How to stream via LAN istead of internet?

WD Legacy Products WD TV Live Streaming
1

I may be an ■■■■■, but it really seems to me that my WD TV Live is streaming via my internet connection instead of LAN - and that just seems stupid imo, considered it is hooked up to the same 1gbit network as my PC is (which is the stream source) via LAN.

But whenever i use my interwebs for anything demanding, my WDTV Live cannot stream anything, even though i still would have over 900mBit available bandwidth (LAN wise, not Internet wise!)

Is there any way to remedy this?

Best regards, BeefSkull

2

So if you’re accessing other stuff on your PC while your PC is serving streams, it may be Disk bandwidth bottleneck, or CPU, etc.

3

@Beefskull:

What are you trying to stream to your TV via your WDTV Live SMP?

If the content is from a USB hard disk attached directly to the SMP, of course it’s not streaming and it’s not using any LAN bandwidth.

If the content is on a network share, then it has to stream through your router and use some of its throughput capacity.

If you are downloading a file from the Internet at the same time, that adds to the throughput the router has to handle.

The router might be the limiting factor in your situation.

If you provide more detail on what you are trying to stream, and what else “demanding” you are doing on the Internet, we can help to analyze your situation.

4

It is not disc bandwidth.

My CPU is not bottlenecking either.

My setup is like this:

WDTV Live connected via Ethernet cable to my Router (which has 1gbit)

PC is connected to same router.

(task manager never shows my Network (LAN) Utilization higher than 15%)

CPU : Core i7 2600k

8gb ram

CPU lies dorment pretty much … most ive seen was 10%

lets say my GF  starts a movie on the WDTV Live, lets just say its Avatar at 1080p (which will then be streamed to it from my PC) - it will run without a problem.

But IF i then start watching a 1080p Youtube video on my PC at the same time, then the WDTV live will start to stutter as the video loads up (eating all my INTERNET), as if it has run out of bandwidth.

I can also reproduce this problem by using something as simple as speedtest.net.

Without the WDTV Live playing anything, my results will be something near 30/30mbit connection

BUT if i then start up Avatar @1080p again, my speedtest.net result will be something like 20/20, and the WDTV Live will then proceed to stutter again because it has run out of INTERNET!

So my question remains, why is my WDTV Live using my INTERNET instead of my LAN for streaming ? Its all on the same network.

EDIT:

forgot to mention, i am using an Asus RT-N56U Router / Switch (Whatever u wanna call it - nothing is running in Wi-Fi)

5

BeefSkull wrote:

 

So my question remains, why is my WDTV Live using my INTERNET instead of my LAN for streaming ? Its all on the same network.

 

 

It’s not using the Internet to stream from your PC in this case.  It is using the LAN.  But both the LAN and the Internet are going through the router.   The bottleneck is your router it seems.  

6

I’m thinking it may be your router as well.  Which module?  I was having issues streaming 1080p less than 15 ft away with my crappy Uverse modem.  Picked up a Cisco Linksys e3200 and now I’m streaming with no problems!    I was getting only 54mbps on my 2.4 I’m now getting 164mbps consistently now.

7

Hi,

It is certainly a bottleneck somewhere, most likely the router, as already mentioned. It’s not using the INTERNET to stream at all.

Ayhan

8

I’m thinking it’s the PC, and disk bottlenecking or thrashing.

Here’s what my WD has done on my network for the last week:

And here’s the same time period for my internet usage:

There’s no correlation between the WD’s usage in Intternet usage.

9

@Beefskull:

I bet things will flow a lot smoother if you watch the streaming movie with your girlfriend and save the Youtube video for later - MUCH later.

10

im sorry i just dont understand. You guys are telling me that my 1Gbit router CANNOT handle a stream that uses about 10mbit stream?

Tell me this then  - if i access my Video Source PC with my laptop and start up Avatar at 1080p with VLC Player there will be no problems. If i do that i can easily watch youtube videos and do all sorts of other stuff on the INTERNET without the laptop running out of bandwidth for streaming the video - why is that?

11

I can also stream to my LT, DT and my Imac with no issues.   I think the problem is with bandwidth and the type of processor the SMP has IF it’s streaming.  Playing local 1080p files on the SMP should not be an issue. 

The reason your computers can play them is because it has the processing capicity to handle it.  If you tried playing a 1080p movie on a 4-6 year old LT or DT you would see the same stuttering that you are seeing now.

Playing 1080p movies is a lot of work…then if you add wi-fi to the mix,  you are only making things worse.

