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Faster or multiple downloads?

PostPosted: Thu Dec 16, 2010 8:24 pm
by imarkstr
I've searched all over and can't find a thread that really answers my question/problem. Sorry if this is a repeat question, but hopefully this thread won't get ignored like so many others.

I had a difficult time getting Subsonic to work on 3G for my Windows 7 64bit system and Nexus One (stock, up to date, Android), but finally got it. Turns out my modem provided by my ISP was blocking ports so had to 'bridge' my router with it.

Anyway, I was so excited when all my port tests finally worked and I was able to successfully play songs with the Subsonic app on my Nexus One. This was while using wifi at home.

I tried testing on 3G and noticed when I play a song, it takes longer to start as the song is downloading. Once it plays, I get to about 40 seconds into the song and the music stops again to download some more. This usually happens about 3 times during an average 3.5 minute song. Once the song is finished, I then have to wait again for the next song in queue to play. Again the song will stop and download every 40 or so seconds.

I know my 3G isn't blazing fast (I get anywhere from 1.5 Mbps to 1.9 Mbps download) but surely that is fast enough to stream music, no? I have no problems streaming HD Youtube videos on my Nexus One (using app). No problems either with podcasts or radio streams.

At home, I am on a fibre internet and get 20+ Mbps download and about 5 Mbps upload. My computer isn't running any other download/uploads/applications so the bandwidth should be pretty open.

So getting back to the subject of my post, is there a way to increase the download speed on Subsonic? I've tried all sorts of bitrate combinations using the lowest 32 Kbps and highest 'Unlimited' bitrate and everything in between, both on the server and app. Nothing seems to work. I've even increased my cache to 1 GB and set my preload to 10 songs.

If I can't make Subsonic faster, is there a setting to download multiple songs in queue at the same time?

The only work around right now is to pause a playlist and let it load while I am sleeping overnight and then in the morning have all my songs ready to go. But that kinda defeats the whole purpose of streaming, no?

Sorry for the long post. Just trying to be descriptive. I appreciate any help you can give.

Thanks!

btw, my files are all mp3's

PostPosted: Thu Dec 16, 2010 8:37 pm
by stozher

PostPosted: Thu Dec 16, 2010 10:10 pm
by GJ51
With your 3G speed spec you should be fine as long as your server is putting the data out fast enough.

Have you tested the performance of the phone on the demo server?

PostPosted: Thu Dec 16, 2010 10:47 pm
by imarkstr
GJ51 wrote:With your 3G speed spec you should be fine as long as your server is putting the data out fast enough.

Have you tested the performance of the phone on the demo server?


Ah...I forgot about that. On the demo server everything runs smoothly, exactly as I would expect it to.

So I tested my server using an iphone on a different network and it was able to play music from my server without any issues at all.

Any ideas? I've asked someone else to test a G2 on my network as well, will let you know the results.

PostPosted: Thu Dec 16, 2010 11:09 pm
by stozher
Test Windows network performance with smartphone online and offline:

http://www.abeltronica.com/velocimetro/pt/?idioma=uk

Disable in Windows to search automatically for network devices, folders... and test again.

PostPosted: Fri Dec 17, 2010 1:46 am
by imarkstr
stozher wrote:Test Windows network performance with smartphone online and offline:

http://www.abeltronica.com/velocimetro/pt/?idioma=uk

Disable in Windows to search automatically for network devices, folders... and test again.


I tested on my windows desktop and got 37667.44 kbps download and 4336.72 kbps upload. Nice =)

I then tested with 3G on my smartphone (Nexus One) and got 1680.24 kbps download and 682.48 kbps upload.

I then tested with wifi on my smartphone and got 4467.44 kbps download and 1378.00 kbps upload.

I disabled the automatially detect option and it didn't change my results much.

PostPosted: Fri Dec 17, 2010 2:06 am
by GJ51
You have more than enough bandwidth on both your desktop and your phone to get good performance. Something else is causing the problem, most likely on the desktop server side. I can't remember the exact post, but recently I helped someone with almost identical circumstances, that turned out to be an application on his server that was blopcking traffic to/from the internet.

Do you have utilities/apps antivirus, etc that might be good sus[ects for restricting internet traffic from the server over certain ports?

PostPosted: Fri Dec 17, 2010 3:20 am
by imarkstr
I don't have any utilities running. Disabled my antivirus and turned off firewall. Checked to make sure my router didn't have a bandwidth limit set.

Still not working.

PostPosted: Fri Dec 17, 2010 3:41 am
by GJ51
What port are you using for SS?

PostPosted: Fri Dec 17, 2010 3:42 am
by imarkstr
GJ51 wrote:What port are you using for SS?

I was using 4040, but tried 8080, 80 and a few random numbers that I can't recall.

PostPosted: Fri Dec 17, 2010 4:14 am
by GJ51
After rereading you post, I'm thinking that your router setup may be at the heart of the issue. I'm on Verizon FIOS and they blocked 80, but I didn't have to do any bridging to get things to work.

I set up a Static route to my server up high, 192.168.1.254, out of the way of DHCP. I then defined the same address on the server NIC and manually set the internal ip address and DNS addresses. I then set up port forwarding to the server for the port I used in SS. I always use something other than 80, usually 8080,8081, etc. Also check to see that there is a rule for both Subsonic Agent and Subsonic service in the Server OS Firewall.

Also send me a pm if you'd like me to test your server through a guest account, or if you'd like to test your phone on one of my servers.

PostPosted: Fri Dec 17, 2010 4:22 am
by imarkstr
Thanks for your help thus far.

I did try everything you suggested in my initial struggle to set this up. It was a friend who's a network guy that suggested I may need to bridge my router and modem. He walked me through all the port forwarding steps but it still failed to port forward. It was only successful via the bridge method.

Anyway, I'll send you a pm so you can access my server. I'm spending too much time trying to set this up, haha.

PostPosted: Fri Dec 17, 2010 3:59 pm
by GJ51
Just as an update to anyone following this thread in case this might help someone else in the future having similar issues.

After a few hours of trying several things with no success, the cure was to uninstall SS from the users Nexus One and to reinstall the latest SS from the Android Market.

He is now getting the expected performance streaming music to his phone from his site and a couple others he's tested on.

Update: It works!!!

PostPosted: Fri Dec 17, 2010 4:01 pm
by imarkstr
Want to give a huge heartfelt thank you to Gary and Sindre for their help in resolving my issues. I guess the subject title is a bit misleading now.

Anyway, I had to uninstall and reinstall Subsonic Android client for a third time and it just worked flawlessly. Go figure.

Time to donate!