Erratic playback w/ 1 series in particular

[mastrmind11 717]

Always happens w/ 1 series, every episode, recorded via Emby.  Show starts out w/ a shitload of artifacts, kinda evens out a couple mins later, then skips frames like crazy for the remainder.  Sometimes it will actually restart itself from the beginning.  Management page displays that it's direct playing (does this via SPMC as well as Emby ATV on both MiBox and Shield).  If I hit the panic button it comes back to life w/ medium artifacts and plays as a 5Mbps transcode (local network, gig line, set to auto, 5Mbps???), but will also restart itself on its own regardless.  The play time also reports itself as something like 515 mins which isn't correct and the file size is 18-ish GB, which seems high for a normal 2 hr episode (CRF=23).  Bunch of MVC errors in the transcode log once I hit the panic button.  The transcode log attached is from the moment I hit the panic button and there wasn't one before it.  The server log is from top of day and I started testing this issue again when I got home from work @ 445 EDT.  I remember there being an issue w/ a ref frame of 1, but I just checked my other recorded shows and they all have it and all play fine.  Media details:

 

Media Info

VideoCodecMPEG2VIDEO
ProfileMain
Level4
Resolution1920x1080
Aspect ratio16:9
AnamorphicNo
InterlacedNo
Framerate29.97003
Bitrate4795 kbps
Pixel formatyuv420p
Ref frames1

AudioCodecAC3
Layout5.1
Channels6 ch
Bitrate384 kbps
Sample rate48000 Hz
DefaultYes
TitleDolby Digital 5.1 Default

Containermkv

Pathnfs://10.0.1.151:/storage/movies/recorded/My 600-Lb. Life/Season 5/My 600-Lb. Life S05E18 Tracey's Story.mkv

 

 

Thanks

 

server.txt

transcode.txt

[ebr 14917]

The play time also reports itself as something like 515 mins which isn't correct and the file size is 18-ish GB, which seems high for a normal 2 hr episode (CRF=23).

 

That right there makes me thing something is definitely "off" with this particular encode.  Have you tried playing it in some other stock players?

 

Did you have any sort of conversion turned on for the recording (to mp4 or mkv)?

[mastrmind11 717]

That right there makes me thing something is definitely "off" with this particular encode. Have you tried playing it in some other stock players?

 

Did you have any sort of conversion turned on for the recording (to mp4 or mkv)?

Have not yet tried in vlc, will do this weekend. I have Emby set to record in "stream friendly format mkv". I'll give it a go and report back. It's just so bizarre it's literally only 1 series.

 

Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk

[mastrmind11 717]

Found another recently recorded episode exhibiting the same behavior and has a runtime of 500+ mins as well.  Sent the log from the Shield, user bill starts about 9:11am EDT.  Media info:

 

Video CodecMPEG2VIDEO
ProfileMain
Level4
Resolution1920x1080
Aspect ratio16:9
AnamorphicNo
InterlacedNo
Framerate29.97003
Bitrate476 kbps
Pixel formatyuv420p
Ref frames1

Audio CodecAC3
Layout5.1
Channels6 ch
Bitrate384 kbps
Sample rate48000 Hz
DefaultYes
TitleDolby Digital 5.1 Default

Containermkv

Pathnfs://10.0.1.151:/storage/movies/recorded/Long Island Medium/Season 7/Long Island Medium S07E04 The Biopsy is Back.mkv

 

Tried playing it in VLC and it's pixelated in some spots, but it doesn't completely stop or skip at all.  I sent you another log from the Shield using the external player.  Play starts @ 9:20.

server.txt

Edited April 1, 2017 by mastrmind11

[mastrmind11 717]

And I confirmed that VLC plays the file from my original post w/o freezing or skipping, though there is still some pixelation similar to the other one.  I sent a log from the Shield, playback started @ 9:24 EDT.

Edited April 1, 2017 by mastrmind11

[mastrmind11 717]

When I use my Android device, both direct play and exhibit the same behavior as when I use VLC on the Shield (no skipping, freezing, but some pixelation).  

 

This is a new phenomenon because neither of these series had issues or 500 min runtimes as of 2 weeks ago.  I'm on server v3.2.8.

 

I'd love to get this figured out... wife is not happy.

Edited April 1, 2017 by mastrmind11

[Luke 37086]

I notice you're preserving the mpeg video with your recordings. why not allow the server to convert it to h264?

[ebr 14917]

I think that may be the best thing to try.  The only thing in the log are a couple of the following messages.

04-01 09:15:01.549 22844 23030 E AudioTrack: Discontinuity detected [expected 34560000, got 34848000]

[mastrmind11 717]

I notice you're preserving the mpeg video with your recordings. why not allow the server to convert it to h264?

 

 

I think that may be the best thing to try.  The only thing in the log are a couple of the following messages.

04-01 09:15:01.549 22844 23030 E AudioTrack: Discontinuity detected [expected 34560000, got 34848000]

I assume you mean the "Preserve original video when converting recordings" option, which I have enabled?  Yeah I can try that, I just assumed since I have a beefy server it wouldn't matter.  But the strange part is this has only been a problem since 2 weeks ago.... everything prior has been fine.  I'll tweak the setting and let it go for another week and report back.  I'll hold off upgrading the server to 2.10.  Thanks for the suggestion.