austinchief 2 Posted March 1, 2023 Share Posted March 1, 2023 After installing Ruckus AP's throughout my house, and ensuring I have north of 250Mbps speed via WiFi connectivity, I've starting adding higher bit-rate 4K movies to my library. It seems when I play any moving with, say north of 50Mbps bit-rate (maybe a tad lower), I get what looks like buffering or stuttering. The movie simply pauses for 1-3 seconds and then resumes. This happens 1-3x per minute or so. According to EMBY server, the move is direct playing, no transcoding, however, my CPU usage is 50-60%. The emby server is running on Centos 8, using an older AMD quad core processor with an NVidia graphics card (again older, probably 6 years and CPU/GPU were probably 2-4 years old at the time). My server is connected to my network via 1Gbps hardline. With direct streaming, I'm not understanding the pausing/stuttering or high CPU usage. And the process is EmbyServer (not FFMPEG) The WiFi speed is showing over 300Mbps, and the current moving playing is 75Mbps (log attached) ... so, I don't see a bandwidth issue. This happens on any of my FireTV 4K sticks (I have 7 throughout my house). Thoughts? embyserver.txt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebr 14960 Posted March 2, 2023 Share Posted March 2, 2023 Hi. What type of audio? As a test, if you set the app to "mix down to stereo" does it make a difference? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbjtech 4342 Posted March 2, 2023 Share Posted March 2, 2023 Are the AP's hardwired or are they meshed ? Remember cpu is used for the disk I/O and network stack - so on high bandwidth files, high cpu usage is expected on older cpu's - even without transcoding. It may be worth checking the network stack (NIC) has hardware offloading enabled where possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austinchief 2 Posted March 2, 2023 Author Share Posted March 2, 2023 3 hours ago, ebr said: Hi. What type of audio? As a test, if you set the app to "mix down to stereo" does it make a difference? TrueHD 7.1, DTS 7.1, AC3 5.1 ... tried all 3 and pause/stuttering persists! Set the global setting to downmix to stereo ... pause/stuttering persists! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebr 14960 Posted March 2, 2023 Share Posted March 2, 2023 5 minutes ago, austinchief said: TrueHD 7.1, DTS 7.1, AC3 5.1 ... tried all 3 and pause/stuttering persists! Set the global setting to downmix to stereo ... pause/stuttering persists! Okay, thanks, then it isn't related to that. Must be something bogging down somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austinchief 2 Posted March 2, 2023 Author Share Posted March 2, 2023 2 hours ago, rbjtech said: Are the AP's hardwired or are they meshed ? Remember cpu is used for the disk I/O and network stack - so on high bandwidth files, high cpu usage is expected on older cpu's - even without transcoding. It may be worth checking the network stack (NIC) has hardware offloading enabled where possible. 100% hardwired AP's. I have a Ruckus Unleashed suite of APs deployed (R710 (4), R610 and T310d for my backyard). All Fire TV 4K have speed tests north of 250Mbps, with some going well into 300Mbps. I have no reason to believe this issue is WiFi bandwidth related. My CPU is the i5-8400, which is an older CPU with UHD630. I do have a GeForce GTX 1060 video card as well. Not sure if the video card is helping with transcoding or not. I'll look into the NIC setting and see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbjtech 4342 Posted March 2, 2023 Share Posted March 2, 2023 (edited) 15 minutes ago, austinchief said: 100% hardwired AP's. I have a Ruckus Unleashed suite of APs deployed (R710 (4), R610 and T310d for my backyard). All Fire TV 4K have speed tests north of 250Mbps, with some going well into 300Mbps. I have no reason to believe this issue is WiFi bandwidth related. My CPU is the i5-8400, which is an older CPU with UHD630. I do have a GeForce GTX 1060 video card as well. Not sure if the video card is helping with transcoding or not. I'll look into the NIC setting and see. If it's stalling and the server is not transcoding - then it's either the server cannot serve the http quickly enough (unlikely, you'd see 100% cpu) or the bandwidth is simply not there. Just because an internet speed test works, doesn't mean emby will. I'm not saying this is the issue, but a TRUE 'like for like' wireless throughput test is to run something like iperf3 on the emby server (point it to a media file for 'data') and then run iperf3 on the fireTv stick - and monitor the throughput. As I said, it may be the tcp/ip 'stack' on the emby server coupled with your hardware - and it's simply not pushing data out the NIC quickly enough. edit I just tested my FireTV 4K via wifi (Ubiquiti AP's) with a 90Mbit 4k Remux - zero issues. I usually run the USB dongle/wired - but just wanted to double check the FireTV was not the issue .. Edited March 2, 2023 by rbjtech Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austinchief 2 Posted March 2, 2023 Author Share Posted March 2, 2023 1 hour ago, rbjtech said: If it's stalling and the server is not transcoding - then it's either the server cannot serve the http quickly enough (unlikely, you'd see 100% cpu) or the bandwidth is simply not there. Just because an internet speed test works, doesn't mean emby will. I'm not saying this is the issue, but a TRUE 'like for like' wireless throughput test is to run