Streaming Pause / Freezes

I have now purchased Mezzmo and I am fairly pleased with it after getting through a few teething problems with help from the excellent support found here. (although still trying to resolve some ongoing).

I now have a more disturbing issue. Video streaming to my Sony Bravia pauses and freezes. Dropping out and selecting the file to play again seems to resume these more often than not. On occasion the TV reports that it cannot find the server.... and again sometimes is able to resume once the file is selected.

This problem doesn't seem to be related to transcoding as the server seems happily working away with its CPU usage at 60 - 70%. It does it whilst transcoding and after transcoding is completed. There seems to be no set pattern as to when it does it.

The Bravia is connected via wired network (100M) so isn't subjected to wireless problems.

As you can imagine this is annoying when viewing something and having to restart it and sometimes this can take quite a while and even requires a restart of Mezzmo to get it successfully streaming again.

Any advice would be appreciated especially now I have purchased this product.

Hi JamboUK,

I had similar problems (pausing, cannot find server) with my Sony Bravia KDL-37EX403U.

Two comments may help you.

Firstly check what software version your TV is on. I've had 2 OTA updates and I'm now on PKG4.053EUL-0107. The updates may have addressed a network connection issue.

Secondly I'd been trying a lot of different DLNA programs (Nero, Twonky, TVersity etc) to see which one was the best and like you I opted for Mezzmo. Once I'd deleted all other DLNA server software from my pc I then went into the Sony setup and deleted all the server listings (including Windows media player) then rescanned just for Mezzmo and got it to list just that one back in the menu.

I haven't had a problem with my hardwired network connection since and my TV is connected to a 4-port network switch which is itself connected to my netgear router which my pc is also connected to.

Hope this helps you.

I had a similar issue with my PS3 a few months ago. The problem turned out to be with my router firmware. I have a Linksys router running the DD-WRT replacement firmware. There was a release of that firmware that had a bug: its UPNP server would often hang, eating 100% of the router's processing power. Upgrading to a newer beta version of the firmware fixed it.

Yes, all of the above are possibilities to try and also you may be experiencing an issue that we've been fixing last week, so if you can send a message to support, I'll send you the latest patched version to try.

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Originally Posted by Dennis

Yes, all of the above are possibilities to try and also you may be experiencing an issue that we've been fixing last week, so if you can send a message to support, I'll send you the latest patched version to try.

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TV Firmware is up to date. Mezzmo is only server listed. My router is an Apple Airport. Dennis. Sent an email to support. Although you should know it by now!! :) Thanks all for you help thus far.

Thanks - I'll reply to you via e-mail.

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Originally Posted by Dennis

Thanks - I'll reply to you via e-mail.

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Thanks - I would appreciate it if you would. Still suffering the problem last night.

The patch and subsequent new version on the site appears to have solved this issue. I waited until I had played enough material to be sure. Thank you for your prompt assistance and excellent support.

Thanks for letting me know and I'm glad that it works well for you!

Hello I have recently purchased A sony Bravia KDL-40EX700 Tv and am trying to use Mezzmo to stream videos from my PC, most video formats are AVI files. The videos load fine but after a while the video just pause themselves! not to sure where to go from here, any help will be appreciated.

Jarand

I have the KDL-40NX503 link to my pc via a lan. I can stream all 720p movies and some of the 1080p movies but the majority of the 1080p pause or drop out.

Any suggestions?

Thanks
pickle

Hi pickle,

The fact that you can stream your 720p and some of your 1080p without any problems suggests two possible reasons:

(i) Your home network may not be able cope with the high bandwidth required for some of your HD videos. Are you running wireless? If you are, then this will typically be the reason for the stuttering. We have found that wireless does not have the consistent high bandwidth required for streaming HD video. If you can, as a test, try using Ethernet cables between your TV and your router, and between your router and your PC. If you can stream without problems when set up like this, then you have identified the cause.

(ii) Another possible reason is that Mezzmo has to transcode some of your HD videos and the speed of transcoding is not fast enough on your PC. In this case, video that is playing on your DLNA device may pause or stutter. Using Task Manager on your computer, go to the Performance tab to check the available CPU and RAM. Try closing down as many programs as possible so that Mezzmo (and "ffmpeg.exe" - the program that Mezzmo uses to transcode audio and video) can access as much CPU and RAM as possible. The higher spec computer you have the better it will transcode audio and video for streaming to your DLNA device.

