Emby Loads Much Much Slower Over my Wi-Fi Than A Data Line

[rudco 4]

Greetings, 

Just a quick question...

I have my Emby server on Windows 10 configured for external and internal, and these both work. I can see my Emby-based shows over phone data when out and about, and I *can* see Emby when I am home and on my Wi-Fi 5ghz at home. But when I'm at home and on the Wi-Fi, I'd expect Emby to be fairly quick in loading and playing on my phone over the speedy 5ghz, but libraries, screens, and loading the actual show and starting playback takes much much longer than I think it should, it is faster when I am outside and only on the data line.

Am better off using Emby over the data line, even when I am at home? Or am I doing something wrong with network/Wi-Fi settings somewhere? Appreciate any help.

Thanks,

Ed Rudman

[pwhodges 1531]

If you are accessing Emby at home using the same external address as you use externally, it means that your router is having to accept the request as if it is an out-going one and turn it around to point at your internal server*.  This is called loopback or hairpinning, and not all routers can do it efficiently.

Can you try as a test using the server's internal address to see if that works fine?

Alternatively, just because your wi-fi is 5gHz doesn't mean you have a fast connection - that depends on range and interference as well.

Paul

* It is possible, of course, that your network uses external addresses internally, but that is a vanishingly rare setup domestically which I only mention because I once ran my network that way!

[Luke 37069]

@rudco please let us know if this helps. thanks.

[rudco 4]

On my Samsung Note 20 Ultra phone, I went into my Emby app and added a new server, making sure to choose the "In-Home (LAN)" IP and port, and I *am* in my house A video still took a little while to load and begin playing. I got out of the app, turned off the Wi-Fi on my phone, and went back in to play the same video, and it was much faster going through the library screens and playing. Not sure why.

 

[Luke 37069]

Let's look at an example. Please attach the information requested in how to report a problem. thanks !

[rudco 4]

Greetings, Luke,

Okay, here's what I just did.

1) Restarted Emby Server on my Windows 10 machine for a clean log.

2) Started Emby app on my phone, in my house, Wi-Fi turned on.

3) Went to "Movies" and selected "Lord Of The Rings". Phone screen went black, I waited about 2 or 3 minutes, nothing happened.

4) Backed out of the Emby app on the phone. Turned OFF the Wi-Fi on the phone.

5) Started the Emby app on my phone again, "Movies", "Lord of the Rings", just using data. Movie began playing in about 10-15 seconds.

Attaching the log file that contains all this. 

embyserver.txt

[Luke 37069]

Hi, yes that's strange, but there's nothing obvious from the Emby Server side. It's really hard to say. You could try rebooting your router and wireless equipment as that's often a good way to clean up any network congestion.

[pwhodges 1531]

I wasn't clear which address you were using when.  The "In-home" 192.168.. address will only work on wi-fi - there's no way your cellphone link can use that to route back to you, so you have to use the remote address with that.  But the "Remote" address may work on wi-fi if your router does loopback ("hairpinning"), but that might be less efficient than direct addressing.

Paul

[rudco 4]

So, let me clarify and ask some further questions....

Just now, I:

1) DELETED and re-installed the Emby app onto my Android phone. I rebooted the phone after uninstall, and when the phone came back up, I TURNED OFF the Wi-Fi, so it was only running on data.

2) As I said, re-installed the Emby app. I ADDED a server manually, and I made sure to put in the "Remote (WAN) access:" IP address. 

3) The library screen came up, I chose a show, and things begin playing almost instantly.

4) I closed the Emby app, then TURNED ON the Wi-Fi on my phone, and opened Emby again.

5) Attempting to do the same steps as #3 above, Emby took a long, long, time, and actually never started the show. When I picked the show, I just see the green/blue/red/yellow spinning and spinning and spinning.

6) Closed Emby again, TURNED OFF Wi-Fi, and everything works fairly instantly.

So, questions:  

Should I just always use the REMOTE IP address, and if I'm in the house, remember to turn off the Wi-Fi so there is no delay? Or is Emby trying to connect via Wi-Fi first, and taking a while, and then switching to the data connection method? Is there a way to stop that from happening?

Or is there a way for me to put in both REMOTE and LOCAL IP addresses, so that Emby will be able to choose, depending on my location, in home or outside of home?

 

 

 

[pwhodges 1531]

If you are using numeric addresses, then no, Emby cannot choose automatically from multiple options.

It seems that your router is not doing loopback.  Some don't, but in others it is an option, so it might be worth going into the router's setup (or manual!) and trying to find whether there is such an option for you to enable.  If you find one, that could be your simplest solution.

Unfortunately, the way I do it is not available to most people.  I run a domain, which has an internal DNS server.  My internal DNS gives me local addresses for the same names as I have assigned for the external addresses externally.  So by specifying the server by name, the client can find the correct address whether inside my network or away from it - in fact when I come home from walking the dogs while listening to music through Emby on my phone, it switches automatically and seamlessly between the addresses required without even a glitch.  However, because I have always worked within a domain, I am not sufficiently familiar with what the nearest equivalent procedure would be without one, so someone else, @cayars I guess, would be better able to advise you.

Paul

[Carlo 4330]

As Paul mentioned it's likely a loopback issue.

Many routers can allow you to always use the external IP address thus allowing that IP or a DNS/DDNS entry to work.  You can also do as Paul does running an internal DNS server as well which has one special domain setup in it which is YOUR domain and has entries using local IPs.

You can use Emby Connect which should work if local or remote.

You can setup your apps with 2 servers.  One using LAN IP and one using remote IP/WAN (or names).

Many ways to accomplish this.

[Q-Droid 644]

Shouldn't the Android app automatically switch to the LAN IP using the info collected from the "system/info/public" call? And if it does then why would it keep trying the WAN IP while on LAN?

 

[Carlo 4330]

Again it all depends on how YOU setup the server in the client.  If for example you enter YOURDOMAIN.COM then that is what the app will use.  If you only have external DNS then the IP will be your WAN port (assuming a home setup) and then it comes down to how your router handles loop-back.

Emby as a whole is very versatile and can be setup many ways for things like this so there is not a right/wrong way to set things up.  It just need be setup for the environment it's going to be used in.

[rudco 4]

Greetings, 

Well, although I have been in IT for 30 years, I'm still a little hazy when it comes to all the domain setup and router stuff, but I did go in to my Linksys router and flip a switch related to "loopback", and things seem to be working *much* more quickly on Emby Android on my phone here at home under the Wi-Fi. So the real test will be when I am out today sitting in the McDonalds parking lot for lunch, we'll see if Emby still plays out there...

Thanks for all the responses!

[Carlo 4330]

If you McD's Wifi is anything like the few around here it sucks and doesn't give you enough bandwidth to stream movies but good for email and stuff like that.  So if it doesn't work out well there try at a friends house, work or some other place that has decent wifi.

[rudco 4]

Hey, Cayars,

I *rarely* use Wi-Fi other than in my home. What I meant was I'd see how Emby performed over the data line out in the wilds, like McDonald's parking lot, where I usually watch 20 minutes of something during lunch. And it worked fine today, and is still working much more quickly inside the home, too, so whatever loopback switch I affected yesterday on my router, that was the ticket!

[Carlo 4330]

Super glad to hear this fixed your issues and you're getting much better performance now!