FRUSTRATED with skipping songs - iTunes and NAS

[emaja]

I have my entire music collection ripped ALAC on an external HDD and have streamed it from my Mac Book Pro to my ATV2 for years without a problem. I got to the point where it was too big for that RAID USB box that I needed something expandable like a NAS. I could then pop in a new drive and expand the array. Cool. I have all my music on the NAS now and it works, but when I try to play music, it will skip as if there is a network bottleneck or interference, but it is all ethernet - no wireless - EXCEPT I am using the wireless MBP to control it all.

If I hook the old USB drive to my mini connected with ethernet and control it from the mini, no skips. If I try to control the same setup from my MBP through Home Sharing - skips.

What the heck is causing this? It is driving me NUTS.

 

[smellalot]

If you are using home sharing like you said, you are actually streaming from the NAS to the mini to your MacBook to your ATV2. So your network seems to be the bottleneck here.
Try to control your mini with the remote app from an iOS device (if you have one) and it should work flawlessly. I don't know of any good remote control app for OS X but I'm sure you'll find one.

 

[ChrisA]

I have my entire music collection ripped ALAC on an external HDD and have streamed it from my Mac Book Pro to my ATV2 for years without a problem. I got to the point where it was too big for that RAID USB box that I needed something expandable like a NAS. I could then pop in a new drive and expand the array. Cool. I have all my music on the NAS now and it works, but when I try to play music, it will skip as if there is a network bottleneck or interference, but it is all ethernet - no wireless - EXCEPT I am using the wireless MBP to control it all.

If I hook the old USB drive to my mini connected with ethernet and control it from the mini, no skips. If I try to control the same setup from my MBP through Home Sharing - skips.

What the heck is causing this? It is driving me NUTS.

Sounds like you bought a low-end NAS box that does not have the required performance or you have configured a RAID setup that is slow

What did you buy and how is it set up? I doubt the network is the problem

One way to fix this: Does the NAS box have a fire wire connection or even a USB connection and can it be made to look like just a box of disks? If so connect it to a Mac and use software RAID. The root of the problem is the low-end, tiny CPUs the put in those boxes

All is not lost. A slow NAS makes a decent Time Machine disk. Then plut you music beack on the external drive. If you run out of space buy another external drive and use software RAID and keep a backup (using the old NAS)

 

[emaja]

Sounds like you bought a low-end NAS box that does not have the required performance or you have configured a RAID setup that is slow

What did you buy and how is it set up? I doubt the network is the problem

One way to fix this: Does the NAS box have a fire wire connection or even a USB connection and can it be made to look like just a box of disks? If so connect it to a Mac and use software RAID. The root of the problem is the low-end, tiny CPUs the put in those boxes

All is not lost. A slow NAS makes a decent Time Machine disk. Then plut you music beack on the external drive. If you run out of space buy another external drive and use software RAID and keep a backup (using the old NAS)

It's a Synology DS411, so I doubt it is the box itself. It is ethernet only. No USB or FW. I am using their hybrid RAID.

The idea of using a NAS was expandability and disk redundancy.

It is a lot of hops on the network, but I didn't think that would be an issue.

 

[emaja]

Something I discovered tonight...

Playing video through the ATV2 had no skipping or stuttering but there was a short delay in the video starting to play.

I have the Synology set with a static IP and set for login on startup. I have pointed iTunes to it so it sees the NAS as a local drive.

 

[garybUK]

Something I discovered tonight...

Playing video through the ATV2 had no skipping or stuttering but there was a short delay in the video starting to play.

I have the Synology set with a static IP and set for login on startup. I have pointed iTunes to it so it sees the NAS as a local drive.

Video's are downloaded and stored in buffer whilst audio is streamed. Like other's have said, sounds like network issues.

 

[emaja]

Video's are downloaded and stored in buffer whilst audio is streamed. Like other's have said, sounds like network issues.

So, a iPod classic can buffer but AirPlay can't? That's dumb.

Everything is gigabit - except that ATV2 - so I can't understand why there is network congestion streaming a small audio file.

I really wanted to use the NAS for disk redundancy as well as expandability, but it seems like it will only work for video. I might keep it for vids, but go back to the old way of USB HDDs for audio and keep my library split. Seems like more of a hassle than it should be.

 

[ChrisA]

So, a iPod classic can buffer but AirPlay can't? That's dumb.

Everything is gigabit - except that ATV2 - so I can't understand why there is network congestion streaming a small audio file.

I really wanted to use the NAS for disk redundancy as well as expandability, but it seems like it will only work for video. I might keep it for vids, but go back to the old way of USB HDDs for audio and keep my library split. Seems like more of a hassle than it should be.

"disk redundancy" will not protect your data better than one disk. The reasons are that (1) the chance of a disk failure is doubled if you have two rather than one disk. The added safety of having more disks is offset by the doubled or tripled changes of a failure. and (2) most data are lost to file corruption, operator error and loss of the equipment (theft or fire or water) and raid doesnot addres that.

So you need a real backup plan

 

[emaja]

"disk redundancy" will not protect your data better than one disk. The reasons are that (1) the chance of a disk failure is doubled if you have two rather than one disk. The added safety of having more disks is offset by the doubled or tripled changes of a failure. and (2) most data are lost to file corruption, operator error and loss of the equipment (theft or fire or water) and raid doesnot addres that.

So you need a real backup plan

I know that RAID is not backup. I have backups, so that is not an issue for me. This was just about the skipping.

Thanks though.

 

[blueroom]

I run a DS212j running 4.1beta that contains our media files, Wired GigE to a WNDR3700 to a 10/100 switch to ATV3. iTunes running wirelessly on a MBP CD2. No hiccuping whatsoever.

 

[emaja]

Then I am just at a loss for a solution.

I have a Time Capsule as my router and everything wired into it except my MBP. All GigE. If I use the iTunes server on the NAS, it skips. If I use the USB drive and Home Sharing, it skips. If I control it from my iPad or iPhone it works fine, but it is less convenient to put together playlists and browse my music collection.

The only way that seems to work for me consistently is if I use an external HDD on my mini, then remote in with Screen Sharing and control it that way.

Oh well. I guess I'll go back to that way and return the NAS. Too bad as it is a fantastic idea. I was even going to jailbreak my ATV to use it for video.