If you upgraded to SlingPlayer 2.0 for Windows and are having performance issues with video or audio playback, here are some things to take a look at.
If you upgraded to SlingPlayer 2.0 for Windows and are having performance issues with video or audio playback, here are some things to take a look at.
- Your computer: Does it meet the minimum system requirements for SlingPlayer 2.0? Remember, if you're using a Slingbox PRO-HD and are streaming content in high definition (HD), those system requirements climb steeply.
For the best viewing experience when watching content streamed in HD, we recommend a computer with an Intel® Core™ Duo processor that has a clock speed of at least 2.0 GHz (equivalent or faster) and 2GB or more of available memory (RAM).
The power management settings used by portable computers (and some desktop computers) can cause issues playing video. Again, this is especially true if you have a Slingbox PRO-HD and are watching video streamed in HD. But whether you're watching content streamed in HD or in standard definition (SD), it's easy to fix this: create special power management profiles for SlingPlayer 2.0 for Windows that allow it to take full advantage of your PC's computing power.
- Your network connection. We also recommend not using a USB-connected WiFi network adapter. Streaming content in HD uses more network capacity than other types of connections. Also, USB adapters make your computer work harder, stealing capacity that's needed for smooth playback of content.
If these don't help, you may want to adjust with the SlingPlayer encoding settings to get the best possible stream for your computer, network, and Internet connection. You can get to these settings by selecting SlingPlayer Options from the Settings menu.
Here's an overview of the Encoding tab within SlingPlayer Options, so you can see what the different options mean.
By default, all encoding is set to enable SlingStream optimization with both Local Access and Internet Access set to Automatic. This gives you the best results in most situations.
If you want to adjust the settings manually to see if you can get a better picture, there are two other options:
- Enable SlingStream, but specify a video resolution for Local Access and/or Internet Access
This option allows you to force your Slingbox to maintain a specific resolution, while letting SlingStream adjust all other video streaming variables as needed for the best viewing experience.
Local Access is for Slingbox connections that are within your home network, while Internet Access is for connections outside of your network.
To go back to the default settings, click Original Settings.
- Manually adjust stream parameters (recommended for advanced users only)
Below are brief descriptions of what each option does. After trying some custom encoding settings, if you'd like to go back to the default settings, click Original Settings.
- Video bit rate: the amount of data (per second) that SlingPlayer is receiving. The higher the video bit rate, the higher the quality of video. But your network needs to be able to stream enough data to support the bit rate that you've chosen. See the next item.
- Bandwidth required: The network bandwidth required for the video bit rate that you've chosen. If the network conditions don't provide the bandwidth to support the video bit rate setting that you've specified, you'll see the video pause from time to time. If you can't find a manual setting that works for you, you might want to switch back to using SlingStream.
- Video frames per second: the number of frames, or "still pictures," that display during one second. These individual pictures make up what looks to the eye like a moving image. The more frames per second, the smoother the image, but also the more network bandwidth required. A setting below 10 frames per second looks jumpy. A setting above 20 frames per second looks fairly smooth.
- I-Frame interval: this is a clever way of maximizing available network bandwidth for a better picture. Rather than show each frame by "drawing" it from scratch on the screen, special technologies analyze the image frame-by-frame. The computer program figures out, from one frame to the next, what changed and what stayed the same. That way, all that's needed is to display the incremental difference between each frame. Shorter I-Frame intervals give you better video quality, but require more bandwidth. Depending on what you're watching (how much motion is in it) you might be able to use longer I-Frame intervals, yet still have good video quality.
- Video smoothness: when video is smoother, action scenes appear more natural ... but details are fuzzier. When video is sharper, action may be jumpier, but more details are visible. Move the control all the way to the left for maximum smoothness. To maximize sharpness, move the control all the way to the right.
- Video Resolution: the size of the picture that displays on your screen. Higher resolutions result in improved picture quality, but also increased bandwidth usage.
- Audio bit rate: like video bit rate, the higher the setting, the better the sound quality is. Also like video bit rate, a higher audio bit rate, the more network bandwidth is required.
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