Playback issues on a QNAP 653A

[bangis 3]

I'm setting up a new QNAP 653A that's directly connected to my TV via HDMI and HD Station. Kodi is working perfectly fine and can play all my files on the NAS. However, I'm having less luck with Emby

 

I tried downloading the latest version from the QNAP forums (5986), trying both the x86 and x64 versions, but neither could be installed (stops at 1% then says failed to install). I did manage to successfully install 5930 that's still in QTS. Everything works on surface, manage to add libraries, etc, but the problem is playback

 

Using Chrome browsers from several machines on wifi, I can play video files but either the video stutters, pixellates, freezes, or a combination of all three, after a while. Using the Emby Kodi add-on in Kodi 16 (installed via HD Station), I get the same results

 

Is this the case that the 653A CPU is not enough to power the Emby server? I can understand if it's transcoding to client machines via wifi, but using the same QNAP machine, I find it a bit weird that it still can't play it properly, considering playing the same videos directly on Kodi works perfectly. 

 

A bit of a shame as I was hoping to use Emby to serve multiple Kodi clients, but it seems for now, I'm stuck with just pointing the various Kodi clients to the same library source on the QNAP

 

Appreciate if you can let me know if the 653A hardware is not supported (hence the choppy playback), or there are settings that I can tweak to get it working smoothly

 

Thank you!

[Luke 37051]

Hi, welcome. I would try to install the newer version again. Thanks.

[bangis 3]

Thanks Luke

 

How? I've rebooted the NAS several times and using the zip from QNAP_Stephane, results are the same - stops at 1% and fails. Is there another installation package I can try?

[Luke 37051]

What process exactly stops and fails at 1%?

[raven-au 17]

Thanks Luke

 

How? I've rebooted the NAS several times and using the zip from QNAP_Stephane, results are the same - stops at 1% and fails. Is there another installation package I can try?

 

Unzip the package and install the qpkg.

 

How is installing the Emby server related to the ability of a player to play shows?

 

The TS-653A is a 1.6Ghz quad-core Celeron, I'm not sure you will be able to transcode a 1080p show reliably on this but you would probably be able to transcode maybe two or perhaps three SD shows.

 

There is no hardware assisted transcoding with Emby and that includes using the QFFMPEG version of the Emby qpkg.

 

If you use the Emby for Kodi plugin there shouldn't be any trancoding needed and you can start looking at your WiFi to see if it is a problem.

Edited July 24, 2016 by raven-au

[bangis 3]

I had no reliable success no matter what player I used (Chrome on a Macbook Air, Chrome on a Macbook Pro - both with full bar wifi, and reliably fast file transfers, as well as Kodi with Emby addon on the same QNAP 653A machine that had the Emby server running, connected via Gigabit Ethernet to the network and HDMI to the TV). All had the same issues, stuttering, skipping, or just exiting playback after a few minutes

 

You're correct that it shouldn't be transcoding for Kodi, and if I point Kodi directly to the video files (and not play via the Emby addon), I have no issues with playback - hence my conclusion that it must be an Emby server issue. Considering both the player and server, as well as the video files all reside in the same machine, I doubt that it's a network connection issue as well.

 

Would it be Emby server hardware requirements (i.e. the QNAP 653A is not strong enough to power the Emby server, and I'd need to upgrade to a "full blown PC")? That would be a shame as I do not want another machine

 

In terms of installation, I just do a manual install from QTS, point it to the ZIP file downloaded from the QNAP forums, but after copying to the QNAP machine, it stops at 1% and fails. Not sure if it makes a difference if I unzip it first. Or is there another way to install QPKGs directly?

[Luke 37051]

Thanks. I think we've just been having a hard time helping because the focus of this topic has been on both installation and playback. Now that we've established you're able to install the latest version, please attempt playback, then provide the emby server and transcoding log:

 

http://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/739-how-to-report-a-problem/

 

Thanks.

[bangis 3]

Just circling back - was finally able to install an updated version successfully - 3.6030.0 (thanks to Stephane at the QNAP forums)

And have had none of the issues previously reported (stuttering, freezing, or video playback failures)

So I'm a happy camper - can now just use the Kodi addon from multiple clients and have all the status in sync. This is great!

 

[Luke 37051]

Well done. Thanks for reporting back.

[OddbOd 21]

There is no hardware assisted transcoding with Emby and that includes using the QFFMPEG version of the Emby qpkg.

 

This can't actually be stated as fact with regard to the MediaStreaming Add-on version of Emby, we simply don't know how QNAP's transcoder works as it's a black box

 

You're correct that it shouldn't be transcoding for Kodi, and if I point Kodi directly to the video files (and not play via the Emby addon), I have no issues with playback - hence my conclusion that it must be an Emby server issue. Considering both the player and server, as well as the video files all reside in the same machine, I doubt that it's a network connection issue as well.

As long as you keep the Kodi plugin's playback mode set to Native (Direct Paths) transcoding is effectively disabled.