Stuttering playback for media files

I’ve just bought a 4Tb Mycloud as a media server.

I’ve tried to stream a variety of video files over my wifi, and most of them stutter, freeze, lose sound etc. In the main I’m using a PS3, but we’ve also tried a Nexus, a laptop, and a phone. We have no problems with streaming services like Netfix, iplayer and YouTube over the same network.

Some will play, but only if they are very low bitrate. I’ve tried ethernet cable and that seems ok, but should I be able to stream video from a NAS over wifi, or must it be wired?

Wiring the whole house with ethernet is very impractical so I was wondering what other peoples experiences were?

It depends entirely on the quality of your WiFi network.

Sounds like your network is struggling to keep up with the bitrate demand.

I have one WDTV player and several mobile devices in my household that don’t have any issues with streaming via WiFi - I would guess the most demanding of my files requres about 10 megabits per second of throughput or less…

Just to add, as a test of my wifi network speed I’ve just copied a 1.3Gb file to the WD Mycloud via wifi.

It copied it accross in a little over 15 minutes, so wifi speed would not seem to be an issue.

According to my playstation the file was around 3Mbps when it started stuttering. I’ve also tried with Homeplugs and the result is slightly better, but still most files stutter.

I’ve only tested one file (that previously stuttered on wifi and the homeplugs) direct on Ethernet, and that was ok.

I’m also suffering with stuttering and freezing issues when streaming from my 3TB MyCloud to my Samsung F8000 smart tv. The videos files are large mkv and some are between 10gig - 33gigs but my broadband is 1gig symmetric and over wifi I’m using Apples AirPort Extreme. I’m pretty sure it’s the bitrate of the file being to big but not all the file are that large or have a huge bitrate but they also freeze and then the video stops playing after about 7-8 minutes.

I shouldn’t be about the bit rate of the movie. A native BR should be around 50mb/s, the NAS is capable of eight times that bandwidth on a Gigabit network. If you converted your BR to MKV, you should be below 10mb/s

Well that said in that case any ideas why the video files could be stuttering and freezing when playing?

The TV is in another room, around 7 - 8 metres ( maybe a bit less ) from the NAS and the router, seperated my another room so 2 walls. 

Would I need to allow the video to buffer first ?

Could you test another DLNA player? connected where the TV is, instead of the TV. You could use a Windows machine and open the WD Mycloud icon that is on the MyPC window (this is the DLNA player).

Bump…

In my case the files are no more than 1.5Gb, and not even high quality. I’ve tried phones, tablets laptops, PS3, etc and all stutter. I can copy the entire file over wifi in a matter of minutes so its not a wifi speed issue.

Homeplugs don’t cure the problem. 

I’ve owned the device for a month and so far we can only play very low bitrate files. This coupled with the fact that alot of my media files are simply not showing up in twonky (and therefore on my devices) and its getting very frustrating. 

is it time to take it back?

What appeared to be the problem for me with my WD unit was that it was to far from my TV, basically in another room, I’ve now got it in the same room as the TV and everthing plays as it should. I’ve got MKV file size of 33GB and a few in the 20GB region and they all now play flawlessly so this just may also be the issue your having.

This is a NAS device though so I need it to work on a number of device, not just 1TV. I already have a 2Tb WD drive connected to the TV that this is supposed to be replacing.

So far it works on no devices unless I stream very low quality video. I can copy the file to a local drive in a few minutes so its not a wifi issue. I can stream HQ video from the web to many devices at once, but I can’t stream a single video from this NAS unless its very low quality.

Well im currently streaming the Dark Knight which is 38GB and it’s playing fine but as previously stated the NAS is in the same room as the device I want to stream it to so the distance between the 2 is around 2 metres. Try to move your NAS closer to the device you want to connect to and I guess it would also help if your main wifi hub was also in the same room but maybe the homeplugs will work also.

SONY007 wrote:

Well im currently streaming the Dark Knight which is 38GB and it’s playing fine but as previously stated the NAS is in the same room as the device I want to stream it to so the distance between the 2 is around 2 metres. Try to move your NAS closer to the device you want to connect to and I guess it would also help if your main wifi hub was also in the same room but maybe the homeplugs will work also.

Moving it "closer"is not an option. It needs to work as a NAS, so accessible on about 10 devices in the house. If I move it closer to my TV in say the living room, then it will be moving further away from other devices. I currently sits in the centre of the house with the router.

My sons PS3 is about 3m from the router and it still can’t play anything without stuttering. I’ve downloaded plex onto my laptop, and can stream directly from that to other devices, so its not wifi performance.

I have tried homeplugs. That makes things slightly better but still stutters on 75% of media.

Drunk.Mod wrote:

Mycloud firmware is full of bugs.

The only quick fix: Give it back for a full refund!

 

I have come to this conclusion. The fact it stutters like mad, and doesn’t recognise 10-15% of my media means its going back. I’ve had this a month and its wasted far to much of my time.

I should also add that I’ve downloaded plex onto my old laptop, and its streaming all my media just fine.