Multiple Streams of Same Channel Fails - Black Screen

[bungee91 98]

I have two users (remote) trying to watch the same channel, and only the first user gets a working stream, the other gets a black screen, or in my testing I've also gotten just a spinning circle (in ET).

 

Plenty of tuners free.

I notice that SWMC does not issue a second tuner for the same stream (which is nice if it worked through Emby!), so I only see the one stream in the tuners tab, with no new one being established once the 2nd user (or myself in testing) attempts to play the same channel.

However it never plays.

 

I'm guessing (logs attached however) that Emby gets the request, SWMC says "you've already got this channel streaming, use it", and this doesn't work and no 2nd stream is shared from Emby.

If this is not directly possible, is there a way I can set SWMC to use another tuner for the 2nd user's request?

I think DLNA mode would do exactly this, but since I'm a mix of tuners (some non DLNA), I already had some issues with using that mode, so leaving it off is preferred.

 

Thanks (and go Cubs!)..

Emby Server Log.txt

ServerWMC.log

[Luke 37099]

These logs are a little bit too big with too many playback attempts. Can you please try again, startup the server, then just recreate the issue in as few steps as possible and then provide the logs? Thanks.

[bungee91 98]

These logs are a little bit too big with too many playback attempts. Can you please try again, startup the server, then just recreate the issue in as few steps as possible and then provide the logs? Thanks.

 

I was just thinking the same thing regarding the size, thinking it was somewhere in this section

2016-10-07 21:58:29.4320 Info HttpServer: HTTP POST http://192.168.1.161:8096/emby/Items/ec8ad641a80da064786ddfb08a87a8d1/PlaybackInfo?UserId=d84ea6d0e99c49589ab08546aa116351&StartTimeTicks=0. UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/53.0.2785.143 Safari/537.36
2016-10-07 21:58:29.4443 Info App: Cannot direct play due to unknown content bitrate
2016-10-07 21:58:29.4443 Info App: Cannot direct play due to unknown content bitrate
2016-10-07 21:58:29.4443 Info App: Profile: Unknown Profile, Path: http://192.168.1.161:8096, isEligibleForDirectPlay: False, isEligibleForDirectStream: False
2016-10-07 21:58:29.4443 Info App: Cannot direct play due to unknown content bitrate
2016-10-07 21:58:29.4443 Info App: Cannot direct play due to unknown content bitrate
2016-10-07 21:58:29.4443 Info App: Profile: Unknown Profile, Path: http://192.168.1.161:8096, isEligibleForDirectPlay: False, isEligibleForDirectStream: False
2016-10-07 21:58:29.4450 Info HttpServer: HTTP Response 200 to 192.168.1.160. Time: 13ms. http://192.168.1.161:8096/emby/Items/ec8ad641a80da064786ddfb08a87a8d1/PlaybackInfo?UserId=d84ea6d0e99c49589ab08546aa116351&StartTimeTicks=0
2016-10-07 21:58:29.4495 Info HttpServer: HTTP POST http://192.168.1.161:8096/emby/LiveStreams/Open?UserId=d84ea6d0e99c49589ab08546aa116351&StartTimeTicks=0&ItemId=ec8ad641a80da064786ddfb08a87a8d1&PlaySessionId=eb7da7d960404becb0bf7f2309ab2c4a. UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/53.0.2785.143 Safari/537.36
2016-10-07 21:58:29.4534 Info App: Opening channel stream from ServerWMC, external channel Id: 10643960

However, unfortunately (and thank you for looking) there's a baseball game on right now, and I'd hate to interrupt that experience for the one user who that stream is working for!.. 

 

I can recreate this easily another time using two connections here locally and I'd think I'd get the same results. 

If not, will recreate it the same with external connections.

[bungee91 98]

This may be helpful (while not being able to reboot right now, if you're feeling over helpful).

 

I just attempted to stream it here locally, while the current remote stream was active from ET.

It just spun a circle for over a minute, I then stopped it and closed ET.

 

I snipped the log for the total of the three minutes (a minute prior, some after), and that is attached.

 

This should be the relevant section (similar to one above).

