Z9X - SMB playback issues while streaming from NAS

Discussion in 'HDD Media player(RTD 1619DR)' started by matty2k, Dec 30, 2020.

  1. sandyj

    sandyj Member

    Just wanted to comment on this part

    B1: frame rate - no pause, LAN
    B2: frame rate - pause 5 secs, LAN
    Results: B1 stutters and complete playback, B2 hangs after frame rate switch.

    I had this occurring on my setup with JVC RS3000 projector and seem to be fixed now after changing HDMI cables the issues occurred with both the 300Mbps and 400Mbps Jellyfish files. I moved the Zidoo Z1000 up to the projector to eliminate any other equipment in the chain then I set "frame rate - pause 5 secs" swapped out cables until hangs stopped tried at least 8 HDMI cables and only 2 worked correctly one of these cables I often use for trouble shooting as it always seems to work better for some reason. The testing was done over the Lan using a NAS.

    Conclusion to testing
    1. Some of the cables that did not pass the B2 setting also had issues with B1 with stuttering
    2. The two cables that passed B2 had no issues with B1.

    Sometimes previously I would get a black screen when exiting playback I think this was a handshake issue and only a reboot of the Zidoo would fix it.

    Since changing the source cables I have not seen any issue with the Zidoo player with freezing (I don't use DV) and am using a Synology NAS.

    Both my 12 meter Fibre HDMI Cable RUIPRO 4K and RUIPRO 8K cables have the issue with "B2: frame rate - pause 5 secs, LAN" however work fine with B1: frame rate - no pause, LAN. I have these back in the chain for now as I don't have a long length cable that works as well as these. I do wonder if having two cables in the chain with this issue makes the whole problem worse e.g. Zidoo to receiver to projector.
    I also have a mono price active cable at 12 meters which does not work with the jellyfish 400 file supposed to be 18Gbps cable.

    I might replace the Ruipros but will test for a while first due to the cost of changing these cables and not having access to trial different ones.

    It would be interesting to see if others also have this problem and if they can find HDMI cables that appear to resolve it. I am certainly not saying that this will fix peoples stuttering problems as I have not experienced it with normal playback but I do usually see skipped frames if they do occur and they seem to be very rare. I am using the latest beta .90 FW.
     
  2. boxerfan

    boxerfan Active Member

    Interesting findings.

    I am using the HDMI cable supplied together with the Z9X (it is quite thick and well built). I thought the Zidoo supplied cable is good enough, no?
     
  3. Markswift2003

    Markswift2003 Well-Known Member SUPER Administrator Beta test group Contributor

    In a word, no. Not for 4K.

    Years ago I was always extremely sceptical of people constantly claiming bad HDMI cables were the root of all evil - until 4K popped up!

    I have a cheap 15M (50ft) contract HDMI cable that we used to buy by the pallet load from China connecting my amp to my projector. This was installed and buried in the wall in 2006 before 2K BluRay was mainstream, never mind 4K!

    That will take a full 600MHz 4K60 signal with no bother and so I used to dismiss cries of bad HDMI cables - however, I guess they don't make 'em like they used to! I had no end of HDMI cable problems in the early 4K days so now I'll only use Premium Certified cables to connect my kit.

    They don't have to be expensive - in fact there's absolutely no need to to pay over the odds for them - you gain absolutely nothing - the ones I use are either Antiference or Slim HDMI brand and they're only a few £ or $ on Amazon.

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07FQVJYDW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

    But make sure they are genuine "Premium Certified" not knock offs - there's a QI code and hologram on genuine ones that you can check with an app.

    https://www.hdmi.org/spec/premiumcable
     
    sandyj likes this.
  4. Whitfield

    Whitfield Active Member

  5. rozel

    rozel Well-Known Member

    I use the Zidoo supplied cable to route the signal from my Z1000 Pro to my Vertex2 - from there I have 2 so called "Premium Certified" sourced on eBay and have not had any issues.
     
  6. sandyj

    sandyj Member

    I am not sure where the original cable is however if you have this issue it might be worth testing some cables it might be the upstream cable is the issue and not the original one if you are using a receiver either way its pretty easy to check. I will see if I can find some more cables to test just wonder what the failure rate is with these things. It would seem price in short length cables does not reflect the quality as per Markswift2003 comments.
     
    Last edited: Jan 17, 2021
  7. sandyj

    sandyj Member

    Something else the cables that worked correctly where 2 meter cables

    Out of interest I have a Tips and tricks document on the Lumagen radiance it states the following
    "Short HDMI cables that are 1 meter (3 feet) long can cause problems. Most HDMI transmitter
    chips have a built in equalizer circuit that boosts the signal level to compensate for losses in the
    cable. A cable that is too short, can deliver a signal that is too strong, and overwhelm the input
    of the HDMI receiver chip. If you have short HDMI cables and are experiencing intermittent
    problems, a longer cable can make a more reliable connection. It’s a good practice to use good
    quality generic HDMI cables that are a minimum length of 2 meters (6 foot) long."
     
  8. SolarGlider

    SolarGlider Member

    Just to add to this lengthy thread.