something like iperf3 on the emby server (point it to a media file for 'data') and then run iperf3 on the fireTv stick - and monitor the throughput. As I said, it may be the tcp/ip 'stack' on the emby server coupled with your hardware - and it's simply not pushing data out the NIC quickly enough. edit I just tested my FireTV 4K via wifi (Ubiquiti AP's) with a 90Mbit 4k Remux - zero issues. I usually run the USB dongle/wired - but just wanted to double check the FireTV was not the issue .. Ok ... here is the iperf results between my NAS server and my EmbyServer: Connecting to host 192.168.1.10, port 5201 [ 5] local 192.168.1.3 port 42338 connected to 192.168.1.10 port 5201 [ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr Cwnd [ 5] 0.00-1.00 sec 112 MBytes 936 Mbits/sec 45 332 KBytes [ 5] 1.00-2.00 sec 109 MBytes 916 Mbits/sec 145 218 KBytes [ 5] 2.00-3.00 sec 108 MBytes 907 Mbits/sec 5 294 KBytes [ 5] 3.00-4.00 sec 110 MBytes 921 Mbits/sec 1 387 KBytes [ 5] 4.00-5.00 sec 107 MBytes 897 Mbits/sec 41 366 KBytes [ 5] 5.00-6.00 sec 109 MBytes 914 Mbits/sec 1 383 KBytes [ 5] 6.00-7.00 sec 110 MBytes 921 Mbits/sec 85 206 KBytes [ 5] 7.00-8.00 sec 109 MBytes 915 Mbits/sec 42 322 KBytes [ 5] 8.00-9.00 sec 110 MBytes 924 Mbits/sec 24 276 KBytes [ 5] 9.00-10.00 sec 110 MBytes 921 Mbits/sec 0 389 KBytes - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr [ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.07 GBytes 917 Mbits/sec 389 sender [ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.07 GBytes 915 Mbits/sec receiver Note: This is hardline to hardline, so WiFi is not involved. I'll need to figure out how to setup iperf on my Fire TV 4k to test the same connection between EmbyServer and Fire TV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbjtech 4342 Posted March 2, 2023 Share Posted March 2, 2023 15 minutes ago, austinchief said: Ok ... here is the iperf results between my NAS server and my EmbyServer: Connecting to host 192.168.1.10, port 5201 [ 5] local 192.168.1.3 port 42338 connected to 192.168.1.10 port 5201 [ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr Cwnd [ 5] 0.00-1.00 sec 112 MBytes 936 Mbits/sec 45 332 KBytes [ 5] 1.00-2.00 sec 109 MBytes 916 Mbits/sec 145 218 KBytes [ 5] 2.00-3.00 sec 108 MBytes 907 Mbits/sec 5 294 KBytes [ 5] 3.00-4.00 sec 110 MBytes 921 Mbits/sec 1 387 KBytes [ 5] 4.00-5.00 sec 107 MBytes 897 Mbits/sec 41 366 KBytes [ 5] 5.00-6.00 sec 109 MBytes 914 Mbits/sec 1 383 KBytes [ 5] 6.00-7.00 sec 110 MBytes 921 Mbits/sec 85 206 KBytes [ 5] 7.00-8.00 sec 109 MBytes 915 Mbits/sec 42 322 KBytes [ 5] 8.00-9.00 sec 110 MBytes 924 Mbits/sec 24 276 KBytes [ 5] 9.00-10.00 sec 110 MBytes 921 Mbits/sec 0 389 KBytes - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr [ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.07 GBytes 917 Mbits/sec 389 sender [ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.07 GBytes 915 Mbits/sec receiver Note: This is hardline to hardline, so WiFi is not involved. I'll need to figure out how to setup iperf on my Fire TV 4k to test the same connection between EmbyServer and Fire TV. You might have to side load an Android App - the analiti network app used to do this, but I don't see the iperf option any more .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke 37272 Posted March 2, 2023 Share Posted March 2, 2023 Hi. Can you try sideloading our standard android app on the same device and see how that compares? https://emby.media/emby-for-android.html Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austinchief 2 Posted March 2, 2023 Author Share Posted March 2, 2023 24 minutes ago, Luke said: Hi. Can you try sideloading our standard android app on the same device and see how that compares? https://emby.media/emby-for-android.html Thanks. No difference in CPU utilization: 57% +/- 3% Pausing/Stuttering still occurs 2-3x ... pauses for 4-6s each time. Attaching log showing before and after sideloading app embyserver (1).txt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebr 14960 Posted March 2, 2023 Share Posted March 2, 2023 4 hours ago, rbjtech said: then it's either the server cannot serve the http quickly enough (unlikely, you'd see 100% cpu) Not necessarily as it could be I/O bound at the server end as well... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austinchief 2 Posted March 3, 2023 Author Share Posted March 3, 2023 One other piece of information ... when I force a full library scan, any movie that is playing (720p, 1080p or 2160p) will pause multiple times while the scan is in process. Playback is actually MUCH worse during a library scan that playback of a high bit-rate 2160p movice. I have my library scan to occur at 4am in the morning ... but sometimes I'll add a show or movie and want it available immediately. I've gotten to the point that I will run targeted scans (I created a folder for each letter of the alphabet for my movies ... allows me to run a scan on just one letter at a time). Or if I add a TV series/show, I'll just force the scan on my TV Shows library. This doesn't change the pausing of shows, just gets the scan over and done much quicker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbjtech 4342 Posted March 3, 2023 Share Posted March 3, 2023 So we are back to either a cpu and/or local IO bottleneck. Where are the mount points for the actual media on the OS - is this local disk or somewhere else ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austinchief 2 Posted