Limiting Upload Bandwidth?

[IcyBergals 8]

Hello,

 

I'm having some issues with all of my bandwidth being used for uploading to other users which is causing me to lag while playing games online.  I tried searching but I haven't found anything posted on this topic in the last year or so, though topics go back 2 or 3 years in total.

 

My internet connection is Comcast cable, roughly 175/12.  Under Playback > Streaming > Internet bitrate streaming limit (Mbps), I had it set to 4 so even if I have 2 users streaming I'd be left with 3 or 4 Mbps upload speed remaining.  However, last night I was playing Rocket League and experiencing horrible pings.  I checked my server and 2 people were streaming and NetLimiter told me that Emby was uploading at a rate of 1.35 to 1.5 MBps (10.8-12 mbps), which is my entire connection.  Now, if 1 MBps is 8 Mbps, shouldn't it never go above 1 MBps uploading to 2 people?  Am I reading the page incorrectly and the setting is actually for Megabytes per second not Megabits per second?

 

Are there still plans to add a global upload limit?  All I want to do is be able to set aside enough bandwidth so I can play games without lagging, which I assume shouldn't take much.  Today I will watch NetLimiter while playing Rocket League to see what kind of bandwidth it actually requires.

 

As of now I am planning on using NetLimiter to restrict Emby's upload rate to 1 MBps.  However, is this going to cause issues as Emby is going to try to transcode files at a higher bitrate and then won't be able to upload it to the user fast enough?  Or will it just end up with a bigger buffer?

[Luke 37252]

Hi, yea the limit is actually per connection. Limiting the upload rate like you are might actually work assuming all the apps are left at the default setting of Automatic bitrate.

[IcyBergals 8]

Yeah I was aware that it was per connection, but if I had it set to 4 Mbps with 2 users it should have only been using 8 Mbps, not the 10.8-12 that it was using.  That's why I thought I might have been missing something else.  I'll just have to let my users know they should leave it on Automatic bitrate most of the time, unless they are choosing a lower bitrate like 1 Mbps, and use NL to set the global upload limit.  Thanks for the info Luke, keep up the great work!

Edited June 8, 2016 by IcyBergals

[Luke 37252]

We'd have to look at some specific examples. best best is to supply the info requested in how to report a media playback issue. thanks!

[MSattler 387]

Yeah I was aware that it was per connection, but if I had it set to 4 Mbps with 2 users it should have only been using 8 Mbps, not the 10.8-12 that it was using.  That's why I thought I might have been missing something else.  I'll just have to let my users know they should leave it on Automatic bitrate most of the time, unless they are choosing a lower bitrate like 1 Mbps, and use NL to set the global upload limit.  Thanks for the info Luke, keep up the great work!

 

Are you sure they were not downloading something from you instead?

 

Not sure if download's are covered by the same limit or not.

[dcook 266]

You can do this with Qos at your edge router/firewall

[IcyBergals 8]

Are you sure they were not downloading something from you instead?

 

Not sure if download's are covered by the same limit or not.

 

Yeah, it showed them both as active streams that were transcoding on my Dashboard.  Afaik, when someone is downloading you only get the notification in Recent Activity, it wouldn't show under active devices.  

 

You can do this with Qos at your edge router/firewall

 

Would you recommend doing it through the router rather than via a program like NetLimiter?  I want to run NL anyways to monitor my bandwidth usage over the course of the month, although I bet the router could do that as well?  I have an ASUS RT-AC66U that's running stock firmware.