Video playback random freezes - Windows Media Center and Mymovies

I posted this question under the "applications section" but I'm not sure if this is a more general unRAID-related issue so I will try posting here as well...

I have been having an issue for a very long time where when watching movies through Windows 7 Media Center (using MyMovies plugin), the video playback and audio sometimes will randomly freeze for 20-30 seconds or so.  After that time the audio resumes but the video starts to play in slow motion as if it is "waiting" for the audio to catch up.  Once the audio catches up to the current position of the video, everything goes back to normal and playback continues.

I've seen may others in various forums using HTPCs have similar issues and nobody can seem to find a solution for it.  I am thinking that it has something to do with unRAID but I cannot figure out what, if anything.  I've had various builds of my HTPC on different hardware and all have had the same issue so I don't think it's the Windows 7 HTPC.  I thought it might be disks spinning up on unRAID so I disabled them from spinning down and that didn't help.  It happened again last night and I checked the syslog and it doesn't show anything for the time that the freeze occurred.

The freezing issue is completely random - sometimes I get through several movies and it doesn't freeze at all.  When it does happen, the time at wwhich it freezes is also completely random - it could be a few minutes into the movie, halfway through, etc.

My server and unRAID box are on a solid gigabit network.  All cabling is good.  Ping times are 1ms and never drop.  No applications or processes are running on the win7 box during playback and no other PC is accessing data on the unRAID box and there is no parity check, etc. going on.  Just the movie playback and that's it.

I am running unRAID 4.7

Is anyone else having this issue that might be able to help me figure out what might be causing it?

My suggestion would be to have a very close look at the HTPC because it is running windows 7.  I have a couple of Windows 7 machines here and they both will start local disk thashing whenever Windows thinks nothing is happening.  Windows (and a lot of Windows software) will do their update checks and even automatically installs  those updates when the machine 'thinks' it is idle. 

My point is the the playback of video files retrieved  across the network may well make the HTPC seem like it is idle.  I have a feeling that Windows assumes that the computer is idle anytime that the user is not actively typing or using the mouse.  (I seem to recall that Windows 7 will also defraq the hard disks when it 'thinks' the system is idle.)

I posted this question under the "applications section" but I'm not sure if this is a more general unRAID-related issue so I will try posting here as well...

 

I have been having an issue for a very long time where when watching movies through Windows 7 Media Center (using MyMovies plugin), the video playback and audio sometimes will randomly freeze for 20-30 seconds or so.  After that time the audio resumes but the video starts to play in slow motion as if it is "waiting" for the audio to catch up.  Once the audio catches up to the current position of the video, everything goes back to normal and playback continues.

 

I've seen may others in various forums using HTPCs have similar issues and nobody can seem to find a solution for it.  I am thinking that it has something to do with unRAID but I cannot figure out what, if anything.  I've had various builds of my HTPC on different hardware and all have had the same issue so I don't think it's the Windows 7 HTPC.  I thought it might be disks spinning up on unRAID so I disabled them from spinning down and that didn't help.  It happened again last night and I checked the syslog and it doesn't show anything for the time that the freeze occurred.

 

The freezing issue is completely random - sometimes I get through several movies and it doesn't freeze at all.  When it does happen, the time at wwhich it freezes is also completely random - it could be a few minutes into the movie, halfway through, etc.

 

My server and unRAID box are on a solid gigabit network.  All cabling is good.  Ping times are 1ms and never drop.  No applications or processes are running on the win7 box during playback and no other PC is accessing data on the unRAID box and there is no parity check, etc. going on.  Just the movie playback and that's it.

 

I am running unRAID 4.7

 

Is anyone else having this issue that might be able to help me figure out what might be causing it?

Take one of the same videos you are having trouble with and play it by accessing the file directly using VLC. Don't use a media player interface or anything.

It is hard to reproduce the issue "on demand".  I can watch the same movie that froze a second time and it will play back just fine the whole way through.  The freezing is completely random.

If you google this issue there are a ton of people reporting this same issue (some using unRAID as well) but the solutions people seem to have found in some cases are never concrete.

Frank1940, if you think it's the Windows 7 HTPC, how would you suggest I go about troubleshooting this to determine if it is in fact, the PC that's causing it?  Do you think an upgrade to Windows 8 would make any difference?

Thanks!

If you copy a large file across the network is the speed constant?

How many HDDs do you have in your array and what kind are they?

Windows 7 itself is not the issue, i run 2 W7 HTPCs at home.

