Remote conenction keeps crashing Kodi (freezing, unresponsive)

[sross44 234]

When using Kodi (with the Next Gen plugin) on my home network, everything works awesome. I can play any type of files and it all works great. With the exact same setup though when remotely connected to my Emby server, certain things keep crashing Kodi. Mostly this is a high bit rate movie such as something with Dolby Vision or the such. Using the main emby app plays it perfectly remotely, but I would prefer to use Kodi. Is this a bitrate issue with Kodi or what's going on? Any suggestions or ideas? Kodi is on a 2019 Shield Pro when this happens. I don't have the logs in front of me as I'm no longer remote, but curious if people have thoughts before I get back in front of the remote shield. 

[Luke 37090]

 

Hi there, let's look at an example. Please attach the information requested in how to report a media playback issue. Thanks!

 

[sross44 234]

3 minutes ago, Luke said:

 

Hi there, let's look at an example. Please attach the information requested in how to report a media playback issue. Thanks!

 

@Lukelike I mentioned, I'm no longer remote so I can't test it to share the logs. I've attached the log from last night which is the closest time I can get to it to crashing. Probably an hour or two before the log was created. Once it froze I switched over the emby app on the shield and played it fine. 

embyserver-63820224000.txt

[quickmic 1352]

7 hours ago, sross44 said:

@Lukelike I mentioned, I'm no longer remote so I can't test it to share the logs. I've attached the log from last night which is the closest time I can get to it to crashing. Probably an hour or two before the log was created. Once it froze I switched over the emby app on the shield and played it fine. 

embyserver-63820224000.txt 1.18 MB · 0 downloads

I assume Emby App uses transconding while Kodi doesn't. You need to set the network speed limit in next-gen config menu to the (usually upload) limit of your Emby server.

Set the limit a bit lower then the actual bandwith limit.

[sross44 234]

2 minutes ago, quickmic said:

I assume Emby App uses transconding while Kodi doesn't. You need to set the network speed limit in next-gen config menu to the (usually upload) limit of your Emby server.

Set the limit a bit lower then the actual bandwith limit.

Where do I set the next-gen network speed? In Kodi itself under the plugin settings? 

[quickmic 1352]

2 hours ago, sross44 said:

Where do I set the next-gen network speed? In Kodi itself under the plugin settings? 

plugin settings -> playback (scroll all the way down) -> transcode bandwidth limit -> video quality

[sross44 234]

9 hours ago, quickmic said:

plugin settings -> playback (scroll all the way down) -> transcode bandwidth limit -> video quality

Awesome. Thank you so much! I'll check this out and get back to you if it helps. I appreciate it. 

[sross44 234]

Well I updated the settings like @quickmicsuggested and it froze almost immediately upon starting a movie. I've attached the logs as it just happend. So strange I can't get it working. 

embyserver.txt

[quickmic 1352]

34 minutes ago, sross44 said:

Well I updated the settings like @quickmicsuggested and it froze almost immediately upon starting a movie. I've attached the logs as it just happend. So strange I can't get it working. 

embyserver.txt 326.28 kB · 1 download

Please also upload a kodi.log

[sross44 234]

54 minutes ago, quickmic said:

Please also upload a kodi.log

Here's the log... let me know what you find/see? Thanks so much for all your help! 

kodi.log

Edited May 25, 2023 by sross44

[quickmic 1352]

8 hours ago, sross44 said:

Here's the log... let me know what you find/see? Thanks so much for all your help! 

kodi.logUnavailable

I removed the kodi.log. It's in debug mode and included your api key. fyi, only send Kodi debug logs via PM.

Anyway, I assume you played Hours_The_Secret_Soldiers_of_Benghazi__2016__Remux_2160p. Transcoding was not used in this case, cause Emby didn't report a bitrate for this content. Can you check if bitrate is detected on Emby server for that file? Try rescan the file on Emby server, Bitrate must be reported, otherwise transcoding will not be initiated by plugin.

Maybe I can add an option to force transcoding if no bitrate was reported.

Also you have a lot of plugins installed, please run a test (on a PC) with stock Kodi and only next-gen plugin installed.

