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Videos that transcode play goofy (sometimes...)


speechles

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Here's a problem I've only experienced recently with the roku application, the version you can search for officially and install directly through the roku itself. Now it doesn't _always_ happen, sometimes it does at the beginning of some videos, sometimes partially into a video this happens. Sometimes it clears up itself and the video is watchable again, sometimes it isn't and I'm forced to exit the video and resume where it left off to continue seeing clear video.

 

I know others experience this issue, and I even was able to capture a video of it playing a video goofy.

 

I've attached the ffmpeg logs, but the video and server logs are too large hence shown below as links.

 

server log:

http://ereader.kiczek.com/server-63524131200.log

 

video demonstrating goofy video playback, taken with my 2k13 n7, it's a bit big at 79MB:

http://ereader.kiczek.com/goofyvideo.mp4

 

roku client version 1.16.7

mediabrowser server version 3.0.5112.40848

 

note: Anyone experience the same issue or the cause? O_o?

ffmpeg-8b5aaeeb-2fcb-4413-a23f-28cc97675abd.txt

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gcw07

If it is a reproducable error (it happens every time with that video) can you clear out all your logs and then play that video on the Roku. Then send us the ffmpeg log and server log. It will help us track down the problem. Thanks.

 

@@Tikuf - to take a look too.

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gcw07

Just wondering, are you using UNC paths? Looking at the log, it seems your using a directory path "L:\"

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gcw07

Yeah I don't think they do, but just eliminating potential things. For static streaming or transcoding it shouldn't matter I don't think.

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I Let the video play through entirely. It appears this video is one that clears itself up eventually, only the beginning is goofy exactly as the video I posted above. Right after the intro logo splashes onto the screen (approx 20 seconds of goofy video) it works correctly to the end. I can reproduce this issue infinitely in the exact same spots identical. I might also mention, the web client wont even play this video, it seems to randomly jump around and freeze in spots. But its behavior is also reproducable in the exact same way staying consistently identical. Played the video while trying Mediabrowser on android when using the internal player this hangs the application and drowns the tablet until its force closed. The external on the other hand, passing the stream to bubbleupnp which in turns invokes bsplayer works flawlessly. I have both streams playing concurrently. The roku is streaming the same video as the android tablet at the exact same time. The only issue as seems to be at certain predictable spots something goes goofy, and then later it clears up, the duration of the goofiness seems to vary. I consistently tested with the same video as far as posting things to this forum to make it easier to debug the problem.
 
attached are the server and ffmpeg logs asked for above. Thanks for help solving the issue. ;)

server-63524131200.log

ffmpeg-fc9716fa-5fb8-4319-8ded-b89e9a424e81.txt

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gcw07

Thanks speechles for the logs. This is definitely a Tikuf thing. He is our ffmpeg guy. Speechles if you can from time to time check back in on this thread, Tikuf may need additional details to track down this problem. Thanks.

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Tikuf

Grabbing your video of the issue now but looking at the ffmpeg logs there is a bit of a hint to what the issue is it appears there is some bad data at the start of the video and the header for the audio stream is missing. I suspect that when we try to make sure the video and audio are in sync it is creating the problem.

 

[mp3 @ 0278e8a0] Header missing
Error while decoding stream #0:1: Invalid data found when processing input
[mpeg4 @ 060bf9e0] Video uses a non-standard and wasteful way to store B-frames ('packed B-frames'). Consider using a tool like VirtualDub or avidemux to fix it.

 

From the ffmpeg log the 3rd one is benign but the other 2 should be fixed try running it through ffmpeg with

ffmpeg -i file:"L:\--TV SHOWS\Eastbound And Down\Season 1\eastbound.and.down.s01e04.dvdrip.xvid-reward.avi" -codec copy "L:\--TV SHOWS\Eastbound And Down\Season 1\eastbound.and.down.s01e04.dvdrip.xvid-reward-new.avi"

It should fix the header issue and the bad data with a bit of luck. If not we can look at it further.

 

@@Luke this is most likely a result of the async=1 change (as there is likely no start time stamp for it to align) we will have to find a happy medium. 

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Tikuf

@@Luke I'm not even 100% sure that the async is the issue but it is the only param that has changed recently with regard to streaming (last server build). If I can find out exactly what circumstances cause the sound warble aaron reported we can make the async=1 specific to that circumstance. I will pm @speechless with an api build with async=1000 to confirm it is actually the issue with that file.

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From the ffmpeg log the 3rd one is benign but the other 2 should be fixed try running it through ffmpeg with

ffmpeg -i file:"L:\--TV SHOWS\Eastbound And Down\Season 1\eastbound.and.down.s01e04.dvdrip.xvid-reward.avi" -codec copy "L:\--TV SHOWS\Eastbound And Down\Season 1\eastbound.and.down.s01e04.dvdrip.xvid-reward-new.avi"

It should fix the header issue and the bad data with a bit of luck. If not we can look at it further.

