Choppy picture while accessing videos through a home network

[cx00my]

As a new Macbook user, I have noticed a problem that I found quite odd: when I access my DVDs that I backed up on a HP Mediasmart Server (running Microsoft Windows Home Server) from my Macbook, the picture is quite choppy to the point that I can't watch any movies that way. This is through my home network.

When I do the same operation, with the same movies using a Windows XP laptop, the difference is like night and day. The picture is smooth, clearer and not choppy.

The Macbook is the latest Aluminium unibody model while the Windows XP machine is over two years old: the Macbook is much more powerful and has much better video capacity. I have tried both computers using a wi-fi and a wired network: the Windows XP does very well over both types of networks (the Win XP laptop has wireless G) while the Macbook does very poorly on both types of networks, even though it has Wireless N.

Has anyone come across the same problem? How did you solve it? Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[DPA]

Streaming video over the internet takes a lot of bandwidth. Run a speed test form SpeedTest.Net and then please share the results with us. Is the video HD or SD?

David

 

[edesignuk]

^ It's not over the internet, it's over a LAN/WLAN.

 

[DPA]

^ It's not over the internet, it's over a LAN/WLAN.

Oh, sorry about that.

David

 

[Consultant]

Mine works fine over MY network served from PowerMac G4.

I suspect MS favors windows and breaks compatibility with non-MS os.

 

[cx00my]

I forgot to specify that my problems are related to standard definition, over a home network (both wi-fi and wired). The DVDs in the folders are uncompressed and therefore are exact copies of the originals.

By the way, my macbook is the 13", 2.4 Ghz.

 

[DPA]

I forgot to specify that my problems are related to standard definition, over a home network (both wi-fi and wired). The DVDs in the folders are uncompressed and therefore are exact copies of the originals.

By the way, my macbook is the 13", 2.4 Ghz.

How strong is your signal? I don't think Ethernet would be fast enough to transport video data even in SD, I could be wrong though.

David

 

[cx00my]

I have been able to play entire movies not only over simple ethernet, but also over wireless G. Now my set-up has Gigabit ethernet and wireless N. I also noted that I am able to play the same folders/files with no problem on a much older Windows XP laptop.