Raspberry Pi server + Android TV - choppy playback and subtitles out of sync

[xexets 3]

Hello.

Running Emby server on raspberry pi 5 8gb - files on external usb HDD. Everything updated to latest version.

Streaming via ethernet 1gbps (both pi and TV) to Shield TV pro 2019 with Emby app.

Files are Blu ray remux backups - dolby vision + Atmos trueHD. They play perfectly well in Kodi (via SMB mount) with subtitles in sync.

In Emby I have the following issues:

1) Embedded subtitles (both in the form of SRT and as embedded in the files themselves) are often out of sync (while they play fine in Kodi).

I upgraded to Premiere to download subtitles while watching (Open Subtitle plugin configured and logged in).

Since upgrading I have the following additional issues:

2) when downloading subtitles video becomes choppy (like 1fps choppy), audio stream somtimes disappears and subtitles are out of sync. A restart of the Emby app sometimes fixes it, sometimes it doesn't

3) towards the end of several files playback becomes completely choppy

 

This happens mostly when I do something with subtitles, but I had instances where a file played from the beginning without subtitles then becomes choppy.

Same file plays fine in Kodi a second after closing Emby so I doubt it's network environment conditions.

 

I wrote to support and they asked me to post here.

Thank you

Al

 

[Luke 39993]

 

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

 

[xexets 3]

embyserver-63877939200.txtembyserver-63877852799.txtembyserver-63877935080.txtembyserver-63878025600.txtHere are the server logs.

During the one ending in 9200 nothing happened and I did not load any subtitles. I initially downloaded subtitles and changed them, but they were always out of sync so watched the whole film without subtitles.

During the others subtitles were out of sync, I downloaded them, they went out of sync and the playback became choppy towards the end.

Tonight I'll watch another remux and add the debug option so if there are issues I'll send the android TV log - I cannot artificially reproduce it because I am not sure what triggers it.

Thanks

 

[xexets 3]

Report sent from app at 4.55pm eastern time.

i was just watching a remux with subtitles (not downloaded) and the playback froze all of a sudden.pause / play started the playback again but would freeze immediately.

name on server: xexets 

[xexets 3]

embyserver.txt

And here is the current server log. The playback froze just before I sent the report from android TV, therefore before 4.55pm eastern time, which in my log will appear as 8.55pm as I am in GMT.

[xexets 3]

I have sent another log at 4.38 eastern time username xexets. Today I just get ‘too many errors’ message and it does not play. Kodi plays the file fine.

I have recently got premiere lifetime, and when I asked for a refund I was told to ask here for support, could you please let me know what is going on with my Emby?

thanks

 

[TMCsw 172]

Your log shows you likely have some permission problems with the...

On 3/20/2025 at 1:30 PM, xexets said:

external usb HDD

 How EXACTLY is this mounted (if you don't know that's OKay... ... just say so)

[xexets 3]

What do you mean by 'exactly'?

The drive is an NTFS drive, via powered USB hub into the Pi. I have NTFS-3G on Linux and it automounts.

Attached please find print out of lsblk.

Findmnt returns:

/media/xexets/01             /dev/sda2      ntfs3   rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,uid

 

and this is df -h::

/dev/sda2       3.7T  3.6T   57G  99% /media/xexets/01

 

[xexets 3]

Another log sent from the shield today at 19:58 GMT (3:58pm eastern I believe), please see attached server logs (and ffmpeg logs).

I tried to play a file and it gives 'Too Many Errors again'.

Earlier I had changed permissions of all files on that hard disk to Anyone R/W.

ffmpeg-directstream-69aa78f3-e604-4de0-9e9c-1bd4dfb01adc_1.txtffmpeg-directstream-d55129d0-114e-4449-91e2-ea416c342b79_1.txtffmpeg-directstream-518691a5-3330-4e6c-b40e-7158e39f0b50_1.txtffmpeg-directstream-024bee0b-783c-4ad7-8c4f-275575b30a0c_1.txtembyserver.txtffmpeg-directstream-0f76a82a-076b-40c4-8842-8a95343f0f3a_1.txtffmpeg-directstream-cbdc852a-a910-4bd8-93b4-838d96eb5147_1.txtffmpeg-directstream-aa7e9029-0698-4251-85ac-d40c5bf214f3_1.txtffmpeg-directstream-f08962e7-bda3-461f-a7eb-2cd52b8480fd_1.txtffmpeg-directstream-acfae2b1-9bb3-46c7-ab27-544edd54b87e_1.txtffmpeg-directstream-e94d62f7-40a9-4204-b440-70a43cb64bb7_1.txtffmpeg-directstream-f169bdc8-b415-4989-ad5e-6d6c4dcf0441_1.txtffmpeg-directstream-19c42786-0eb9-4690-862a-a510f722d50d_1.txt

[TMCsw 172]

System.UnauthorizedAccessException: System.UnauthorizedAccessException: Access to the path '/media/xexets/01/NVIDIA_SHIELD/Movies/Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) _t00-backdrop.jpg' is denied.

Auto-mount is generally a bad idea as it normally mounts the drive when a user is logged into the desktop and assigns the privileges just for that user. Fallow this guide to properly mount the disk via /etc/fstab then take a look at this post to set permissions properly.

If you still have problems just ask...

[xexets 3]

Ok, thank you very much. I think I have now sorted the permissions of the Mounted drives and the file now plays. I’ll try tomorrow with another file on the same drive to see if I can maintain a stable playback and report back. Thanks.

[Luke 39993]

On 3/22/2025 at 7:07 PM, xexets said:

Ok, thank you very much. I think I have now sorted the permissions of the Mounted drives and the file now plays. I’ll try tomorrow with another file on the same drive to see if I can maintain a stable playback and report back. Thanks.

Hi, how did it go?

[xexets 3]

Apologies for not replying, I thought I had.

! Worked absolutely fine, it was a strange permission problem - everything seemed to be set correctly, but in fact the parent folder had the wrong permissions. A chmod sorted it out and now it works great. Thanks for spotting this!

 

I should add: I have four hard drives all set up in the same way and only this one all of a sudden had these issues

Edited April 6 by xexets