Stutter and Crashing on Nvidia Shield (2017)

[qazwsx16 0]

This is my current set up:

• Emby Server: Installed on Windows 11 PC (Ryzen 7 3700x with 32GB ram)
• Emby App: Nvidia Shield (2017) (Latest app from the Google Play store is installed)
  • Audio: Pioneer VSX-1131
  • Visual: LG C8 OLED
• Running 1Gbps internet (up and down)
  • Ran a speed test on the Nvidia Shield and got about 800 Mbps down
  • Ran a speed test on the server and got about 500 Mbps down / 400 Mbps up

I've been playing all my media historically on the LG C8 using the LG Emby App, but since this couldn't passthrough lossless audio (TrueHD), I've always been restricted to lossy audio. I found my old Nvidia Shield (2017) and decided to do a factory reset and try out the Emby App on it instead since it can direct play TrueHD.

Overall it works great and everything direct plays, but I noticed when I play a high bitrate file (e.g., 4k uncompressed), it will sometimes stutter (only the video, audio does not stutter) and occasionally crash altogether. I did notice the audio for some reason sometimes does start transcoding in the middle of a movie (always at the same spot). So I did remove the option to allow transcoding for audio to see what would happen and now the audio just cuts out altogether in that one spot. I just recently set this up, so I haven't done any thorough testing, but wanted to get everyone's thoughts.

I included the logs below from where it first starts and I stop it a little after the transcoding part commences. Definitely let me know if I can provide any additional details!

embyserver(1).txt ffmpeg-directstream-eed08251-5ce4-4344-b734-2a8c6dfdeb6e_1.txt

Edited June 15, 2022 by qazwsx16

[ebr 14905]

Hi.  Go into the app playback settings and ensure the buffer size setting is set to "Small".

[qazwsx16 0]

3 hours ago, ebr said:

Hi.  Go into the app playback settings and ensure the buffer size setting is set to "Small".

Thank you for the suggestion! A quick test over the same portion of media seems to look like it's working great! Should I just keep it as "Small" or would installing a flash drive to extend the space help?

[Audiomixer 328]

Keep it at small.

[rbjtech 4223]

You have the Shield plugged directly into the AVR I assume and LG Plugged into the HDMI Out on the AVR ?

If the audio issue always happens at the same spot, then I'm inclined to think it's the file - and emby is recovering by forcing a stream copy.

Does it happen in other files - or just this one ?

[ebr 14905]

12 hours ago, Audiomixer said:

Keep it at small.

Yes, leave it at small.  Future versions of the app will default this.

[Dlarge 33]

when would it make sense to set the buffer higher? Inlay for Info.

[ebr 14905]

11 minutes ago, Dlarge said:

when would it make sense to set the buffer higher? Inlay for Info.

It doesn't.  Future versions of the app won't even have the setting.