Recommended performance optimization?

[Brownsamurai]

Is there a guide, sticky, or recommendations on how to optimize Mezzmo for different machine types (low, medium, and high end)? I did a search, but didn't see anything that really fit the bill.

I have a fairly beefy box that is pretty much just running Mezzmo and I'd love to tweak it for that purpose but still encounter the intermittent jitter or the occasional movie pause with "loading" displayed at the top of the screen. User community generated or dev recommendations would be awesome. I've been playing around with the Transcoding settings, but I'm assuming there is more that can be done. Load the application into RAM? Set thread priority? Allocate processor cores? Set Windows processor scheduling?

[Paul]

If you are sometimes getting stuttering, then there's a few possible reasons:


Your home network may not be able to transmit the video data quick enough. We recommend using Ethernet cables where possible. If you have only wireless, then wireless-N with full signal stength is best.
Mezzmo may be transcoding HD video on your PC so your DLNA device can play the file and this may not be fast enough for real time streaming. When you get stuttering, go to your PC and check the Transcoding pane in Mezzmo. If your video is listed there and is marked red, then transcoding is too slow for real time streaming. This can be fixed with better CPU and memory (in your case, this is unlikely) or by choosing a better device profile to match your DLNA device that you are streaming to. You can change device profiles in the Media Devices dialog in Mezzmo.
Your DLNA device's firmware may be struggling to decode and play the video that you are streaming to it. This can occur with high bitrate videos on some DLNA devices where the device cannot process all the video data quick enough for real time playback.

Let us know a few things to help:


What is your DLNA device (manufacturer and model)?
What device profile are you using in the Media Devices dialog?
What type of home network are you using? Ethernet, wireless-N, etc.
What is the FFmpeg information on one of the videos that sometimes stutters? To get this, right-click on the video in Mezzmo and click 'Get FFmpeg Information'.

[Brownsamurai]

I appreciate the help, Paul - support is the main reason I purchased Mezzmo. You have been great!

I just noticed it playing an HD movie last night - I'll setup a RDP session to my server and reference it next time I see the problem occur to watch/capture the error.

As for your questions in my specific case:

•What is your DLNA device (manufacturer and model)?
Microsoft Xbox 360

•What device profile are you using in the Media Devices dialog?
Xbox 360

•What type of home network are you using? Ethernet, wireless-N, etc.
Ethernet (1GB over CAT5e)

•What is the FFmpeg information on one of the videos that sometimes stutters? To get this, right-click on the video in Mezzmo and click 'Get FFmpeg Information'.

ffmpeg version N-40693-gc457a29 Copyright (c) 2000-2012 the FFmpeg developers
built on May 15 2012 12:57:14 with gcc 4.6.2
configuration: --enable-memalign-hack --arch=x86 --target-os=mingw32 --cross-prefix=i686-w64-mingw32- --enable-static --disable-shared --enable-zlib --disable-postproc --prefix=/home/peter/ffmpeg/build/gpl --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libx264 --enable-gpl --extra-libs='-lx264 -lpthread' --enable-runtime-cpudetect --extra-cflags=-I/home/peter/cc/include --extra-ldflags=-L/home/peter/cc/lib --pkg-config=pkg-config --disable-w32threads
libavutil 51. 51.100 / 51. 51.100
libavcodec 54. 21.101 / 54. 21.101
libavformat 54. 5.100 / 54. 5.100
libavdevice 53. 4.100 / 53. 4.100
libavfilter 2. 73.100 / 2. 73.100
libswscale 2. 1.100 / 2. 1.100
libswresample 0. 11.100 / 0. 11.100
[avi @ 018ebac0] non-interleaved AVI
Input #0, avi, from 'E:\Video\HDVideo.avi':
Metadata:
encoder : AVI-Mux GUI 1.17.8, Aug 30 2008 12:36:58
JUNK :
Duration: 02:17:04.08, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 2182 kb/s
Stream #0:0: Video: mpeg4 (Simple Profile) (XVID / 0x44495658), yuv420p, 720x384 [SAR 1:1 DAR 15:8], 25 tbr, 25 tbn, 25 tbc
Stream #0:1: Audio: ac3 ([0] [0][0] / 0x2000), 48000 Hz, 5.1(side), s16, 320 kb/s
Metadata:
title : hdvideo
At least one output file must be specified


---> DB Level Info: 3, 0
---> Frame rate: 25.00
---> Aspect ratio: 15:8

[Paul]

Thanks for the information. Using the Microsoft Xbox 360 device profile, this AVI file is streamed natively to your Xbox 360 so transcoding on-the-fly is not slowing down and causing the stuttering. The problem may be the encoding in the actual AVI file itself - i.e. it may be encoded is such a way that your Xbox is struggling to decode and play it. Just to be sure, send us a set of logs and we'll check what Mezzmo is streaming and how your Xbox is communicating with Mezzmo server. Turn on logging (see http://forum.conceiva.com/showthread.php/419-FAQ-How-to-turn-on-diagnostic-logging) and restart your Mezzmo server. Stream the AVI file and, when it starts to stutter, stop your Mezzmo server and exit Mezzmo. Zip up all the logs and email them to us at support [at] conceiva [dot] com.