Video freezes while streaming from home network on Vista laptop

[Jeremiah58]

I'm kindly asking for a hint or advice about this:

I have 2 laptops connected via wireless (router) to home network. There are other 4 desktop PCs on the network (all with XP).

One laptop is 3 years old HP with preinstalled XP SP2.
Other laptop is 6 months old HP with preinstalled Vista Home Premium SP1.

When I watch video on the laptop with XP, streaming from one of desktop PCs, everything is fine.
But when I watch the same video on the laptop with Vista, the video freezes for a few seconds, every few minutes or so, then continue playing, and so on. It doesn't matter which video player I use or which format of video I watch (AVI, DVD...) - always the same.
The same Vista laptop plays videos without problem from it's own HDD, from DVDRom, will play videos streamed from Internet (Youtube).
The problem is only while streaming over the home network.
Any hint, please.
Thank you.

[Dv8ted2]

More information is needed.

What are you using to play the files?

You may need to increase the buffer in whatever program, you are using.

[JohnnyMalaria]

A long shot but try connecting the laptop to your network via a wired connection and see if the behavior is different (I've run into some very obscure things that only happen on the wireless connection).

[Jeremiah58]

More information is needed.
What are you using to play the files?
You may need to increase the buffer in whatever program, you are using.

I've said that it does not matter which player I use: VLC, KMP, WMP 11, GOM player, BS player - the behavior is always the same.
Increase the buffer? I wouldn't know how (or why). Thanks.

A long shot but try connecting the laptop to your network via a wired connection and see if the behavior is different (I've run into some very obscure things that only happen on the wireless connection).

I see no point in connecting it via a wire. I'm not interested in that kind of a connection for a laptop with built-in wireless. Thanks.

[jagabo]

I see no point in connecting it via a wire. I'm not interested in that kind of a connection for a laptop with built-in wireless. Thanks.

Then there is no point in anyone trying to help you. You won't perform the proper tests to determine where the problem lies.

[Jeremiah58]

Then there is no point in anyone trying to help you. You won't perform the proper tests to determine where the problem lies.

Not at all that I don't want to perform the test.
As I said, I don't see a point in it.

I hoped that someone encountered the problem before and found a solution.

I searched for a solution of this problem on Internet, and I saw that many users had similar problem with Vista.

[JohnnyMalaria]

The point is that it will help with troubleshooting. Vista is known for its wireless adapter "quirks" and, as I said, I've seen some odd behavior with Vista + wireless + streaming. I can stream raw DV from my Vista box to/from other computers without any problem as long as I don't use a wireless connection. As soon as I put a wireless connection into the equation, it freezes. It isn't a problem between two XP machines. You, too, have Vista + wireless + streaming. For me, the solution was simple: don't use wireless. Even if you are not interested in a wired solution, knowing whether it is a wireless problem or not will save you further effort or provide direction for further troubleshooting.

[edDV]

Then there is no point in anyone trying to help you. You won't perform the proper tests to determine where the problem lies.

Not at all that I don't want to perform the test.
As I said, I don't see a point in it.

I hoped that someone encountered the problem before and found a solution.

I searched for a solution of this problem on Internet, and I saw that many users had similar problem with Vista.

The point is to diganose network vs. wireless issues. Describe this network. Is there a server or just a wireless router or peer to peer? Is the problem similar playing audio files? Video files are larger and must buffer up before they can play.

This is like saying your car isn't responsive without identifying the car.

[edDV]

I just ran a large file test (25Mb/s DV) with Vista to Vista wireless, Vista to XP wireless and Vista to Mac wireless. All had delay while the file was buffered before it would play and all paused for rebuffer when wireless traffic increased. I saw more difference player to player than XP to Vista to OSX. On the Mac, VLC was faster than the Quicktime player.

This is just a G wireless network.

[Jeremiah58]

For me, the solution was simple: don't use wireless.

Yep.
That sure is the solution.

Describe this network.

Just a normal home network:
ADSL router (Siemens 555) + 4 desktop PC's + 2 laptop PC's

Everything is normal and working fine.
Just that I've noticed that strange behavior on the Vista laptop.
Not that I watch videos on that laptop, so it's not an important issue to me. I watch videos on standalone players and TV.
But I was puzzled - why only on Vista. I presumed that it could be some Vista tweaking in question.
Thank you.

[Jeremiah58]

I just ran a large file test (25Mb/s DV) with Vista to Vista wireless, Vista to XP wireless and Vista to Mac wireless. All had delay while the file was buffered before it would play and all paused for rebuffer when wireless traffic increased. I saw more difference player to player than XP to Vista to OSX. On the Mac, VLC was faster than the Quicktime player.

This is just a G wireless network.

Thank you very much for your test.
I understand the problem better now.
The streaming which has problems on my side, is from XP to Vista via wireless, though.
Streaming from XP to XP, via wireless, shows no problems during playback of video files.
I haven't tested streaming from Vista to XP.

[edDV]

I just ran a large file test (25Mb/s DV) with Vista to Vista wireless, Vista to XP wireless and Vista to Mac wireless. All had delay while the file was buffered before it would play and all paused for rebuffer when wireless traffic increased. I saw more difference player to player than XP to Vista to OSX. On the Mac, VLC was faster than the Quicktime player.

This is just a G wireless network.

Thank you very much for your test.
I understand the problem better now.
The streaming which has problems on my side, is from XP to Vista via wireless, though.
Streaming from XP to XP, via wireless, shows no problems during playback of video files.
I haven't tested streaming from Vista to XP.

It may be a local issue. Laptops just run slower due to memory, CPU, disk speed or background tasks. The only way to isolate is to compare to a known good. My Compaq 2core Vista notebook keeps up with the Mac and P4 desktop.