Z9X - SMB playback issues while streaming from NAS

Are you using Ethernet or Wifi?

 

Gigabit ethernet.

 

This is not normal behaviour for a wired Gigabit network.
Suggest checking cables, rebooting server, router and any switches to ensure network is functioning properly.

 

To preface this, I’m an IT systems engineer.

The network is not the issue. This could possibly be fixed by a Samba configuration change, but thus far it doesn’t seem like anyone in this thread has found the necessary change.

 

I haven't had one single issue with playback using unRAID NAS with SMB.

 

Try turning off smb1 and smb2 and use smb3. This worked for me.

 

I don’t have any playing problems with my 3000, however your mention of Plex caught my attention. I had it on my QNAP and after a reboot after removing all the apps, including Plex that resided on the QNAP that I had never used, my whole system including my PC is dramatically faster. So now my QNAP is purely a server for my video files.

 

Are your problematic files your own rips? Or internet downloads? If your own, what is your ripping program/process?

 

How are you able to get the Z9X use SMB3?
I force my Synology Nas to SMB3, and the Z9X stopped connecting - it only connects when SMB2 is enabled.

 

That's interesting, because only SMB1 and SMB3 work on my Z9X Pro. These boxes are certainly very picky about Samba configs.

I was running SMB1 because I had issues with SMB2 and planned to switch over to SMB3 eventually. I've done so and hopefully it works better.

One thing I did notice is that the Z9X Pro was very hot yesterday while playing the file that caused stuttering and crashing. (Still on SMB1) I played it again up to the problematic point today and did not experience the issues and it wasn't nearly as hot.

 

Ah - I didn't read that you were using the Pro version..

 

I have the new Z2000 PRO. I have samba share on an ubuntu 22 server. I am able to play all content on the share drive on my Nvidia Shield. I am on a gigabit lan. On my Zidoo, I am able to play large size movies no issues but on some movies or tv show the video will stop for a second and then continue? Any idea how to fix this? I have also try NFS but the movie or tv show would start and then stop play.

 

How much ram do you have on the server ?

I had this issue and it seems to be better now once I went to 20GB ram soon to be 32GB its still a little early to tell for sure though only did this a couple of weeks ago.

Current spec I am using is
Firmware I am using is v1.0.48
Z2000 Pro - wire network connection
Synology NAS RS1221+
20GB Ram
10GB Network with E10M20-T1
SSD Cache M.2
7x 20TB seagate exos enterprise grade hard drives with 5 year warranty using SHR raid (I got the drives on an amazing deal about half price cheaper than most 12TB Nas drives)
1x 4TB SSD for the application drive etc
2.5GB network switches - This is not required to fix the issue but already had these in place.

Ram is used for file caching so does seem to help here I also tried a Nvidia Shield but I don't like it as much as the zidoo for playback.
On the synology did a some tweaks in the settings to improve things as well.
The zidoo does seem to be sensitive with the networking to the server its almost like a buffering/connection issue not keeping pace or keeping the network connection open to the file properly.
I did experience the issue with my previous gen zidoo as well and with my previous synology.

 

Hi,

New Zidoo owner (Z2000 Pro and Z9X Pro). Had similar issues with stuttering playback on both players. Using a QNAP TS-453be NAS with WD Red drives in RAID 5, Ubiquiti UniFi networking and wired Gigabit Ethernet throughout. I have Port Bonded the two NAS NICs to give a 2 Gbit connection. Turns out it was the Port Autonegotiation between the Switch and the Zidoo. I have different types of UniFi switches in the rooms I have the Zidoo's installed. UniFi thought that it wasn't a Gbit Ehternet port. When I switched from Auto Negotiation to forcing GBit Ethernet on the port all issues disaappeared. I can now stream the same 4K movie, at different playback points, to both players with no issue now. I did have an inkling it was something to do with bandwidth as DVD played fine but Blu-ray or 4K UHD rips stuttered.

Haven't had previous issues with any Autonegotiation before so I don't know if its something to do with Zidoos Ethernet Interace implementation.

Apologies if this is a duplicate post but I'm a newbie and my search for a resolution led me to this thread. If its on Zidoo end it may have similar issues with other brands of switches.

 

I just wanted to add to the ever growing group of people having issues with the Z9X and playback issues while streaming from a NAS.
I have had my Z9X for about two months now and it worked GREAT! But that was when I was sharing a folder on my USB HDD from my Windows 10 PC. No issues at all, very quick and most importantly NO STUTTERING!

I then went out and bought a Asustor Drivestor 2 AS1102T and a 20TB drive, a 2.5gbit unmanaged switch and started filling it.
So nice with sustained speeds of >200MB/s to and from the NAS (obviously only 1gbit to the Z9X).
But when I started watching movies that now resided on the NAS it became obvious very quickly that the stuttering issue was present!
I have no transcoding on the NAS btw.

After two days of searching and reading I found a post on a Synology forum that referenced a setting under developer mode on the Z9X that by default uses less buffer for playback!
I disabled it and made som initial tests and so far no stuttering!

 

Yes I suspect this is exactly the issue, low sized buffer on Zidoo that can get overwhelmed / exhausted if you network is less than perfect. I’ve personally never had an issue, but can understand the logic behind it and why some have had issues and other can’t replicate it. Can you share the exact setting and how people can turn it on please?

 

How to toggle "Playback with less reserved buffers" setting on Z9X

 

Thanks McBluna.
As far as the network is concerned, I don't think the network being "less than perfect" has anything to do with this. As I said, I have the bandwidth etc.
My NAS had these default settings:
Highest SMB version: SMB3
Lowest SMB version: SMB2
This worked but stuttered.

If I change to:
Highest SMB version: SMB2
Lowest SMB version: SMB2
This didn't work at all. I can use the File Browser and log in to the NAS and see the folders in the \home\ folder.
But I see no files and can't open any folder because the login prompt pops up and says the login is incorrect, which it obviously isn't.

Then I change to:
Highest SMB version: SMB2
Lowest SMB version: SMB1
That worked just like the default settings. Still stuttered (until I changed the buffer settings).

So what is going on with the SMB versions?
Does the Z9X work with SMB3 and SMB1 but not SMB2? Seems very odd.

 

Turn the smb1 and smb2 off and see what happens?

 

I suspect it's not peak bandwidth but more sustained end to end bandwidth where you can sometimes see random dips in end to end network performane despite having great peak performance, so Zidoo and it's buffer, inbetween switches / router and cable, NAS software and even the drives in your NAS can all influence this. What is known is some with certain kit have the issue but others with identical kit do not have it. I've got 4-5 Zidoo devices (z9x, zq10, z1000, z2000 & uhd3000) on my network made up of 5-6 switches (1 GbE & 2.5 GbE), have 2 x NAS drives and also a few NUC PCs and have never had the issue.. If you copy large files from one device to another you'll often see it can hit peak performance but you'll also spot dips in these transfers figures and it's more to do with how often or long these dips last for and if it's long enough to exhaust or upset the Zidoo buffer.. It's a bit random but also I suspect environment specific which makes it trickier to pinpoint..