 

Nope. This doesn't solve the issue, in fact the smearing becomes much more pronounced and jittery using this "new" video. It isn't until the logo of the tv-show splashes onto the screen that the video becomes watchable. This is the same as the original video sorry to say. :(

 

ps: Awaiting the personal message too... ^_~ (...and its speechles, note the missing last "s". this is the nickname i use on irc, specifically efnet, and it only allows 9 characters.)

 

pps: @@Tikuf, you are correct in this has to do with the recent server changes. If it occured earlier you can bet I would've been bitching much much sooner.. > : ) ~  .. Don't take this the wrong way either, out of all the mediabrowser clients, the roku one is used by me the most. If it used the same template/theme/api as youtube seems to be using on roku now it would rule the world. I realize support for that radical of a design change isn't likely for quite some time but one can dream.. ^_^

Edited by speechles
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Tikuf
Awaiting the personal message too... ^_~

 

Yup just have to do a couple of things first will get it to you soon.

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Tikuf

Ok it is not what I thought it was and that is the only change to streaming recently. Are you absolutely sure it used to play ok?

 

we can try skipping over the bad data and see if it works.

ffmpeg -ss 10 -i file:"L:\--TV SHOWS\Eastbound And Down\Season 1\eastbound.and.down.s01e04.dvdrip.xvid-reward.avi" -codec copy "L:\--TV SHOWS\Eastbound And Down\Season 1\eastbound.and.down.s01e04.dvdrip.xvid-reward-new.avi"

Where the 10 in the -ss 10  is the number of seconds to skip.

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But in skipping, this is bad. Skipping sounds like it isn't something I want to do. The video plays just fine on android with mediabrowser when I use bubbleupnp to interpret the stream and pass to bsplayer as the renderer. The video plays just fine on pc using bsplayer, windows media center, windows media player, you name it. Recently may be rather vague too when I say that. It worked before christmas, I played through season 1 on the roku. Now it seems it's gone goofy. This is all I can use to describe it. Somewhere along the lines something went awry. Mediabrowser needs to be able to play this video, these types of files, if it is ever to outfox plex. Btw, yes, plex also plays this video just fine.

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@@Tikuf, Ok, well.. Just downloaded the new server, renamed the old, extracted new in it's place.
Before doing this, killed the server off. Restarted after, let it scan all over until complete.
Deleted logs, started mediabrowser on the roku. It still has the issue, but.. I can see the HBO logo smearing through this time, as well as when the main show logo appears the video starts to play clearly. This isn't really much better than it was before.

Edit: Now I know details from other media information applications are usually useless (for the most part). But, maybe some small something in this will be useful this time. MediaInfo v0.7.2 proivded the quote below.

 

General
Complete name : L:\--TV SHOWS\Eastbound And Down\Season 1\eastbound.and.down.s01e04.dvdrip.xvid-reward.avi
Format : AVI
Format/Info : Audio Video Interleave
File size : 233 MiB
Duration : 27mn 9s
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 1 200 Kbps
Writing application : Nandub v1.0rc2
Writing library : Nandub build 1853/release

Video
ID : 0
Format : MPEG-4 Visual
Format profile : Advanced Simple@L5
Format settings, BVOP : 2
Format settings, QPel : No
Format settings, GMC : No warppoints
Format settings, Matrix : Default (H.263)
Muxing mode : Packed bitstream
Codec ID : XVID
Codec ID/Hint : XviD
Duration : 27mn 9s
Bit rate : 1 055 Kbps
Width : 624 pixels
Height : 352 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Compression mode : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.200
Stream size : 205 MiB (88%)
Writing library : XviD 1.2.1 (UTC 2008-12-04)

Audio
ID : 1
Format : MPEG Audio
Format version : Version 1
Format profile : Layer 3
Mode : Joint stereo
Mode extension : MS Stereo
Codec ID : 55
Codec ID/Hint : MP3
Duration : 27mn 9s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 132 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Delay relative to video : 8ms
Stream size : 25.6 MiB (11%)
Alignment : Aligned on interleaves
Interleave, duration : 24 ms (0.58 video frame)
Interleave, preload duration : 499 ms

 

 

The requested logs are both attached. Any clue whats going on?

server-63524265613.log

ffmpeg-15ab9b06-9fa5-43aa-a394-51d4bb6bafc2.txt

Edited by speechles
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Tikuf

The skip was a test for you to do. The difference is that all the apps you are describing likely are direct playing the file $10 says that if it was to be transcoded then it would likely end up the same way.

 

The fact is that the file is damaged or badly encoded. 

 

Please try to nail down the time frame a bit so i can see specifically what commit may have made it not work. 

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Ohh.. if it's to test I can run that in a bit after the family gets done watching their new "prime time" shows off the roku via mediabrowser.. lmfao.. I can do that in a bit. It might be this video is actually, two combined together poorly. The front HBO logo being the culprit in most cases poorly added at the front of the actual video itself.

 

I have pinned down the time I last successfully played these. Episodes 1 thru 3 I've never went back to play yet. Rather than just give you arbitrary dates that I provide by typing them (which proves nothing) I've provided proof in the screen shots below.

