Fire TV, Emby and Castle

[uber_garat 0]

So, this is a very strange problem that has been consistent, but only recently have had time to really debug it - and since the Emby client for Fire TV just came out, thought it may have also been just an issue with the standard side loaded Android client. Not so.

 

Synopsis: So far, every episode (Season 1 - 6) of Castle I play has serious stuttering issues while playing. There are no transcode logs, but fairly sizable server logs, and it appears there might be some very strange traffic errors being reported, but it's hard for me to tell. I left S01E01 running for about 45 minutes to see how it behaved. It was still chugging.. VERY slowly. 

 

Client: Emby for FireTV, v 1.0.23a

Server: Windows 8.1 Pro, v 3.0.5588.1

 

Specific behavior:

- Stuttering, both in audio and video. Looking at the logs, there are response times between errors of 80 to 120ms, which would explain the overall behavior of a frame per second or two.

- Video stream is starting up with out issue, and since there is no transcode log, I assume there is no transcoding occuring. File format is: .mp4, 4300kbps, 24fps, 1280x720

 

I can even do a vid cap of the behavior if it helps, but I think the logs will be more helpful.

server-63565689600.zip

[CBers 6771]

Can you also provide mediainfo for one of the stuttering videos.

[Luke 37114]

if there is no transcoding occurring then you might have the app bitrate setting too high and the network just can't deliver the video fast enough. try lowering it.

[uber_garat 0]

More info (and .nfo file attached, assume that's what you mean by mediainfo file?).

 

Files are iTunes seasons that I bought and removed the DRM through Requiem to allow me to use my own client (Requiem).

 

Episodes of Arrow, which get to my server in the same fashion (Buy off iTunes, etc), are 1080p, and play with no issue. Hence my confusion. 

 

I am moving all the TV episodes to an alternate hard drive on the off chance there is something going bad with that drive, which is certainly possible. 

 

I can also try and lower bitrate in a while, though higher bitrate stuff (1080p) files play fine from the same source.

 

(Household net is a switch controlled gigabit network, that averages about 60 to 80MBps throughput between machines)

A Chill Goes Through Her Veins S1E05.zip

Edited April 27, 2015 by uber_garat

[uber_garat 0]

Oops, files were out of order, but that file is identical other than being episode 5.

[uber_garat 0]

So, this is interesting, though I'm not sure what can be derived from it.

 

iTunes MP4 file, 720p, at a 4200ish bit rate has this problem. Pretty much all my episodes of Castle at least through Season 2 have this problem (When I downloaded them originally, they were 720p by default). I dropped my max bit rate to 5mbps, same problem. Didn't change it at all.

 

On a whim, I downloaded Season 1 in 1080p again, grabbed episode one from season one, overwrote the file on my server and played it, with 40mbps cap set again. Played like a charm.

 

I'd have to hazard a guess, but I'd say there's some very weird problem with 720p (and possibly iTunes?) files and the server. Anyway, happy to work with anyone to provide as much diagnostic data as I can, but it's definitely something about that file/format that was the case over the month or two I bought the seasons, downloaded and watched them. Maybe it's not even an issue any more, but seems like something is fundamentally breaking. If it was just one file, I'd write it off as a fluke, but the fact that 30+ files have this problem that were all processed identically? Seems unlikely that it's just chance.

[Luke 37114]

can you send me a sample file? thanks.

[uber_garat 0]

Sent you a message, Luke. Thanks!

[Luke 37114]

right now i'm not quite sure about this file. all of it's characteristics are within what the fire tv supports. i thought it might be the reference frame count, but it's only 3, which is fine. since the server was very busy at the time i guess i would try it again later when the server is under a lower load.

[uber_garat 0]

Out of curiosity, I kept the perf mon up while playing the video (I made sure it settled down to a solid baseline before doing so). This video displayed the problem in question.

 

 

Whatever's going on is something in the playing of this video - I don't think the server (either the media browser nor the Windows machine) are working particularly hard.