I have been having problems streaming an audio stream using the HTTP protocol in the WinMedia Player ver 10. I can start a stream…and after maybe 30-60 minutes, the stream starts struggling…showing network congestion, buffering, etc.
I have a cable modem (5mbps down) so speed should be the problem. I understand it could be a server issue…but I can start the same stream on another XP machine with the same media player, using the same cable modem stream…and it will work for extended lengths of time without a problem.
This seems to be unique to this one machine…I have purposefully configured both computers to be as identical as possible…same versions of Windows, same versions of media player, etc.
The machine that has the problem is also running Avast-Home…4.6. Is it possible that some of the “on demand” scanners could be causing this delay in the HTTP stream?
This has really frustrated me and caused me concern. The machine that works fine is running Norton Anti-virus. The virus protection is the main difference I can see between the two machines…other than of course different hardware, etc.
This problem seems to have something to do with streaming over an extended length of time…the first 0-30 minutes are usually perfect…but it is after that time that problems start to occur.
Did the latest beta address issues with the webshield? Does it make sense that the webshield would cause this kind of problem? I don’t know how the webshield works, but it seems like over time something is bogging down this machine.
In the latest beta refresh several kinds of streaming media problems were addressed. Especially shoutcast stream and several Microsoft specific streaming protocols were analyzed and their support extended. If you have specific URL which causes problems for you, please post it here so we can test it and perhaps consider some other solution. Thanks.
I disabled the Webshield, Network Shield, and P2P shield…we have been able to stream an HTTP stream for several hours without problems. It isn’t the same stream that I was trying over the weekend, but it is the same protocol.
We had trouble with other HTTP streams as well…so I don’t think it is unique to the stream but rather the protocol.
Does it make sense that the Shields would cause my problem?
Would it be okay for me to enable the network shield and the P2P shield? Do you think they would conflict?
It usually started out good…but after 30 minutes or so we started having problems. If you would look at the Statistics screen in WinMedia Player, it would show the maximum speed to be 23kbps, but the selected rate would drop to 20kbps and/or it would start stopping to rebuffer. I’m testing this stream now with the Shields all turned off. It still started bogging down after about 20 minutes. So, either it isn’t the Shields or else they aren’t completely turned off.
I found another HTTP stream that runs at 64mbps…we streamed it today with the Shields off and it work well for over 9 hours.
Thanks for your help…overall I’m very happy with Avast-Home. Good job!
mjwsjw
91.3 has beautiful music and works very well if you use JetAudio.
Click on the link to my webpage and pick it up from there.
By the way, thanks for the link.
Well, I did more testing. I have a machine that runs Win98 with Avast 4.6, it struggles to play the test stream as well. Both of the machines that struggle are connected to the same SMC router via ethernet. The Win98 machine is a 500mhz machine.
Out of three computers, the only one that will play the stream without struggling is my laptop, running at 800 mhz on batteries (AMD 3000+ chip) over a wireless network (that doesn’t test near as fast as the two computers connected via wire!)
The common denominators are:
Both machines run Avast-Home 4.6
Both machines share the same network/internet connection
My XP Machine is a AMD 2100 running at 1.7 mhz.
Is it possible that even with the WebShield off that Avast is still processing the HTTP stream? I’m running this stream at work on my work computer, with a slower internet connection…so far it seems to be fine. At work we have Symantec Anti-Virus.
I’ve also noticed that different streams use different codecs…would that have anything to do with how Avast works?
Did you setup the HTTP proxy in internet explorer (on you win98 machine)? If not, WebShield does not affect any download stream. The only other provider that might interfere with the traffic is Network Shield, but again, this provider is not available on Win9x machines. Standard resident protection scans only files, but streaming media is not stored to any file on your disk so Standard shield would not interfere even if you set it up to scan audio content. So after all I doubt it has anything to do with avast - if the problems does not stop when avast is turned off.
But please check the proxy setting in IE a turn it off to see if the problem persists.
I did enable the Webshield on the Win98 machine. I’ve tested this stream now on four different machines…the two with Avast consistently have problems…the two without Avast don’t have the problem. Very interesting.
