Read Ahead Buffering

[Speedy710]

Is there a way to set read ahead buffering in RAM of a significant amount for VCD?

The reason I ask is that I am streaming DVD and Blu-ray disc ISO images from a Windows 7 media center to other Windows 7 PCs connected to other televisions and the playback stutters or hiccups most of the time on the remote machines. I know it is because of the remote streaming because all machines play local ISOs fine and I cannot upgrade the network any further as it is already switched gigabit. The read ahead wouldn't have to be that large as the hiccups never last that long and given that Blu-ray's maximum bitrate for AV is 48Mib, a 128MiB or even 256MiB buffer should smooth out any latency on the network. I have tried the buffered IO setting but that seems to have no effect on the problem. I have tried Daemon Tools as well and get the same issue.

So, any thoughts on if this can be done with VCD?

Thanks in advance for any help.

[jmelan]

I would like to second this request.

on high bitrate BD iso (>40Mb/s) files, stuttering is pretty bad

MPC-HC seems to have internal buffers and does not have an issue on direct playback of streams, but TMT can not play the iso files without frequent stuttering (local playback of same iso files is fine).

my network is limited by MoCA due to an inability to run cat 5/6 in a rented home, but average transfer speed is more than double what is needed.

I realize that this is a network and TMT issue, but the ability to adjust buffer size should be beneficial to many different programs

[Hawk]

If slysoft do decide to add it I would like an option to do from ram.

[benf]

I'd also be interested in this feature.

At the moment, Locally played BD isos are fine but played over a swtiched GigE network there are noticeable stutters and freezes. Being able to set a buffer of just a few hundred MB would be great.

It would also help when playing back BD ISO's from non AV-Spec HDDs as well ..

The HPTC has 6GB of RAM, and it only looks like 1-1.5GB is being used with TMT3 and VCD.

[JST200]

I was beginning to think it was only me that had this problem!

I was hoping that using ISO files (rather than folders) and the Buffer I/O setting in VCD would help, but it doesn't seem to.

So another "hand in the air" for this request!

Environment is PC running Win 7 MCE, using TMT3 (or TMT5) to stream from a Windows Home Server across a Gigabit network.

[PrincipalityFusion]

You are not going to get smooth playback over wireless for Bluray even with the buffering. Files need to be optimized for streaming, which is why high definition streaming is usually smooth (other things being sufficient) and ISO files are not really optimized for streaming. It has something to do with the way optical media is read and played back. Virtual Clone Drive would probably need to be rewritten from the ground up to effectively stream ISO files.

You can get pretty decent playback if you use a gigabit network (every wired connection needs to be gigabit) and have an 802.11N of the 5Ghz variety (not 2.4Ghz). You still will get some occasional stuttering, but at least you can sit through an entire movie.

I was wirelessly streaming ISO backups until a poster on this forum posted about his experiences with MKV files. I decided to try it and have never went back since. MKV files seem to steam much better at streaming as i can even stream them over my 2.5Ghz connection without too much stutter. I get absolutely no stuttering over my 5Ghz bridge to 2 home theater pcs. Both can be playing bluray backups without stutter (which has more to do with my raid array, than throughput)

So my point is that wireless IS sufficient to steam bluray, but you need a streamable container (such as MKV) and the 5Ghz variety of an N connection. As far as hardware goes, i favor DLink, but there are some 450Mbps routers out now and none of them are by DLink.

[gwolfman]

I would also like this feature.

I temporarily ran a Cat6 Ethernet cable to my living room from my office so I can stream blu-ray because the 500Mbit powerline adapters were ok on some movies but other with high bitrates it stuttered.

With this feature I could remove the ugly Cat6 cable and go back to the powerline adapter.

[jmelan]

well it seems that there are several requests for theis feature and no one from slysoft has responded

this seems to be rather easy to implement, so I thought i would bump the thread

the minimal buffer present with MPC-HC is enough to allow playback of the same file without stuttering (BluRay)

[Desmo888]

I would pay a fee to have this feature written into the program

[andsee]

I'm glad I came across this post as I've been looking for a solution to this problem specifically:

Ability to stream a bluray iso or folder to TMT (or any other player that sits within MyMovies) without occasional stutter over a wired gigabit only network.

I'd be interested in understanding how a local iso works but a network one does'nt. I assume that the player will request data from the drive or Virtual CloneDrive at the same time and what differs must be the time it takes to complete that request. Since the buffering options I have come across (one on Drive Bender on my WHS and one in CloneDrive) have not solved the issue I assume it must be a non sequential read request which renders buffering invalid.

Is this the issue? If so I'm still surprised that the time that it takes to seek on the BluRay is less than a network trip and HDD seek.

I had hoped that using a blu ray folder would result in sequential file access and reduce this issue but it looks like it makes the issue worse on the limited testing I've done.

Perhaps the playback or at least blu ray data retrival part needs to be done on the host PC (Ok for WHS owners but not general NAS owners) and then that in order data streamed to the host PC. Perhaps a real time iso -> MKV transcode?

I'd be interested in knowing of people who successively stream bluray across the network without having converted the blu ray to a different format eg MKV and what software and hardware setups they use, I'm starting to think it's not possible, but the lack of posts on the internet make me doubt this.

Andsee