Live TV Choppy - HD Homerun Source - Synology NAS

[fkolbe 5]

Hope I'm posting in the correct community. 

Symptoms:

• live TV is very choppy and pixelated and essentially unwatchable on any device (PC, iPHONE, Roku TV) on any channel
• however, EMBY live TV works perfectly when using EMBY Server installed and running on my PC and watched on any of my devices

My Setup

• Synology DS220+ NAS with Emby Server V4.7.8.0 running
• Live TV source in Synology Emby Server - HD Homerun Extend with latest firmware (20221205)
• HD Homerun Transcoding profile 'mobile' advertising ' DNLA formats 60 and 30'
• HD Homerun source is OTA
• EMBY Premiere licence

Testing

• Changed cable on Synology NAS
• Changed some transcoding settings in Synology EMBY server (but honest I don't have any idea what I'm doing)
• Change HD Homerun transcoding profiles and none made a difference. 

Thank you for your help.  

 

ffmpeg-transcode-a6332145-9ad9-43e8-b038-7a754173b5ca_1.txt

[fkolbe 5]

I did more testing and the poor quality video and audio in fact is now showing even when watching my HD homerun without going thru EMBY.  At this point I don't believe this issue is with the EMBY server but something with my HD Homerun and potentially my antenna feed. 

[fkolbe 5]

Okay I spent the morning trying to isolate my issue. I was able to get my HD Homerun streams and watching live TV via the HD Homerun app (completely isolated from EMBY) working again with a temporary fix. I have two antennas that are combined, one pointed at Grand Island Buffalo for my US stations and one at the CN Tower in downtown Toronto for CAN channels. So I've separated them and only have the US antenna as the source.  I also removed an FM filter used to boost my CAN channels.  This is just for testing purposes and I've not had any issues with the HD Homerun prior to trying the EMBY Server package in the  Synology NAS.  Further, I moved back to the stable Synology NAS Emby Server package (7.4.7.11.0).  These steps resolved some of but not all EBMY live TV quality issues. However, I feel the HD Homerun app is generally much more forgiving when it comes to processing the OTA live TV signal.  

Sadly, I'm still experiencing significant play back issues using Synology's EMBY server and I've determined that it is device dependent. For example, on my TCL Roku TV using the EMBY synology NAS server live TV source the video remains very choppy and pixelated. However, when watching TV from the Synology EBMY server on my home PC it's passable. On my PC I tend to get audio/video glitches every 5 seconds for the first 30 seconds then it goes away. Or it will play well for 30 seconds then I'll get a big glitch and it will play fine.

I've attached updated log files.  I'd be curious if anyone has the same set up as me and whether they're experiencing the same issues (or not).

 

ffmpeg-transcode-6b0d2a5c-9477-44e6-ab30-c5b0f23932db_1.txt embyserver (1).txt

Edited January 29, 2023 by fkolbe
clarity

[Luke 37119]

@fkolbe are you still having an issue with this?

[fkolbe 5]

Thank you for checking in. It’s been quite a journey but yes, for the most part, my issue is resolved. Maybe others can learn from it. 
 

The number 1 root cause was the signal quality from my antennas. Working with HDHOMERUN technical support they saw a lot of interference related to LTE/5G signals near my area. Secondly they said the HDHOMERUN does not play nice with these signals. Basically your ATSC tuner in your TV may be okay with this interference but not the HDHOMERUN. They suggested I purchase a LTE/5G filter and once installed that immediately improved the quality everywhere. It essentially fixed my issues watching OTA via the Synology EMBY server! Thank goodness.

But of course I couldn’t leave well enough alone and started doing some cable management around the HDHOMERUN and my fancy new Synology Nas. We’ll then every channel looked terrible again. I figured that one out too. Apparently Ethernet cables shouldn’t be wrapped too tightly with zip ties. And bundling electrical cables with coax cables and Ethernet cables are a no no. Once I unbundled all cables and separated them things went back to normal and I’m enjoying beautiful tv again.  
 

 

Edited February 21, 2023 by fkolbe

[Luke 37119]

Thanks for the feedback.