Playback chocking on Wifi or 4G LTE, but not when using Web client

[careca 11]

I experiencing poor playback via the Android app (latest version). The video keep chocking, even when on WiFi with maximum strength. On 4G LTE even more.

 

But when I try to watch the same video on the same phone via Chrome (Web Client) all is silk smooth, which seems to indicate an issue with the Android app itself.

 

I attached the client log file. On this log I first watched ~1min via 4G and another min via WiFi. That was enough to see 3 or 4 buffering issues each time.

 

Phone details: HTC One X, 4.2.2, Stock, no root.

 

 

 

Any clues?

client-61f2cec2-b390-4d9b-97b7-1721110c137b.txt

[Luke 37065]

can you post a server log that contains playback from both? thanks.

[Redshirt 1487]

It may actually be an issue I'm already aware of. There's an issue where I'm miscalculating the bitrate and the server is defaulting to the source bitrate instead.

 

careca, is the source bitrate fairly hight for those videos?

[careca 11]

can you post a server log that contains playback from both? thanks.

Here is a zip with the server log file (note that the server log should contain a lot more entries, since I tried to watch the same video multiple times while outside my home before try via WiFi as well).

Server.zip

[careca 11]

It may actually be an issue I'm already aware of. There's an issue where I'm miscalculating the bitrate and the server is defaulting to the source bitrate instead.

 

careca, is the source bitrate fairly hight for those videos?

According to the Web Client:

 

Video:H264 • 1280x720 • 16:9 • 3970 kbps

Audio:AC3 • stereo • 384 kbps • Default

Using MKV as a container.

[Redshirt 1487]

hmm. That value is low enough that it should play fine over WiFi even with the bug I mentioned. That video would definitely choke on cellular though using the source bitrate. 

 

Can you please try again over WiFi and supply the ffmpeg log that's generated.

[Luke 37065]

there's one situation where android is asking for a 0 bitrate. there's another where it's asking for a bitrate 2.5x higher than the web client.

[Redshirt 1487]

there's one situation where android is asking for a 0 bitrate. there's another where it's asking for a bitrate 2.5x higher than the web client.

 

The zero bitrate is the bug I mentioned. As for the larger bitrate... When everything works as expected, I'm supplying to the server the LOWER of either the max bitrate from the client settings, or the refactored bitrate value if the video is being scaled. The latter is going to soon be removed as server isn't behaving like it used to with regards to video scaling.

[careca 11]

I cleaned the server log folder and captured new logs for server and FFMPEG (attached). Two observations

 

1. It buffered 3 times during the first minute or so, then it became more stable. Perhaps I just needed to wait a little bit longer on WiFi and the bug is limited to 4G as Redshirt mentioned below?

 

2. Just to confirm that no more issues would occur, I let it play for a little bit longer. After 3 or 4 min, the playback just stops and MediaBrowser doesn't respond anymore.

 

I reproed it 3 times in the last 10 min or so.

 

 

Server-FFMPEG-Wifi.zip

[Redshirt 1487]

Well seeing as the server is transcoding that video at nearly 800 fps, it looks like it's all related to the bug I mentioned. It'll be taken care of for the next Android update. 

[careca 11]

Well seeing as the server is transcoding that video at nearly 800 fps, it looks like it's all related to the bug I mentioned. It'll be taken care of for the next Android update. 

Thanks for the quick investigation Redshirt! I will be using the Web client for now, while I wait for the update. I will reply back once I test it on the new version.