DS418 buffering

[msloat 1]

Noob here.  I just got my HDhomerun yesterday and was playing around with Emby as well.  the HDhomerun has the updated firmware and I did pay for the emby service yesterday. With that being said, I have been having buffering issues with Emby.    I wanted to get some tips from you guys, if you could pls, so I can get this fixed.  I really don't want to try Plex.  I have heard so many things about Plex.  But anyway, if someone could give me some tips that would be great.  FYI.  I have a DS418 setup.  Devices that I am seeing buffing is my phone, pc, and roku.

Probably one thing I didn't need to do is setup the HDhomerun to point to my DS418.  I have a feeling you have to have their 35 dollar a year service to do that.  And I didn't sign up for that.  

[Luke 37060]

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

[msloat 1]

19 hours ago, Luke said:

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

Thank you Luke for getting back to me.  Will have to get back to you on those logs.  I am at working currently and I can't log in from here.(Looking at your Icon, Ironically, I work for Sheldon's favorite place. Fermi. Too funny.)  Probably another thing I need to ask about.   I don't have any issues with logging into my Tablo from here.

 

But I was messing with it last night and this is what I was seeing, before I attach those logs. Maybe this will help.   I noticed that any web interface(Firefox, edge etc) really slows it down on certain Rokus.(probably the older ones.)   Any time I play a channel that is 1080p it has issues.   I tried Plex and it was doing the same thing.    So I downloaded the Emby windows app and it didn't have any issues what so ever playing the 1080p channels.  The newer Roku device didn't have any issues that I could tell.  I am not sure if this is a web security thing or what.  I was changing resolution to the lower setting to see if I could get it to work, but nope.

Thank you.  I think I will stalk the browser section here and hope to get a few answers.

[msloat 1]

Here is log file and server text.  I was trying another web browser and was having the same issue.  I think the txt says its Chrome, but image below is edge.  Was trying everything i could.

ffmpeg-transcode-f501429b-c61f-4810-a313-b9d5d184c7ed_1.txt embyserver.txt

Edited February 12, 2021 by msloat

[msloat 1]

Still having issues with screen stopping and starting.  Seems to happen to all devices.  I am kind of lost of what is going on.  Does Emby have tech support?

[Luke 37060]

Hi, it looks like your server is unable to transcode this quickly enough to be playable. Do you have Emby Premiere? Emby Premiere will allow you to take advantage of hardware accelerated transcoding, which will help it perform better.

You could also try playing from an Emby app that can direct play the source without transcoding, such as our Android, iOS or Windows apps.

[msloat 1]

9 hours ago, Luke said:

Hi, it looks like your server is unable to transcode this quickly enough to be playable. Do you have Emby Premiere? Emby Premiere will allow you to take advantage of hardware accelerated transcoding, which will help it perform better.

You could also try playing from an Emby app that can direct play the source without transcoding, such as our Android, iOS or Windows apps.

Yes I have premiere.  Hardware accelerated transcoding doesn't do anything for the roku and windows browser.  The roku being the most important.  But it keeps stopping and starting.  Anyway to get it to steam without transcoding to a roku?

[kaj 241]

I think the 418 maybe the problem. It's a Realtek RTD1296 Quad-Core processor with no GPU, rather than the Synology NAS with the Intel Celeron J3455 Quad-Core with Intel HD Graphics 500, like my 918+. This means that you can't use hardware acceleration. @FrostByteprobably knows more/ can confirm

[Luke 37060]

Quote

Anyway to get it to steam without transcoding to a roku?

Yes, if you play media that the Roku supports natively without transcoding:

https://developer.roku.com/docs/specs/media/streaming-specifications.md

The Emby media conversion feature can help you convert your media into more streaming friendly formats.

[msloat 1]

Still trying to figure out a way to relieve the stress off my DS418 while recoding shows.   I actually exchanged my HDhomerun connect for a extend, hoping that I could record it at internet540 instead.  But Emby records it at the heavy profile even if the default is internet540.  Which isn't too bad but hoping to go down to at least internet540 profile.  This would fix my issue if Emby would record at my default setting,  but my understand is this would be a future thing and there is no way of telling when it would be done if any.

I have been experimenting with the Raspberry pi by using the curl command and I can get that to internet540 with no issues.  Is there a way that I can connect a Raspberry pi up to my DS418 and have it convert the videos instead?  If i use emby to convert it really slows down and the cpu of my ds418 is cranked full and it still takes a long time.  Most of the time I get a failed message but I think it coverts the video anwyay.

