Playing videos from PC... too slow... doesnt work...

gabrielleitao

gabrielleitao

Issac Newton loves Apple
Hello,

I have my Macintosh connected to my PC thought a network... I can access my PC from my Mac, and I can access my Mac from my PC. I can play videos, and also music...

The problem is, that I can't play videos of my PC from my Mac, actually I can open them... the problem is that, when I play the video... it doesnt work... it is too slow... terrible... To play the video correctly... I need to copy the video from my PC to my Mac HD and play it from there... but I cant duplicate all of my videos... neither copy them... cause it takes up to 30 minutes to copy a video of 700MB.

What should I do? And another thing... when I play videos that are in my Mac from my PC... it works really well... I can play them without a problem on my PC...

I also realized the PC has a faster internet connection... maybe that is the problem... what do you think I should to do solve this problem?

Many thanks,
Gab
 
What is the (theoretical) maximum download speed you _should_ get when downloading from the PC (i.e. what's the PC's upstream bitrate, what the Mac's downstream bitrate? What type of video files are we talking about, what bitrate are they encoded at? How are you accessing them on the Mac - are you using VLC's streaming capability or are you simply opening them in an application and accessing them through SMB (Windows' File Sharing) in the Finder?

Sorry for all the questions, but these things all play a role in troubleshooting this one. :)
 
Hey, its no problem Fryke, you are right, there is some information missisng that you need to be able to help me. Anyway, Im sorry for being such a beginner, I hope this works.

- My Internet connection is the fastest one in Canada: 6.5MB My ISP is www.videotron.ca
- My PC is in the livin room connected though a router and a modem to connect to the Internet. My Mac is in the livin' room and it connects to the PC and the Internet wirelessly though a network. I hope this works, my router is: D-Link 524 http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=316

Sorry, Fryke, but can you tell me a good website I can use to test my Internet connection on my Mac and my PC? That way I can give you the right information, and you can be able to help me.

I have a suggestion to solve my problem. Maybe I need to set my Internet connection to be equal to the two computer... 50% for the PC... 50% for the Mac. Because I have the feeling that my PC has a faster Internet connection than my Mac. Maybe because the PC is connected dirrectly though the router and the modem? Who knows... what do you think? Is this maybe the reason? If I need to set my Internet connection 50-50... equal to the two computer... maybe I could try that, how can I do it? I have no idea how to, I hope you can give me any tips.

Thanks for the support,
Gab
 
Well, a wired connection wouldn't be a bad idea either, as you would get at least 100 mb/s, all the time, without interference (or gigabit ethernet, if the PC can handle it).. but, that's not always feasible. That would solve your speed issues, most likely.

If the videos are on your PC, then the connection to the internet should not matter.
 
It doesn't have anything to do with the internet speed because the data will only travel on your home network.

The problem is with the wireless network. I have the same problem using an Airport Extreme basestation with my G5 playing videos stored on my wired G4. Wireless doesn't always give you continuous throughput it seems. This is probably due to interference from other wireless devices and the only way I've found to rectify it is using a wired connection.

I've attached 2 screen shots from Activity Monitor to show you what I mean. The first one is the data transfer speed graph over Airport and the second one is over ethernet. You can see that Airport wireless doesn't give a very consistent speed and also is only about 2.6MB(G5 wireless to G4 wired) per second compared to 8.5MB per second(G4 wired to G3 wired) and that the wired connection also gives a stable throughput.
 

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What everyone has to remember is network OUTPUT. No one seems to remember or even know what their high speed UPLOAD speeds are. Video is very high bandwidth intensive so have as both high download & upload speeds is needed when streaming.
 
If I recall correctly, you wouldn't even need a crossover cable to wire the two computers, as OS X automatically detects it. (right?)

You are accessing the PC directly, right? As in, on your local network?
 
eric2006 said:
If I recall correctly, you wouldn't even need a crossover cable to wire the two computers, as OS X automatically detects it. (right?)