When it happens can you hear any activity from your UnRaid box? ie, disks spinning up?

Yes I copy very large files (10-15GB .mkv files) across the network to the unRAID box all the time.  Speeds remain constant always... around 20MB/s which is pretty good considering I don't use a cache disk.

I have 9 data disks in the array.  Mix of Western Digital and Seagate.  Most are pretty new drives, 1.5 and 2Tb.  WD drives are all green/red drives.

unRAID works beautifully for every type of file transfer I throw at it, and it always has.  My split level is also set correctly so movie files stay all together (not that it matters much any more since they are all single-file mkvs now).

When the issue happens, I actually haven't been able to determine if it "sounds" like disks are spinning up - the box is hiding in the basement.  By the time I could get to it and/or pull up a web console it would probably be too late to see if there have been any changes to disks spinning up.  That being said, I've also tried setting all of the disks to NEVER spin down to see if that would help and I was still getting the same issue happening.

try and copy from the unraid to the media centre and watch the network usage graph in task manager or resource manager, see if there are any large dips

 

Frank1940, if you think it's the Windows 7 HTPC, how would you suggest I go about troubleshooting this to determine if it is in fact, the PC that's causing it?  Do you think an upgrade to Windows 8 would make any difference?

 

Thanks!

I would turn off all of the auto updates and checks for updates including Windows, installed applications (Adobe is one of the tough ones to really turn off)  and even anti-virus programs.  Do your update checks and updates manually on a regular basis.  If this gives you a problem, leave the HTPC on continuously.  Don't even let it hibernate.  That way, you have a much greater chance that all of the housekeeping tasks will occur when you are not trying to watch a a video.  Google and see how to turn off the automatic defraqing of your hard disk.  Run 'msconfig' (by clicking on 'Start' and typing 'msconfig' in the search window at the bottom)  and look at the programs that are started at STARTUP.  You will probably find many that you don't even know about or recognize the name of.  Google those and see if it is really necessary to have them running.  If you feel that they are not necessay, turn them off.  (You can easily turn them back on if you find one or two that really need to be running.)

Another question.  Do you notice it on movies with high data rates (like high quality Bluray copies) or just on files with low data rates (lower quality video)?

Thanks the the tips.  I ran msconfig and I don't have much under startup:  logitech setpoint, virtual clone drive, norton ghost, microsoft security client (I assume this is for microsoft security essentials), my movies, Girder, and an LCD writer service for the display on my HTPC case.  Windows Update is already set to only notify me when new updates are available but to let me choose whether to download and install them.

I checked the defrag schedule and it is set by windows to run weekly at 1am on Wednesdays... days which I never watch movies anyway!

HTPC also runs continuously, I never shut it down.

This is beginning to feel like a wild goose chase because I honestly don't see anything that the PC could be doing to cause the video to freeze.  Also there is very little sound dampening in the case so every time the hard disk is doing something I can hear it, and when the movies freeze, I don't hear any activity on the hard drive that could be holding anything up.

Any other suggestions??  :-)

try and copy from the unraid to the media centre and watch the network usage graph in task manager or resource manager, see if there are any large dips

Just did an 8GB file transfer from unRAID over to the HTPC.  Line on the network graph almost perfectly flat, a steady transfer rate of approximately 40MB/s.  So there is definitely not a transfer speed or any other network issue either!!

Perhaps you already tried that, but switch of all computers, router, switch, etc. Reboot them all in order and waiting for the previous one to finish: router, switch, one computer after the other. I found that my router/switch combo sometimes 'saturates' and a reboot helps.

Perhaps you already tried that, but switch of all computers, router, switch, etc. Reboot them all in order and waiting for the previous one to finish: router, switch, one computer after the other. I found that my router/switch combo sometimes 'saturates' and a reboot helps.

Yup, tried that too :-(

Again, this is not just me... there are many people out there having the same issue.... just need to find a way to determine if the problem lies with unRAID or Windows!

So what are the spec's on the HTPC- (CPU, clock speed, motherboard, memory, etc)?

So what are the spec's on the HTPC- (CPU, clock speed, motherboard, memory, etc)?

AMD Athlon X2 6000+ (3GHz), 4GB DDR2 RAM, Asus mobo, Nvidia 8600GT silent graphics card...  also running Win7 Ultimate 32-bit (had to be 32-bit to work with Girder, my automation software and the driver for the VFD display on my case).

So what are the spec's on the HTPC- (CPU, clock speed, motherboard, memory, etc)?

