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Streaming Issue on shield


wkerr0730

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wkerr0730

I've been having an issue streaming to my Nvidia shield TV.  No issues to a web client on the same network.  This is to the Baconfeet server.  I've confirmed I have a constant 200mpbs link to the server.  I'm a network engineer by trait, and have been trying to TS this problem for the better part of 6 months with no resolve.

 

Here are some TS notes:

 

  1. Played a movie (The Social Network) in web browser on my PC.  Looks like its directplay.  I let it go for 20 ish minutes and ran into no issues. https://imgur.com/MqUcDGo
    1. So with this, that tells me the issue is most likely something on Emby / my system.  I completed uninstalled Emby from the shield, reinstalled it, and connected to the BaconFeet_8 server (instead of 1 which I am normally connected to).
      1. I did notice that it installed version 1.6.71g, where before I was on a beta version.
    2. I loaded up the same movie and let it go on Shield... about the first 20 minutes, no issues.  then I noticed I was getting DD only... transcode.  weird.  I had to set the quality to 100mbps instead of "auto" to get direct play to work
    3. Tested various 4K movies on Shield Lion King 4K etc.  At a bitrate of ~82mbps constant buffering.  UGH.
    4. Tested a few non 4K TV shows  on Shield  .  At a bitrate of ~11.5 mbps saw buffering every few minutes.
    5. Tested a few non 4K movies on Shield .  At a bitrate of ~13mpbs.  Got one initial buffer at most loading the movie... then let it play @ the 7 min ish mark I started getting buffering about every minute.
    6. One additional interesting note is when I tried 4K John Wick two it went over 100mpbs and that seems to make Emby transcode and add all this odd transcode speed stuff.  Any thoughts? https://imgur.com/E0LQkKC
Edited by wkerr0730
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 loaded up the same movie and let it go on Shield... about the first 20 minutes, no issues.  then I noticed I was getting DD only... transcode.  weird.  I had to set the quality to 100mbps instead of "auto" to get direct play to work

 

To me, that clearly indicates that the connection cannot handle that bitrate...

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Charlie117

I've also noticed on my end that the 'auto' setting for bitrate is a bit too conservative on establishing the connection speed. Instead, I just set it it to an absolute value e.g. 30Mb/s or 100Mb/s depending on the location, then it works perfectly. Otherwise on the 'auto' settings I get 5Mb/s transcodes even though my WAN connection to my Emby server is confirmed to be capable of 40Mb/s for example.

 

So it seems to me that Emby is unable to accurately establish the internet connection speed.

Edited by Charlie117
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I've also noticed on my end that the 'auto' setting for bitrate is a bit too conservative on establishing the connection speed. Instead, I just set it it to an absolute value e.g. 30Mb/s or 100Mb/s depending on the location, then it works perfectly. Otherwise on the 'auto' settings I get 5Mb/s transcodes even though my WAN connection to my Emby server is confirmed to be capable of 40Mb/s for example.

 

So it seems to me that Emby is unable to accurately establish the internet connection speed.

 

But that doesn't really seem to be the case here does it?  If he leaves it on auto things play properly.  If he tries to bypass it and assume a higher bitrate, he has problems.

 

Of course, everyone's specific case will be different but, in this case, it sounds to me like Auto is working as it should.

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Charlie117

You're right ebr. I drew my conclusion too fast when I read:

 

 

I had to set the quality to 100mbps instead of "auto" to get direct play to work

Assuming he meant direct play was working without any issues. 

 

It's odd though that he can't direct play a 11.5 Mbps stream on his Shield without stuttering, but he can direct play a 10.8 Mbps stream to his browser, unless that is really his maximum connection speed to his Emby server..

 

@wkerr0730 how is the Shield connected to the internet? Wired? If you have the Netflix app installed, it allows you to perform a speedtest on the Shield to check the connection speed to it.

Edited by Charlie117
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It's odd though that he can't direct play a 11.5 Mbps stream on his Shield without stuttering, but he can direct play a 10.8 Mbps stream to his browser, unless that is really his maximum connection speed to his Emby server..

 

Yes, but there is a major difference in how those two streams are being delivered as well as just their bitrate.

 

The "direct" one is just pulling via straight http. The transcoded one is being delivered via HLS - a protocol specifically designed for streaming media.

 

My suspicion is that, when trying to stream via straight http there is very little tolerance for dips in bandwidth or latency issues because it is a protocol designed for just stuffing data through the pipe.  Conversely, when using HLS, it is able to deal with these situations better.

 

I plan to try to look at the internals of how the player is doing all of this to see if there is anything we can do with the straight http scenario.

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wkerr0730

Hey All - 

 

The reason I'm pretty sure its not the network is this:

 

1. I get buffering direct streaming a 11mpbs file

2. I have no buffering /stream issues from any other site (Vudu, Netflix, etc.)

3. I tested with a Plex share over the internet and streamed similar 50+mpbs remux files with no issues.

 

 

Here is my Netflix speedtest as requested. - https://imgur.com/ba0aXRP

 

To answer the other question all these speedtests, and the above tests from my orginal post have been done on wired and 5ghz wireless with the same results.

 

I was wondering if it was a bug where the buffer might be filling, and not requesting more data until its too late and has to buffer?

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Hey All - 

 

The reason I'm pretty sure its not the network is this:

 

1. I get buffering direct streaming a 11mpbs file

2. I have no buffering /stream issues from any other site (Vudu, Netflix, etc.)

3. I tested with a Plex share over the internet and streamed similar 50+mpbs remux files with no issues.

 

 

See my explanation above.  Those other instances where you have no problems are using a streaming protocol to deliver the content.

 

Our direct streaming is designed for high bandwidth, low latency environments (local LAN).  If you force a remux using "Playback Correction..." I imagine we will work just fine in these instances too.

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wkerr0730

@@BaconFeet you said you were doing direct play, over the WAN, and didn't see the issues I've run into?  You have tons of people use Direct Play with no issue it sounds like.

 

To EBR's point maybe they have their playback quality set to 'auto' and its trancoding even though the shield can take it.

 

Does Plex direct play use a less LAN oriented protocol?

 

Setting everything to "auto" I played a 4K movie on the shield and it selected a quality of 2mbps and DD audio.... that seems wrong.

 

I did some limited testing with Emby Home Theater app and things did seem to play much better using "direct" playback.

 

@@ebr are there any steps you recommend I take or just accept that this isn't going  to work over the WAN? I'm not sure what you mean by force Remux with playback correction.  I hit that option and nothing changes.

Edited by wkerr0730
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Setting everything to "auto" I played a 4K movie on the shield and it selected a quality of 2mbps and DD audio.... that seems wrong.

 

That indicates to me that there is some sort of severe bottle neck or latency between you and their server.

 

 

member="ebr"] are there any steps you recommend I take or just accept that this isn't going  to work over the WAN? I'm not sure what you mean by force Remux with playback correction.  I hit that option and nothing changes.

 

Try selecting that option two or three times. Each time will try a different method of playback.

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wkerr0730

It seems like the playback correction changed nothing in this case.  After the third time of pressing it it actually kicked me out of playback.

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