WMC vs. D-Link Server for video playback (DSM-320)

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chuckc - 11 Mar 2005 01:23 GMT

I have a (not too old) analog camcorder and I've recently caputured some
family video and saved it as high quality DVD video (MPEG-2) on my computer
using WinDVD Creater 2.

These files are big and a 2 hour video takes up close to 8GB on my hard
drive. When I try stream these to my DSM-320 using the WMC server, the video
and sound are choppy and no fun to watch. If I scale the videos down to
standard play quality (still MPEG-2) but about 4GB per for a 2 hour tape, the
videos play using WMC.

At first I thought it was a bandwidth issue with my 802.11g. That made
sense, smaller files, less data to stream for the same number of frames.
However, just for fun, I tried the D-Link Server and the HighQuality giant
video played without a hitch. So much for the bandwidth theory.

I like WMC better than the D-Link server. It's a lot more stable and much
faster with menues. My question is, why can the D-Link stream videos that
WMC cannot?

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RodneyC - 12 Mar 2005 17:09 GMT

> I have a (not too old) analog camcorder and I've recently caputured some
> family video and saved it as high quality DVD video (MPEG-2) on my computer
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
> faster with menues. My question is, why can the D-Link stream videos that
> WMC cannot?

Its all about license and copyright protection. WMC is designed aroung DRM
or Digital Rights Management. Example: if you use WMP10 to rip a CD to the
hard drive with copy protection disabled in the player options, WMC will NOT
play the files because the media no longer has a verifiable license. Media
that has no copy protection or license will only rarely play with WMC. It
won't be long before you will have to digitally sign or license your own home
movies in order for them to play back. Even some free content like movie
trailers is now being licensed. If you are online, the player or streamer
will go out and get the required license for you. Any kind of CD or DVD rip
that you acquire using file sharing is very unlikely to work with WMC, even
if WMP9/10 will play it locally.

D-link can dance around these protection issues by placing liability
squarely on your shoulders. Read the disclaimer on their support site
regarding the DSM-320.

In my experience, the Dlink software will usually stream content that is
protected, even though the manual says that it will not. So basically I use
both, WMC when performance is important, and Dlink when WMC fails due to
protection of file format issues.

Check this URL for more:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/devices/wmconnect/faq.aspx#5_1

Hope that helps.

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chuckc - 12 Mar 2005 18:13 GMT

> > I like WMC better than the D-Link server. It's a lot more stable and much
> > faster with menus. My question is, why can the D-Link stream videos that
> > WMC cannot?
>
> Its all about license and copyright protection. WMC is designed around DRM as the
> or Digital Rights Management.

Thank you for your reply but I don't believe this has anything to do with
DRM as the files I'm trying to play are my own home movies captured to MPEG-2
format from my camcorder.

Bottom line is that both the D-Link server and WMC will play the files but
when I use WMC, they are so choppy and stuttering that they are not worth
watching. The D-Link plays them well.

I'm just curious why WMC would have trouble playing these (un-protected)
files when the D-Link server plays them fine.

Thanks,
Chuckc

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Alan Ludwig [MSFT] - 14 Mar 2005 21:33 GMT

I've heard reports of poor playback with MPEG-4 and DivX (both formats are
unsupported by WMC,but may play anyway), but this is the first report that
I've seen of poor playback with straight MPEG-2. I'll certainly make sure
we do more testing with large high-quality video for the next release.

As far as streaming goes, information is transferred to the DSM-320 via
http. That's right, the player just hits a web-address on the server to
get the file. I suspect that the DLink server does a better job with the
DLink player because they were developed together, while WMC was developed
on its own to work with a wide variety of players. If I had to guess, I'd
say that DLink probalby optimized the buffering on both sides (player and
server) to get the results you see.

Regards,

Signature

Alan Ludwig
Software Design Engineer
Windows Media Devices Group
Microsoft Corp.

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

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gmattie - 21 Mar 2005 20:17 GMT

Alan,

Just a quick note - I also have had trouble streaming MPEG-2 to my
DSM-320 using WMC. I have a SONY handycam using their default software
with the default settings. The error I get from the DSM-320 is
"unrecognizeable format" when I click on the video ...

Any ideas would be much appreciated.
Geoff

> I've heard reports of poor playback with MPEG-4 and DivX (both formats are
> unsupported by WMC,but may play anyway), but this is the first report that
[quoted text clipped - 18 lines]
>
> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

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Hackbuster2000 - 17 Jun 2005 03:32 GMT

> Alan,
>
> Just a quick note - I also have had trouble streaming MPEG-2 to my
> DSM-320 using WMC. I have a SONY handycam using their default software
> with the default settings. The error I get from the DSM-320 is
> "unrecognizeable format" when I click on the video ...

I have the very same issue.

I am trying to play regular, unprotected MPEG-2 files (fairly large, 3 - 4
gigabytes) and the video and sound is either extremely choppy / jery or the
player simply reboots. The D-Link player does not exhibit these syumptoms,
neither does NERO MediaHome. -But none of these can play protected Windows
media files.

There was a mention of next release of WMC, any insight into when that is
scheduled for?

> Any ideas would be much appreciated.
> Geoff
[quoted text clipped - 32 lines]
> > This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
> rights.

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