Hi all, bought the X7 Ultimate which I set up with not too much hassle, however the streaming in XBMC is jittery and not smooth at all, the sound is perfect. The streaming works fine in android apps but really want to use XBMC, any settings I can tinker with would be much appreciated, Nigel.
X7 Ultimate
- Thread starter Nigel Butcher
- Start date
Nigel, can you try a high quality YouTube clip to see whether the source of the media makes any difference?
There are some settings to be played with - XBMC's caching method does at times fire up a surprising amount of debate - see an old thread here - http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=130938 for some background. The fact that XBMC coders offer their expertise for free, and sometimes disagree with users means progress isn't always fast or clear.
If you're happy editing text files, I'd recommend trying these options in AdvancedSettings.xml and see if any of them help. If one approach does help more than others, then try playing with the numbers involved. For some background info on the cache settings and location of AdvancedSettings.xml, see http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=HOW-TO:Modify_the_video_cache
This will disable the buffer entirely
This should buffer all types of media, require up to 512Mb of free RAM (3 times the figure specified (which is in bytes), and attempt to use up to 4 times the combined video and audio bitrate of your internet bandwidth. (As an example for that last part, if the film you're watching is 8Mbit, XBMC would attempt to download the file at 32Mbit. Obviously both your X7's internet bandwidth, AND the source of the media file would have to be able to sustain a 32Mbit connection)
Possible side effects for these tweaks include waiting longer for a video stream to start whilst the buffer fills (I'm fine with that personally, compared to unwanted pauses later in the film), other internet users in your home finding their internet is slow whilst your watching the film and CPU usage spikes (this is theoretical, I've been fine with most of the content I watch, so haven't had to tweak the cache, but that tends to be a maximum of 720p anyway).
If you're not comfortable changing these settings, we can try and find a time when you're with your X7 Ultimate and I'm online (I'm GMT+6 until mid-December), and I can remote in to your device to enter those settings.
There are some settings to be played with - XBMC's caching method does at times fire up a surprising amount of debate - see an old thread here - http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=130938 for some background. The fact that XBMC coders offer their expertise for free, and sometimes disagree with users means progress isn't always fast or clear.
If you're happy editing text files, I'd recommend trying these options in AdvancedSettings.xml and see if any of them help. If one approach does help more than others, then try playing with the numbers involved. For some background info on the cache settings and location of AdvancedSettings.xml, see http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=HOW-TO:Modify_the_video_cache
This will disable the buffer entirely
Code:
<advancedsettings>
<network>
<buffermode>3</buffermode>
</network>
</advancedsettings>This should buffer all types of media, require up to 512Mb of free RAM (3 times the figure specified (which is in bytes), and attempt to use up to 4 times the combined video and audio bitrate of your internet bandwidth. (As an example for that last part, if the film you're watching is 8Mbit, XBMC would attempt to download the file at 32Mbit. Obviously both your X7's internet bandwidth, AND the source of the media file would have to be able to sustain a 32Mbit connection)
Code:
<advancedsettings>
<network>
<buffermode>0</buffermode>
<cachemembuffersize>178956288</cachemembuffersize>
<readbufferfactor>4</readbufferfactor>
</network>
</advancedsettings>Possible side effects for these tweaks include waiting longer for a video stream to start whilst the buffer fills (I'm fine with that personally, compared to unwanted pauses later in the film), other internet users in your home finding their internet is slow whilst your watching the film and CPU usage spikes (this is theoretical, I've been fine with most of the content I watch, so haven't had to tweak the cache, but that tends to be a maximum of 720p anyway).
If you're not comfortable changing these settings, we can try and find a time when you're with your X7 Ultimate and I'm online (I'm GMT+6 until mid-December), and I can remote in to your device to enter those settings.
Thankyou for your in depth analysis some of which went over my head!! I'm changing over to fibre broadband today so no internet at the moment but when up and running will give a go and if no luck will let you remote in, cheers
I meant to add, another thing to check is whether your ISP is shaping your traffic. To ensure the majority of their customers are able to browse websites normally, some ISPs will prioritize network traffic based on the content/protocol/addresses involved.
Some ISPs deny they do this (though it is for the greater good), and their first line technical support agents may even believe that it doesn't occur. Source? Me
I used to work at an ISP, and managers had expectations of what customers should be told, and when training new recruits at the front line, the truth was sometimes hidden a little.
Anyway, if you have Hola installed on your device, and still have problems with internet speed once you get your fibre connection, load up Hola, click unblocker, scroll down to XBMC, and click on it. Select America, or France (somewhere there is a chance of a high bandwidth connection to). Once confirmed, you can click the arrow to start XBMC. If you now find that HD streams play with less buffering, you've fairly conclusively proven that your ISP is artificially slowing down your connection to the site hosting the video file/prioritizing other users. This can work because your ISP only sees the connection to Hola's servers (a VPN connection) and may not slow it down. They don't see that Hola then connect their server to the media-hosting server, and relay the data to you.
Some ISPs deny they do this (though it is for the greater good), and their first line technical support agents may even believe that it doesn't occur. Source? Me
I used to work at an ISP, and managers had expectations of what customers should be told, and when training new recruits at the front line, the truth was sometimes hidden a little.Anyway, if you have Hola installed on your device, and still have problems with internet speed once you get your fibre connection, load up Hola, click unblocker, scroll down to XBMC, and click on it. Select America, or France (somewhere there is a chance of a high bandwidth connection to). Once confirmed, you can click the arrow to start XBMC. If you now find that HD streams play with less buffering, you've fairly conclusively proven that your ISP is artificially slowing down your connection to the site hosting the video file/prioritizing other users. This can work because your ISP only sees the connection to Hola's servers (a VPN connection) and may not slow it down. They don't see that Hola then connect their server to the media-hosting server, and relay the data to you.