Live TV freezes a few seconds

[vnormand 2]

Hi,

When I watch Live TV on the Android app, it regularly freezes a few seconds, than continues without problem.

It is not a big problem, it is just annoying.

I have added my latest server log. Problem happened around 21:43, and there seems to be a "Response 204". I don't know if it helps.

Thank you for your help.

Server : Windows 10 up to date

Emby server and Android app are the latest as well.

Tuner : Hauppauge Duo

embyserver.txt

[Carlo 4479]

Hi, no those are just progress playback updates.

This could be anything from Win TV to network to WIFI to phone not keeping the buffer full.

One of the easiest things to try on mobile clients using WIFI is to use the device in the same room as the WIFI Access Point to try and rule out any distance problem.

[vnormand 2]

Thank you for your reply.

FYI I am not on WIFI, I am using cabled connection between server and client (NVidia Shield 2017). You think the problem has to do with the Network ? It only happens for Live TV. Never for other medias.

I also understand you did not find anything special inside the logs I attached.... Would activating the DEBUG logs help to find where the problem happens ?

[Carlo 4479]

Got ya. I didn't realize you were on Android TV but thought it was Android which typically will be a tablet or phone using wifi.

On this combination my guess would be IO related.  What OS/hardware is the server running on?
Any SSD drives available?

[vnormand 2]

Processor : Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU         750  @ 2.67GHz   2.66 GHz

RAM : 8.00 GB

OS : Windows 10 Pro

Drive : SSD Drive with 250GB (it is not full)

[vnormand 2]

I just tested my HDD and here is the result : 

 

I will check my cables and connections just to be sure...

[Luke 38830]

@vnormand did you find anything?

[vnormand 2]

My cables were indeed plugged into a 2.0 SATA port. I connected it to a 3.0, but the problem persists...

I think I will try to force transcoding instead of direct play to see if that changes anything.

[simonselmer 26]

Just my two cents here, as you know @Luke I have had the same kind of freezing issues as @vnormand explains here, ever since I started using Emby on my Synology NAS.

I would say however, it has improved quite a lot over time. 
However it still happens, and it get's more frequent the longer the recording gets.

I have had several posts in here about the issue, and I remeber long ago @Luke you mentioned that you/someone were working on reworking the whole Live TV function, which should eliminate this freezing issue.

And I actually just stubled over this post, because by coincidence it hit me "how did that Live TV rework ever work out"

Can you give a little update on that, unless it's already implemented  

Best Regards Simon

[Q-Droid 830]

On 8/8/2021 at 9:04 PM, vnormand said:

My cables were indeed plugged into a 2.0 SATA port. I connected it to a 3.0, but the problem persists...

I think I will try to force transcoding instead of direct play to see if that changes anything.

The simple but non-satisfactory answer is that you can expect a short freeze (more like a hiccup) within a minute of starting playback of Live TV OTA signals. It may not happen every single time on all channels. If the hiccups continue then hit skip-back once and it should play smoothly from then on unless you skip forward again to the end of the buffer.

It's been this way for years and hopefully the Live TV overhaul improves this.

 

[vnormand 2]

After disabling "Direct Play" in the Android TV app (Live TV section), the problem does not happen anymore. So, the problem seems to be caused by the Direct Play option.

But that causes another problem. Now, tuning a channel takes a very long time (between 10 and 20 seconds!). I know it is a known problem, but is there something else I can do to make it tune faster ?

Thanks

[sargenthp 31]

Do you have hardware accelerated transcoding turned on?  I ended up having to turn mine off for other blips I was seeing on a few HD channels.

[ebr 15435]

1 hour ago, vnormand said:

After disabling "Direct Play" in the Android TV app (Live TV section), the problem does not happen anymore

Hi.  Try re-enabling that and then setting the Live TV start time to "slow" and see if that works better.

[Luke 38830]

@vnormand  has this helped?

[vnormand 2]

On 14/08/2021 at 14:12, Luke said:

@vnormand  has this helped?

Nope. Only forcing transcoding has helped...

I would leave it like that, but waiting 15-20 sec for a channel to start is not an option here.

Edited August 16, 2021 by vnormand

[simonselmer 26]

For some reason my "Direct Play" was disabled (probably because I have been trying different options long ago), so I have now
enabled "Direct Play" and start time to "slow" and mine begins after 4 seconds or so. 
So that yours starts after 15-20 sec seems strange.

@Luke is that "Live TV overhaul" still ongoing?

[vnormand 2]

59 minutes ago, simonselmer said:

For some reason my "Direct Play" was disabled (probably because I have been trying different options long ago), so I have now
enabled "Direct Play" and start time to "slow" and mine begins after 4 seconds or so. 
So that yours starts after 15-20 sec seems strange.

@Luke is that "Live TV overhaul" still ongoing?

The 15-20 sec is when I force transcoding. When Direct playing, it is fast. But then, the few seconds freeze happens.

[Luke 38830]

3 hours ago, simonselmer said:

For some reason my "Direct Play" was disabled (probably because I have been trying different options long ago), so I have now
enabled "Direct Play" and start time to "slow" and mine begins after 4 seconds or so. 
So that yours starts after 15-20 sec seems strange.

@Luke is that "Live TV overhaul" still ongoing?

We are working on it, but that has nothing to do with this. You can play Live TV without freezing. If you're having an issue we're happy to help:

Thanks.

[ebr 15435]

7 hours ago, vnormand said:

When Direct playing, it is fast. But then, the few seconds freeze happens.

Even when setting that start time to "slow"?

[Carlo 4479]

Is this freeze more of a pause for one second or so that happens within a couple of seconds starting playback?

[vnormand 2]

@ebr Yes.

@cayars No. It is more of a pause for 4-5 sec that happens randomly. It can happen after 10 minutes, 1 hour, etc. It is not only after starting playback.

[Carlo 4479]

Thanks for the clarification.

[simonselmer 26]

Hi

Will just mention that @cayars has been so kind to assist me through a remote session on performing the steps to migrate Emby to DSM7 platform

That was very comforting, as I am NOT comfortable connecting with putty, doing commands through SSH and all of that.

So thank you @cayars very much that great support. Much, much appreciated

Best Regards