I have discovered that if I increase the buffer size on the two machines with Avast that it will play fine. So, it does indicate to me that something is slowing the stream down…if it isn’t Avast I don’t know what it would be…other than just simple processor speed, but I would think a 1.7mhz machine with 512 RAM could play a 23kbps audio stream…
Hmm, something is needed to enable WebShield under win98. Please see the help file - that means, you are not using WebShield under win98. So I doubt it could interefere.
Yes, I went through the steps in the Help file to enable Webshield on my Win98 machine…I did that a few days ago. So, I believe it is possible for the Webshield to interfere.
I did not do anything on the XP machine. How do I completely disable your Webshield program? Is pausing it through your software the way, or do I need to change something in the Internet Options? That is my question.
I thought I could disable it by Pausing the provider (in the XP environment) but do I need to do something else? Please advise.
You can terminate it by clicking the terminate button in WinXP. (please terminate it, don’t just pause)
In win9x you must disable the HTTP proxy in Internet Explorer to fully switch off any avast’s process from the download stream.
I believe your problems will disappear with the latest update (soon to be available officialy). If you can test it now, please follow the link I have posted before.
In the XP environment, we stopped the Webshield and made sure that ashwebsv.exe was no longer showing in the task manager.
We ran the test stream…it ran for about 30 minutes…seemed to do fine…after about 30 minutes…we started seeing some fluctuations…eventually we get a message in the Media Player that the network is too busy to play file at the original speed.
I had been getting this after about 15-20 mins…so…it at least went longer.
Is there anything else I need to turn off? Not knowing all about Avast and how it works, it makes it hard for me to know what to stop, pause, or terminate. I may try uninstalling Avast completely from the Win98 machine and seeing how this stream works there. I also run AdSubtract Pro…I know it uses a local proxy setting. Is there anyway that this could be creating “network congestion” in conjuction with how Avast scans? At this point, I hate to uninstall it from my main XP machine.
This is exactly right. You can not stop WebShield more that this. The Network shield works a little differently and can hardly cause these troubles - and as I said before, it is not available on Win98, so that’s ruling it out too. No other avast component is monitoring the download stream when WebShield is stopped.
I also run AdSubtract Pro...I know it uses a local proxy setting. Is there anyway that this could be creating "network congestion" in conjunction with how Avast scans? At this point, I hate to uninstall it from my main XP machine.
Every proxy server in the download stream may potentially interfere with the download. Please look into the Option menu in Windows Media Player, under Network tab you can setup if WMP10 is using the proxy server from Internet Explorer browser or not (the button: Configure), choose: Do not use proxy server - and that would sort out AdSubtract too.
There isn't anything wrong with the straem as I mentioned in my previous post.
My computer is slower than your 1700 Mhz and I have no problems receiving crystal
clear uninterrupted music from 91.3 but, I don't use WMP.
As for Shoutcast, either it buffers to +/-45% and then stalls or else it will buffer all the way to 100%, plays for 5 seconds then stalls. At the bottom of Winamp it says: [BUFFER: 0%] Song_name
However, a previous poster indicated he had problem with the following feed at one point. I tried it and I’m still listening to it right now. Works fine. I’m glad to have found the KNCT station. Great muzak. I truly enjoy it.
Plays well in WMediaPlayer AND in Shoutcast with no problem. http://tuner1.dc1.sonixtream.com/playlists/knct/knctKNCT.asx
Steps I took to resolve the issue:
Deinstalled Avast! and reinstalled it after rebooting.
Avast Home 4.7.1029
Extreme toolkit Ver 1.9.4.0
ZoneAlarm Pro 5.0.590.0.15
OS: XP Home SP2
layer: WinAmp ver 5.35 (x86) & Windows Media Player 10.00.00.4036
Previous Anti virus: AVG avg75f_476a1043 (deinstalled normally (NOT deinstalled in safe mode))
Browsers: Firefox 2.0.0.5 & Internet Explorer 7.0.5730.11
Please let me know what I should do. Thanks in advance.
