Looking for ideas on how to isolate and locate the reason for the choppy HTPC. Goal: Stream The Avengers (my test video, converted to mp4/m4v by handbrake) without choppiness from Homeserver 2011 64-bit, Atom 330 1.6 GHZ, 2GB Memory, Realtek PCI GBE (1 GB), Foxconn SFF R20-S4, to my HTPCs.
Network: Linksys E2000 w/DD-WRT
“HTPC A” - Plays flawlessly. Network pattern is to bounce around 1-2% of Link Speed of 270-300Mbps:
Windows 7 64-bit Media Center, AE1000 wireless network adapter, Pentium4 630 3GHZ (800MHz bus), 2GB Memory, NVidia GEForce GT 610, Dell E510 (DM051)
“HTPC B” - Plays with annoying (painful to watch) choppiness. Network pattern is spikey going from almost 0% to 10-15% of Link Speed of 270-300Mbps about every 10 seconds:
Windows 7 64-Bit Media Center, AM10 wireless network adapter, AMD A10-5800K 3.8GHZ, 4 GB Memory, Radeon HD 7660D, MSI FM2-A75MA-E35 FM2 AMD A75 mobo
All drivers are up to date. Systems are all Windows updated. I’ve swapped the wireless network adapters with no change to performance on either HTPC.
VLC plays flawlessly on both PCs. Windows Media Player (WMP) will start out choppy on both PCs. If I stop the playback and then start it again from within WMP, using the shortcut it created for the last thing it played, then playback is flawless.
When VLC and WMP are streaming flawlessly, then the network pattern is a fairly steady flow bouncing around 1-2% of a Link Speed of 270-300 Mbps. When WMP is choppy, I again see definite network spikes about every 10 seconds of 10-15% of Link Speed. CPU might jump to 20% but is generally in single digits and showing no spikeyness.
I’ve tried two other Windows 7 PCs and they are both choppy when using the AM10 but are fine using gigabit NICs (network pattern is the same spikiness, it just doesn't cause problems). So it looks like WMC7 playing well over wireless is not something that just happens. I did a clean install of win7 on HTPC "B" and the problem persisted.
I’ve tried two Windows 8.1 Pros with Media Center using the AM10. They both played flawlessly but interestingly they show a spikey network pattern, but it doesn't manifest in viewing choppiness. Spikes rarely exceed 7-8 Mbps (which is similar to the 1-2% on Win 7).
It looks like Windows 7 can play a stream wirelessly just fine, but I've not been able to figure out the setting or component change needed to make it work on HTPC B. I’d hate to have to upgrade to Win8+MC just to try and fix this.
What setting/components has anyone found that causes/fixes this kind of choppiness?
