watching video stored on one PC on another via homegroup

[John Allen]

Apologies if this is in the wrong section. I'm not sure quite where it should be.

My problem is I have a desktop and laptop both running Windows 7 and in a homegroup. For convenience, I store lots of video clips (5-10 minutes long mostly) on the laptop. I edit etc. on the laptop but like to play them on the desktop as it has a much larger screen. The desktop is new and the processor is a 2.95 gigahertz Intel Core i3 530 (Multi core (2 total) Hyper threaded (4 total). The display is Nvidia Ge Force GTS 250. I have plenty of disc space on both machines. From my understanding (which isn't that great on technical matters) this should be plenty to play video. If I play directly from the computer, for example a stored clip or one in iTunes on the desktop, it runs fine and the picture is excellent.

When I use homegroup on the desktop to link to a video clip on the laptop it starts playing fine. There will be no problems for a couple of minutes. I have tbbmeter running on both machines and this will show a steady stream out from the laptop and in on the desktop. Then suddenly it stops. tbbmeter shows no activity in or out but the progress bar on the application running the clip(e.g. media player) still progresses across the screen though the picture and sound are frozen. After a minute or two the picture will start running again but at about four times normal speed. When it starts the activity shown on tbbmeter starts again. The sound (which stoppedd at the same time) will be heard at normal speed.

This has happened consistently. I've tried running several players, i.e. windows media player, real player, and all act in the same way.

I normally connect to the clips via the homegroup connection but the same happens if I go into network and select the laptop from there.

I can't understand why this happens and wonder if I'm missing something obvious. Nothing I've tried over the last few weeks has worked. Can anyone please advise me as to what is happening and any way round the problem? I know the obvious thing is to copy the clip over to the desktop and run it directly from there but would prefer not to have to do that.

 

[Zepher]

Are you wireless on either or both machines?

I use homegroups a lot, since it was a feature I had been looking forward to for a very long time. My server/main rig and HTPC are hardwired and my netbook is wireless and Homegroups have been working fantastic for me.

 

[John Allen]

Thank you for responding Zepher.

The laptop is wireless capable but at the moment both laptop and desktop are connected to the router by Ethernet.

In all other matters homegroup works fine (e.g. copy files across). It's only with playing the video clips from one to the other that causes problems.

 

[Jacee]

Have you 'shared' the video clip folder?

 

[Zepher]

I don't know, maybe the screen saver is kicking in for a second and causes the video to freeze, if you use a screen saver.

What kind(s) of files do you play and have you tried other video formats to see if those create the same same situation?

 

[John Allen]

Once again thank you.
I don't run a screen saver on either screen. I've checked to see the video folder is shared and it is.

I've run a number of files such as flv, wmv, avi, mov, and others I can't remember, in a variety of players - all suffer from the same problem. I've also tried switching off the firewalls to no effect.

I might get through one or two videos without it stopping but then it will happen at least once in every video.

 

[chev65]

I've tested out streaming on Win 7 and it works perfectly for me. To test it out I streamed five movies at once between five different machines all at the same time, some wireless and wired. I was streaming and stopping and starting them randomly every which way possible, even the sound was perfect and I never had a single problem. I just couldn't break the system no matter how hard I tried.

So I can't help but to think that there is a third party A/V or firewall involved here.

Which A/V software or third party firewalls are you running John?

 

[John Allen]

I'm not sure what happened here but my last reply seems to have vanished into the ether, so apologies for not responding sooner.

I'm running Norton Internet Security on the laptop and ESET Smart Security on the desktop. I've tried switching these off while running the video but this didn't help.

I double checked the sharing settings and the main folder and all the subfolders are shared.

It's strange because it seems to transfer about the same amount of data each time - I've no way of quoting a figure for how much - and then stops sending it for a minute or so. It then resumes but the video picuture then plays at fast speed, though the sound is normal speed.

I apologise if I'm not explaining this very well but, as must be obvious, I have very limited technical knowledge.

 

[Zepher]

I am thinking it may be your network causing the issue.

Try wiring your laptop directly to your desktop, if both have Gigabit NIC's then you can use a straight normal cable, if either has a 10/100 then you will most likely need a crossover cable.

 

[chev65]

I'm not sure what happened here but my last reply seems to have vanished into the ether, so apologies for not responding sooner.

I'm running Norton Internet Security on the laptop and ESET Smart Security on the desktop. I've tried switching these off while running the video but this didn't help.

I double checked the sharing settings and the main folder and all the subfolders are shared.

It's strange because it seems to transfer about the same amount of data each time - I've no way of quoting a figure for how much - and then stops sending it for a minute or so. It then resumes but the video picuture then plays at fast speed, though the sound is normal speed.

I apologise if I'm not explaining this very well but, as must be obvious, I have very limited technical knowledge.

It could easily be a conflict between Norton and Eset Nod32. Either way the A/V's are most likely to blame. Often times you need to uninstall them completely to fix these types of problems, other times you can configure them to work properly.

Sometimes just reinstalling the A/V will correct the problem or you can try to configure those A/V's to work properly with Windows 7.

 

[John Allen]

Many thanks to all of you for the advice you've offered.

I haven't yet tried Zepher's suggestion as I'm afraid it's a little over my head and so I'm waiting for one of my more technically competent friends to come round and offer his help. However, after reading chev65's answer I realised I'd not tried switching BOTH firewalls off at the same time. What I'd done before was switch off the anti-virus elements of the programs. So this morning I've tried switching off both firewalls and played three video clips, all of which ran through smoothly.

As I mentioned before it sometimes plays a couple of clips without freezing but it does look as though one of the firewalls may be the problem. I'll test it out further and if I get the freezing with them on but the same positive results with the firewalls off I'll look into them and see if I can tweak anything to prevent this happening.

I really do appreciate you all taking the time to respond. When your knowledge is as limited as mine on the technical side the ever-willing-to-help members of this forum are a godsend. Once again, thanks.

 

[chev65]

It was an easy guess on my part because i've seen these A/V's cause problems so many times. Hopefully you can figure out how to configure those firewalls to stay on and also allow for streaming.

Perhaps if you go to the forum for your A/V's you can find out how to configure the firewall to allow it to work properly with Windows 7.