 

AMD Athlon X2 6000+ (3GHz), 4GB DDR2 RAM, Asus mobo, Nvidia 8600GT silent graphics card...  also running Win7 Ultimate 32-bit (had to be 32-bit to work with Girder, my automation software and the driver for the VFD display on my case).

I assume that you are using a HTPC case as you have a LCD display device listed.  Is there any possibility that the CPU is getting hot and throttling back its clock speed?

Second item: On your startup list, you have Norton Ghost listed.  Exactly why do you have it loading and what is it setup to do?  If it decides to do something during video playback, that might be the cause of your problems. 

I would actually set Windows update to not even check for updates.  Just make a notation on your calendar to due the check manually a couple of times a month.  If there ever should some update that must be installed immediately, you will hear about on the six o'clock news.  That windows update check takes several minutes of continuous disk activity while it figures out what updates haven't been previously applied. 

CPU runs cool and quiet... plenty of ventilation, couple of quiet fans at the back, and with hardware acceleration the CPU only runs at maybe 30% during high-def video playback.

I use Ghost for taking system images once a week.  It is scheduled to run them on a weekday during the middle of the night when nobody will ever be watching a movie or accessing the PC in any way.  The service that runs just sits in the tray and doesn't do anything unless I tell it to.

I can set windows update to be completely disabled, and see what happens.  I imagine that it won't make any difference but I'll give it a try.  Also as I stated in a previous post, I can hear when the hard disk is being accessed through the case, and during these freezes I don't ever hear the hard disk being accessed...

I told you this one was not going to be easy to figure out!  :-)

Try disabling pnp os in the bios settings on your HTPC.

Try disabling pnp os in the bios settings on your HTPC.

Ok I'll give that a try... just wondering what that option is supposed to be for and why you think it might help?

From MSFT"The original intent for designing this option was to give Microsoft Windows versions 95 and 98 more freedom to adjust hardware configurations. By default, these operating systems would never move a device configured at startup for fear of breaking a DOS driver. Later versions of Windows also typically leave BIOS-configured hardware alone, even if the BIOS placed the hardware in a less than optimal configuration. This is because moving such hardware frequently exposes latent bugs in the BIOS. "

I had this pnp os enabled on my Win7 desktop before I started using unRaid 3 years ago. In normal desktop usage, enabling this option never gave me issues. But when using unRaid and having files tranferred to and from the server it gave me timeouts, inconsistent and low speeds (500kb/sec). Disabling it made all my problems go away.

Here are more BIOS configs to try: http://lime-technology.com/support/unraid-server-installation/58

Thanks guys, I didn't know about all of these BIOS settings... I will give them a try!

Hi guys, I think I've isolated the problem.  It is on the windows 7 HTPC so I'm not sure if it's appropriate to continue the discussion here, but given that many people are using unRAID with HTPCs I'm hoping someone might have a quick answer on how to resolve before I will have to close this thread.

It seems that every time I experience the freezing, I can see in the Windows Security log, many entries that indicate "Audit Success".  They are generated by "Microsoft Windows security auditing" with an event ID of 4624 and are related to Logon and Logoff tasks - I assume with the system account performing some sort of checks or maintenance.

I found this thread through a Google search that seems to describe issues very similar to what I'm having:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/pl-PL/w7itproperf/thread/e9e0967f-cbda-406e-8bc8-236f62d0fd8b

I am wondering if anyone knows what the Microsoft Windows security auditing is, and how to disable it or prevent it from running at certain times?  I checked the local audit policy (Administrative Tools -> Local Security Policy) and there it shows that all of the audit policies are set to "no auditing"!  Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions?

Do you have another media player or computer that accesses your HTPS for any reason?  You might also want to make sure that UPnP is turned off on your HTPC.  (You will have to google this one as I can only recall vaguely exactly why MS thought this was the greatest thing since sliced bread.  Look under Administrative tools, component services, then click on 'Services (Local)' in the left pane to get to all the stuff that Windows is either running or willing and waiting to run.)   

No, nothing else accesses the HTPC directly...  although UPnP services were running on the box which was allowing it to show up as a media source on the network.  I disabled the UPnP service on it per your advice and will see if that makes any difference.

I have an XBMC HTPC (running Windows 7) that's connected via known good gigabit ethernet, and I've experienced this issue 3-4 times in as 6ish months.  Hard to know what the cause of the issue is, but I know my friend that runs XBMC on a Linux box, and watches more media than I do, has not encountered this issue (even when using a Raspberry Pi device running XBMC).  I've decided it's probably a Windows 7 issue.