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Playback issues on Samsung TV


titch

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Hi,

 

I'm having issues with playback on my Samsung TV, particularly higher bitrate videos such as my own 1080p iMovie edits. 

 

The videos are all in mp4 format and as far as I can tell are direct play.

 

I have a Virgin Media hub 3.0 and a mid-2010 iMac as the server.

 

Any ideas what could be causing this?

 

I've attached a log from shortly after an attempt to play a video which kept buffering.

 

My TV model is QE49Q67RATXXU.

 

Many thanks.

embyserver.txt

Edited by titch
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So the issue is that it stalls and buffers during playback?

 

If it's DirectPlaying then that's a good start as it rules out a lot of other potential causes.  The video specs look OK.  60fps is at the top end of the spec, but that shouldn't be a problem.  Bitrate shouldn't be a problem either.

 

Are you using wireless or wired lan?  If it's wireless is it connecting at 2.4 or 5GHz?  And is it g, n, or ac wireless?

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Thanks.

 

I'm using wireless. My mac is connected to 2.4ghz at present although I could try forcing it onto 5ghz. That said the speed looks ok at 87mbps. It's automatic though so in theory it should be connected to the strongest signal.

 

How can I tell whether it's connected via g, n or ac?

Edited by titch
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Is the TV on wireless as well?

 

On the Mac option-click on the wireless status on the menubar.  It will list connection details.  The one you want is PHY Mode.  It will say something like 802.11ac.

 

If you can get the devices onto 5GHz that may help, at least for a test.  If you've got older devices that can't support 5GHz that will be a problem for them, but you can switch back after testing this.

 

Does the hub 3 have the latest firmware updates?

 

Actually as I'm writing this, I'm thinking the 2010 iMac probably only supports 2.4GHz.  Can you connect it with an ethernet cable instead of wireless?  It might be the issue here.

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FrostByte

If you don't get this resolved would you be able to slice off a small part of your video and share it somewhere so I/we can test it?

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Is the TV on wireless as well?

 

On the Mac option-click on the wireless status on the menubar. It will list connection details. The one you want is PHY Mode. It will say something like 802.11ac.

 

If you can get the devices onto 5GHz that may help, at least for a test. If you've got older devices that can't support 5GHz that will be a problem for them, but you can switch back after testing this.

 

Does the hub 3 have the latest firmware updates?

 

Actually as I'm writing this, I'm thinking the 2010 iMac probably only supports 2.4GHz. Can you connect it with an ethernet cable instead of wireless? It might be the issue here.

Yes TV in wireless. That is connected via 5ghz.

 

PHY is 802.11n.

 

My Mac will support 5ghz so i’ll try it on that. No way I can connect via Ethernet as its in a different room. On the router diagnostics page it was reporting 87mbps on the 2.4ghz frequency though so I can’t see how that can be the problem. I’m only asking it to manage 20.

 

The video is also not the issue. I have had playback issues with just about all 1080p home videos.

Edited by titch
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If you don't get this resolved would you be able to slice off a small part of your video and share it somewhere so I/we can test it?

Could do but the issue isn’t just with one video. Just about all 1080p videos from my iPhone won’t play properly.

 

I would have thought my equipment would be able to manage 4K, nevermind struggling with 1080.

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I've just setup a 5ghz network and put my mac (server) and tv (client) onto it. Played the same video and got the same result. Buffering every few seconds. I appear to be getting a faster transfer rate now, currently showing at 216mbps.

 

Any other ideas? I've attached a new log.

newlog.txt

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Attached screen grab from my virgin media router showing 685mbps transfer rate for Tizen. My mac is at 158mbps.

 

After doing quite a bit of testing of lots of videos I get playback issues with as little as 10mpbs bitrate although the issues are usually at the beginning of the video so it seems to sort itself out.

 

Anything around 15-20mbps bitrate is unwatchable. Unfortunately this is any videos captured in the last 2 years on my iPhone.

post-511279-0-18934800-1567963361_thumb.png

Edited by titch
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Over on the Virgin Media forum they're suggesting what I'm trying to do is impossible! Is that right?

 

your WIFI is not capable of sustaining a reliable connection to strea the video.

connection speeds are fine when it's doing nothing but the minute you try to do anything it will drop.

you are basically streaming the file twice over your network - once to from the mac to the router, then again from the router to the TV.

 

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FrostByte

Over on the Virgin Media forum they're suggesting what I'm trying to do is impossible! Is that right?

 

Try and eliminate one or two of the wifi connections as a test.  Or, try and eliminate one and then the other to zero in on the trouble wifi connection.  At this point you may just have to experiment 

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I'll give it a go but I have an old mac so would rather it not have to encode.

 

How is it that some films I have downloaded off torrents are brilliant quality and only 2.7mbps so play perfectly yet when I try to encode to 5mbps it looks crap!

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Try and eliminate one or two of the wifi connections as a test.  Or, try and eliminate one and then the other to zero in on the trouble wifi connection.  At this point you may just have to experiment 

There's no other strain on my network. Just a bunch of Alexa's and phones that aren't doing anything. 

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I'll give it a go but I have an old mac so would rather it not have to encode.

 

How is it that some films I have downloaded off torrents are brilliant quality and only 2.7mbps so play perfectly yet when I try to encode to 5mbps it looks crap!

 

We'd have to look at an example. If you'd like to pre-convert them prior to playback, our media conversion feature can help with this:

https://emby.media/community/index.php?/blog/1/entry-423-emby-server-34-released/

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I think you have to try and get one of them on a wired connection.  It sounds like a wireless/network issue to me, so at least to prove that its is not.

 

It may be that the Virgin hub is struggling to process both streams simultaneously.  It's not a device I'm familiar with.

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I think you have to try and get one of them on a wired connection.  It sounds like a wireless/network issue to me, so at least to prove that its is not.

 

It may be that the Virgin hub is struggling to process both streams simultaneously.  It's not a device I'm familiar with.

 

Easier said than done I'm afraid.

 

After much testing I can get away with about 11mbps without any break in playback. So I just have to encode a bunch of files.

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Well I'm pleased to report that in the end I opted for a powerline adapter and it's worked a treat. Played a 20mpbs with no stop/start at all.

 

Thanks everyone for your help  :D

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