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User-level bitrate limit should trump global limit in all cases


C.S.

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Since it already works this way when setting a lower limit for a particular user, it seems logical that it would work the same way when setting a higher limit.

 

Use case:

Let's say I'm a remote user on my own server. Bandwidth is not really a problem, but to keep things under control, I set a 10 mbit global per stream limit.

 

Life is good, but one day I see that a certain movie I'm watching just happens to look pretty bad when transcoded (as is true for movies with lots of grain). In this case what I'd like to do is leave the global limit where it is for my users, but change my own limit to allow direct playback.

 

Right now it is not possible to achieve the same end result without raising the global limit and then setting a lower limit for every user. Of course this is much more time consuming than simply changing my own user limit.

 

Thanks for reading. Emby is great.

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I'm afraid this is not what people would expect with this setting.  It is a MAX limit.  Therefore, it can be overridden with a lower one at the app/user level but should not be able to be overridden to the upside. If it were able to do that, there would be no point in having the limit at all.

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Do you think my use case is invalid? Why not treat the global limit as the default limit and let us configure certain users differently in either direction - if I have set a default limit, there's no way I'm going to be surprised by my own action of setting a higher limit for a particular user.

 

 

 

An optional per-stream bitrate limit for all out of network devices. This is useful to prevent devices from requesting a higher bitrate than your internet connection can handle. This may result in increased CPU load on your server in order to transcode videos on the fly to a lower bitrate.
This will override the default global value set in advanced server settings.

 

^^^ This is what I see as an admin in the user settings. The only surprising / unexpected thing is that the user setting does not override the "default global value", like it says it will, when I'm trying to use it to solve the very reasonable problem I described before.

 

And maybe I wasn't clear - I'm not saying regular users should be able to increase their own limit themselves. Absolutely they should only be able to give themselves a lower limit if they need it that way, like if they have crappy wifi. I'm just saying admins should have the option of increasing the limit for particular users, without the hassle of setting an individual limit for each and every user.

 

I completely understand if you don't want to change it, and since the workaround is obvious (just a bit tedious), I'm fine with it. But you might consider changing the verbiage in the menu to make it clear that you can't override the global default in the up direction. "Default" does not actually imply "Maximum."

 

Cheers :)

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I can see the argument either way. More control is possible.

 

I know it's a minor thing in the grand scheme but thanks for considering it. :)

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crusher11

Why not set the global limit to whatever you want yours to be, then set all your other users to whatever your current global limit is? You know, the way it's actually supposed to work.

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Why not set the global limit to whatever you want yours to be, then set all your other users to whatever your current global limit is? You know, the way it's actually supposed to work.

 

Because maybe I only want to temporarily change my own limit - like in the case I carefully described.

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-- Which would require me to change settings for a couple dozen users individually... temporarily? That would be a bit silly. And tedious.

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crusher11

What?

 

Set all the user limits to your current global limit.

Set your global limit to whatever your actual max limit is.

Set your limit to match the other users, then raise it as needed exactly as you do now.

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What?

 

Exactly.

 

Set all the user limits to your current global limit.

 

^^This is tedium. People generally try to avoid it.

 

Set your global limit to whatever your actual max limit is.

 

Why? There's no point to setting a global limit with your suggested method - every user would need their own setting, even though I only need one user (me) to be temporarily different.

 

Set your limit to match the other users,

 

^^Now I'm back to where I started...

 

then raise it as needed exactly as you do now.

 

"Exactly as I do now" means I have one setting for everyone. That's nice. That's easy. If I feel like changing that setting for everyone, that's also nice and easy. If I want to set one user at a lower limit, once again, that's nice and easy. The only thing that's not nice and easy is if I want to set one user at a higher limit - that's impossible without setting an individual limit on each and every user. I don't see why it needs to be that way. Feel free to explain why it needs to be that way.

 

My suggestion is to make the global default limit work just like it sounds - as a global default, not a global maximum. Those words are not synonyms.

 

Let's try it this way -

Can you think of a scenario where my suggestion would make things more difficult for you, or anyone you can imagine? Would it really break something if the last line below were literally true in all cases?:

An optional per-stream bitrate limit for all out of network devices. This is useful to prevent devices from requesting a higher bitrate than your internet connection can handle. This may result in increased CPU load on your server in order to transcode videos on the fly to a lower bitrate.

This will override the default global value set in advanced server settings.
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crusher11

I don't see why it needs to be that way. Feel free to explain why it needs to be that way.

Because that's what "limit" means. Your global limit shouldn't be higher than any individual limit because otherwise it stops being a limit. Use it properly and it stops being an issue.

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Cool.

 

Except you know the words we're talking about are default and maximum.

 

Do we really need to get a dictionary in here?

 

Edit: Sorry, my real question is can you think, or can anybody think of a situation where my suggestion would make life more difficult or confusing?

 

A default limit is just a default limit. 'Default' implies possible variation. And indeed, variation is possible, but currently only in one direction. As an admin, I can only speak for myself when I say the following language would absolutely not confuse me if it were true in all cases:

This will override the default global value set in advanced server settings.

Edited by C.S.
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The field, as implemented, is a maximum value.  If it is labeled something else, we should change that.

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Another possible solution:

 

[x]  Allow user to exceed default global bitrate limit

 

Adding this option would make it quick and easy to give certain users the privilege of picking their own limit at the app level.

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