Edited May 26, 2023 by quickmic

[sross44 234]

9 hours ago, quickmic said:

I removed the kodi.log. It's in debug mode and included your api key. fyi, only send Kodi debug logs via PM.

Anyway, I assume you played Hours_The_Secret_Soldiers_of_Benghazi__2016__Remux_2160p. Transcoding was not used in this case, cause Emby didn't report a bitrate for this content. Can you check if bitrate is detected on Emby server for that file? Try rescan the file on Emby server, Bitrate must be reported, otherwise transcoding will not be initiated by plugin.

Maybe I can add an option to force transcoding if no bitrate was reported.

Also you have a lot of plugins installed, please run a test (on a PC) with stock Kodi and only next-gen plugin installed.

Thanks for removing the log. I appreciate that. The funny thing is it should be able to direct play which it does through the Emby app. I don’t even need it to transcode in this instance. It’s why I think it may be a pure bit rate thing in Kodi? Could that be possible?

Also the only plugins that I thought had installed were next gen and the one for the skin. I’ll remove the skin later and see if that helps. I can try a PC but I want it to work on a shield or hell even a fire stick if possible 

Edited May 26, 2023 by sross44

[quickmic 1352]

Well if it's just a bitrate (or format) and not a bandwith issue, then it's a Kodi limitation.

The log doesn't report any crashes or bugs.

Edited May 26, 2023 by quickmic

[sross44 234]

1 hour ago, quickmic said:

Well if it's just a bitrate (or format) and not a bandwith issue, then it's a Kodi limitation.

The log doesn't report any crashes or bugs.

The only thing I’ll point out is that it works flawlessly when I’m on my local network. The issue only seems to be remote. I’ll try everything later today and see what happens. Would love to get this to work, but we’ll see how it ends up!

[quickmic 1352]

3 minutes ago, sross44 said:

The only thing I’ll point out is that it works flawlessly when I’m on my local network. The issue only seems to be remote. I’ll try everything later today and see what happens. Would love to get this to work, but we’ll see how it ends up!

We are going in circles. The ONLY difference between local and remote playback is the bandwidth limitation. But it is impossible that Emby app plays without transcoding flawless and Kodi doesn't.

[quickmic 1352]

Btw, how do you know Emby app is NOT transcoding? Have you checked it?

[sross44 234]

12 minutes ago, quickmic said:

Btw, how do you know Emby app is NOT transcoding? Have you checked it?

I have checked it. It's direct playing. So while I know theoretically it should work, it keeps freezing Kodi and makes it unresponsive. I'll try it like you said on a plain install on Kodi on a PC later today and see if that works, but that may force transcoding due to the pc setup. We'll see.... Thanks for trying to figure this out with me. I really aprpreciate it. 

[quickmic 1352]

12 minutes ago, sross44 said:

I have checked it. It's direct playing. So while I know theoretically it should work, it keeps freezing Kodi and makes it unresponsive. I'll try it like you said on a plain install on Kodi on a PC later today and see if that works, but that may force transcoding due to the pc setup. We'll see.... Thanks for trying to figure this out with me. I really aprpreciate it. 

Last thing I could imagine, adjust Kodi's cache settings (advancedsettings.xml). On my remote devices I enable infinite cache on "hdd", but this could wear out a sdcard. NVRam devices should be save. Also enough storage should be available.

https://kodi.wiki/view/HOW-TO:Modify_the_video_cache

"Example 1" with even higher readfactor value.

Edited May 26, 2023 by quickmic

[sross44 234]

Set it up on a remote PC nothing other than stock Kodi and the next gen Kodi app. Anything that really is in 4k and and some level of HDR crashes it immediately. It actually greys out and Windows says Kodi is non responsive. It was direct playing from Emby though. @quickmicI'm going to PM you my kodi log now though so you have it and can see what's going on to see if it helps

Edited May 27, 2023 by sross44

[sross44 234]

@quickmic I will glady set you up as a user so you could try on one of your kodi instances and see what you get if you were willing to go that length. 

Edited May 27, 2023 by sross44