I'm having the same issues where most of my videos would just stop playing after 30 seconds.

Is there an easy way to see find out what files that Mezzmo thinks needs transcoding or is transcoding? I guess I could go into the transcode folder and play each file but I wish the interface had a clear way to indicate these troublesome files.

Also, what does mezzmo have to do with UPNP on the router? The server and clients are on the same lan and the router should not need to do anything on the ip level.

There is no easy way to check whether the file needs transcoding or not, unfortunately. The way to check this is to look at FFmpeg information of the file and then compare it with the device profile description for your device.

Mezzmo is using standard DLNA/UPnP ports and there's a possibility that the router may use those ports exclusively, thus not letting other UPnP traffic on those ports through. It's not often that this happens, but as part of troubleshooting it has proven to be the case in some instances.

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Originally Posted by Dennis

There is no easy way to check whether the file needs transcoding or not, unfortunately. The way to check this is to look at FFmpeg information of the file and then compare it with the device profile description for your device.

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Isn't it the point of the library maintenance scan to check the library and find out all it can or does that only update the thumbnails? It would seem frustrating if transcoding only occurs right when the user tries to play a media. It's also frustrating when a file plays one day but not another and have no idea if mezzmo somehow suddenly decides that the file doesn't match the device profile or if it's due to an internal error.

Maintenance keeps the files in the library up-to-date, but is not related to transcoding in any way. Transcoding is based on what device(s) you have, what device profiles you've selected for them and what the device's firmware can or cannot do. Mezzmo presents several options for each file to the device and then it's up to the device to pick one it wants and then Mezzmo starts transcoding based on that. Without that request from the device, Mezzmo cannot determine what the device will ask it for.

A future update will include a feature to pre-transcode your files for a certain device, so then you could prepare them in advance to be available for playback immediately. At that point you'd also be able to see which files were transcoded and which will be passed through natively, so then you'll know which files are supported by the device.

What do you mean when you say that 'Mezzmo presents several options for each file to the device'? Does mezzmo offer a file in its native format as primary and as a transcoded format as secondary and see which one the client picks?

When a DLNA client requests a file and mezzmo presents the audio / video playback options, does mezzmo receive any feedback if the client can't support the format? I have some files that my TV would say has unsupported audio or unsupported video. If mezzmo actually got a rejection response, I would have expected those files to have been transcoded but they have not.

Basically if a file needs transcoding (and that's decided by Mezzmo based on the device profile that you chose for your device), then Mezzmo builds up a list of possible transcodings and presents that to the device (this can be from one to many formats for each file) - then it's up to the device to pick one and request that from Mezzmo. There's no feedback from the device if it can or cannot play the file, except it'll abort the conversation with Mezzmo if it cannot play the file (but this may also happen for a number of other reasons and there's no clear way to distinguish between those).

I have the "cannot find the server" message occurring quite a lot - often whilst trying to list large folders. Will double check my TV firmware tonight but I updated it when I bought it (a few months ago). It's all running on a gigE network, so I can't imagine it's that.

Generally, if a folder takes longer than 30 seconds to load, most devices will time out. Do these folder largely consist of files that are already in Mezzmo's library, or do they mostly have new files that haven't been added to Mezzmo library? Or are these smart/active playlists?

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Originally Posted by Dennis

Generally, if a folder takes longer than 30 seconds to load, most devices will time out. Do these folder largely consist of files that are already in Mezzmo's library, or do they mostly have new files that haven't been added to Mezzmo library? Or are these smart/active playlists?

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All the files are in the library already, but not on playlists. I did assume that it was due to folder size :).

If you can send through a log of browsing that folder we can check if it indeed times out or there's some other issue.

I downloaded the trial version. I connect the PS3 to the PC via ethernet cable and connect the PS3 to TV via HDMI. The film is .mkv. The film starts and after 10 sec it´s stopped. I tried another film and the same happens. I´d really that this work to buy this software.

Please send a message to support (at) conceiva (dot) com for an updated device profile.