I guess my question is if there is another way I can convert videos on my DS418 so I don't have to peg the process on it all the time?  Any suggestions.

[Luke 37060]

On 2/24/2021 at 10:24 AM, msloat said:

Still trying to figure out a way to relieve the stress off my DS418 while recoding shows.   I actually exchanged my HDhomerun connect for a extend, hoping that I could record it at internet540 instead.  But Emby records it at the heavy profile even if the default is internet540.  Which isn't too bad but hoping to go down to at least internet540 profile.  This would fix my issue if Emby would record at my default setting,  but my understand is this would be a future thing and there is no way of telling when it would be done if any.

I have been experimenting with the Raspberry pi by using the curl command and I can get that to internet540 with no issues.  Is there a way that I can connect a Raspberry pi up to my DS418 and have it convert the videos instead?  If i use emby to convert it really slows down and the cpu of my ds418 is cranked full and it still takes a long time.  Most of the time I get a failed message but I think it coverts the video anwyay.

I guess my question is if there is another way I can convert videos on my DS418 so I don't have to peg the process on it all the time?  Any suggestions.

Right, recordings currently request the native format, but we could always add an option to change that.

What Emby app are you typically playing media from?

[msloat 1]

22 hours ago, Luke said:

Right, recordings currently request the native format, but we could always add an option to change that.

What Emby app are you typically playing media from?

Normally between PC, phone, or ROKU.   All those are on wifi.

But I am noticing that certain channels I can't tell the extend to transcode lower or it won't be played.  HDhomerun lists these channels as AVC, while the others are marked HD.  I can transcode at internet540 on the HD channels but the two that are marked AVC, I have to change the profile to normal.  Or it won't play.

Edited March 3, 2021 by msloat

[Luke 37060]

Can we please look at an example?

Thanks.

[msloat 1]

1 hour ago, Luke said:

Can we please look at an example?

Thanks.

What type of example do you need that I could post?  I might be able to post a link to YouTube showing you the issues if you system won't except the upload. Normally they run 188meg which is lower than what your system will take.  I will try to post it tonight when I get home.  If your system wont take it I will post to youtube and post a link.

Probably not what you are looking for but this is a channel scan done by my hdhomerun.  As you can see it list two as AVC.  The rest are HD.  What was explained to me is that AVC is AVC/H.264 while HD is MPEG2/H.262.   If I try to record on emby with my HDhomerun extend with the default setting to heavy, mobile, or less Emby will have issues recording these two channels.  I normally get a blank screen or a blank screen with audio as a recoding.   If I set my extend to normal as a profile Emby will record it.   The size of a hour program can be at least 3g in size.  The same program recorded when I set it to heavy etc is roughly 188m.  When I play it on a pc etc all I get is audio or just a blank screen.   I have tested this by using the curl command on a RPI and on Windows.  They do they same thing that Emby does. The other channels I don't have issues with.  

I also own a 4 channel Tablo and the odd thing is it won't pick up these AVC Channels.  It is still considered ATSC 1.0 so I don't understand why they don't.  So I have to watch them with my HDhomerun.  

 

Oh FYI.  The image below is one that a friend showed me on line of the Chicago area.  My hdhomerun reports the same channels and AVC vs HD as shown on this image.

Edited March 4, 2021 by msloat

[msloat 1]

Here is a copy of the video file I get when I set the channel to 48.2(AVC Channel) which is considered start TV.( I recorded about 60 secs worth.)   All I get is audio.  I got the profile set to internet540.   It has to be set for normal profile without transcoding and then I get video.  It seems to only do it when I am trying to record one of these AVC channels.

wan.ts

Edited March 5, 2021 by msloat

[Luke 37060]

@msloat can you please supply the information requested in my link above? Thanks !

[msloat 1]

48 minutes ago, Luke said:

@msloat can you please supply the information requested in my link above? Thanks !

Thanks for getting back to me Luke.  But I think I am going to go back to my old system and just use the Tablo until later.   I almost need either a new PC to do all this or two systems for my DS418 so I can convert everything down to a manageable size.  Some of the one hour shows can reach 7G, which forces me to convert.    I am hoping that when I get things situated that I can come back to Emby.  I thank you for all your help.