Frequent stutering & Pausing

[CheshireKitten 1]

Hello, I have been using Emby for not too long but at least a month or two. I am having frequent pausing, stuttering, and outright not working in situations where the only solution is normally to restart everything or wait for hours if I am lucky. It happens on all devices. It's also as if the auto does not work or detect anything well as it says it always directly plays unless I set my internet speed in settings but not in the gear when playing a video as it does not work for me. I have no idea what may be happening and see no pattern... it happens even when playing things on my home network when trying to direct play. I'm unsure what logs you want as there are many.

[Luke 42079]

Quote

I'm unsure what logs you want as there are many.

Hi, please attach the ones that were written to during the time frame in which the problem was experienced. Thanks.

[CheshireKitten 1]

it seems something has changed like an update or something as it has been better lately, but today it happened again and other than hoping it works I'm unsure what to do even though the files are on a local machine or being watched on the same machine the files are on.

embyserver.txt ffmpeg-directstream-84ff84c9-884d-494b-90c2-28c99399956b_1.txt ffmpeg-directstream-bcb9cd79-622d-4c58-b9c6-5beeff3f8f19_1.txt ffmpeg-transcode-33feb051-9597-4f6f-9ee7-bcd214041c51_1.txt ffmpeg-transcode-46b646bf-3775-40e7-8a4f-bbe650b78294_1.txt ffmpeg-transcode-249a1847-9bf4-4b66-963a-b2694a0dcd6e_1.txt ffmpeg-transcode-842c781a-e5c2-4e93-8a73-aeb776752ddd_1.txt ffmpeg-transcode-962100e9-9be2-4758-b3a0-1dc3d92815e6_1.txt ffmpeg-transcode-b78b0762-bfa3-4064-bf61-aba5bbce52f1_1.txt ffmpeg-transcode-c7aaf074-0f42-40ad-bd2d-271b80692307_1.txt ffmpeg-transcode-d3677ae4-1815-4d04-b29e-88a278f7611c_1.txt ffmpeg-transcode-dad36651-cd35-4584-bba0-b238de3c490b_1.txt ffmpeg-transcode-e93915fd-f242-4c08-a3bb-ef3e59454190_1.txt

Edited October 26, 2024 by CheshireKitten
forgot files

[Carlo 4561]

Many of these files are transcoding at a speed a bit less than real-time The client player will be waiting for the server to catch up and deliver more data.

The logs I looked at show a lot of problems with the media as well which isn't a good thing.

The reason many of these are transcoding is: TranscodeReasons=ContainerBitrateExceedsLimit

If you're playing back on the same LAN as the Emby Server, you should be able to change this by editing the client playback settings.
Change the "Home network quality" and manually set it at the highest setting and try again.

 

[CheshireKitten 1]

for whatever reason Plex and Emby show different bitrates. emby will show 60 when plex shows 6. Even when I play at direct stream it has problems on the same network as if it runs into a loop of some kind it seems. I can make worse-quality source files, but that doesn't seem ideal and my CPU & GPU had nothing running on it, which I assume is enough to transcode 144P which when this happens my computer has trouble with. but then half the time it fixes itself. it's so confusing and inconsistent. it seems fine but sometimes it has issues that are so bad I can't play anything unless I am lucky but I could have just watched that episode or movie with no problems before. then I wait like I said and half the time it starts working as long as I play a different file than before. if I manually set the stream quality sometimes that fixes it. but I have to do it in settings and not on the gear when playing a video or it will fail to transcode. it's very confusing.

[Carlo 4561]

I've spent the last couple days intensively looking at your logs, while trying to reproduce your results.  What started as a few tests turned into hundreds of transcodes. I fell into the Rabbit hole, and it got deeper and deeper as one thing led to another and so on. A complex transcode would run fine 10 times in a row but fail on the 11th run then run ok again but fail on the 40th run. It took a couple days to finally figure out what was going on with that transcode. That led to finding a couple other issue, etc 

My intent was to setup a computer or two similar to yours and test similar content or a bit more to try and duplicate what I saw in your logs. These are very similar to your 2070 Super.