12

@ JoeBoy - I am not using Wi-Fi. I am using a 1gbit wired ethernet connection.

Ive gotten it somewhat fixed by disabling media sharing on my PC completely via the Network Sharing Center. This has increased my total LAN usage while streaming a movie, but it doesnt detract from my internet speeds.

The following has been tested on a 100mbit Switch:

after everyone told me that it may have be a router problem, i decided to try out my old 100mbit switch for a better view of network usage - the results are as follows: Screenshots provided as well!

Scenario 1: http://imageshack.us/f/834/scenario1.png/

All streaming services disabled in windows7!

The WDTV Live will use 70% of my Network for streaming a 1080p movie - if i run a speedtest.net while it is doing this, my results will be 30/30+mbit - however, any movie (the 3 i tested anyway) will lag out pretty fast in this “mode”! - but at least it aint detracting from my internet speeds! IF the WDTV Live would be able to stream stuff in this mode, it would mean i could actually use my internet at the same time!

Scenario 2: http://imageshack.us/f/834/scenario2.png/

Streaming set to be allowed for any device in windows7!

WDTV Live will, drop the LAN usage to about 30% (No matter which movie!) - and if i run a speedtest.net while this is happening my results will be something like 22/22mbit - in this mode, anything that uses “all my internet” (youtube, file downloading, you name it!) will immediately cut the stream to the WDTV Live, even though my network usage is under 40%

The “spikes” in both of the above screenshots are from running speedtest.net

Additional info :

My HDD isnt bottlenecking

My CPU isnt bottlenecking

My GPU isnt bottlenecking

My LAN Bottlenecks only in “Scenario 1” when running speedtest.net, however the movie will lag out pretty fast even if im not running a speedtest

In Scenario 2, my LAN will never bottleneck, but when im using my internet at high speeds, the WDTV Live will still lag out

My Setup:

Internet goes into Switch (Directly from the wall, dont even have a router now), PC goes into Switch, WDTV Live goes into switch

Im not saying that the WDTV Live itself is at fault for this, it might as well be some kind of problem with my LAN setup - all i want i a solution so that the WDTV Live will  use ONLY my LAN and NOT my INTERNET for streaming purposes.

If this is not possible i dont see any reason why anyone would ever want a box like this, when a cheap laptop can do the same thing much more effective??

I hope this post has clarified my problem enough for someone to fix this. Or at least tell me something like “Haha you ■■■■■, all you have to do is enable/disable “x” feature in windows / your network” or “sorry, streaming to this box simply doesnt work this way!”

This is the first time ive ever owned a box like this, and ive gotta say im pretty dissapointed so far :,(

At least tell me this, if i were to buy a HDD and plug it into the WDTV Live directly, it would be able to stream ALL 1080p content off of that HDD yes ? This is the only purpose i see for this box unless a fix for my problem is giong to be provided

EDIT : This post has been edited 1 million times to insert as much info as possible!

13


The following has been tested on a 100mbit Switch:

after everyone told me that it may have be a router problem, i decided to try out my old 100mbit switch - the results are as follows:

Sometimes the WDTV Live will use 70% of my Network for streaming a 1080p movie - if i run a speedtest.net while it is doing this, my results will be 30/30+mbit - these 2 things together uses 99% of the bandwidth on my LAN and will ofc lag out the movie! - but at least it aint detracting from my internet speeds!

But then for some weird reason, the WDTV Live will, after a while, drop the LAN usage to about 30% (No matter which movie!) - and if i run a speedtest.net while this is happening my results will be something like 22/22mbit

Is the old 100mb switch is attached to the router and your PC and WD to the switch?

If this is the case the 1080p streamed movie will not be going through your router, just your switch. Your WD will never use the INTERNET to stream videos across a LAN. Your reduction in INTERNET speed is a symptom of whatever is causing the bottleneck.

Yes, you can stream 1080p content off a HDD attached to your WD. I do, and I also use NAS.

14

Please read my previous post again, have provided a ton more information

afaik a 100mbit switch has 100mbit per port, and im pretty sure that 100mbit will be enough to stream a 1080p movie with a bitrate of ~10mbps?

also no, - the internet is connected directly into my switch, and everything else is also connected directly to my switch.

EDIT:

Just wanted to quote something from the thread called “streaming 1080p stalls” - http://community.wdc.com/t5/WD-TV-Live-Streaming-Discussions/Streaming-1080p-stalls/td-p/323999

second post:

"its your download speeds or router.

not all routers can handle streaming.  if you are using a standard home wireless router…that’s more than likely your issue."

