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MP3s skipping/buffering.... ideas & troubleshooting...

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Posted by: solex

Hello all!

The details: I'm running HMO with a Linksys WUSB11 v2.8, connecting to a new Airport Base Station, and a dual 1Ghz G4 with 2GB RAM, running Panther 10.3 and iTunes 4.2. Signal strength is reported as "Excellent: 84%"

The symptoms: Tracks plays normally for 20-30 seconds, then stop while it "buffers" and then continues playing for another 20-30 seconds, only to buffer again.

My best guesses:
1. All of my tracks are encoded at 192kbps or higher. I imagine the Tivo is grabbing small 'chunks' of the audio file, but because they are encoded at a high rate, it isn't grabbing them fast enough.
2. I have over 35,000 songs in my library, and this is causing the system to choke.

I am going to try a test later tonight by creating a new library file with only 100 songs in it, and will reduce the encoding rate to 128kbs and report back with my results in an effort to help other Mac users.

-David


Posted by: bedelman

I only have about 1,000 songs in my iTunes library and I don't have any skips. Check to see that you don't have anything which could be interfering with the network. This would include 2.4GHz phones, a running microwave oven, and 2.4GHz video senders. Also if you have other network activity going on at the same time (a MRV transfer for example), you're going to see effects from that.


Posted by: solex

Thanks for the tips Bob,

I don't have anything that would interfere with the network. No microwave in the house, and the phone is 5ghz....

What I have tried today:

1. I have gone through and shut down all the apps that may be tying up bandwidth, to no avail.
2. I have tried lower quality MP3s....
3. I have repositioned the antenna....
4. I have created a new library with only one song in it....

None of these steps have made one bit of difference.

Any other ideas? I am about an hour away from calling Tivo and asking for a refund.

:(


Posted by: bedelman

Have you looked at the "Activity Monitor" on the PowerMac to see how the utilization is? An alternative would be to use something like Cee Pee You which is a menu widget that displays the processor utilization in the menu bar. It's freeware and can be found at http://www.unsanity.com

Other things you might want to try...

I know the problem isn't with HMO because I have almost the exact same setup as do you and I don't have your symptoms. I also successfully serve MP3's from less powerful machines (my wife's 600MHz iBook G3 for example).

I purchased a Paul Simon album from the iTunes Music Store last night, converted the AAC files over to VBR MP3 files and they play just fine. I don't have as much music as some of the folks here, but I have much more than one song (the counts are between 500 and 1500 songs depending on the machine)


Posted by: solex

I checked the CPU usage, and it's coming it around 10% when I am streaming. (This seems high to me, but within reason.) I've run Disk Warrior and fixed permissions to no effect.

I am trying the static IP trick now, and will change the channel my ABS uses just in case there is another network nearby that may be causing problems.

Good to know it does work without buffering error for you. This means the trouble is in my system and can be remedied....

Thanks again for your input.


Posted by: Larry in TN

Problems with HMO were the first symptoms I had of an impending hard drive failure on the computer which hosted the mp3 files. You might want to make sure you have important data backed up just in case.


Posted by: infiniloop

I had the same set-up and same problem. I have no other networks in my area, nor am I running a microwave. And I have no phone to interfere. I think its a combination of the Linksys WUSB adapter on the Tivo unit and the simple fact that wireless networks aren't the greatest to stream (even though most users have no problems).

I discovered this by simple troubleshooting.....

- After experiencing the problems you described, I checked the connection on the Tivo while streaming from iTunes, and it reported (fluctuating) from 55% to 75%. I then moved the WUSB adapter within about 10 ft. of the Access Point (that transmits from the Mac), and the status went up to 90%. Result: Less interruptions in the stream, but still present.

- I then found a long Ethernet cable and ran it from my 10/100 Switch Box/Hub to a Farallon USB-Ethernet adapter. Result: Absolutely NO interruptions in the stream.

While this is a bummer, it is the obvious solution. Maybe a different Access Point or Adapter on the Tivo would help with a wireless connection? I dunno, but a $25 cable, $5 worth of Cat5 wall staples and 30 minutes of my time fixed the problem, and saved me from having to test out different adapters and set-ups.

Just my $.02




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