Z9X - SMB playback issues while streaming from NAS

I am also sharing from a Windows 10 PC, thus far on firmware 90G, I do not have stuttering issues. May I suggest those who are sharing off a Windows PC, to open up task manager and monitor the network traffic while playback is happening. I notice the average send bitrate ranges from 25-50Mbps depending on material being played, but sometimes I see sustained (15-30 seconds) spikes at 200Mbps. Look out for congestion or choking on the PC side. If you’ve tweaked your TCP parameters, revalidate them for LAN rather than internet (especially the congestion control/retry wait times). Check 'netstat -e' for errors.

Do ensure the Windows 10 PC can respond to demands from the Z9X, and that the PC isn't overloaded with other tasks.

 

my files are on a QNAP NAS and I have the same problem with smb and firmware 0.90, so nothing to do with Windows 10!
And I didn't have this problem in 0.66, besides now even Bug TV Series (stuttering, freeze), not that big File (movie). Each time it is in DV because I activated the VS10 SDR.

 

I found some time today to test the JellyFish clips on my home setup, all clips below 200Mbps are fine, no stutter at all. Firmware 90G, configured for VS10(all).

I encountered stutter on the 200Mbps and 400Mbps clips, below are images of the Ethernet LAN on the PC side. The stutters coincide with the sudden drop in network traffic. Highly reproducible.

This looks like an issue on Z9X side, not PC side; meaning Z9X for a short time did not ask for data from PC. My suspicion is that Z9X becomes too busy rendering and didn't get a chance to top up it's cache, leading to buffer under-run, resulting in stutter. Maybe someone knowledgeable in WireShark and having this problem, can do a trace analysis...

 

For comparison, I did a copy test. The test was initiated from within Z9X (Media Center) to copy the 400Mbps clip from PC over SMB into the Z9X internal storage. One can see the sustained network traffic with no dips below 350Mbps (green line).

With this copy test, I doubt there is a SMB issue with Z9X. It looks like more of a bottleneck of some sort during video playback / video processing, delaying the cache from being topped up in a timely manner, leading to buffer under-run & stutter.

Hopefully this helps @mirror in further troubleshooting by the R&D team.

 

good job @boxerfan

 

I tested all previous firmware again last night. Unfortunately, the proposed 0.45_G version works worst for me. Have now installed the 0.90 again.

I have also noticed that when the Zidoo hangs up or becomes sluggish and stutters, if you then fast back and forth or quickly zapped through the chapters, that the Z9x then catches again and runs stable for a while.

Hopefully, a working firmware that fixes the error comes soon, otherwise I send the Zidoo back and get me the Nvidia Shield.

 

I have an Nvidia shield and the zx9, the nas connected to both, the zidoo has cuts and stops while the same file in the shield runs without problem, so the zidoo needs an improvement in this regard

 

A

Awesome testing...
I'll send this link to zidoo, I have in contact with tech support over a week giving steps I do to get stuttering etc...
This info will help them I think..

 

Very good! I have already sent a mail to the support today.

 

I just did 3 tests with 140, 200 and 400Mbps JellyFish videos over SMB.

1. Streaming from Western Digital My Cloud

All 3 played perfectly, including 400Mbps

2. Streaming from Windows 7 PC

ALl 3 played ok up to 400Mbps - maybe a slight stutter at 400 - difficult to tell.

3. Streaming from Windows 10 PC

140, 200 and 400Mbps all stuttering and unwatchable.


Both Windows PCs are pretty old (>10 years) but have gigabit network cards. The NAS is probably 4 years old.


I'll run a debug on the box and send to Zidoo and hopefully we can see where the issue lies.

 

I switched to Samba because I expierenced stutters on NFS and Synology nas witch large Dolby Atmos files on Zidoo 1000 Pro

 

Awesome and thanks for testing also..
Let's hope they get this ironed out... It's a nice player when it works..

I tried also from a low powered pc running win10 pro and gig network card..
Also from a much newer Intel i7 pc win10 pro gig network..
They both stutter like your tests.. With NFS and SMB.