^ this guy is hinting that download speeds do in fact matter, meaning that the WDTV Live SMP actually DOES use ones internet to stream, even over LAN

15

@BeefSkull:

The TaskManager screenshots only show the bits per second being handled by that network interface (as a percentage of a hypothetical maximum like 100 Mb/s) My point is that it says nothing about the load on the switch when the WDTV Live is pumping video from your “Avatar” PC to your HDTV.

And how are you getting an Internet connection to your switch? Usually there would be a cable or ADSL modem in the picture.

If Avatar from your desktop PC stutters while you are watching YouTube on your laptop PC, the logical bottleneck is the router or switch that is carrying both streams.

16

@ Jschall - But if i stream avatar to my Laptop from my PC and use my PC for watching youtube videos, the laptop will NOT start to stutter … are you even reading previous posts through before responding  O.o

The switch currently used is a 100mbit switch. It should be able to handle the throughput just fine?

I am currently getting the internet to the Switch via the box on the wall? (i have fiber optics internet, the box on the wall can not be classified as a router or anything else, it is just a box that sends the signal i am paying for, beeing it 30/30mbit internet or 300/300mbit internet - it doesnt even have settings for me to tinker with, and afaik it pretty much just runs everything in DMZ)

Also, i wrote earlier that i also have an ASUS RT-N56U (1gbit - only rated at 300mbps though) (this is the router i originally had connected instead of the old switch i have connected now) - that router has a throughput of 300mbps, which should also be more than enough to stream a 1080p movie while using the internet ??

I might end up buying a 1gbit switch just to prove that it has nothing to do with lack of bandwidth - however should this resolve my issues, i will not be afraid to admit that i was wrong :smiley:

Its just that it seems silly to me that a unit that has 100mbit per port, is not able to handle a stream of 10mbps + 30mbps (30mbit internet)

17

That’s why I think it’s a disk-thrashing issue on your PC that’s serving the files.

The WDTV’s don’t have the deepest of “Jitter” buffers.  That will explain why your LAPTOP doesn’t have any issues.   Your Laptop will cache-up as much as 10s of megabytes or more ahead of the stream position, so that it can continue to display the stream in the event of a momentary slow-down from the server.

Whatch your Laptop’s MEMORY utilization when you start a fresh stream to see that in action.

But since the WD doesn’t have as much memory or tollerance for “jitter,”  with High-bitrate material, almost ANY interruption to the stream of HD packets will cause a breakdown. 

If your HD’s heads have to pull off the stream to go load up your browser and plugins, it’s not sending data to the WD anymore.

The WD is *NOT* using internet to stream your movies.  You can prove it by unplugging your switch from the “magic box” on the wall.   Nothing will happen to your Avatar.

You ought to be able to prove it, too, but say loading a large EXCEL spreadsheet on your PC instead of streaming YouTube.

Loading a heavy application doesn’t use internet, either, but it will stress your hard disk in a similar way.

18

Well running speedtest.net or watching youtube doesnt affect the HDD the movie is being streamed from, since windows and all apps is on my SSD, while all my movies and other **bleep** is on my 2tb HDD - viewing the resource monitor from task manager has never showed any disk lag or even medium long disc queues while streaming anything to the WDTV Live

If it were because of the HDD though, wouldnt it also happen even when i were just to play the Movie on my PC without even streaming it ? O.o <> scratch this, forgot the buffer “problem” you mentioned.

I am more willing to accept this as the solution instead of the “You need more bandwidth” solution tbh

19

Neither Speedtest nor YouTube doesn’t use the hard disk either, once the page has loaded.

Where is your paging file? 

20

My page file is on the SSD yea, have been for a long time, never experienced any problems with that :wink: And i dont see how that would affect my streaming at all.

loading up a youtube video affects my 2tb drive 0%, so i dont see why that should interrupt the stream, except for the sheer fact that i still believe that it is using my internet bandwidth :smiley:

10mpbs stream + 30mbit internet does not equal 100mbit network usage :stuck_out_tongue:

however, 30mbit internet -(minus) 10mbps stream DOES equal 20mbit internet, which is almost exactly the internet speed, speedtest.net measures when i am streaming a video to the WDTV Live

EDIT :

here is a screenshot of resource manager - what you want to look at is the E drive (E:)

http://imageshack.us/f/830/nodiscqueueoranything.png/