March 3, 2023 Author Share Posted March 3, 2023 4 hours ago, rbjtech said: So we are back to either a cpu and/or local IO bottleneck. Where are the mount points for the actual media on the OS - is this local disk or somewhere else ? Media is located in my Synology DS1812+ NAS server. EmbyServer is a Linux box powered by an i5-8400. The NAS drives are mounted for EmbyServer to manage. All Emby clients are fire TV 4K, but I can obviously access via my phone or web browser on any number of computers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebr 14960 Posted March 3, 2023 Share Posted March 3, 2023 41 minutes ago, austinchief said: EmbyServer is a Linux box powered by an i5-8400. The NAS drives are mounted for EmbyServer to manage. So the media drives are across a network connection from the Emby server? I'm more and more suspecting an I/O bottleneck (which is compounded by the remote mounts). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austinchief 2 Posted March 3, 2023 Author Share Posted March 3, 2023 4 minutes ago, ebr said: So the media drives are across a network connection from the Emby server? I'm more and more suspecting an I/O bottleneck (which is compounded by the remote mounts). That is correct … the iPerf test between NAS and EmbyServer (Linux box) shows plenty of network bandwidth … near 1Gbps. The EmbyServer hardware is not CPU limited … but does show one CPU had higher utilization … 55-60%. When transcoding, that CPU utilization jumps to 150-200%. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbjtech 4342 Posted March 3, 2023 Share Posted March 3, 2023 As a test, can you copy one of the troublesome media files to the actual emby server itself (local disk) - and then create a test library and point it to that media. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austinchief 2 Posted March 3, 2023 Author Share Posted March 3, 2023 11 minutes ago, rbjtech said: As a test, can you copy one of the troublesome media files to the actual emby server itself (local disk) - and then create a test library and point it to that media. Good idea! Yes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrimReaper 3331 Posted March 3, 2023 Share Posted March 3, 2023 You can also install on your Fire stick a video player that can play off the network (like VLC) and play directly from source, bypassing Emby altogether and testing your WiFi in the process, you might gain some more insight, whether playback is smooth or it's also buffering, hence eliminating (or confirming) network issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbjtech 4342 Posted March 3, 2023 Share Posted March 3, 2023 (edited) 3 minutes ago, GrimReaper said: You can also install on your Fire stick a video player that can play off the network (like VLC) and play directly from source, bypassing Emby altogether and testing your WiFi in the process, you might gain some more insight, whether playback is smooth or it's also buffering, hence eliminating (or confirming) network issues. Pretty sure it's the emby server interface bogging down trying to stream (smb?) files from the NAS and stream the client via http at the same time - I don't think the wifi or FireTV client is the issue here. The local file test (ie not using the NAS) will tell us a lot. Edited March 3, 2023 by rbjtech Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebr 14960 Posted March 3, 2023 Share Posted March 3, 2023 4 minutes ago, rbjtech said: Pretty sure it's the emby server interface bogging down trying to stream (smb?) files from the NAS and stream the client via http at the same time - I don't think the wifi or FireTV client is the issue here. That would be my main suspicion as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austinchief 2 Posted March 3, 2023 Author Share Posted March 3, 2023 2 hours ago, rbjtech said: Pretty sure it's the emby server interface bogging down trying to stream (smb?) files from the NAS and stream the client via http at the same time - I don't think the wifi or FireTV client is the issue here. The local file test (ie not using the NAS) will tell us a lot. Ok ... so the experiment is clear ... streaming the high bit-rate file from SMB/NAS is problematic. I moved one movie to the local EmbyServer drive, created a temp library, and streamed to the FireTV 4k stick with ZERO pausing/stuttering. Now ... what are my remedies? My NAS is the Synology DS1812+ which is a decade old (introduced in 2013). I am only using 1 of the 2 network interfaces. I could do link aggregation to bump the network bandwidth up, but I'm not convinced this is an actual network problem. Is the NAS simply unable to keep up with the SATA reads and shipping over the NIC? I know the newer NAS units (DS1821+) not only have more network interfaces, but their R/W I/O speeds are much much faster. Is it simply time to upgrade to the DS1821+? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Q-Droid 670 Posted March 3, 2023 Share Posted March 3, 2023 Can you restart Emby server and post the hardware detection log? And which CPU do you have in the Emby server? "an older AMD quad core" or the "i5-8400" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Q-Droid 670 Posted March 3, 2023 Share Posted March 3, 2023 Also keep mbit vs mbyte in mind. A single 100mbit stream is still only ~10mbytes and well within even USB thumb drive speeds and a fraction of what even slow HDDs can handle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now