Thanks for the update, I was planning to add a second NIC so that I can team the connection to 2G for our SQL Server, Audio Server and Studio PC as we are only running 1G switch and this is supported on the switch.  I'm also running Windows 7 Pro 32bit, might be worth running 64bit so that more memory can be addressed locally?  I will also check the Audio buffers but I'm sure I've already done this.  Regarding the SQL DB I had already shrinked this last time I had these issues, it only slightly helped.  My log/DB and TRN are also on separate physical disks.  I'll keep this post updated with further results.

Many thanks
Shane

Hi Shane,
you should not need to have dual NIC's, as the amount of communication between Myriad and the SQL server is very small - this would seem to be an extreme fix.

Before heading down that route, try simplifying the network for a few tests.

Remove everything from the network apart from 1 Studio Playout PC (where you are having the pauses) and the SQL server. See if you get the pauses, if yes, try connecting a different playout PC. If No add other equipment in one at a time to the network and see where it starts to go wrong.
If you are still getting pauses with multiple playout PC's connecting to the server, try moving the SQL and the data to the primary playout PC, and then connect a second PC to it.

We have many sites using Myriad where the data is stored on the main playout PC and second studios connect to them without a problem.

If it does seem to be your server PC, check any background tasks that might be hammering the hard drives (anti-virus / dropbox or skydrive etc) - make sure your RAID is optimised and that you don't have a fault condition on the HDD's. Run a network packet sniffer in case you have a dodgy network card flooding the network switch with garbage.

Basically, strip the whole system back to basics, add an item back in at a time and see where it breaks.




Regards

David Boulton
Brand Manager
Broadcast Radio Ltd

I have just installed a few SSD drives as the OS partition for our Audio Server, File Server and Studio PC.  This has stopped the pausing/data IO issues I was seeing and has improved the performance of the OS and Myriad in general.  I can now play five songs, drag tracks in to a play list and open a preview without any issues.

I will next review our SQL setup as I have SQL Standard and Express on the same server that may be causing a conflict when accessing system memoy.