2016-10-07 22:35:36.6176 Info HttpServer: HTTP Response 200 to 192.168.1.160. Time: 7ms. http://192.168.1.161:8096/emby/Playback/BitrateTest?Size=2400000
2016-10-07 22:35:36.6326 Info HttpServer: HTTP POST http://192.168.1.161:8096/emby/Items/82a123627d435ba2beb9d28382eba96c/PlaybackInfo?UserId=d84ea6d0e99c49589ab08546aa116351&StartTimeTicks=0. UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) EmbyTheater/2.5.23 Chrome/53.0.2785.113 Electron/1.4.2 Safari/537.36
2016-10-07 22:35:36.6455 Info App: Cannot direct play due to unknown content bitrate
2016-10-07 22:35:36.6455 Info App: Cannot direct play due to unknown content bitrate
2016-10-07 22:35:36.6455 Info App: Profile: Unknown Profile, Path: http://192.168.1.161:8096, isEligibleForDirectPlay: False, isEligibleForDirectStream: False
2016-10-07 22:35:36.6455 Info App: Cannot direct play due to unknown content bitrate
2016-10-07 22:35:36.6455 Info App: Cannot direct play due to unknown content bitrate
2016-10-07 22:35:36.6455 Info App: Profile: Unknown Profile, Path: http://192.168.1.161:8096, isEligibleForDirectPlay: False, isEligibleForDirectStream: False
2016-10-07 22:35:36.6461 Info HttpServer: HTTP Response 200 to 192.168.1.160. Time: 14ms. http://192.168.1.161:8096/emby/Items/82a123627d435ba2beb9d28382eba96c/PlaybackInfo?UserId=d84ea6d0e99c49589ab08546aa116351&StartTimeTicks=0
2016-10-07 22:35:36.6511 Info HttpServer: HTTP POST http://192.168.1.161:8096/emby/LiveStreams/Open?UserId=d84ea6d0e99c49589ab08546aa116351&StartTimeTicks=0&ItemId=82a123627d435ba2beb9d28382eba96c&PlaySessionId=25af3a180b58419e97858c8d207d0854. UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) EmbyTheater/2.5.23 Chrome/53.0.2785.113 Electron/1.4.2 Safari/537.36
2016-10-07 22:35:36.6542 Info App: Opening channel stream from ServerWMC, external channel Id: 10643713
2016-10-07 22:35:36.8584 Info HttpServer: HTTP POST http://73.50.71.149:8096/emby/Sessions/Playing/Progress. UserAgent: Dalvik/2.1.0 (Linux; U; Android 5.1.1; AFTS Build/LVY48F)
2016-10-07 22:35:37.7355 Info App: Live stream info: {"Protocol":"Http","Id":"54","Path":"http://192.168.1.69:9180/serverwmc.stream/StreamRemuxFile?clientName=Emby%5eServer%5e54","Type":"Default","Container":"ts","ReadAtNativeFramerate":false,"SupportsTranscoding":true,"SupportsDirectStream":true,"SupportsDirectPlay":true,"IsInfiniteStream":false,"RequiresOpening":true,"RequiresClosing":true,"LiveStreamId":"b4dc767f31fd4807454a2676b13be5fd_54","MediaStreams":[{"Codec":"h264","IsInterlaced":false,"BitRate":3847962,"IsDefault":false,"IsForced":false,"Height":720,"Width":1280,"AverageFrameRate":59.94006,"RealFrameRate":59.94006,"Profile":"High","Type":"Video","Index":2,"IsExternal":false,"IsTextSubtitleStream":false,"SupportsExternalStream":false,"Level":3.2},{"Codec":"ac3","Language":"eng","DisplayTitle":"Eng Dolby Digital 5.1","IsInterlaced":false,"ChannelLayout":"5.1","BitRate":384000,"Channels":6,"SampleRate":48000,"IsDefault":false,"IsForced":false,"Type":"Audio","Index":0,"IsExternal":false,"IsTextSubtitleStream":false,"SupportsExternalStream":false},{"Codec":"ac3","Language":"spa","DisplayTitle":"Spa Dolby Digital 2.0","IsInterlaced":false,"ChannelLayout":"2.0","BitRate":192000,"Channels":2,"SampleRate":48000,"IsDefault":false,"IsForced":false,"Type":"Audio","Index":1,"IsExternal":false,"IsTextSubtitleStream":false,"SupportsExternalStream":false}],"PlayableStreamFileNames":[],"Formats":[],"Bitrate":4232758,"RequiredHttpHeaders":{},"DefaultAudioStreamIndex":0}
2016-10-07 22:35:37.7359 Info App: Profile: Unknown Profile, Path: http://192.168.1.69:9180/serverwmc.stream/StreamRemuxFile?clientName=Emby%5eServer%5e54, isEligibleForDirectPlay: True, isEligibleForDirectStream: True
2016-10-07 22:35:37.7359 Info App: Profile: Unknown Profile, Path: http://192.168.1.69:9180/serverwmc.stream/StreamRemuxFile?clientName=Emby%5eServer%5e54, isEligibleForDirectPlay: True, isEligibleForDirectStream: True
2016-10-07 22:35:37.7359 Info HttpServer: HTTP Response 200 to 192.168.1.160. Time: 1086ms (slow). http://192.168.1.161:8096/emby/LiveStreams/Open?UserId=d84ea6d0e99c49589ab08546aa116351&StartTimeTicks=0&ItemId=82a123627d435ba2beb9d28382eba96c&PlaySessionId=25af3a180b58419e97858c8d207d0854
2016-10-07 22:35:37.7359 Info HttpServer: HTTP Response 204 to 73.22.248.66. Time: 878ms. http://73.50.71.149:8096/emby/Sessions/Playing/Progress

Log-Snipped.txt

[Luke 37099]

make sure to provide any ffmpeg logs that may have been created as well.

[krustyreturns 191]

When serverwmc gets a request for a channel stream that is already running, it just opens up another output to the same tuner data that is already being grabbed (so yeah, it only ties up one tuner).  I test this with emby by starting a channel in chrome and then starting that same channel in another instance (or tab) of chrome and it works for me.  In the serverwmc gui, when the second stream starts, you should see that the single channel stream is now flowing to two different emby streams.

 

I glanced through the serverwmc logs and I don't see a problem.  What are the client apps you are using?  

[bungee91 98]

I'm having issues trying to get a clean log for this, primarily because it isn't happening for me in testing for local connections here.

So that's good and all, but also not helping in resolve when it does happen.

 

The client apps connected at that time were a FireTv using the Android app sideloaded (as I was told the native FireTV app just spun a loading circle and wouldn't play cable channels which are likely MPEG4, but would play my OTA channels fine, which are almost certainly MPEG2), and the 2nd connection that wouldn't work was the Roku app. After trying that same stream the user tested the next channel (CNN), and it played as expected.

 

I'll do more testing and update when I have more information to help to resolve this.

I can say that in my testing using ET, I can always get the same stream to play.

However having a stream open in ET, and then attempting to load the same channel in the Android app is spotty, sometimes working fine, others times freezing pretty quickly.

 

More to come on this at some point, thanks for the support.