playback is often paused, crashes, freezes but for a specific user (its the wife-BIG problem :))

[Zeltak 1]

Hi all

 

see logs attached, as the title says been running EMBY lifetime for about a week (ditched plex and super happy!) which has been working great for me and the kids...

BUT for some reason for my wife weather she tries on the appleTV, her macbook air, tablet anything she watches has often often paused, crashes, freezes every 4-5 minutes

I have no clue on how to go and debug this and any help would be greatly appreciated! (before she gets really pissed and forces me to go back to plex noooo

thx!

Z

embyserver-2026-02-25-REDACTED.txt

[alex77777 19]

Since its working fine for your user, I would try to log in as your user on her devices to see if the same issues persist. If not than it is some user setting you have set for her user that's causing the issue.

[Luke 42146]

Hi, also what example are we focusing on here?

[Zeltak 1]

Hi again

 

ok so some more info here. it seems it also happens under my user 'zeltak' when she is watching her shows.

Quote

Hi, also what example are we focusing on here?

not sure @Lukewhat you mean by focusing? this seems to happen on every show she watches on both the appletv in the bedroom and her macbook and under any emby account she tries , whats crazy is that i dont see these freezes on the appletv in my office..

im attaching the log from yesterday (turned on debugging) when around 21:00-22:00 PM we again see these freezes

would appreciate any help you can provide on whats going on

Z  

embyserver_sanitized.txt.zip

[alex77777 19]

I would check to make sure your emby app and TVos is up to date. I have a feeling that its some type of network related issue. Either a bad connection or maybe router/modem need to be restarted. Ive had issue with an LG TV in the past similar to how your having issues and all I had to do was restart the router to reestablish a connection. Ive had countless issues with Xfinity routers/modems, they seem to randomly cap the internal network speed randomly and you have to restart it (so if you have one of those it can be the problem). If your devices are wired I would suggest unplugging the ethernet from them, waiting 30 seconds and plugging it back in. 

[Zeltak 1]

thx @alex77777

yes they are all up to date to latest (i only moved to emby from plex this week). also tried rebooting and wifi vs LAN and all result in the same freezes

 

[Zeltak 1]

another update

when using infuse the issue disappears (at least tried on the apple tv). Can some one from the team take a look at the log? would really prefer to use the emby app

 

Z

[visproduction 327]

MacOS troubleshooting for video playback.  Maybe of some help.

https://macpaw.com/how-to/video-not-playing-mac

[alex77777 19]

On 3/2/2026 at 7:57 PM, Zeltak said:

when using infuse the issue disappears (at least tried on the apple tv). Can some one from the team take a look at the log?

I'm curious, Is the stream being transcoded in anyway when she watches on her devices?

[Zeltak 1]

thx @alex77777i dont think so (is there a definitive way to check)?

[alex77777 19]

Go to Dashboard on Emby and you can see what is being played and if the stream is being transcoded or direct played. Typically transcoding happens if subtitles are enabled, or if the quality setting is set lower than the source video. There are tricks to get the Apple TV to direct play when it typically would transcode so if that is the issue I can help you with that. 

[alex77777 19]

52 minutes ago, Zeltak said:

thx @alex77777i dont think so (is there a definitive way to check)?

You can also enable "stats for nerds" on the device it is being played on to see this. 

[Luke 42146]

@Zeltakhas this helped?

[Zeltak 1]

hi @Lukesadly no. would really like help in resolving this as i got the life time license and my wife cant use it...

one other thing, she has been using it via infuse (using emby as the media server) for the last 30-4 days and it works flawlessly, so it surley is the emby app on on both the appleTV and mac (both in different rooms, same netowrk)

thx

 

Z

[alex77777 19]

@Zeltak

Did you check to see if any of her streams are being transcoded? I also wanted to try a different test, Can you try disabling audio and video transcoding, as well as changing of container format for only her user and see if improves playback on the Apple TV (this may cause issues on other devices but Ive solved playback issues on my Apple TV this way).

[Zeltak 1]

thx @alex77777

 

will try that during the weekend and report back!

[Luke 42146]

On 2/28/2026 at 9:48 AM, Zeltak said:

Hi again

 

ok so some more info here. it seems it also happens under my user 'zeltak' when she is watching her shows.

not sure @Lukewhat you mean by focusing? this seems to happen on every show she watches on both the appletv in the bedroom and her macbook and under any emby account she tries , whats crazy is that i dont see these freezes on the appletv in my office..

im attaching the log from yesterday (turned on debugging) when around 21:00-22:00 PM we again see these freezes

would appreciate any help you can provide on whats going on

Z  

embyserver_sanitized.txt.zip 2.76 MB · 0 downloads

Hi, what exactly was played, at what time, and with what device/app?