Bad transfer rate of video stream via WAN [NAS 326]

0101OSX · May 2020

Hello to everyone,

i have a question on my Zyxel NAS 326 Model. When I try to watch a video with my smartphone out of my home, I struggle a lot. Video stream is not fluid, so I try to reconnect to my nas or to change network protocol (ftp,webdav), to be able to see the video, and sometimes it work. Now excluding trouble in my network systems (The nas is cable connected to my router, I have a speed of about 30 Mbps, on my phone usually I have a 4G connection with a speed velocity of about 70/80 Mbps), why it is very difficult to see a video in streaming? The nas have problem to transcode the video? there is some method to make the situation better?

#NAS_May_2020

Sakura_T · May 2020

Have you tried using other device (PC or NB) to watch video?
If the problem occurred only when using smartphone, the cause may not be the NAS326 but your smartphone.

Mijzelf · May 2020

I have a speed of about 30 Mbps

Is that upload?

The nas have problem to transcode the video?

There is no transcoding. If it works in the LAN, and not in the WAN the problem is pure network related.

Emerald Dragon · May 2020

Agreed with Mijzelf on this, it's the network related problem, especially if streaming works well with LAN. @0101OSX - What type of WAN speed connection do you have going out of your house? If you have something like a dialup or DSL your video definitely will be like what you said.

0101OSX · May 2020

TY9527: Have you tried using other device (PC or NB) to watch video?
If the problem occurred only when using smartphone, the cause may not be the NAS326 but your smartphone.

-I've tried with various smartphone, and also with computers and the result is always the same ?

Mijzelf:

Is that upload?

yes I have a FTTC line, the speeds are 60/70 in download and 20/30 in upload

There is no transcoding. If it works in the LAN, and not in the WAN the problem is pure network related.

in fact my problem is in WAN network. This problem succeed when I try to watch a video out of my home (obviously with quick network connections 4G or fiber)

Emerald Dragon: Agreed with Mijzelf on this, it's the network related problem, especially if streaming works well with LAN. @0101OSX - What type of WAN speed connection do you have going out of your house? If you have something like a dialup or DSL your video definitely will be like what you said

How I already say I have a quick Fiber DSL line, so the problem unfortunately is not the speed os connection, otherwise will be simply ☹️

Mijzelf · May 2020

What is the needed bandwidth (as in size of the video divided by the duration), and does you network contain other devices which need upload at the same moment?

0101OSX · May 2020

Given that this problem does it with any video, however with the video in question of size 1,23GB, of duration 13 minutes. After calculation 9840/780=12,61 Mbps, my DSL provide 25/30 Mbps, so like velocity it's ok. And in the moment that I watch video, in my home there was no one

Mijzelf · May 2020

So your video takes about 50% of your upload bandwidth. I agree that should work. If it doesn't, I think that either the upload isn't constant, or the video has a variable bitrate which sometimes exceeds the available upload, or the wrong protocol is used.

If you are especially struggling when there is a lot of actions in the video, that points to a variable bitrate. The compression on the video tries to squeeze as much bytes as it can, and does so by only storing the difference between 2 frames, and not the frames itself. So in scenes without much movement the bitrate can be extreme low, while in busy scenes the bitrate is above average. (Note, this is not true for all codecs. Some have a constant bitrate, which means tranquil scenes will show more detail than busy scenes.)

The only option in case of variable bitrate is to use a bigger buffer clientside, and hope the busy scenes don't last longer than your buffer.

Then the protocol. When looking to live television it's a broadcast. The packages are sent, and it's up to you to catch them. If you miss some due to bandwidth problems, you'll see blocks in the video, or worse. But the video moves on, it's live.

Another option is a streaming protocol. The client tries to keep x MB in buffer, and tells the server how fast it needs to upload to keep that buffer filled. There's a constant stream of 'a bit slower, a bit faster' from the client to the server, and the server tries to deliver the data at the rate the client wants it. A sophisticated protocol will automatically lower the movie bitrate if the bandwidth doesn't suffice. (Note, your NAS won't do the latter. It doesn't have the oomph to transcode, nor does it have different bitrates available).

A third option is to misuse a file sharing protocol. You are talking about webdav and ftp, so I think this is the case. For instance ftp is not intended for streaming. It is designed to transfer a file as fast as possible. So to get ftp to stream at movie bitrate the client has to trick it with low level message to let it think the available bandwidth is equal to the movie bitrate. (The server doesn't know about movie bitrates. It's just oploading a file). That is a delicate process, and if it fails, the movie will stutter. Either the buffer gets empty, or the client has to drop data, and ask the server to start over.

Webdav is a protocol on top of http(s), which basically has the same problems.

0101OSX · May 2020

Fantastic explanation! thank you very much, you are be very clear. I noticed some problem with protocols, because sometimes the stream work better on webdav but not always. Then when I want to see a video I try with ftp and webdav alternating, until I can see something; also I notice that when my nas is stuck on streaming, it's hard to get start again, so I must close the connection, wait and retry. In conclusion, I should use another protocol to stream video, but if the nas doesn't support it, I can't, so i haven't a solution?

In meantime I try to find an app that it allows grow the buffering, should be a temporary solution

0101OSX · May 2020

Update: Using VLC app to stream video (with possibility oh change the local buffer) the situation doesn't get better, even gets worse

Batou · May 2020

Just kind of wonder, does the streaming work smoothly if your smartphone using wifi in your home network.

Bad transfer rate of video stream via WAN [NAS 326]

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