QNAP 251+ struggling with large files

xar

Thanks - on the shield, does it have automatic resolution / colourspace switching? i.e. when you play 4kHDR it auto-changes the output settings? Or do you have to do it manually?

mickevh

When serving files, the size of the files make no difference to the devices ability to serve them. As long as they are small enough to store the files, (if they weren't you couldn't have saved them in the first place,) then you should be good to go.

When playing them back it's all about the "throughput" - the bit rate. The source device (NAS) needs to be able to supply the data at a high enough rate, the infrastructure between the source and sink device (ie the network) need to be able to sustain transmission at a high enough rate, and the sink device (player) need to be able to "cope" with the required file.

That masks all kind of issues. If (for example) your NAS is real time transcoding the files on the fly (converting them from one file format to another) that could cause problems, the network could not be fast enough or have so much "other" traffic on it that congestion is a problem (Wi-Fi and HomePlugs are more susceptible to this,) or the player may not have the grunt required.

In the first instance, it can be a process of elimination to figure out what is culpable so that you can determine what needs fixing. For example, if you can directly attach a device to your player (e.g. a USB stick or SD Card) and play from there and all is well, you know the player is up to the job; if you can play from an NFS or SMB share (ie not use Plex - so definitely no transcoding) you know the source/sink and network are not culpable; if you have Wi-Fi or powerline between source and sink and test using exclusively ethernet (preferably Gigabit, but 100mbps should be OK for media streaming) you know network infrastructure is fine; if you are serving multiple streams concurrently, test with everything else off and see what happens; what happens if you use a different playback device (PC for example); etc. With some IT issues, there's nothing for it but to slog through some methodical testing and analysis.

xar

Thanks. Lots to digest there. What I have done is:

- move the NAS beside my player and connect it directly via Ethernet (this removing any other network interference) - this hasn’t resolved it

- tried same files direct from a usb - this did resolve it

One possible issue is that I use a usb to Ethernet gigabit adapter as the native Ethernet port on the player is only 100mb. I use this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00M77HMU0?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

However, it is rated up to 1000mb so don’t see why it would be the issue.

So my conundrum is that the NAS should be able to handle the delivery of the files (when not transcoding, not using plex), which suggests the player. By contrast, the same files on the same player directly via usb, and not the NAS, work perfectly fine, suggesting it’s the NAS.

That only leaves the network connection, which is a 0.5m cat 5 directly into the player via a USB adapter. Will try removing the adapter to see if that helps, but that does force me to connect via 100mb port rather than 1000mb (which I assume only exacerbates the problem)

mickevh

That may screw up the IP addressing.

Aha - USB (esp. if it's V1 or V2) may not be fast enough. If you try it with the native 100mbps NIC, does it work...? 100mbps should be fast enough for most media, though possibly not some of the UHD.

Incidentally, if you have a PC, there's a free tool called MediaInfo which will tell you (amongst very much other information) the nominal bit rate of your files. In flight, bit rate on most media varies - fast action scenes with lots of flashing and jump cuts are higher, slow pans and talking heads shots are lower - but it's a starting point for having some idea what the rate requirements of the files are.

xar

It did, but I changed the nfs path to the new IP address and scraped the library again.

I will try without the USB adapter, but I bought it because I had issues with uhd files initially, and this seemed to solve it until recently.

I have a Mac rather than PC, but will take a look at media info though. Thanks for the heads up.

mickevh

I don't recall whether MediaInfo is cross platform, but have a look at their web site, I'm sure it will be instantly apparent. If not, there's bound to be something similar out there.

xar

Just looking now and its on the app store - will get a copy - thanks

xar

So the 2 files I am having problems with have an overall bit rate of 66 Mbps and 70Mbps, whereas a lot of the others that seem to be ok are less than 50 Mbps.

Does that help narrow down the possible cause? i.e which component is likely to be choking on high(er) bit rate content?

mickevh

Without any evidence, my money would be on your USB/Ethernet adapter and/or the USB port in your media player.

scarty16

The simple answer is yes & no, but it is app dependent not just based on the Nvidia shioeld settings.  Some apps allow it some do not.

You will need to review teh Nvidia forums etc to work out if the apps you want to use allow it.