Why is my nexus struggling to play this video?

[Griff88]

Ever since I've had my Nexus I've streamed videos from my PC to the Nexus if I fancy watching something in another room or in bed. I've tried a combination of BSplayer and MX player and it seems to handle anything with ease.

However for the last few nights I've been trying to stream a movie which stutters all over the place. It plays fine on my actual PC and laptop (both connected by Ethernet to my LAN) so with my wireless router being 10 metres and multiple walls away from my bedroom I at first assumed the wifi signal wasn't strong enough but this afternoon I held the Nexus abotu 2 inches from the router and the file still stuttered and wouldn't play back properly.

Here are the file details -

Format                                   : MPEG-4
Format profile                           : Base Media / Version 2
Codec ID                                 : mp42
File size                                : 1.76 GiB
Duration                                 : 41mn 31s
Overall bit rate mode                    : Variable
Overall bit rate                         : 6 065 Kbps

Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : High@L3.2
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames                : 4 frames
Format settings, GOP                     : M=3, N=33
Codec ID                                 : avc1
Codec ID/Info                            : Advanced Video Coding
Duration                                 : 41mn 31s
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 6 000 Kbps
Width                                    : 1 280 pixels
Height                                   : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 29.970 fps
Standard                                 : NTSC
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.217
Stream size                              : 1.74 GiB (99%)

Audio
ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : AAC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile                           : LC
Codec ID                                 : 40
Duration                                 : 41mn 31s
Source duration                          : 41mn 31s
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Bit rate                                 : 61.6 Kbps
Maximum bit rate                         : 95.8 Kbps
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel positions                        : Front: L R
Sampling rate                            : 44.1 KHz
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Delay relative to video                  : 33ms
Stream size                              : 18.3 MiB (1%)
Source stream size                       : 18.3 MiB (1%)

Do you think it's simply a case of the bit rate being too high to stream successfully to the Nexus? Any ideas on what I could try next?

 

[zkSharks]

A 1.9GB filesize for 41 minutes of runtime isn't incredibly high, and ~6,000Kbps doesn't jump out at me offhand. I've rendered and played my own compositions at almost that same bitrate on the N7 and N10, but I could definitely be overlooking something. I didn't get a lot of sleep last night.

Going by your brief description of "stuttering," though, it does sound like some sort of bitrate or other similar streaming or file handling problem. I'd suggest sideloading the movie file onto the N7 and take the network out of the equation. Try multiple video players then, and if you still encounter the same issue, my advice would be to re-encode at a lower bitrate and then try the same thing once more.

 

[Griff88]

Thanks for the feedback.

I've just copied the file onto the Nexus and sure enough it plays back without any issue whatsoever so the stuttering issue must be something to do with streaming it over wireless.

I've selected a Wifi channel that doesn't "clash" with any of my neighbours and if I use my laptop it plays back the same file over wireless without any issue so I wonder why the Nexus suffers?!?

 

[zkSharks]

Thanks for the feedback.

I've just copied the file onto the Nexus and sure enough it plays back without any issue whatsoever so the stuttering issue must be something to do with streaming it over wireless.

I've selected a Wifi channel that doesn't "clash" with any of my neighbours and if I use my laptop it plays back the same file over wireless without any issue so I wonder why the Nexus suffers?!?

If the issue occurs in all video players, and not on the source machine or alternate clients (other devices you're streaming to, such as the laptop), the only variable left is indeed the Nexus 7. You could try taking the file and transcoding it to a different video format, then attempting to stream it again. It's possible there's something in the metadata for the video that is causing this problem, and trying a different video format may or may not fix such an issue. It's possible that such an abnormality in the file's metadata would cause a problem on a device like the Nexus 7, but not on a machine running a full-fledged desktop environment (the laptop).

Edit: just keep in mind this is more of a suggestion than a solution; I can't guarantee it will solve the issue.

 

[Roger Salminen]

I'm having the same problem, but worse
It's not only one film it's at least 30, (I haven't tested everything that is on my NAS.....yet)

example of file details
[BOX]
Complete name : The.Boondock.Saints.1999.SWESUB.DVDRip.XviD-Oliver CD1.avi
Format : AVI
Format/Info : Audio Video Interleave
File size : 700 MiB
Duration : 51mn 53s
Overall bit rate : 1 885 Kbps
Writing application : FairUse Wizard - http://fairusewizard.com
Writing library : The best and REALLY easy backup tool

Video
ID : 0
Format : MPEG-4 Visual
Format profile : Advanced Simple@L5
Format settings, BVOP : 1
Format settings, QPel : No
Format settings, GMC : No warppoints
Format settings, Matrix : Default (MPEG)
Muxing mode : Packed bitstream
Codec ID : XVID
Codec ID/Hint : XviD
Duration : 51mn 53s
Bit rate : 1 748 Kbps
Width : 688 pixels
Height : 384 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Compression mode : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.265
Stream size : 649 MiB (93%)
Writing library : XviD 1.2.0.dev47 (UTC 2006-11-01)

Audio
ID : 1
Format : MPEG Audio
Format version : Version 1
Format profile : Layer 3
Mode : Joint stereo
Mode extension : MS Stereo
Codec ID : 55
Codec ID/Hint : MP3
Duration : 51mn 53s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 128 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 47.5 MiB (7%)
Alignment : Aligned on interleaves
Interleave, duration : 40 ms (1.00 video frame)
Interleave, preload duration : 504 ms
Writing library : LAME3.97
Encoding settings : -m j -V 4 -q 2 -lowpass 17 -b 128
[/BOX]

 

[Roger Salminen]

Most of my films that stutters has 48KHz audio.
I recoded this one into 44,1KHZ audio leaving the rest intact, and then it WORKS!!!!
I don't say it's a solution but it may be a clue to what is wrong

 

[oldAGE]

What do these onboard and server streaming applications use for buffering? Remember, streaming video with integrated audio is a Constant Bit Rate service and although you see you are getting, say, 72Mb on your 802.11 N connection, which seems like plenty, a dozen corrupted or dropped packets result in well, ugliness. Best Effort services (like web surfing) make up for these losses as does the streaming algorithms and players of You Tube or Netflix....

So just beware that not everything works the same just because it works in one ecosystem.

 

[Roger Salminen]

I tried DICEplayer and it worked.
The problem must be in something that MKplayer and BSplayer has in common...

 

[Mellimel22]

Dice player is a real good app. I love the pop out play feature.

Sent from my Sprint Galaxy Nexus rockin 4.2.2 using Tapatalk 2

 

[PlanetPluto7]

BSplayer works fine for me. I call up videos from my Lan with an app called Mediahouse.

Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk HD