Just recorded shows. Live TV runs fine. I really think the old Core 2 Duo is just not up to the task. The 2014 Minis on Ebay are fairly inexpensive. That and a large hybrid SSHDD should be a pretty good upgrade. Although it doesn't explain why this only occurred recently.
Joe
Are you using original quality? If so the load on the server while watching a recording would be very minimal, I would think. It’s basically just reading the bytes from the disk and passing through the network card. If you’ve changed the quality setting, that would force transcoding, which would put way may load on the server.
Original quality. Noticing the longer the recording and the further into the playback the more frequent the pauses. Took almost 10 minutes to watch the last 5 minutes of MacGyver. Almost 15 minutes to watch the last 5 minutes of America's got talent.
Joe
run a smart test on the HDD.
Check the DVR Log for any errors shown too
No errors are showing on the log and the hdd checks out fine. But it is worse when I have scheduled shows recording. I think between the recording, commercial skipping and any other processes of finalizing the recording, it is just too much for my little old mini to handle. Looking back during the first two weeks I had the set up a lot of the shows we record were still in "off season" mode and now most have gotten back in the swing of things. So the recording schedule is a bit more intense these days. Plus I was still getting the swing of "Passes". That's all I can think of.
I just ordered a Mini with an i5, 2.4(?) GHz and I'll get a large internal hybrid drive for the DVR drive. Like I said, even with EyeTV my system was pressed when recording 3-4 shows and watching something else (live or recorded).
Will report back after that.
Joe
Hmm one thing to check.. what speed is your mini connected at? Almost sounds to me like the network bandwidth is tapping out.
Network Utility says 1 Gbps.
Joe
From a web browser on your LAN, go to http://client.ip.ad.ress:57000/speedtest and report the results. Similar for your server: http://server.ip.ad.ress:8089/speedtest. (N.B.: "thing.ip.ad.ress" is network geek placeholder notation for e.g.: 192.168.1.2 or whatever.)
I downloaded MenuMeters and while watching a recording the Tx averaged in the 1-1.5Mbps.
I also used your speedtest and the server showed DL speed of 812 Mbps.
Joe
So my old Mini definitely hates doing too many things at night. I was watching one recorded show this afternoon and no problem. Went to watch some live TV tonight while other shows recorded, the system seemed to have a problem juggling tuners (I have four) recording two shows while I tried to watch a different live show. So I went to finish watching what I was watching this afternoon and constant pauses.
The new Mini got in late today so I'll get it setup tomorrow and see how things go tomorrow night.
Joe
New Mini is making a big difference in a lot of things. Recording and watching something live is much improved, nothing choking.
New recordings are playing flawlessly (mostly). Old recordings are still pausing. Which is kind of weird, right? Not skipping or stuttering. They just freeze and then pick back up right where the stopped.
One thing the log is showing with this new set-up is a ton of buffer full, first 50% then right up to 90%. This was the last set in a whole string of warnings.
2019/02/26 21:25:19 [WRN] Buffer for 10400584 ch46.1 is more than 50% full (clients=1, len=16777620)
2019/02/26 21:25:21 [WRN] Buffer for 10400584 ch46.1 is more than 75% full (clients=1, len=25165868)
2019/02/26 21:25:25 [WRN] Buffer for 10400584 ch46.1 is more than 95% full (clients=1, len=31877468)
2019/02/26 21:25:26 [WRN] Buffer for 10400584 ch46.1 is more than 99% full (clients=1, len=33219788)
2019/02/26 21:25:36 [WRN] Buffer for 10754DF1 ch2.1 is more than 50% full (clients=1, len=16779128)
There is one glitch that trips up when I try to "double FF" through the commercials. The little spinning wheel or whatever it is pops up. I can back out with the Menu button and come back and it unsticks it.
Right now my server drive is still the external. I have a larger internal coming and want to switch to that drive for the DVR server. Do I drag the TV folder over and then reassign the server drive?
Joe
This is bad, and will cause glitches on the recording. Something on the system isn't able to keep up and I'm guessing it's the hard drive.
That's what I was thinking. So I think going internal (which is an SSD) will make the final step.
Can I copy the "TV" folder from the external onto the internal and then just change server drive without losing anything?
Joe
Not just TV, you need the entire DVR folder with Logs Database Images etc. Just copy or move and then update the location on the DVR settings web UI- uncheck DVR checkbox, update path and recheck
Got it.
Thx,
Joe
Ah. I did not have a DVR directory. Everything was on the root level of the hard drive.
Joe
Feeling pretty confident here. I copied everything over to the internal drive which ultimately should be fine. I never save shows after I've watched them. But it did reveal an issue that was not HDD related. It seems there was some sort of protocol issue between the external HDD and the Mini. I had a tough time finally getting all the recordings copied over, constant errors and freezing, even with Carbon Copy Cloner. I had to sacrifice a few recordings, which is fine. The ones we like most made it over.
Both drives show no problems with Disk Doctor and other drive utilities. It is an old enclosure and the best port on the old Mini was the Firewire2 port. I will be replacing both the drive and enclosure with a new TB drive. I'll still use the internal drive for Channels, but I do still use the external as an archive for backing up important documents I don't need taking up hard drive space on my laptop. (it is a redundant back-up so nothing lost yet) and my iTunes library.
Final test will be tonight with all the scheduled recordings, but I predict it will be smooth sailing.
Joe
Glad you were able to figure out the issue!
Flawless night. The old gear served me well for almost 7 years with EyeTV. This makes me as happy as a caveman in a Geico commercial.
Joe