Emby for WMC stopping videos after 1+ mins & not playing certain vids at all

[ArCaDe 2]

Hello All.

I'm having an issue with Emby for WMC on two different boxes. Both get to a certain point of a video (usually after 1 min) & it just stops. Some videos do play but then I can't skip fwd, etc. Other videos start but produce no video\audio but on the dashboard it shows the time moving. On one box I updated to the latest shark codecs & having the same issues. I've tried changing Shark settings several times but still getting the same results. Things have been working upto a few weeks ago, it seems. I haven't used WMC in awhile, been mainly streaming to phone, etc. The other user mainly uses Emby for WMC & hasn't been able to watch any of the media because of these issues. Had to set her up watching on her tablet for now. She tried watching a few shows that I streamed with no problems, but she has the issue on WMC. Any ideas, I'm at a loss?

[Luke 36992]

Hi there, let's look at an example. Please attach the information requested in how to report a media playback issue. thanks !

[ArCaDe 2]

Thanks Luke. Here is the server log as well as a few logs from one of the WMC boxes. I added a few others logs, not sure if they were needed. I played two files that stop after around 1m30s, the other two I tried never start, just get the timebar & the server shows the time count it going up even though nothing plays on WMC. Pls let me know what other info I can supply? Thanks again.

 

embyserver.txt MBClassic-301020201466892c60614fb689bf0fee8727e8f8.log MBClassic-301020203fb1122bc0e6411d83f9bf13b8a879ab.log MBClassic-30102020d46b65a0993a4cfaa4df1329fe0de080.log ffmpeg-remux-0461bd57-aaa4-42da-bc2e-0990cba12d18_1.txt ffmpeg-remux-f09e05a9-9d28-43ab-adad-492412d6d668_1.txt ffmpeg-remux-fed39535-6c95-4449-ac3c-49492496116a_1.txt ffmpeg-transcode-d270749c-7e39-45f5-8ea6-1d9fe5ecc6a2_1.txt ffmpeg-transcode-f471d2f8-ff8d-4f02-a06d-6fd763cb6556_1.txt hardware_detection-63739631581.txt ffmpeg-remux-4c5168a5-7f13-4313-b98d-d0ba14e8972c_1.txt ffmpeg-remux-86b9c9af-2ea2-46a1-a13f-b5c0e402f77e_1.txt

[ebr 14898]

Hi.  The first thing you want to do is update to the beta version of Emby for WMC as it is designed to work better with the newer server version that you are using.

Then, you want to define your "Optional Network Path" in the library setup on the server for each of the library locations such that it is a UNC path that your WMC machine can directly access.

Finally, be sure you have the proper codecs installed on the WMC machine to support the media you are attempting to play (MP4 in the above case).

Alternatively, you could just upgrade the machine to Emby Theater or use a device like an Android TV or Roku box and move away from WMC altogether.

[ArCaDe 2]

Thanks ebr. I just updated to the latest beta WMC client. The optional network paths are already assigned. I tried playing the same videos after the update & get the same results. Could it be related to the Shark codecs? That is what I have been using for years without any issues upto now. What codec would you recommend for Windows? And I updated to the latest version of Shark before posting since the media plays fine on mobile clients, web client, etc.

[ArCaDe 2]

I realize that everything that I try to access after updating to the beta WMC client says unable to access media & to verify UNC shortcuts. I've verified the UNC paths are there, some of those library folders are using UNC for the folder & then have it also listed as the optional. I just changed some settings in Shark but get the same playback issues.

[ebr 14898]

1 hour ago, ArCaDe said:

after updating to the beta WMC client says unable to access media & to verify UNC shortcuts.

What happens if you type one of those exact paths into Windows Explorer on the WMC machine?  Sounds like either a path or permissions problem accessing the media locations.

[ArCaDe 2]

It's able to access the shares\files directly with no issues at all. Should've mentioned earlier that the PC's play the media files with no issues in MPC & VLC. I have my video share mapped on both wmc boxes & they can access it & the subfolders. I think this was from the MediaBrowser days. They can also access the UNC paths directly w\o using the drive mapping.

[ebr 14898]

Can we please see a EMC log from playing one of these now that you've updated?

[ArCaDe 2]

Pls find my latest EMC log. I also noticed it says direct play on the console.

MBClassic-30102020ab97f3afd71247a08471ee04b210d4c9.log

[ArCaDe 2]

Also, I just tried playing all the same media in Windows Media Player & they all play fine. Wouldn't WMP be using the same codecs as EMC?

[ebr 14898]

2020-10-30 16:23:21.8902,Warning,,Unable to directly access smb://192.168.1.10/Video/TV/The Mandalorian/Season 2/The.Mandalorian.S02E01.RERIP.WEBRip.x264-ION10.mp4.  Attempting to stream.,1,Application

This is the root of your issue.  A standard UNC path should just be "//SERVERorIP/sharename".  Try removing the "smb:" from your network path settings.

37 minutes ago, ArCaDe said:

I just tried playing all the same media in Windows Media Player & they all play fine. Wouldn't WMP be using the same codecs as EMC?

It isn't EMC but, rather, WMC that is playing the item and it doesn't necessarily use the same codecs as WMP depending on architecture.  I can't remember which way it is but one of them is a 32 bit app and the other 64 so they end up using different versions of the codecs.

