A couple of issues with OS X I want to resolve

[jer2eydevil88]

I am used to streaming my DivX files over my wireless network to watch on my laptop. Since I migrated to an Apple notebook this is simply impossible, the video's stutter and freeze up frequently making viewing them unsatisfactory.

I am able to plug into the Gigabit Switch and play these files perfectly, but it shouldn't take 100mb of overhead to transmit a lousy 1mbit stream. I was able to stream video better on the 802.11b chip my old laptop had than the 802.11g network I am using now. Yes I have a 54mbs 802.11G Accesspoint that streams video just fine to every windows notebook without a hiccup.


I would like to know if there is a fix to ensure an enjoyable viewing experience over my WLAN.

Also has anyone ever hit Apple + Option + Control + 8 at the same time? It inverts the entire screen giving me yet another reason to love OS X.

 

[freiheit]

Possible limitation in OSX networking - easily fixed

You might be having a problem I had with OSX in that the default TCP networking config is not set for optimal use of a high bandwidth connection. Doing file transfers over my 100Mbps ethernet I was getting about 1.5MB/s on my Mac. After running a little program called Broadband Optimzier (search on Google) I get about 9.5MB/s over the same connection. It sure sped up VNC remote desktop control and file transfers, let me tell you.

 

[mkrishnan]

Also, what are you using to watch? There have been some threads on VLC and maybe mplayer that suggest that there's an idiosyncrasy in the way that the Mac versions are configured that causes stuttering with some formats. For what it's worth, I stream MPEG2 from my ReplayTV without stutters. And that's ... I think... close to 1 GB / hour? Not small files.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

Also has anyone ever hit Apple + Option + Control + 8 at the same time? It inverts the entire screen giving me yet another reason to love OS X.

Yup, also try Apple + Option + 8, followed by Apple + Option + [plus or minus]. Zoom zoom zoom! Works great for watching videos 'full screen' that are on a website that won't let you switch to full screen mode.

And Apple + Option + Control + . increases contrast. Hit it repeatedly to get a 'solarizing' effect. (Apple + Option + Control + , turns it back down.) Looks really cool in the inverted mode you already found.

These options, plus one that puts the screen in grayscale, are found in the 'Universal Access' System Preference pane. Sadly, there is no keyboard shortcut for putting the system in grayscale. (Inverted, high contrast grayscale looks awesome, it's like you're on an Apple IIe or something.)

 

[jer2eydevil88]

Thanks for the help, As it turns out I am trapped in New Hampshire as the weather hasn't permitted my plane to take off.

I use Quicktime to watch the files, they are DivX or Xvid and they play just fine if I wait for them to copy over before watching them.

I get 25mbps transfer rate through the gigalan and I'll post the peak throughput from the wireless once I get back home and have access to my pc's shared directories.

thanks for the help and suggestions, I will try out the bandwidth optimizer and report back about the progress.

 

[jer2eydevil88]

Update ::

I got time to mess with this yesterday.

The video streaming problems are not resolved at all. The fix mentioned did speed up my web browsing to nearly double what it was before.

Anyone else got any idea?

Menumeters tells me that I getting 1.7mbp's down when I first double click the video files, then after 5 seconds that drops to 250kbps and quicktime loads to play the file. It stays between 80kbps - 250kbps when playing which seems insanely low since the files are 1mbit streams according to quicktime.

These are DivX or Xvid rips and are not high def quality so its not that my powerbook is isanely slow at playing hidef (which it also is). any help would be appreciated.