It is random also.. Sometimes I can play a 300Mbs jellyfish then I hit 0 to goto start again and it will random stutter...
Even on low bitrate 1080p files I get random stutter...
Arggg... lol. If I had hair I would be bald..

 

Hello Mark,

Streaming from Windows 10 PC

I am in private network in SMB 1 even if it is not recommended and Display/HDR/AUTO

ALl played ok up to 300Mbps

400Mbps freeze

Last week with the 0.85 or the 0.66 (I don't remember), the 400 was ok.



Since I have the FW 0.90 :

The hobbit Extended MKV DV remux : I haven't noticed any problems

The first 4 UHD HDR Harry Potters : I haven't noticed any problems

2 movies in full HD : I haven't noticed any problems

----------

Tonight I will be watching ''Midway 2020'' Encode (MKV DV) of Ghostshadow.

 

Are you using the Home Theater collection app or just using Media Browser App..
I get way more stuttering when having home theater app loaded..
This is all so random and weird..
Again with my z9s or x9s same network and wires, all played smooth and not one stutter ever.

 

Hello Christopher,

i used media center and like Ht4.0, it's also the zidoo player.

but I'm going to try them with HT4 to verify

I'll be right back.

 

you're not going to believe me but with HT4, the 400 works properly

I made 2 videos with the 300 and the 400 and Ht4.0 and mediacenter

I'll put them on youtube and sorry for the quality of the video, I made it on the fly with my cell phone.

I'm going to try the 400 again with the media center.

 

Hello,

Streaming from Windows 10 PC

I am in private network in SMB 1 even if it is not recommended and Display/HDR/AUTO

----------

Since I have the FW 0.90 :

The hobbit 1 Extended MKV DV remux : I haven't noticed any problems

The first 4 UHD HDR Harry Potters : I haven't noticed any problems

2 movies in full HD : I haven't noticed any problems

----------

Tonight I will be watching ''Midway 2020'' Encode (MKV DV) of Ghostshadow.

---------

As you'll see on the videos, with the MediaCenter I'm not able to read the 400 version of jellyfish, I've done it several times and I always get the same result.

Sorry for the quality of the video, I made it on the fly with my cell phone.

MediaCenter with jellyfish-300-mbps-4k-uhd-hevc-10bit and jellyfish-400-mbps-4k-uhd-hevc-10bit

ALl files played ok up to 300Mbps, but jellyfish-400-mbps-4k-uhd-hevc-10bit freeze and I have to use the stop button to exit the playback.




HT 4.0 with jellyfish-300-mbps-4k-uhd-hevc-10bit and jellyfish-400-mbps-4k-uhd-hevc-10bit

All files played perfectly



See you

 

I think as @boxerfan alluded to, part of the problem or indeed the whole problem may be caching, but not necessarily just in the Zidoo.

When I first tested, as always, playback from the NAS was flawless.

Windows 10 playback was appalling.

However, on the first play from Windows 7 I could only stream 140Mbps smoothly - 200 and 400Mbps were stuttering badly - not as bad as the Windows 10 PC, but still very noticable.

When I then went back to them a second, third and fourth time and having played from the NAS and Windows 7 PC in between, playback from the Win7 machine was fine. This has to be caching on the Windows box rather than the Zidoo since I had been playing back from other sources...

Anyway, I've created debug logs with the 200Mbps file on the Win10 PC and also from the NAS box as a control.

 

Well - first thing I notice is that ethernet throughput from the Win10PC is between 96.520Mbps and 96.832Mbps and from the NAS it's between 213.488Mbps and 253.632Mbps.

So that'll do it!

Both devices are obviously on the same network, and the network path is the same with the exception that the NAS has one more switch to travel thorough:

Orange denotes a managed switch and green, unmanaged.

 

Also having issues with Windows 10 streaming.
My Windows 10 system is fast and new. File transfer over the network to another windows 10 PC is 113MB/sec (983Mbps) almost saturating the gigabit connection.

Some movies will playback just fine without a single freeze. Other times there will be multiple freezes in a single movie. The bitrate doesn't seem to matter I have played back 3D MVC rips this afternoon without a single glitch and they are 35Mb/sec+. Then I will have freezes on other videos that are only 21Mb/s.