You are accessing the PC directly, right? As in, on your local network?
Click to expand...

Yes, I am. And another thing, I dont know if I quite understand what you all mean (but it was really helpful, thanks). You all mean that I need to connect my Mac to my PC in a ethernet cable so the transfer can be faster? That means if I do that I wouldnt need my router anymore and the router will be useless?

Thanks for replying and helping, here.
 
Captain Code said:
It doesn't have anything to do with the internet speed because the data will only travel on your home network.

The problem is with the wireless network. I have the same problem using an Airport Extreme basestation with my G5 playing videos stored on my wired G4. Wireless doesn't always give you continuous throughput it seems. This is probably due to interference from other wireless devices and the only way I've found to rectify it is using a wired connection.

I've attached 2 screen shots from Activity Monitor to show you what I mean. The first one is the data transfer speed graph over Airport and the second one is over ethernet. You can see that Airport wireless doesn't give a very consistent speed and also is only about 2.6MB(G5 wireless to G4 wired) per second compared to 8.5MB per second(G4 wired to G3 wired) and that the wired connection also gives a stable throughput.
Click to expand...

Thanks for showing the pics, that is really a big different over there, lol. So that means you connected your two macs with a ethernet cable, the two of them are linked together? sorry if I dont understand completly, any ideas or recomendations of what I can do to solve this playing media files and aother transfers though my PC and my Mac problem?
 
Actually, your router has ethernet ports, so just connect the iMac to one port, and the PC to another, and you have a wired network.
 
eric2006 said:
Actually, your router has ethernet ports, so just connect the iMac to one port, and the PC to another, and you have a wired network.
Click to expand...

Oh ok Eric, I see what do you mean... the reason for what I used the wireless network is because my Mac is in my bedroom and my PC on my livin room... so I would need a very long ethernet cable to connect it... Any ideas? Thanks a lot.

You said a wired network would resolve all of my problems, right?
 
A wired network will most likely solve your problems, yes. But before you go through the trouble of installing it, bring the Mac to the living room, and connect it to the router. Then you can see if a wired network will solve your problems. As for installing the network.. it can be a challenge. You could have a wire running down the hall, but that would not be a good solution. I've installed a wired connection in my room by running a 100 ft CAT-5 cable through a duct, the unfinished basement, through a gap between the ceiling and floor, then finally to a paneled ceiling where the router is located. It can be quite a project, but it's worth it. You could even get 1000 MB per second transfer speeds with a gigabit switch, and a gigabit card in the PC.
 
eric2006 said:
A wired network will most likely solve your problems, yes. But before you go through the trouble of installing it, bring the Mac to the living room, and connect it to the router. Then you can see if a wired network will solve your problems. As for installing the network.. it can be a challenge. You could have a wire running down the hall, but that would not be a good solution. I've installed a wired connection in my room by running a 100 ft CAT-5 cable through a duct, the unfinished basement, through a gap between the ceiling and floor, then finally to a paneled ceiling where the router is located. It can be quite a project, but it's worth it. You could even get 1000 MB per second transfer speeds with a gigabit switch, and a gigabit card in the PC.
Click to expand...

Wow, that is risky business man, and I think it might work, before anything, I will connect the mac to my router in my livin room and see if I can play videos and if everything is fine. Also, do you think my Internet connection will change? Do you know any good website that I can use to check the internet speed of my Mac and of my PC, so after I conenct the mac though an ethernet cable I can see if something different happens? I know it may not change, and it has nothing to do with my home network, I am just a bit curious. Also, after the wired network solve my problems (which I think it will help me), I will do some search and following your replies see if I can find a long cable ( that won't be so easy do to, though) and solve my problems. Thanks a bunch for your help, I will post back when I see some results.
 
I tried that and it worked perfectly Eric, thanks a lot.

I bought a CAT6 50 feet cable. Worked like magic! Do you know what is the difference between CAT5 and CAT6?
 
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