Sony KD-49XD7005 (ATV2) & WiFi Network speed...

[npapanik]

I am connected to an Asus RT-AC87U router through WiFi (5GHz), 4m away without any obstacles in between.

I was having problems with 4K (only) movies streamed from my server to the TV using Kodi 17.6. The same movies could be played without problems from an attached USB. So it is a network problem & not CPU/GPU related.

I have uploaded a youtube video which demonstrates the problem(s): copy a file from the PC to the TV's local storage.

https://youtu.be/PXyQ8lCwqIQ   

[Kuschelmonschter]

While I do agree that Sony Android TV isn’t a very good network playback device, your assessment isn’t quite right in some aspects:

(1)

Playing back files via USB and Wi-Fi makes a difference performance-wise. Wi-Fi controller is connected via USB. So data has to go through the USB and(!) networking stack.

Also consider that the Wi-Fi controller is probably connected via USB 2.0 while your storage might have been USB 3.0.

(2)

In the YouTube video, you are transferring a file from a Windows PC via FTP which is not very representative for media playback. Bottlenecks can be everywhere...

So how do you play files in Kodi? Via DLNA? SMB? Suppose not NFS since you are using a Windows based server...

I could achieve a stable 220mbps at perfect 802.11ac conditions (measured with a spectrum analyzer) using WiFi Speed Test.

[npapanik]

Hi,

The reason I mentioned the fact that the 4K movie played OK from the USB (which is actually the fastest Sandisk USB 3.0 stick), is that I wanted to rule out file encoding issues or TV decoding issues (Kodi & Sony) and not to compare USB to WiFi performance. Since I verified that the specific 4k movie played fine locally the issue had to be the network.

I am aware of the fact that the WiFi controller in this TV is connected via USB 2.0 to the system. But I am also aware that the theoretical USB 2.0 bandwith is 480Mbps. So I would at least expect approximately 200Mbps from an 5GHz 802.1ac WiFi connection (without obstacles, 4 meters away). But what I am actually getting is far less than that, which creates a problem with high bitrate 4K movies (and not 1080p ones).

The source of the files is an HPE Microserver (Windows 2016 Server, SMB shares of course), which provides verifiable 1Gb of tranfer rates between ethernet connections. The Asus router is also capable (transfers of files between the server and an iPad Pro connected to the same 5GHz WiFi are averaging just over 200Mbps).

You mentioned that you have achieved stable 220Mbps speeds: TV model, fw level, router, any special settings?

Could you please describe your exact testing methodology so I can replicate it and see?

Thanks for your time!

[Kuschelmonschter]

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@npapanik  schrieb:

You mentioned that you have achieved stable 220Mbps speeds: TV model, fw level, router, any special settings?

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It was an older ATV1 based Sony (FW 5.381). I don't expect newer models to be slower though...

Access point has been an AVM FRITZ!WLAN Repeater 1750E (running in Bridge mode). The TV was the only WiFi client in the 5GHz band. So no interruptions by anything.

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Could you please describe your exact testing methodology so I can replicate it and see?

Thanks for your time!

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Sideloaded WiFi Speed Test on the Sony. Server was a Windows PC running the counterpart of WiFi Speed Test (see here).

You can check out the result here.

[npapanik]

Many thanks for the info. I will set it up this evening and notify you of the results.

Thanks again!

[npapanik]

Just finished the tests: 225Mbit/s on TCP but only 61Mbit/s on SMB...

[Kuschelmonschter]

So you can try DLNA. I know that it does not integrate well with Kodi, but performance should be better.

I once tried the jellyfish samples via SMB from a Windows PC and also QNAP NAS. I could go up to the 120mbps one. So you might have a bottleneck somewhere.

[npapanik]

I haven't tested yet the SMB via WiFi with another client. I will this evening with an iOS device.

[dutchice]

Retry using no encryption on the WiFi AP. It does make a performance difference on some devices. Perhaps even scanning the area (using a WiFi scanner tool) to select a channel with less traffic on the 5GHz band minimizing cross-talk could improve performance even further. Sometimes even the 2.4GHz band provided with a large channel width can result in better performance.

[npapanik]

Disapling encryption is not an option for me. As far as the 5GHz band there are no other 5GHz in the building. Actually, I don't think that it is a congestion issue, its just the SMB implementation on the Sony side...