4K movie constant buffering

[KodiaK 2]

Hello, 

I am having issues when playing high bitrate 4K movies from my PC on my TV: every 3-5s, the playback stops for a few seconds (buffering reasons I suppose). If I set the quality to 40Mbs it runs fine, but I loose HDR. 

The TV is connected to the router via cable (so no bandwidth issues), and if I run the move on the PC (through Emby app) it runs perfectly (so no hardware issues). 

Below are the details of one such movie:

General
Unique ID                      : 243633605853055270429029935505326703562 (0xB74A202DB0212ACF81137871277F83CA)
Complete name                  : E:\DOWNLOADS\!FILME\Raya.and.the.Last.Dragon.2021.2160p.UHD.Remux.HDR.HEVC.TrueHD.Atmos.7.1-playBD\Raya.and.the.Last.Dragon.2021.2160p.UHD.Remux.HDR.HEVC.TrueHD.Atmos.7.1-playBD.mkv
Format                         : Matroska
Format version                 : Version 4 / Version 2
File size                      : 45.6 GiB
Duration                       : 1h 47mn
Overall bit rate mode          : Variable
Overall bit rate               : 60.8 Mbps
Encoded date                   : UTC 2021-05-15 14:10:04
Writing application            : mkvmerge v55.0.0 ('Waiting For Space') 64-bit
Writing library                : libebml v1.4.2 + libmatroska v1.6.4
DURATION                       : 01:34:12.768000000
NUMBER_OF_FRAMES               : 1116
NUMBER_OF_BYTES                : 32182
_STATISTICS_WRITING_APP        : mkvmerge v55.0.0 ('Waiting For Space') 64-bit
_STATISTICS_WRITING_DATE_UTC   : 2021-05-15 14:10:04
_STATISTICS_TAGS               : BPS DURATION NUMBER_OF_FRAMES NUMBER_OF_BYTES

Video
ID                             : 2
Format                         : HEVC
Format/Info                    : High Efficiency Video Coding
Format profile                 : Main 10@L5.1@High
Codec ID                       : V_MPEGH/ISO/HEVC
Duration                       : 1h 47mn
Width                          : 3 840 pixels
Height                         : 2 160 pixels
Display aspect ratio           : 16:9
Frame rate mode                : Constant
Frame rate                     : 23.976 fps
Color space                    : YUV
Chroma subsampling             : 4:2:0
Bit depth                      : 10 bits
Writing library                : ATEME Titan File 3.9.6 (4.9.6.2)        
Language                       : English
Default                        : Yes
Forced                         : No
Color range                    : Limited
Color primaries                : BT.2020
Matrix coefficients            : BT.2020 non-constant

I don't know what other details to give, so please ask if anything else is needed.
 

[Carlo 4330]

Hi, how exactly are you playing these?  Are you casting them or using an app on the TV?
What TV is this?

[KodiaK 2]

I am using the app on the TV.

[Luke 37095]

Just now, KodiaK said:

I am using the app on the TV.

HI, what app and what version?

[KodiaK 2]

Are there more Emby apps?

It's the Android Emby App, version 2.0.09g

[Luke 37095]

Thank you for answering. Yes we have a number of apps:

https://emby.media/download

Can you please attach the emby server log from an example playback session? Thanks.

[vdatanet 1549]

4 minutes ago, KodiaK said:

Are there more Emby apps?

It's the Android Emby App, version 2.0.09g

Does it run on TV or external device? What TV or external device? This is a pretty high bitrate, the player device must support it.

Edited May 22, 2021 by vdatanet

[KodiaK 2]

No exactly sure what log u mean, it's this OK?

The movie runs from the server app (which is installed on the PC) and the player device it's a Sony TV, on which I have installed the Emby Android app. 

 

embyserver.txt

[justinrh 174]

And what kind of network connection do you have?  Is it a consistent 70Mbps+?

[KodiaK 2]

As it's LAN connection, there should be no problem. According to the router it's 100Mbs full duplex. 

I also did a speedtest on the TV, and it's 94.5Mbs download and 98.5 upload.

Edited May 23, 2021 by KodiaK

[ebr 14923]

Hi. It is probably the TV itself that just cannot handle an item with that high of a bitrate.  Most TVs are designed for a max of about 20-30Mb/s and that one is twice that.

[KodiaK 2]

If I play the exact file through KODI from an external HDD attached to the TV, it plays without issues, so it's definitely not the TV.  

[vdatanet 1549]

1 minute ago, KodiaK said:

If I play the exact file through KODI from an external HDD attached to the TV, it plays without issues, so it's definitely not the TV.  

But in that scenario the LAN factor has been removed.

[KodiaK 2]

Yes, exactly. So the TV is ok playing high bitrate files. Unfortunately I can't add network files in KODI, to test the LAN factor in KODI also.

Now if the TV can handle it. the LAN connection can handle it, the only culprit is the Emby app itself

[vdatanet 1549]

3 minutes ago, KodiaK said:

Now if the TV can handle it. the LAN connection can handle it, the only culprit is the Emby app itself

Some TVs have crappy ethernet ports. Can you post your TV exact model?

[KodiaK 2]

The TV is SONY KD-43XE8077: https://www.displayspecifications.com/en/model/6248cd9

Edited May 23, 2021 by KodiaK

[vdatanet 1549]

13 minutes ago, KodiaK said:

The TV is SONY KD-43XE8077: https://www.displayspecifications.com/en/model/6248cd9

Googling a bit and you can see a lot of complaints about the performance of the ethernet port of this TV. There are even users who report that it works better using Wi-Fi, as long as the connection is 5 Ghz and with good coverage.

[KodiaK 2]

Never thought that wi-fi can work better then ethernet, but I switched to wi-fi and played ~5mins with no buffering.

 

[ebr 14923]

Glad you got it work for you.  The NIC only being 100Mb must be the culprit.

[KodiaK 2]

Since the movie bitrate was 60Mbs, I would expect that 100Mbs would be more than enough to handle it. Especially since the Internet speed test I did on the TV was above 90Mbs both download and upload. 

I hope that this turns out to be the fix, but i have to watch a couple of high bitrate movies to see if the issue is solved. I'll come back if i encounter any more problems.

PS: Router is in the same room as the TV, so wi-fi coverage should not be an issue. 

Edited May 24, 2021 by KodiaK

[vdatanet 1549]

The problem is not that it is a 100 Mbps port, the problem is that it is a crappy port that does not support sustained high bitrate traffic. Common in 3/4-year-old televisions, in most cases due to the experience with my friends and family, in this type of televisions Wi-Fi works better than Lan (if Wi-Fi is good of course).

[Carlo 4330]

@vdatanet Have you ever tried a USB dongle Ethernet adapter on a TV like this?
Just wondering if it would even work?

[vdatanet 1549]

Just now, cayars said:

@vdatanet Have you ever tried a USB dongle Ethernet adapter on a TV like this?
Just wondering if it would even work?

No, in these "old" televisions I usually replace the "smart" features with external devices such as Nvidia Shield, Fire TV, Mi Box... I am not very fond of smart TVs. Software is often out of date before the life of the TV ends.

[Carlo 4330]

I don't use the smart features of any of my TVs either and have external devices hooked up as well. Stuff just works properly this way.

[ebr 14923]

7 hours ago, KodiaK said:

Since the movie bitrate was 60Mbs, I would expect that 100Mbs

The 60 is an average and the 100 is a theoretical maximum, not a guaranteed sustained value.  It is not unusual for these TV NICs to not be able to handle content like that.  Luckily, you've got it working now via the wifi.