However, we aren't even getting that far as the app is not able to access the media locations.

[ArCaDe 2]

Thanks ebr. Hmmm, that's weird. For windows, UNC path is \\ServerorIP\Share not with the forward-slash. So I have \\192.168.1.10\Video\TV for both the folder & shared network folder. None of the folders in my library have the shared network folders starting with smb. Should I be using forward-slash for the shared network folder? And I believe I had the main share for my media mapped on the WMC boxes for perms back in the MediaBrowser days. Don't think I need it mapped nowadays, is that correct?

 

Edited October 30, 2020 by ArCaDe

[ArCaDe 2]

I just added one of my folders to WMC directly & found out the mkv files that were stopping after a short time, play fine directly in WMC over the share. The mp4 files don't play so that's a codec issue i'll starting looking into. The Shark codec UI has been updated so everything has been moved around but i'll try to figure that out.

Edit: I figured out the mp4 issue & now it plays directly in WMC with no issues. Still getting the exact same issues with both types of files in EMC as originally reported.

Edited October 30, 2020 by ArCaDe

[ebr 14898]

15 hours ago, ArCaDe said:

Still getting the exact same issues with both types of files in EMC as originally reported

Please reproduce that problem and then provide the EMC and server logs from when that happened and tell us exactly what happened.

Thanks.

[Luke 36992]

There is a nearly identical issue reported with certain Dlna devices that we are looking into.

I'm now starting to think it's not specific to Dlna devices and is instead specific to older devices (which WMC is - older video player).

So we are looking into that. If you were to setup direct path playback as Ebr is suggesting, then that would bypass the issue altogether. 

[ArCaDe 2]

Ok, so just tried to Play Fear the Walking Dead S06E1 & it plays but its stuttering. The dashboard shows its direct playing but doing the hardware transcoding. Then I played Warrior S02E1 & the playbar comes up but no media plays. Then I tried Mandalorian S2E1, same play bar but no media plays. Both the last 2 files show direct playing & no transcoding. Then I tried This Is Us S5E1, dashboard shows direct playing with transcoding & it stops around 1 min in. All the media I try playing gives Could not access media error. My libraries in Emby have been the same for several years now. I'm not sure what you mean by direct path playback. Both clients have direct access to the NAS the media is stored on via UNC & the optional network path has been setup for all the libraries. For instance, my TV library has the UNC for both fields: \\192.168.1.10\Video\TV. On both clients, I can access that UNC path with no issues. Pls find EMBY & EMC logs attached. Thanks guys!

I also just tried changing the Optional network path to /.192.168.1.10/Video/TV & still get the same issues.

MBClassic-3112020c7d47b4bbcbb42b887a9d0fa401b9bca.log embyserver.txt ffmpeg-transcode-55192c05-a972-409c-94d0-c384ab1006ac_1.txt ffmpeg-transcode-feca6cd8-fa36-4625-b898-2ceeb707c3ff_1.txt embyserver-63739977036.txt

Edited November 3, 2020 by ArCaDe

[ebr 14898]

You are positive you haven't put this into the network path somewhere?

smb://192.168.1.10/Video/TV

 

[Luke 36992]

Quote

I also just tried changing the Optional network path to /.192.168.1.10/Video/TV & still get the same issues.

Here's the ultimate test. Take whatever path you entered into the optional network path field.

Then go over to the machine running Emby for WMC. Open windows file explorer, and enter that path into the address bar and make sure you can browse it there.

You need to get that working first, then it will work in Emby for WMC.

[ArCaDe 2]

2 minutes ago, ebr said:

You are positive you haven't put this into the network path somewhere?

smb://192.168.1.10/Video/TV

 

Positive. But I did find that all my Movies play fine, just all the other libraries give issues. My Emby is run in Unraid, so I always used Mount Points but it seemed to start working for UNC paths until now. For some reason I never changed my Movies library. I just changed my TV library to use the mount point instead of the UNC path, it's scanning now. I'm hoping once it completes all the issues will be resolved & i'll have to change all the libraries that point to the UNC. I assume the UNC doesn;'t work in Unraid because it only has Guest access to the media files.

3 minutes ago, Luke said:

Here's the ultimate test. Take whatever path you entered into the optional network path field.

Then go over to the machine running Emby for WMC. Open windows file explorer, and enter that path into the address bar and make sure you can browse it there.

You need to get that working first, then it will work in Emby for WMC.

Already did this, was the 1st thing tested. Have always been able to access the UNC from both boxes without issues. Also added the share directly in WMC was able to play the media files that EMC had issues with which rules out Codec issues.

[ArCaDe 2]

Ok, so I switched the folder path from UNC back to the Unraid mount point, scanned the library, & everything is working again. Originally only the mount points worked, but then I had an issue & switched to UNC and it worked fine until recently. I'll switch all the libraries back the mount points. Thanks for the help guys.

[Luke 36992]

What does you optional network path look like now?

[ArCaDe 2]

Before it was just using the UNC for both fields: 

 

I switched all libraries to be like my Movies library using the Unraid mount point:

[Luke 36992]

Right OK, yes that's definitely a better approach.