BUG Live TV recording stopped early when a remote viewer stopped watching the same channel

[nargg 0]

Synopsis generated by AI.  Raw logs attached. 

Setup
- Emby Server 4.10.0.40, Ubuntu 24.04 (kernel 6.8), Hyper-V guest, Quadro P2000 (NVENC/NVDEC)
- Tuner: HDHomeRun (native HDHomeRun tuner type, stream sharing automatic)
- Recording: "NFL Football - Denver Broncos at San Francisco 49ers", channel 862 KCNC-TV, timer 12b26b50ce49aad1077546b3d18c9c95
- Remote viewer: user "Chuck", Emby for Samsung 2.3.6, watching the same channel live (transcoding, low bitrate cap)

Summary
- 14:00:58 viewer opens KCNC-TV live -> "consumerId added: d635760f..." -> consumer count 1.
- 14:23:01 recording timer fires and attaches to the SAME shared stream ("Will record ... for 246.98 minutes").
  NOTE: logged as "LiveStream consumerId added: " with an EMPTY consumer id -> consumer count 2.
- 14:26 - 15:17 viewer stops/starts repeatedly (failed transcodes on the client side). Every new viewer session
  logs "consumerId added: <PlaySessionId>" / "count is now 2"; every stop logs "consumerId removed" / "now 1".
- 15:17:34 viewer session bb9fc8fb removed -> consumer count 1 (only the recording remains).
- 15:18:04 viewer starts NEW session 0581f67e (PlaybackInfo, AutoOpenLiveStream=true) on the same stream.
  NO "consumerId added" and NO "consumer count is now 2" is logged for this session.
- 16:44:59 viewer stops 0581f67e -> "LiveStream consumerId removed: 0581f67e..." -> "consumer count is now 0"
  -> live stream closed -> "Recording stopped" (~2h22m into a 246.98-minute recording).
- No timer delete/cancel request was made. The recording was terminated only because the shared stream was closed.

Anomalies
1. The recording registers as a consumer with an empty consumer id.
2. A consumer id that was never added (0581f67e) is "removed" and the count is decremented, reaching 0 while
   the recording is still active, which closes the stream out from under the recording.

Expected: a viewer stopping playback must not close a live stream that an active recording is still consuming.

emby-livetv-consumer-count-bug.txt

[mwongjay 91]

Based on the summary it seems very similar if not identical to this

 

[Luke 43263]

HI, we are looking into this. Thanks.

[nargg 0]

On 10/5/2026 at 3:16 AM, nargg said:

Synopsis generated by AI.  Raw logs attached. 

Setup
- Emby Server 4.10.0.40, Ubuntu 24.04 (kernel 6.8), Hyper-V guest, Quadro P2000 (NVENC/NVDEC)
- Tuner: HDHomeRun (native HDHomeRun tuner type, stream sharing automatic)
- Recording: "NFL Football - Denver Broncos at San Francisco 49ers", channel 862 KCNC-TV, timer 12b26b50ce49aad1077546b3d18c9c95
- Remote viewer: user "Chuck", Emby for Samsung 2.3.6, watching the same channel live (transcoding, low bitrate cap)

Summary
- 14:00:58 viewer opens KCNC-TV live -> "consumerId added: d635760f..." -> consumer count 1.
- 14:23:01 recording timer fires and attaches to the SAME shared stream ("Will record ... for 246.98 minutes").
  NOTE: logged as "LiveStream consumerId added: " with an EMPTY consumer id -> consumer count 2.
- 14:26 - 15:17 viewer stops/starts repeatedly (failed transcodes on the client side). Every new viewer session
  logs "consumerId added: <PlaySessionId>" / "count is now 2"; every stop logs "consumerId removed" / "now 1".
- 15:17:34 viewer session bb9fc8fb removed -> consumer count 1 (only the recording remains).
- 15:18:04 viewer starts NEW session 0581f67e (PlaybackInfo, AutoOpenLiveStream=true) on the same stream.
  NO "consumerId added" and NO "consumer count is now 2" is logged for this session.
- 16:44:59 viewer stops 0581f67e -> "LiveStream consumerId removed: 0581f67e..." -> "consumer count is now 0"
  -> live stream closed -> "Recording stopped" (~2h22m into a 246.98-minute recording).
- No timer delete/cancel request was made. The recording was terminated only because the shared stream was closed.

Anomalies
1. The recording registers as a consumer with an empty consumer id.
2. A consumer id that was never added (0581f67e) is "removed" and the count is decremented, reaching 0 while
   the recording is still active, which closes the stream out from under the recording.

Expected: a viewer stopping playback must not close a live stream that an active recording is still consuming.

emby-livetv-consumer-count-bug.txt 63.42 kB · 0 downloads

 

[nargg 0]

More Info:

Encoding only makes the bug more likely to occur because of potential encoded stream quality changes.  My prior comment about h.264 vs h.265 is probably inaccurate. 

When he changed quality, the TV switched to a new play session ID without Emby registering it, and the stop then removed an ID that was never added. That's the same pattern as Oct 4. This time it happened to balance out, because his old session was never separately timed out.

On Oct 4 the old session had already been removed for being idle, so the count went down twice.

Bug Full Mechanism

Changing play session mid-stream (a quality change or transcode restart) without registering the new ID, combined with an idle-timeout removal of the old one, causes a double decrement.

Edited 58 minutes ago by nargg