB/s, while the Maxtor managed a much healthier 6.14 MB/s. Read scores are important considerations if you're performing tasks such as streaming video, while write scores are important for tasks such as backing up.

[ANNIHILATOR001]

Streaming

I stream blu ray content over my home network all the time. What i discovered is the older movies ported over to Blu ray stream have no problem because they are normally about 12-18gigbytes in size and 100mbs can handled the bitrate needed to play those. But when you exceed the 20gigbyte movie size you need to go with a larger bandwidth. That is where I upgraded my home network to 1gigbit Ethernet. That is more than enough for 1 stream, you can actually get about 4 simultaneous streams going at the same time, this is so if you want to stream to multiple rooms. However most players that stream the content treat the stream as if there is a disk in the player at the HTPC so there is no buffering, you may encounter a skip ever once in awhile, or a packet loss and the movie will play weird (simply chapter back and it works fine again). I recommend using Intel video cards for the HTPC because they actually pull back the monitor information through the HDMI cable for you TV, Nvidia and ATI do not they simply put out a standard single through the HDMI cable and leave a 1inch (or so) black boarder around the edge to allow for different monitor types to insure the picture does not exceed the monitor. With ATI or Nvida card the HD movie will appear to be a little soft you try to use the zoom in function of your TVs, where as the Intel Cards are exact and look just like the movie from the Blu ray player to TV.

[Complication]

USB 2.0 hooked up directly to the HTPC would work fine.

IPopov50 is right in that it could also be a poor switch. You may try buying a 1G switch from somewhere you can return it before making other modifications.

[crackinhedz]

I stream blu ray content over my home network all the time. What i discovered is the older movies ported over to Blu ray stream have no problem because they are normally about 12-18gigbytes in size and 100mbs can handled the bitrate needed to play those. But when you exceed the 20gigbyte movie size you need to go with a larger bandwidth.

Overall size of the file does not dictate bitrate speed.

You can have a 30GB movie with a max bitrate of 12 Mbps, and have a 10 GB movie at 30 Mbps.

Size not necessarily the reason...actual movie bitrate is.

(and that not even mentioning audio)

[crackinhedz]

100Mbit = 1 GBit, no?

yeah, I'm retarded.

(I should read slower)

[Complication]

Crackinhedz makes an excellent point. The video may be limited to 40Mbit/s but the entire thing can be over 48Mbit/s. Since this is approaching the 50% of the theoretical maximum of a 100Mbit network, I'm thinking it is more and more likely that IPopov50 is right and you need a 1Gbit switch if you want to stream the files.

[GregiBoy]

I agree on the switch but I am also suspicious on how fast the NAS can actually serve the media.

The reviews that I located were not good.

[ANNIHILATOR001]

I was just stating the file size as a rule of thumb because older movies generally have a slower bitrate. This is because the audio is generally still the same audio track you would find on the dvds and thus would be a lower bitrate. The video as well is not as good and movies filmed in HD and would require a lower bit rate. And over all would be smaller in size.

It is not that 100mbs cant handle 1080p it can not handle the spikes in the traffic while streaming the movie, the spikes in traffic exceed the 100mbs threshold, and that is when you get the hickups in the movies.

Since there is no real support for streaming blu ray movies (full quality un compressed versions) over a network the players do not buffer for the spikes and that is where a high bandwidth (1gbit) networks is required. I am sure the non standard 200mb network devices you can find at the stores work too (never tried). The players assume the movies are local on the computer and treat them as such.

I have an actual server for my movie storage.