Product Name	GPU Chip	Bus	Memory	GPU clock	Memory clock	Shaders / TMUs / ROPs
GeForce GTX 1650 Max-Q	TU117	PCIe 3.0 x16	4 GB, GDDR5, 128 bit	1020 MHz	1751 MHz	1024 / 64 / 32
GeForce RTX 2070 Max-Q	TU106	PCIe 3.0 x16	8 GB, GDDR6, 256 bit	885 MHz	1500 MHz	2304 / 144 / 64
GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER	TU104	PCIe 3.0 x16	8 GB, GDDR6, 256 bit	1605 MHz	1750 MHz	2560 / 160 / 64

I also have an iGPU on the notebook I use most of the time which is the top row.

Product Name	GPU Chip	Bus	Memory	GPU clock	Memory clock	Shaders / TMUs / ROPs
UHD Graphics 24EU Mobile	Comet Lake GT2	Ring Bus	System Shared	300 MHz	System Shared	192 / 24 / 3

The iGPU came into play by accident but was important. The original test was going to use a 4K to 1080, with and without HDR, a couple different audio tracks requiring transcoding. The source would be HEVC and tested using both 8-bit and 10-bit formats. The final set was adding both text and graphic based subtitles needing extracting or burning in.

By accident, a set of tests ran with NVDEC disabled using QuickSync instead for the decode, then handed off to the Nvidia GPU. The new batch ran perfect on one computer but failed some transcodes on the other. Looking at logs for failed transcodes showed the transcode didn't always fail but an app ran immediately after the transcode would fail. Other times the transcoder would fail. This took a bit to figure out.  I QuickSync run by accident showed the same semi random halt that sometimes affected the transcode and other times the info grabber app. The place it would halt was much different for QuickSync vs Nvidia. 

The combination of failed processing on both GPUs happening at different locations with no change to the tests seemed like a resources issue.  Sure enough, I finally figured out the notebook I was testing on, also had a lot of tabs open in both Firefox and Edge. I was also using a couple tools that used just enough memory processing a file that would cause Quicklink to fail. Quicksync failures in the log were more spread out or more random in nature. I got thinking the memory use was more dynamic because the tool was processing different files likely using different amounts of memory. As proof I closed nearly everything then created a ram disk of a specific size then did a transcode. Transcodes would run until I hit a specific amount of memory used by the ram disk. Adjusting things slowly I could cause it to halt early or late I had the proof I was looking for.  Trying to do the same with Nvidia GPU didn't work. I still can't reproduce it at will but can make it happen if I do it 5 to 10 times. It might not be memory at all but a similar issue like a PCIe bus related issue. I might have had dumb luck that I had issues with both GPUs caused by something, yet for a different reason.

I might have to clear some programs and data of the notebook to make room to install NVIDIA Nsight which provides a great deal more info which is needed.

 

SOFTWARE

Trying to search for similar issues I found posts that people wrote about strange issues they had been dealing with that solved by turning off some features that may have been turned on by a driver or Nvidia app.

I put a list together of things to check and maybe change.  Even if you don't change anything it would be a good idea to review some of the optimize/tuning functionality. At least you'll know about the setting which might be very useful in the future if you find an issue related to it.

THE LATEST SOFTWARE & DRIVERS
Make sure your OS is up to date. This includes all optional apps and libraries that Windows Update finds (turn on in optional features)
Make sure the device driver your GPU uses is the latest version as this might be easily overlooked. - As of this writing 566.03 10/21/2024 is the latest Nvidia driver.
Update to the latest Emby Server software if not on the latest release. - As of this writing 4.8.10.0 Release Version
Update or install the new "Nvidia App". It replaces other Nvidia software and will be a replacement for Nvidia Control Panel shortly. This App will show a good deal of setting and features already in use that you now can change. Some of the "Auto Tune" or "Auto Optimize" features can optimize the system to favor game play or Creators by enabling features that make viewing a monitor or remotes screen better. It might also optimize your system for streaming to Twitch or Youtube if it finds certain games.  It might also make changes to programs it thinks are background programs that don't require as many resources as they use. The is true a lot of time because a processing taking 5 minutes to run but spikes resources can easily be made to run for 10 or 15 minutes accomplishing the same task but have less overall affect on the system a a whole.  That kind of optimization isn't good for Emby or FFMPEG which is more likely to get the optimization.

