Playing off NAS UPNP works yet network stutters??

[str8jkt]

Just wondering if anyone can help. I currently have a gigabit network running through a DIR-655 router. I have a DNS-323 NAS that stores all of the media files.

When I attempt to access a 1080p mkv file through network on the NAS the file stutters whenever there is high action or info on screen (ie rain falling).

When I access the DNS-323 via UPNP the file works properly. Shouldn't it work the same? I'd prefer to run things through the network so that I could look at setting up picture and movie sheets, etc..

I have loaded Medebo and ACRyan to test different firmwares as well. The ACRyan works better but it still stutters to the point of it being unwatchable while just browsing to the files through the Network section.

If anyone has any ideas I would be very appreciative as except for this hurdle the device is great.

[aasoror]

When I access the DNS-323 via UPNP the file works properly. Shouldn't it work the same?

No they shouldn't because the UPnP server on your NAS will transcode the contents on the fly.


The ACRyan works better but it still stutters to the point of it being unwatchable while just browsing to the files through the Network section.


Do you have any other activity on the network (specifically on the NAS) while testing ?
are you running any other application on the NAS itself (a torrent client, packages from fonz fun_plug, .. etc).
Have you tried moving the contents from the NAS (to a PC on the network) and try accessing that other machine from the PBO ?
Are you sure the files is within specs ? Did you try running the file locally (using PBO USB) and see if it rendered without a problem ?
Have you disabled BT/SAMBA prior to playback ?
Do you have any HD files at all that played fine on the PBO ? how are you making these MKVs (same encoding profile or various internet sources) ?
Pass the files through media-info and post the results here.


a side note: I wouldn't really call the DNS-323 a Gb device (outside the advertised specs sheets). If you have an all Gb network, the DNS-323 would be your weakest link.

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/images_old/2006/11/15/dlink_dns323_1000m_read_perf_big.gif

Source (http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/nas/nas-reviews/29671-dlinkdns323review?showall=&start=8).

That said, it should be more than capable of streaming HD contents to the PBO unless its overloaded somehow. I know this beyond doubt because I was able to stream HD from the DNS-321 (DNS-323 younger and slightly less powerful brother) to 2 PBO's and a Windows machine simultaneously without a problem.

[str8jkt]

In advance (not trying to brown-nose here or anything) :p but thanks for all your help so far. Your posts have been extremely helpful throughout the boards as I have read far too many forum posts about various things to try before posting here. Thanks again.

Below are the answers to your questions..

No other activity on the network at the time.
Everything is disabled on the NAS (bittorrent, no fonz funplug installed atm)
The movie plays fine accessing it off of my windows 7 machine on the same network/router.. Which now leads me to believe its something to do with the NAS itself........
I don't have a USB key big enough or an external USB hard drive to test this. Will try to source one out to borrow.
BT is disabled, unsure about SAMBA?
Have really just started trying HD files to the PBO. My wife watched a chick flick today which she said had no problems but there isn't usually a lot of action or anything.

Still not sure why UPNP works. You would think a device thats sole purpose is to play media files would be able to handle transcoding the media along with transferring the files. Although as I stated above it may be bottlenecking off of the NAS.. Still trying to wrap my head around this.

Mediainfo attached

General
Unique ID : 225369777049327889637244957786236237552 (0xA98CA3E5524A525CAE0AC69FF607B6F0)
Complete name : D:\Resident Evil Afterlife (1080p).mkv
Format : Matroska
File size : 8.37 GiB
Duration : 1h 36mn
Overall bit rate : 12.4 Mbps
Movie name : Resident Evil Afterlife (1080p)
Encoded date : UTC 2010-11-23 08:00:27
Writing application : mkvmerge v3.3.0 ('Language') built on Mar 24 2010 14:59:24
Writing library : libebml v0.8.0 + libmatroska v0.9.0