    I've had the SMB playback issues in all firmware versions (and still do) with every high bitrate file connected to a W10 machine. Lower BD-remuxes play fine without a hitch but as soon as the bitrates go to around 70 or 80M the intermittent pausing starts sometimes instantaneously. I just deactivated play with less reserved buffers again with the new player I've received (but also tried that weeks ago in lower firmware) and it absolutely improves nothing. It does seem to get even worse when there is HDR10+ metadata being sent through (havent been able to test with DV yet since I can't play anything high bitrate without stuttering) but in my case when it's very high bitrate I can assume I'll see issues within 2 or three minutes max. (And there always are). There are no issues when I play from a USB-stick for example. No playback problems with the same files using a Z9S, Nvidia Shield Pro and Dune HD 4K playing on exactly the same network cables connected to my beefy W10 machine that has an eight core AMD R7 3700X with 32GB ram on 3200 MHz with the media stored on a SATA SSD. I'm on last gen modems and routers configured in DHCP with SMB V1 activated. So I'm asking, how can this be a W10 issue?
     
    Last edited: Jan 17, 2021
  9. SolarGlider

    SolarGlider Member

    Another small observation, when I tried connecting with WiFi on my first Z9X the problem was almost gone, just some issues with the smoothness of the image but no hard skips like the ethernet connection. So in my opinion it is something related to the ethernet-port of the Z9X (most probably firmware related)
     
  10. sandyj

    sandyj Member

    Is the windows 10 PC using Intel or Realtek network adapters ?
    Are you using windows 10 or windows 10 pro ?
    Do you connect to the share with IP or UNC name ?
     
  11. SolarGlider

    SolarGlider Member

    It's an Intel network adapter on the latest drivers on Windows 10 non-pro. I'm not sure about the last question but I use a local account for my W10 pc.
     
  12. Fatih Durmus

    Fatih Durmus Member

    where is the problem??
    We eagerly await...
     
  13. SolarGlider

    SolarGlider Member

    Do you mean solution?
     
  14. Markswift2003

    Markswift2003 Well-Known Member SUPER Administrator Beta test group Contributor

    The Slim HDMI ones I use have a similar thing - they plug into any HDMI port.
     
    Whitfield likes this.
  15. Markswift2003

    Markswift2003 Well-Known Member SUPER Administrator Beta test group Contributor

    If it works then great but given the cost I just use Premium Certified ones just so I know when I get issues I can discount the cables.

    There is a caveat to that though - I have a Dune Realbox that doesn't like the Slim HDMIs and has to be connected with an Antiference one - it's a real can of worms this 4K malarky!!
     
  16. rozel

    rozel Well-Known Member

    @Markswift2003 But are you saying there is an issue with Zidoo's cable? Many manufacturers are now packing suitable HDMI cables with their equipment so the end user can receive the required PQ, otherwise this would lead to much ctritiscism and complaints, which they want to reduce. SkyQ is another UK example, they insist you use their cable otherwise they won't deal with issues. But if you think there's an issue, it would be good to know what it/they are.
     
  17. boxerfan

    boxerfan Active Member



    Ai ya ya...u mean Zidoo supplied cable is no good?
    Even for the short length of the Zidoo supplied cable?
     
  18. Markswift2003

    Markswift2003 Well-Known Member SUPER Administrator Beta test group Contributor

    I'm just saying that generally the HDMI cables supplied with any boxes (Sky included) are as a rule a bit rubbish - they'll probably do the job but I doubt they'll sustain 600MHz reliably.

    Don't fall into the trap of thinking that the choice of HDMI cable can affect picture quality - There is absolutely no difference in picture quality between any HDMI cables regardless of price - they either work without errors or they don't.
     
  19. Markswift2003

    Markswift2003 Well-Known Member SUPER Administrator Beta test group Contributor

    Let's not go too far down the HDMI rabbit hole - all I'm saying is I will always use only Premium Certified cables, but I absolutely will not spend a fortune on them.

    But - if your system works with what you have at the moment, leave well alone!
     
  20. rozel

    rozel Well-Known Member

    I agree whole hearedly but with the advent of higher bit rates and bandwidth considerations, if a manufacturer who supplies such a "suitable cable" to play to their specifications then I for one will give it a go. HDfury say that you should use cables of 2m in length - lol - I'm not paying for 2m if 1 m will do and is a neater fit within my HTS. My "so called" Premium Certified cables are 1m length each and work perfectly for what I need for max playback - and that is for smooth 4K UHD 60fps 12-bit 594Mhz 4:2:2 LLDV Dolby True HD / Atmos 7.1 playback.

    Don't get me wrong I am certainly not advocating spending loads of hard earned dosh on massively expensive HDMI cables but I'd sooner trust Sky Q's and Zidoo's supplied cables over some of the "So Called Premium Certified" ones that litter eBay and Amazon. To be honest it's the same with Audio cables - been there done it and are damned if I can hear any differences. With TV and Media Player playback, we want cables that work - period! IMHO that is.
     
    3DBuff likes this.

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