Media Playback Problem

[mrtwopoints 8]

I've been having issues over the last week with playback across multiple devices when transcoding is required. I have mostly been using machines running Chrome, and a Roku. The media files that are not playing correctly are files that played back perfectly a couple weeks ago. I have included logs that cover the issue I describe below.

 

I began playing Star Trek Beyond on a Roku3. Star Trek is encoded using h265 and required transcoding on the Roku. It defaulted to subtitles initially and I let that play out for a few minutes. Video playback began stuttering immediately. I navigated to the dashboard on my laptop and saw that the file was only transcoding at 19-20 frames per second. I logged into the task manager on the server machine and CPU usage was in the low 30% range so I wasn't bottlenecking there. I then stopped the video and disabled subtitles, and restarted playback. This time it played fine, dashboard shows 35 frames per second transcoding and cpu usage on the server shows between 80%-90%.

 

Next I tried a file encoded in h264. I used Sausage Party and it too initially defaulted to subtitles on. Same problem as before 18-20 frames per second on the transcode and very little CPU usage. Turned off subtitles and nothing changed 18-20. Tried to start the movie from the second chapter and playback failed. Tried several times. Playback always failed. 

 

I then switched to my laptop and played the file with no issues in a Chrome browser. 35 fps, 80-90% CPU utilization.

 

I initially tested this morning using a second laptop running Chrome that was unable to play the Star Trek file because it was transcoding at 19 fps. The problem seems to exist across multiple playback devices and while I had initially thought it might just be media encoded in h265. it appears h264 is affected as well. The log below covers the time period I have described.

 

This is new within the last week or two. Any thoughts?

Log.txt

[Luke 42085]

Hi, it appears you may have gone back and forth between beta and stable. We don't recommend switching release channels within the same Emby Server installation. For this particular release cycle that's even more important than usual due to database differences between the two. I would suggest either going back to beta or doing a fresh installation of the stable channel.

 

Additionally I noticed you have customized some transcoding settings (preset/crf). Resetting those back to default should be one of the first things you do when encountering a playback issue. Thanks !

[mrtwopoints 8]

Thanks for the heads up on the beta/stable information. I'll give it all a try!

[mrtwopoints 8]

I may have really broken something now. Uninstalled everything so I could do a fresh install of the stable release. After the install and library scan all media folders show empty. I uninstalled and reverted to the beta channel. Same problem. Genre and studio views in the web browser show items in them but entering shows 0 items. Reverted back to stable after an uninstall and no change. All media folders appear empty when the media and metadata is present in windows explorer in the correct folder structure.

[Luke 42085]

Please provide a server log. Thanks !