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 4 frames
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 1h 36mn
Bit rate : 10.2 Mbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 800 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 2.40:1
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.278
Stream size : 6.74 GiB (81%)
Title : x264
Writing library : x264 core 107 r1766 f9f0035
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=4 / deblock=1:-1:-1 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=umh / subme=9 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.10:0.10 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=48 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-3 / threads=9 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=5 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=1 / scenecut=0 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=60 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=10243 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.80 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / vbv_maxrate=35000 / vbv_bufsize=35000 / ip_ratio=1.30 / aq=1:0.80 / nal_hrd=none
Language : English

Audio #1
ID : 2
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Mode extension : CM (complete main)
Codec ID : A_AC3
Duration : 1h 36mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 640 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 443 MiB (5%)
Title : AC3
Language : English

Audio #2
ID : 3
Format : DTS
Format/Info : Digital Theater Systems
Codec ID : A_DTS
Duration : 1h 36mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 1 510 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 1.02 GiB (12%)
Title : DTS
Language : English

Text #1
ID : 4
Format : UTF-8
Codec ID : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info : UTF-8 Plain Text
Title : Subtitles
Language : English

Menu
00:00:00.000 : en:Video Start
00:05:00.000 : en:Chapter 1 - 00 Hr 05 Min
00:10:00.000 : en:Chapter 2 - 00 Hr 10 Min
00:15:00.000 : en:Chapter 3 - 00 Hr 15 Min
00:20:00.000 : en:Chapter 4 - 00 Hr 20 Min
00:25:00.000 : en:Chapter 5 - 00 Hr 25 Min
00:30:00.000 : en:Chapter 6 - 00 Hr 30 Min
00:35:00.000 : en:Chapter 7 - 00 Hr 35 Min
00:40:00.000 : en:Chapter 8 - 00 Hr 40 Min
00:45:00.000 : en:Chapter 9 - 00 Hr 45 Min
00:50:00.000 : en:Chapter 10 - 00 Hr 50 Min
00:55:00.000 : en:Chapter 11 - 00 Hr 55 Min
01:00:00.000 : en:Chapter 12 - 01 Hr 00 Min
01:05:00.000 : en:Chapter 13 - 01 Hr 05 Min
01:10:00.000 : en:Chapter 14 - 01 Hr 10 Min
01:15:00.000 : en:Chapter 15 - 01 Hr 15 Min
01:20:00.000 : en:Chapter 16 - 01 Hr 20 Min
01:25:00.000 : en:Chapter 17 - 01 Hr 25 Min
01:30:00.000 : en:Chapter 18 - 01 Hr 30 Min
01:35:00.000 : en:Chapter 19 - 01 Hr 35 Min






No they shouldn't because the UPnP server on your NAS will transcode the contents on the fly.


Do you have any other activity on the network (specifically on the NAS) while testing ?
are you running any other application on the NAS itself (a torrent client, packages from fonz fun_plug, .. etc).
Have you tried moving the contents from the NAS (to a PC on the network) and try accessing that other machine from the PBO ?
Are you sure the files is within specs ? Did you try running the file locally (using PBO USB) and see if it rendered without a problem ?
Have you disabled BT/SAMBA prior to playback ?
Do you have any HD files at all that played fine on the PBO ? how are you making these MKVs (same encoding profile or various internet sources) ?
Pass the files through media-info and post the results here.


a side note: I wouldn't really call the DNS-323 a Gb device (outside the advertised specs sheets). If you have an all Gb network, the DNS-323 would be your weakest link.

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/images_old/2006/11/15/dlink_dns323_1000m_read_perf_big.gif

Source (http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/nas/nas-reviews/29671-dlinkdns323review?showall=&start=8).

That said, it should be more than capable of streaming HD contents to the PBO unless its overloaded somehow. I know this beyond doubt because I was able to stream HD from the DNS-321 (DNS-323 younger and slightly less powerful brother) to 2 PBO's and a Windows machine simultaneously without a problem.

[aasoror]

The movie plays fine accessing it off of my windows 7 machine on the same network/router.. Which now leads me to believe its something to do with the NAS itself........

If thats the case I am not sure how can any setting on the PBO fixes it since its NAS related.

[str8jkt]

If thats the case I am not sure how can any setting on the PBO fixes it since its NAS related.

I am investigating trying to get NFS shares instead of CIF to work properly to see if that will help at all.