[SOLVED] HiMedia and Micca video streamers stutter badly with UnRaid 4.7

[Oddwunn]

Hi guys,

 

The title pretty much says it all. I recently bought a HiMedia 900A and Micca EP950 video streaming boxes, and for the most part both of them work perfectly streaming Blu-ray video remuxed to .M - except with my 2 UnRaid 4.7 servers...

 

I don't know where to start to troubleshoot this problem, so I will try to provide as much info as possible and ask if anyone has either run into the same problem or knows what I need to do to fix it. Here is a list of what works and doesn't work:

 

1. HiMedia 900A (Linux based) works perfectly with a directly attached hard drive, but stutters somewhat with a USB attached drive and stutters horribly when using the network and streaming from either of my 2 UnRaid 4.7 servers. It plays the same video back from Windows 7 and XP machines perfectly.

 

2. The Micca EP950 (same exact hardware as the HiMedia 900, also Linux based) works perfectly with BOTH a directly attached hard drive and USB drive, but also stutters horribly when connected to either of my UnRaid 4.7 servers. The Micca also plays back the same video from Windows 7 and XP machines perfectly.

 

3. My Windows 7 and XP machines, running software video players like Zoomplayer, Media Player Classic, and J. River's Media Center 17, plays video back perfectly from either of my 2 UnRaid servers.

 

4. The now defunct SageTV HD300 media streamer (Linux based) plays video back perfectly from either of my 2 UnRaid servers, as well as from any Windows based machines.

 

I know what you are going to say...just stick with the Windows players and the SageTV HD300, but the reason I want to use the Micca and/or HiMedia streamers is because of the Blu-ray 3D ISO support. Right now I am attaching hard drives loaded with 3D material directly to those 2 streamers, but it kind of defeats the purpose in building and using servers which should be working just fine, especially considering that it is a Linux to Linux connection.

 

To sum up:

 

Everything works perfectly with each other EXCEPT for the HiMedia/Micca (Linux) network connection to the UnRaid (Linux) servers.

SageTV streamer works perfectly with everything, but has no 3D support.

 

Since there is virtually nothing I can do to modify settings in the MiMedia/Micca boxes, is there anything I can do with the UnRaid servers to create a better connection?

 

BTW, the SageTV box uses a 10/100 NIC, while the MiMedia/Micca boxes use 1 gb NICs...My 2 UnRaid servers are using Intel 1 gb NICs.

 

[dgaschk]

Are all of the systems connected to the same switch?

[Oddwunn]

Yes, the same Netgear 16 port gigabit switch and D-Link gigabit router.

[klgray]

I had the same problem when using SMB. I switched to NFS and the problem went away.

 

Ken

[Oddwunn]

I had the same problem when using SMB. I switched to NFS and the problem went away.

Thanks, Ken!

 

So you mean that I should turn off Samba in the HiMedia/Micca boxes and turn on NFS (which I assume is a different type of network sharing)?

 

Or is this something I do in the UnRaid setup?

 

Sorry that I know so little about Linux...

 

[BetaQuasi]

Both - you need to turn on NFS on your unRAID shares, and then connect using NFS from your media boxes.

[Oddwunn]

Both - you need to turn on NFS on your unRAID shares, and then connect using NFS from your media boxes.

Ok, so if I understand the instructions in the unofficial UnRaid manual, I can simply go to the shares page/Export Settings/Disk shares (NFS): and enter something like "192.168.1.xxx(ro)" in the box (using my actual Micca and HiMedia box IP addresses) and then enable NFS shares in the HiMedia and Micca boxes and I should be good to go, right? I know that this will enable only the disk shares, and I assume that I can just enter the same info on the user shares if I want to share them as well, right? And should I turn Samba off in the HiMedia and Micca boxes?

 

Thanks, guys! I hope this works.

 

I wonder why the Samba shares are not working properly though...

[klgray]

Oddwunn,

 

Like you, I was getting stuttering and dropped audio when streaming some files off unRAID, particularly those with high data rate encodes. I enabled NFS as a quick and dirty test because I read it plays better with media boxes, which typically run Linux. It worked and I haven't bothered to set it up "officially." Here's what I did:

 

1) In the standard unRAID 4.7 webgui on the Shares page I enabled NFS for the shares only, not under Export Settings but under User Shares instead. For each share I wanted NFS access to, I added "*(rw,insecure)" in the Export(NFS) box and clicked Apply. (I didn't know if the media box needed to write anything to the share -- it appears that the HiMedia/Micca boxes don't.)

 

2) On the HiMedia/Micca box, I clicked File Manager - NFS - AutoScan (File Manager - Network uses SMB). The box flashes up the message, "Start Searching NFS Shares!" If you press the OK button on the remote again while it's searching, it'll flash the message, "Searching NFS Shares is Ongoing!" After a few seconds it'll flash the message, "Searching NFS Shares Finished!"

 

3) With AutoScan still highlighted, press OK on the remote again. AT that point I see a list of the shares I exported as NFS. Highlight the share of interest and click OK as many times as it takes to navigate to the file of interest.

 

So all I did was export some NFS shares. I did nothing to the SMB shares, so a Windows PC continues to be able to access them as well. At some point I should figure out how to access the shares via "ShortCuts" so I don't have to do the scan each time I power on the box.

 

Ken

[Oddwunn]

Thanks, Ken! I will give it a shot tonight...

 

I am a bit confused about the syntax, though. In the UnRaid FAQ, in the section labeled "How do I configure NFS mounts?" it says:

 

For example, to export the share to any system, read/write, enter:

 

*(rw)

 

To export the share to 192.168.1.10 read-only, and 192.168.1.12 read/write, enter:

 

192.168.1.10(ro),192.168.1.12(rw)

 

If you notice, in the first example an asterisk is used, but in the second example there is no asterisk, so should I use and asterisk or not, or does it matter?

 

Also, if I do not specify an IP address (like in the second example), will the NFS share be available at any and all IPs?

 

Since my router is handing out IPs via DHCP, and I have no reason to allow writes to the array from the HiMedia/Micca boxes, can I simply enter

 

(ro)

 

or should I enter

 

*(ro)

 

or should I enter

 

*(ro,insecure)

 

Sorry I am such a Linux lamer...

 

Thanks again....this will be great if I can get this working...

 

Edit: Ah, the light just went on (I think)...The asterisk is used in place of a specified IP address and tells UnRaid to export the share to any and every IP, right?

 

[Oddwunn]

Thanks again, Ken! Your method worked perfectly...

 

I simply entered

 

*(ro)

 

in the NFS shares and the Micca box found the shares without issue...and the playback is now smooth as silk...