AX10/AX1500 VR game streaming stuttering
Hi there, I am a representative of the Virtual Desktop community (community of around 20k on Discord with up to 5000 active users a day) and I need to bring an issue to TP Links attention.
We are often asked which routers our users should get and up until now for those on a budget we have recommended TP Link and the best model we have been advising for Oculus Quest 2 compatibility is the Archer AX10 or AX1500 since the specs match the Quest 2's networking hardware perfectly.
Quite a few users with this TP Link router have been complaining about terrible visual stuttering which is making their VR experience unplayable.
In trying to troubleshoot I purchased one of the routers myself and received a Hardware Version 1.0 router, which I have to say for me is performing brilliantly so far.
It has now become apparent that those suffering issues all have the v1.2 revision of the hardware.
We support our users so have of course advised latest firmware updates and correct WiFi settings but for these people (including a fellow admin who purchased an AX1500 yesterday in the US) the issues persist and all of them will likely be returning the hardware if it cannot be fixed.
Because my v1.0 on is working fine I need to come here and find out what is going on and if something can be fixed asap with a firmware update?
I want to continue to recommend TP Link routers to our members (ever increasing due to Quest 2 popularity) but will have to hold back until this issue is resolved.
We have a few people I can ask to assist with testing if required so please can a representative of TP Link contact me if necessary to get the ball rolling.
Thanks, Liam (oursoul)
https://www.vrdesktop.net/
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So I returned this tp-link ax1800 and got a netgear nighthawk ax3000..same problem. Stutters and even complete freeze ups from time to time no matter how I played with the settings.
Just for shits and giggles tonight I enabled the 5ghz radio on my stupid little Spectrum ISP Wi-Fi router and I discovered I could enable 80+80mhz channel width and AC mode. I set the Wi-Fi channel to an uncrowded one, changed the SSID from the 2g mode, and fired up Virtual Desktop. I sit at a steady 28-30ms latency now and it's butter smooth during Blade and Sorcery with Streaming Quality on Medium at 100mbps with sliced encoding.
I'm just amazed. That's all.
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@Chigginzz yeah thanks for the update. It's not uncommon to hear, lots of people have been saying they're having more success with older AC model routers. Currently with my tplink AX50, I have decent latency on the AC mode.
Sorry to hear your other model didn't work out, I have read several people saying specific router models work great, even on 150 streaming in virtual desktop. Try looking back to find which ones people recommended. I know at least one Huawei/xiaomi have been confirmed to work perfectly in AX mode.
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I can see that this video appears to have similar issues with the ax3000, however he doesn't seem to have such issues with the ax1500. He does however believe there's an issue with the wired connection when used in connection with VR usage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVYIf0gtqg0
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This guy could definitely be onto something about the ax3000/AX50. However it should be noted, many people in this thread also complained of the same spikes on at ax1500/ax10.
So it's odd that he's saying there isn't on his models. Still, it's something hopefully someone at TPLINK will look at, eventually. This video saying something about the wired port on the router being the cause of the latency... 🤔
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Hello Everyone.
I have a update with more details on how the testing up to this point was performed.
PC information
CPU: intel i5 8400
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z370
Graphics Card: ASUS O8G RTX1070
System:windows10
Game: beat saber
Router: Archer AX10(US)_V1.2_201230
Archer AX50(US)_V1_200708
Test1:
Topology:
PC1----router)))(((Oculus & iPhone12(Always loading video)
PC1 is the game PC which is steaming to oculus.
Performance:
AX6000>AX10>AX50.
They noticed that sometimes the received a small jitter when an iPhone12 which was connected to the router is loading video. Not sure if iPhone12 causes the wireless interference or grabbed the resource of the wireless channel. If the iPhone and other devices where disconnected and only one client: Oculus, on the AX10 and AX6000 are quite normal. AX50 we still have a few jitters in our lab however that could be to wireless interference in the lab. But they do remember that AX50 is normal in their house.
Test2:
Topology:
PC1----router)))(((Oculus & PC2
Performance:
AX6000=AX10>AX50
PC1 is the game PC which is steaming to oculus. We have also set a iPerf to run the speedtest from PC1 to PC2 during the test. The bandwidth of iPerf is set to 100Mbps.
This link will show examples of the video captures preformed by our testing team:
So one thing that can be tried to eliminate wireless issues on the network is try putting the VR on an isolated band like the 5GHz of the Guest Network and see if you have improvements in performance. We can also extend a option of remotely troubleshooting with our System Engineers on your equipment directly and seeing if the issue can be diagnosed directly as we are not yet able to replicate the concerns. If you do want to help in this manner please email ussupportteam@tp-link.com. Although support is technically regionally based the US team is managing this forum directly and will relay that information to the team.
We will need you to respond with the following information.
1. The link to this thread so we know what it is referring to
2. You name and email address
3. The region you are located in.
4. A 1 - 2 hour window where you are available.( our team is available Monday through Friday 9-5pm China time. )
You will want to have TeamViewer and possibly iperf installed on the PC.
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@Carl this is a great update! Thanks!
I will say I never connected anything to my TWO tp-link routers I tried except for the Oculus Quest 2 via 5ghz channel and the gaming PC via ethernet cable.
This support effort is encouraging. Too late for me, though, as I already returned my tp-link and tried another tp-link, and then I returned that tp-link and got an ASUS RT-AX3000.
Both tp-links had issues. The ASUS works beautifully.
Edit to add: I live in a neighborhood with houses close together. I can see at least 20 available wifi networks. Perhaps the tp-link routers I tried are more susceptible to interference somehow? (this might be completely incorrect - just a little more context in case it's relevant)
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I can quite easily get on channels that are completely empty so that kind of interference doesn't seem to be the issue. I now both have an ax10 and ax50 and they both have the same stuttering issue when moving my head, except it is even much much worse on the ax50 in wifi6 mode.
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@bfair31 I believe it is quite acceptable disabling AX and staying with mixed/AC, disabling OFDMA and setting Channel Width to 80MHz. Almost no stuttering, could play beat saber without any hipcups. For now, these are the best settings for me. VD: Medium / Sliced Encoding / H264 / 80Hz / 75fps
I realize that this is not optimal, but at least it worked, since I can't return it anymore. I bought ahead of time, before buying an Oculus... just imagining that an AX router would be amazing with VD... reality prooved to be quite disapointing, I almost throw up trying to play Half-Life Alyx the first time
@Carl I tried the suggested "Guest Wifi" and it didn't work, the only connect device is Oculus. AX mixed mode - 80 Mhz - OFDMA disabled.... Beat Saber stuttering as hell, almost unplayable.
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Guys, this might dilute the discussion a bit, but some of you might want to try to stream to a phone or tablet using Moonlight just to see if the problem is there. Granted the bitrates involved are different (50MB is considered max quality since only a single 1080p stream is involved), the process is simple enough if you have an NVIDIA-based system (just download the Moonlight app and it streams directly off GeForce Experience) so it should be simple enough to test.
I currently do not have the TPLINK on hand to test but I might do so if I get the time. This might isolate the issue or provide additional info for the devs (or muddy the waters as well). Just an idea :D
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If you would like to do a remote session please let me know so we can reach out and get details from you.
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