Support for USB Gigabit LAN/802.11ac adapter?


  • Ok, so reading that yours is playing back files of that size ok made me check a little further. One file in particular that buffered a lot that I expected to play ok is a 21gb file that is 53 minutes in total. The average bitrate there is well within what it should be capable of, not sure of the peak bitrate.
    I did a quick check to get an idea of the actual connection speed using speedtest.net and I seem to be getting 80-90Mbit (My internet connection is 240Mbit so it should be a pretty good indication). I'll investigate further tomorrow.

    steve_192: Thanks, I played around with the buffer settings a lot already and I tried pretty aggressive settings in the end but all it does is increase the time before the problems occur.


    Are any of the 4K files you are having problems with in the public domain and freely downloadable so I can test?

  • I can trigger the buffering during playback of 4k files from SMB on my MXQ Pro with the LG 4k Demo "Paris": Demo Ultra-HD - LG Demo Paris

    The wetek hub has no trouble playing it on the same network.

    Edit: This file is >100MBit/s, so it is not a good example... Sorry for that.

    Edited once, last by mmpp (January 6, 2017 at 9:42 AM).

  • Are any of the 4K files you are having problems with in the public domain and freely downloadable so I can test?


    Thanks, I tried a few demo clips just now to find ones that would cause the problem.

    The first one buffered twice for me during playback. First at around 15-20 seconds and then again around 70-75 seconds.
    You can find it here. It's listed as 75.8Mb/s.

    The second one buffers for me every 25-30 seconds.
    You can find it here. It's listed as 85Mb/s.

    The testing was done with Libreelec's standard buffer settings. No advancedsettings.xml was used.

    Edited once, last by coreire (January 7, 2017 at 2:04 AM).


  • Any recommendations on an adapter would be appreciated.
    Thanks.

    Look for ASIX AX88179 chip in the details when you buy USB 3.0Gigabit LAN adapter.
    It works fine with the boxes because the Linux kernel supports it.
    Mine looks like this:

  • Look for ASIX AX88179 chip in the details when you buy USB 3.0Gigabit LAN adapter.
    It works fine with the boxes because the Linux kernel supports it.
    Mine looks like this:

    Thanks, do you have it plugged into a USB 2.0 port? And does it actually connect in gigabit mode?

  • Is there a list of supported chips by the Linux kernel somewhere?

    I found this one for example and it says "for Linux kernel", but it doesn't specify the chip.

    I've been looking for an S905 TV box with 2 GB RAM and a working Gbit ethernet port, but sofar haven't had much luck.

    I bought an H96 Plus from Gearbest and the ethernet port would connect, but upload speed was almost 0, making it unusable. Got refunded in the end.

    I also bought an MXV box from Aliexpress, but it's very unstable and hangs all the time. I got LE working on it, but it only connects at 100M. Still in discussion with AE about it.


  • Thanks, do you have it plugged into a USB 2.0 port? And does it actually connect in gigabit mode?


    Of course, I've connected it to an USB 2.0 port (there is no USB 3.0 on these boxes).


    [hr]


    Is there a list of supported chips by the Linux kernel somewhere?

    I found this one for example and it says "for Linux kernel", but it doesn't specify the chip.

    I've been looking for an S905 TV box with 2 GB RAM and a working Gbit ethernet port, but sofar haven't had much luck.

    I bought an H96 Plus from Gearbest and the ethernet port would connect, but upload speed was almost 0, making it unusable. Got refunded in the end.

    I also bought an MXV box from Aliexpress, but it's very unstable and hangs all the time. I got LE working on it, but it only connects at 100M. Still in discussion with AE about it.

    Why don't you buy a well known MINI MX or similar box which performs very well on the gigabit port.

    Edited once, last by Pelican (January 9, 2017 at 11:29 AM).


  • Of course, I've connected it to an USB 2.0 port (there is no USB 3.0 on these boxes).


    [hr]

    Why don't you buy a well known MINI MX or similar box which performs very well on the gigabit port.

    Thanks for the ethtool output. That's great news, I'll try and pick up one of those.

  • Thanks, I tried a few demo clips just now to find ones that would cause the problem.

    The first one buffered twice for me during playback. First at around 15-20 seconds and then again around 70-75 seconds.
    You can find it here. It's listed as 75.8Mb/s.

    The second one buffers for me every 25-30 seconds.
    You can find it here. It's listed as 85Mb/s.

    The testing was done with Libreelec's standard buffer settings. No advancedsettings.xml was used.

    I am using beelink mini mxiii ii with synology NAS 212+. I have been experimenting with files which have big bitrate and I've read somewhere that the limitation is somewhere 1/2 of bandwidth. Meaning : if you have 100 Mb LAN, the limitation would be around 50 Mbit/s file...Both files in your links are above that so there is no change to read it without buffering even if you use advancedsettings.xml settings. My beelink mini mxiii ii is the only machine which uses 100 Mb LAN, all the rest of the network is 1Gb. But only this demos has really bitrates and it not so crucial for me. 4K on satellite can be up to the 30 Mbit/s, all the rest lower.

    Humaxboy

    Edited once, last by humaxboy (January 9, 2017 at 3:24 PM).


  • Why don't you buy a well known MINI MX or similar box which performs very well on the gigabit port.

    Thanks. I looked for that one but it seems to be sold out everywhere.

    I noticed in your signature you also have an MX IV 2GB/8GB. Does that also have a working Gbit ethernet port?

    Any other boxes with 2 GB RAM and a Gbit ethernet port you would recommend?

  • Pelican

    Cheers for your post. I have ordered one of these:

    Plugable USB 3.0 to 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

    I will post my results when it arrives.

    If anyone is thinking of purchasing a MINI MX etc for the Gigabit port, one thing to be aware of is that these come with the S905, rather than the S905X. The S905 doesn't support HDR or VP9 decoding. This may, or may not of course be an issue, depending on individual circumstances.

    Edited once, last by steve_192 (January 9, 2017 at 6:52 PM).

  • My Minix U1 has 2GB/16GB/ and Working GB, but it is on the pricer side, but it's a well know company who actually has a support forum, provides firmware updates all the time, etc.


  • I'm using a Mini M8S(S905) to access files on my home server. I've recently started using 4k content and the 100Mbit ethernet port on the M8S doesn't seem to have enough bandwidth for some of the higher bitrate files, resulting in buffering every 10-15 seconds or stuttering.

    The same files play back fine if put on a USB 2.0 hard drive so the best solution I've though of is a USB Gigabit ethernet adapter. I won't get the full gigabit but hopefully I can use the bandwidth available at the USB port.
    Does Libreelec have support for any USB Gigabit ethernet adapters or 802.11ac wifi adapters?

    Any recommendations on an adapter would be appreciated.
    Thanks.

    I have a long shot you might try. Is yours a scenario with an AVR involved ? You might want to confirm your audio settings are defaulted to 2.0 speaker settings. Kodi is counter intuitive when it comes to surround settings, if you run a 5.1 rig you're bound to select 5.1 settings..but you shouldnt. This results in the "appearently bandwidth related" issues.

  • In past experiments on the original 100BaseT equipped AppleTV (which is why LE/OE have support for nearly all the chips involved; I tried them) moving to a USB gigabit adaptor lifted speeds from ~11MB/sec to a whopping ~14MB/sec. Why so little? .. because running networking over the USB stack requires a lot more computational overhead than using Ethernet, and this taxes the CPU and negates many of the theoretical gains (even at USB 2.0 speeds). I would be very surprised if anyone reports a significant user-experience improvement using one.

    TL;DR .. cheap boxes with 100BaseT are cheap boxes with 100BaseT .. caveat emptor