Automattic Tuning & Optimization settings
NVIDIA Overlay
Game Filters and Photo mode
Games and App Optimization
G-SYNC support
G-SYNC Compatible gaming

DRIVER SETTINGS IN NVIDIA APP
Settings for dynamic vibrance, dynamic boost, Image sharpening, latency, frame rate adjustments, CUDA core assignments, etc  These are visual optimizations that typically have little effect on GPU use. However, I've seen a RTX-4080 get clobbered trying to apply visual enhancements to streamed media that was 4K with a decent bitrate.

CUDA Resources Management Optimizations 
RTX Enhancements
RTX High Dynamic Range

NVIDIA CONTROL PANEL
Adjust image settings with preview
Set Physics Configuration - If possible, set it to use your alternate GPU
Manage 3D Settings - Again, set to alternate GPU or choose options carefully. This has lots of settings from use of CUDA control to latency adjustments to OpenGL rendering  to shader, texture, threading, syncing, VR pre-rendering, etc

WINDOWS
Settings/Display/Graphics - Optimizations for windowed games (also a list of individual games/apps)
Settings/Display/Graphics/Advanced graphic settings - Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling
Settings/Display/Graphics - Options for multiple monitors, HDR support, Choice of GPU for screen use
Gaming/Game Bar
Gaming/Game Mode
Apps/Video playback - Options to Process video automatically to enhance it
Apps/Display/HDR - adjustable settings per monitor, HDR optimizations as well as streaming HDR options, Display Calibrations and real-time adjustments

Emby Transcode Menu - Advanced Settings
It's fine to have multiple options selected for each Preferred Decoder or Encoder section. The order these are listed in becomes the order in which they are used. I'd rather have the transcoder try a couple different ways to connect to the preferred GPU vs a hybrid transcode that has to pass a lot of data back and forth through the PCIe bus which becomes a bottleneck. It could work fine with a single transcode or two but go downhill quickly when the PCIe bandwidth is exhausted. 

An example ordering of Preferred Decoder setting for AVC 
NVDEC NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 with Max-Q Design - H.264 (AVC)
CUVID NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 with Max-Q Design - H.264 (AVC)
DX11VA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 with Max-Q Design - H.264 (AVC)
QuickSync Intel UHD Graphics [1] - H.264 (AVC)
DX11VA Intel UHD Graphics [1] - H.264 (AVC)

The Encoders have configuration settings (cog icon) used to control the speed and quality which affects the bitrate
Nvidia Encoding Preset
Rate Control Mode
Zero Latency
Encoding Profile Limit

You may also see options for these depending on configuration and GOU Hardware present
Closed Caption extraction
Allow subtitle extraction on the fly
Subtitle Burn options

Now check the Advanced Tab with additional options based on configuration and GPIU:
Tone Mapping Method
Tone Mapping Algorithm
 

[Carlo 4561]

@CheshireKittenIt's not clear why some transcodes are failing on your system but experience knows how to fix it

In Emby go to the plugin catalog and install the Diagnostic Plugin.
Restart Emby Server
Enter the new Diagnostics Menu.

Set the Transcoding Log Level to Full Trace
Try playing one of the family guy episodes that cause a problem.
Go back to Diagnostic Menu and change the "Transcoding Log Level" back to Info.
Post the server and any ffmpeg logs involved in this one quick test.

The Full trace output spams the log files with information you would generally never want to have logged as it makes general reading of the logs quite difficult and uses far more storage.

Now try playing the same media without any subtitles used.  What happened?  Did it play this time?

Carlo

[Luke 42079]

@CheshireKitten?