[Solved] Is Windows XP too outdated as a streaming client?

[Subhasis]

I have a client PC with 9600GT, Intel E7500, and 4GB DDR2 800Mhz RAM (ofc the OS can't access all of it). It runs Windows XP SP3 32 bit.

I connected this to my gaming PC with gigabit LAN and tried to stream some games, but the audio is cracking and framerate is too low. I don't see why, because the latency is less than 1ms and frame drop rate is only 2%.

I don't have an extra Windows 7 license lyiing around, but I can install linux on it. Will that improve my situation?

The HDD on this PC has failed Seagate Seatools test and an Intel SSD is on its way to replace it (I think that XP might not be SSD friendly so I might have to install linux on it anyway). Should I wait for the new disk? Is the performance drop happening due to read/write erros? Does streaming use much HDD at all?

[76561198218426745]

I would first recommend using software like DVXA Checker to confirm your card supports accelerated H264 decoding. If it doesn't, then you may wish to check your CPU usage on the Windows XP box.

[Subhasis]

Sorry for trhe double post. I deleted old post and checked my comment history before reposting and the moved post was not there. I am using Steam client to post this and it is a mess. Mostly I get failed refresh and errors.

[76561198218426745]

Can you post the specific errors you are given? It may help to troubleshoot what is happening.

[Subhasis]

Originally posted by habitualaction:

I would first recommend using software like DVXA Checker to confirm your card supports accelerated H264 decoding. If it doesn't, then you may wish to check your CPU usage on the Windows XP box.

DXVA checker says this:

NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT
MPEG2_C: DXVA1, SD / HD / FHD
MPEG2_D: DXVA1, SD / HD / FHD
MPEG2_IDCT: DXVA2, SD / HD / FHD
VC1_IDCT: DXVA1/2, SD / HD / FHD
WMV9_IDCT: DXVA1/2, SD / HD / FHD
H264_VLD_NoFGT: DXVA1, SD / HD / FHD
212DC724-3235-44A4-BD29-E1652BBCC71C: DXVA1

So... I do not know what "VLD_NoFGT" means. Is the report positive or negative? Any idea?

[eram]

Streaming from an XP machine isn't supported but Streaming to an XP PC should be ok.

[Subhasis]

Originally posted by habitualaction:

Can you post the specific errors you are given? It may help to troubleshoot what is happening.

The errors are what caused the double post. Not related to the actual issue I am talking about. They are just generic failure messages when I try to reload a page or try to edit my post etc. I am not a fan of Steam's in-build browser. The solution is to use a real browser. I was just being lazy.

[Subhasis]

Originally posted by erλm:

Streaming from an XP machine isn't supported but Streaming to an XP should be ok.

It should be, but I think that nobody tests their software for Windows XP compatibility anymore. Can't blame them.

What about linux? Do you have any experience with streaming to linux? Does thge Nouveau driver work well for decoding H264 or do I need Nvidia's proprietary driver?

[76561198218426745]

It does appear to support H264 hardware decoding. Might need to enable it in settings somewhere. Can you check your CPU usage while streaming and confirm how high/low it is?

[Subhasis]

Originally posted by habitualaction:

It does appear to support H264 hardware decoding. Might need to enable it in settings somewhere. Can you check your CPU usage while streaming and confirm how high/low it is?

SOFTWARE DECODING.

Found the issue on the streaming status overlay.

For some reason Steam is using software decoding. The encoder on the gaming PC is NVENC, decoder on this end is "libavcodec software decoding with two threads". CPU usage is quite high as well.

I think I need a new GPU. A modern low end GPU should do the job (GT 710?). What do you think?

[Subhasis]

Windows XP is indeed too outdated to be a streaming client. I installed Ubuntu on the same computer and now the PureVideo decoder of the GPU is available via libvdpau.

[renalph]

yep