WMP12 Buffering...

[Blahman]

WMP doesn't seem to handle DLNA streaming very intelligently -- it just sits there "buffering". I haven't waited to see how long it actually takes before it starts playback, but it's been at least 10 minutes. The Options-Performance-Buffer setting has no effect.

This is on a wired gigabit network with no connectivity issues.

Anyone have any better luck?

I'm on Windows 7 64-bit.

[Blahman]

So after about 15 minutes of buffering, it finally started playing but the sound was completely trashed (high-pitched white noise) and it played back video way too fast, with lots of stuttering. Stupid WMP.

[skapigsd]

HD channel? That's what happened on my attempts to view them, though I wasn't expecting my crap wireless G to be able to handle it. Takes a lot of bandwidth.

SD channels do work pretty well.

[nickk]

We see this in our QA testing as well - on some machines WMP plays perfectly and on other machines WMP reports "buffering".

We have a suspicion as to the problem with WMP and have a plan for a test that will confirm.

Nick

[Blahman]

HD channel? That's what happened on my attempts to view them, though I wasn't expecting my crap wireless G to be able to handle it. Takes a lot of bandwidth.

SD channels do work pretty well.

Yes HD channel. ESPNHD

[Blahman]

We see this in our QA testing as well - on some machines WMP plays perfectly and on other machines WMP reports "buffering".

We have a suspicion as to the problem with WMP and have a plan for a test that will confirm.

Nick

Good to hear, thanks Nick!

[Mediaman]

I have noticed that when a mouse pointer is over the screen in the upper left corner a buffer reference as to how much it has buffered [1-?%]. sometimes it loads slow sometimes fast but I have hit play button from 1 to 25% and it seems to play most times without a problem. At times the playback stops but starts right back up with no loss if I hit the play button again or wait till the buffer fills. Most times I can hit the stop button on MP and then select replay and the file restarts from the beginning.

[chateau]

WMP was giving me considerable grief as well with buffering to some extent but mostly with pixelation and audio breaking up.

I saw on another forum when a guy recommended using Shark007 codecs for Win 7. I had K-Lite Codec Pack 970 installed and had not really noticed anything out of the ordinary until I started trying to use WMP to play HD HomeRun Prime DLNA.

I downloaded Shark007 for Win 7 32 bit from Major Geeks at this link http://www.majorgeeks.com/Win7codecs_d5959.html and it made a huge improvement in WMP. Be aware, If you have a 64 bit system you have to first install the 32 bit version and then install the additional stuff for 64 bit.

EDIT: Clarification, my 64 bit machine is running flawlessly but my 32 bit machine is now struggling again with pixelation and audio breaking up. Sorry, but the codecs are probably not the problem.

[Blahman]

I had already tried it with and without Shark007 codecs, made no difference for me.

[chateau]

Deleted.

[spunkyaz]

WMP doesn't seem to handle DLNA streaming very intelligently -- it just sits there "buffering". I haven't waited to see how long it actually takes before it starts playback, but it's been at least 10 minutes. The Options-Performance-Buffer setting has no effect.

This is on a wired gigabit network with no connectivity issues.

Anyone have any better luck?

I'm on Windows 7 64-bit.

Hi,
Sorry to hear that you are having problems with live TV using WMP12. I have not experienced any buffering in my testing. I have not tried a PC hard wired to my network. I was successful using my laptop with WIFI on 2 separate occasions. I did not see any buffering. My notes are below.

Here is an excerpt from my notes from yesterday:

viewtopic.php?f=47&t=14245

While running tests through the dmp-bdt220 I tested live feed from tuner1 hd prime to my laptop with WIFI 802.11 N connection.
I used WMP12, then WMC to watch the same ESPN feed that the dmp-bdt220 was tuned to above. Both applications produced good results on both video and audio. No dropouts on video or audio. (Evidence that new firmware is stable within WMC.)

After I read your post I decided to try WMP12 again today using my laptop. However this time I was in a different room 40 feet away from my wireless router. There are two walls and a wooden desk wall between the router and my laptop.

I clicked on the WMP12 shortcut to load the WMP12
I clicked on Libraries to Open Playlists folder
I clicked on Playlists to open the HDHomerun Cable Card folder
I clicked on HDHomerun Cable Folder to see the list of channels.
I scrolled through the list until I found the ESPN HD channel then clicked on it.
ESPN HD opened in a window within 2 seconds. Audio and video both were good. No pixelization, or dropouts and no buffering..

My local network is 1GB wired ethernet from the "Prime" to the router through two switches.
Toshiba laptop, Intel core I3 @2.30 Ghz, 6GB RAM, Win7 sp1, 64 bit
Windows Media Center is also configured and actively used for TV from "Prime"

I hope my experience will be of some help to you.

SpunkyAZ

[Blahman]

Thanks but whether I use wired or wireless all I get is buffering. Cyberlink SoftDMA works fine, however.

[Mediaman]

Thanks but whether I use wired or wireless all I get is buffering. Cyberlink SoftDMA works fine, however.

The softDMA is this the trial release or the full release? If it is the full release have you tried copyonce content?

[Blahman]

Thanks but whether I use wired or wireless all I get is buffering. Cyberlink SoftDMA works fine, however.

The softDMA is this the trial release or the full release? If it is the full release have you tried copyonce content?

Trial -- in the PowerDVD thread nickk said copy-protected content doesn't work yet and since SoftDMA is probably using the same tech I'd imagine it has the same issues: viewtopic.php?p=83076#p83076

[spunkyaz]

I was able to produce thev"WMP12 Buffering..." symptom today. I updated to the 20130121beta1 release.
I tested both WMP12 and WMC on each of my 4 Win7 PC's. I got the buffering symptom in WMP12 on my Wife's PC, while logged into Windows with her ID. Her ID is not an administrator ID and she does not use WMP12. I found the TV channels in a folder other than a Playlist folder.

This is a desktop pc with 6GB RAM and attached to 1GB ethernet. However. when I used my own (administrator) ID to login to Windows on the Wife's PC, WMP12 worked fine as a live TV player.

These results suggest that buffering is likely related to Windows / WMP12 permissions rather than a problem with the "Prime"

SpunkyAZ