 

 

xp8rnEQl.jpg

 

2xXp0bel.jpg

5PsvhDZl.jpg

 

Will post back later when I can get at the roku. ^_^

 

you are also correct in that the files are direct played on pc and android, but plex plays the video to the roku just fine as well, and we know it has to be transcoding. This is what is perplexing me. It _used_ to work. The videos were played to the end. There is no resume point offered.

 

 

...and about that $10, consider that the bounty for fixing my issue and immediately I paypal you personally double that wager. ^__^

Edited by speechles
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Tikuf

Ok now i have a point to search from that will make it easier (and you don't need to prove you played em :) ) . After the skip test if you can try to playback one of the ep's that you played on 12/22 just to make sure you see the same issue with them.

 

 It might be this video is actually, two combined together poorly.

 

 That would actually make sense if it was the case.

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gcw07

Also one quick question. Is Plex transcoding the file or is it direct playing it? I know the Roku technically can't direct play avi, but I thought I saw somewhere that sometimes Plex will attempt to direct play avi's. So just wanted to check. Thanks.

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Tikuf

Ok based on the ffmpeg logs in your op you are transcoding fast enough (easy check for you is to look at the fps in the your ffmpeg logs.)

 

frame=   57 fps= 55 q=6.0 size=N/A time=00:00:02.90 bitrate=N/A.

 

If you have any avi's encoded with xvid to test with

 

Yup and I see nothing like what you are seeing (I have tested them wireless/wired)

 

It could be packet loss.

 

What version of the roku do you have? Is wired an option for testing? is moving the roku closer to the wireless router for testing an option?

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@@Tikuf, My roku is a roku 3, 4200x, version 5.3 - build 4016. It is running wirelessly about 10 feet if that from the router. Both the router and roku reside on channel 2, the least congested.

 

On closer inspection, running it with mediabrowser on android, with the internal player it works. It seems there is a large delay before enough has been buffered to begin playing it. But the android client is playing that video perfectly. The beginning, the middle, the end. The entire video and while transcoding. ^_^

 

AQNtt6El.jpg

 

This seems to be a problem for the roku client only. There isn't anything going wrong elsewhere. The web client also eventually plays this video. The skipping I mentioned before was me manually moving the slider to adjust position and the machine was lagged and the mouse clicks cached. Doing it now today, it plays the video just as the internal player on android is, flawlessly.

 

Any suggestions, or more information needed?

Edited by speechles
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@@gcw07 @@Tikuf

 

Regarding Plex: It appears it's transcoding, and there are slight issues in plex as well. The sound isn't synced for one. The audio occurs before the actors mouths move to speak, almost 2 seconds drift. The audio never catches up. Plex ruins more of my video collection than MediaBrowser does as far as sound staying in sync. Ive never had the sound drift in MediaBrowser, So using Plex, IMO is not an option for me.

 

Regarding goofy video: I've had this happen in the middle of quite a few other shows too. So I know this isn't related at all to the one video. When it happens in other videos, the spot this occurs in is random. But it is always the same look when this happens, the goofy tiny little smear in the upper left corner, while the rest of the screen is completely white with a few red/blue/green bars here and there striping it all. It's almost like the encoder doesn't have enough cpu% to render (a possibility since this runs on an AMD64 with 3GB of RAM.) If you have any avi's encoded with xvid to test with. Or possibly, you can find the exact same video I'm using on usenet (nzb of course) and see for yourself if this happens? Would my rather mediocre PC be to blame? Is it caused by gremlins? I know my mogwai was never fed after midnight, and we are so careful with him around water that I'm sure it isn't gremlins. ^__^

 

Edit: This could also be due to bit-drop and packet loss as well (the random ones, the ones occuring statically every time are another cause, but the effect is the same == goofy video). I am on at&t using their bundled voip services, which in california comes with the craptastic motorola nvg510. This damn router/modem/all-in-wonder loves to only work on wifi channels 1, 2, or 11, and around here in this area those channels are crammed with other routers. I live in an area rife with apartments surrounding me. Since so many variables exist in me knowing exactly which straw is the short straw and causing problems, this process becomes difficult.. ;/

Edited by speechles
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Tikuf

The delay on droid is normal (as we currently wait for 3 segments to be converted prior to playback there are changed coming soon in this area.

 

The transcode that the droid and the roku use are identical as far as I am aware I will speak to Grant but I am sure they are the same (in fact I will test in a little bit just tied up with some other stuff atm).

 

Just to check as I cant remember version 5.3 - build 4016 is the latest firmware right? There was an important issue fixed in the latest f/w in regards to h264/aac decoding.

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Just to check as I cant remember version 5.3 - build 4016 is the latest firmware right? There was an important issue fixed in the latest f/w in regards to h264/aac decoding.

 

Yeah, the one I am using is indeed the latest. The roku shows no updates available. The last update added the wacky new years theme to the background, and yesterday it changed back to normal.

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