I just installed the latest stable release and everything with one exception, is working well.  I have multiple BluRay rips in differing formats. m2ts and mkv, mostly.  When I attempt to play these on different pcs throughout the house I get significant stuttering; as bad as every few seconds or so. I've performed the following in an attempt to troubleshoot.

 

Copied file manually to hard drive and playback was successful. 

Swapped out ethernet cables and switch (I've yet to try with a crossover cable between the unRAID box and a client) -update: tried

Verified gigabit on all ends using ifconfig and trying AutoNegotiate and forcing Gbe in Windows. 

Checked transfer rates of different files from disk shares and user shares. (Transfer rates of between 27-35MB/s)

Enabled Jumbo Frames all around

Checked the compatibility list.  (Gigabyte GA-P35-DQ6 mobo uses Realtek 8111B-GR NIC)

Set custom cache in VLC and Media Player Classic

 

None of these steps helped at all.  Am I missing something obvious here? Maybe the drives are fragmented?  Please help...the only reason I'm using unRAID is to protect 9TB of media and allow it to be played back. 

 

 

I would try connecting one of the machines back to back with the server to rule out the network as the next step.  Crossover cable shouldn't be necessary.

Forgot to mention that I set the disk cache within unRAID to 2048 as well.

 

Tried connecting unRAID + client directly...same issue.  I've ordered an Intel NIC, just in case.  Any other suggestions? 

I take it you have tried a different source drive in unraid already? 

 

Depending what content you have it might be possible to stream it over 100mb LAN as a test..  12mb/s  is a lot of video.  In my old house I could stream blurays over wireless (n).

 

 

I take it you have tried a different source drive in unraid already? 

 

Depending what content you have it might be possible to stream it over 100mb LAN as a test..  12mb/s  is a lot of video.  In my old house I could stream blurays over wireless (n).

 

 

 

Just tried two different disks...still no luck.  It's looking more and more like a NIC issue. 

 

Depending what content you have it might be possible to stream it over 100mb LAN as a test..  12mb/s  is a lot of video.  In my old house I could stream blurays over wireless (n).

 

 

 

Why would using 100Mb networking make things any better?

 

Depending what content you have it might be possible to stream it over 100mb LAN as a test..  12mb/s  is a lot of video.  In my old house I could stream blurays over wireless (n).

 

 

 

Why would using 100Mb networking make things any better?

 

It would not.

 

Try shutting off jumbo frames at all network locations; if all hosts and switches don't have the same level of support it can cause the problem you're seeing. Jumbo frames should not be required.

 

Are all PCs running Windows?

Yes.  They're all Windows PCs...well, aside from a laptop with Ubuntu which is rarely on, and isn't interacting with the unRAID box. 

 

Depending what content you have it might be possible to stream it over 100mb LAN as a test..  12mb/s  is a lot of video.  In my old house I could stream blurays over wireless (n).

 

 

 

Why would using 100Mb networking make things any better?

 

I was just pointing it out really.

Why would using 100Mb networking make things any better?

 

It would not.

 

Actually, it could ... maybe!

 

100Mb/s is sufficient for streaming almost any video format used in a domestic environment.

 

If the network infrastructure is broken in such a way that Gb networking is unreliable (perhaps resulting in many dropped packets/timeouts/retransmissions) then downgrading to 100Mb might make it more reliable.

UPDATE:

 

So, I've replaced the NIC with an Intel version and still no improvement. 

 

Let me be a little more specific about the actual stuttering issues:

 

It is especially pronounced when playing back .m2ts files (mostly ~20GB for full length movie).  I see significant stuttering when playing on my regular PC with VLC and Media Player Classic.  When I playback with XBMC on my HTPC, the symptoms aren't as severe...still completely unwatchable though.  The video will stop, a few seconds worth of frames will be dropped, while the audio continues to play flawlessly.

Have you connected the server and HTPC back-to-back. Gig-E does not require a crossover cable.

Post a mediainfo report of a file that displays "stutter".

Post your syslog.

 

What was the previous unRAID version that you were using that worked without stutter?  Anything else change?

Have you tried playback from a USB drive to eliminate unRAID? (eliminate unRAID hardware issues)

Obviously, you should not have any problems streaming the files...

 

 

 

What are the specs of the pc trying to play the file?

 

Josh