Looking for solutions. Emby Live TV and Android TV (Mibox3)

[timnop 1]

Hi,

 

I've been running this for a while, first with FireTV had interlacing problems, now I'm using the Mibox3 units. The Emby app interface is very pleasing and wife approved. The grid guide and the whole home dvr ability are superb. Unfortunately, I have problems with unexpected freezing, (sometimes recovers, sometimes not) there may not be a tuner available,(even when there is) spinning cursor that eventually gives an error "too many problems giving up" or something like that. 

 

I am wondering if this is the normal experience to expect with my setup? I have Emby server running on an i7 laptop with 8gb of RAM and also have an Asus AC3100 wireless router which is about the best out there for streaming. All of my wireless connections are good to excellent.

 

Some might suggest Nvidia shield, but I just can't spend that much for each of the 6 TV's in my home.

 

Can someone chime in to suggest ways to reduce the hiccups?

 

I've been wondering about plugins. What would be the benefit of using the Nextpvr plugin? I was using Nextpvr before Emby, but I find Emby to be much better when it comes to all the available apps for playback.

 

One more thing to note...I have updated one of my mibox3's to run the leaked nougat update, I've tried 1028 and 1035. Nothing seems to be better or worse in my opinion for live tv.

[mastrmind11 722]

What is your bitrate setting?  Good router or not, wifi is trash if the bw spikes for any reason, which is pretty common when streaming video.  Drop your bitrate down to something low and see if you notice an improvement, then gradually bump it up to find the middle ground.  I'm hard wired (granted, with Moca adapters), and I still see an occasional hickup or stutter.  I tried the wifi route initially and it's just too fragile for anything that isn't a consistent bitrate.  

[tdiguy 99]

Which version of emby server are you on?

[Luke 42078]

@@timnop, welcome. Can we please look at an example of an issue you are having? please attach the information requested in how to report a media playback issue. thanks !

[timnop 1]

My bitrate in the emby app was set to auto and I have now set it to 10mbps.

 

I'm running the latest version of emby server I believe. 3.2.60.0

 

I haven't noticed any difference so far, but I haven't watched much TV in the last couple of days.

 

I'm really interested if anyone else is running a similar setup and if experiencing similar issues or not.

I am willing to invest in other media boxes as long as they are reasonable cost. I chose the mbox3 because of being Google approved and thought it would be supported and updated frequently, but that has not been the case. I also like the "Android TV" OS.

 

I appreciate the help and suggestions. I feel like I'm almost there, but not quite happy with it yet.

 

Sent from my LG-D851 using Tapatalk

[mastrmind11 722]

Do you mean the Xiaomi MiBox?  If so, it's officially an Android TV box,  If you're referring to another cheap Chinese knockoff, there's not much you can do, since they all run some flavr of Android.  A bunch of us have a MiBox, and while the DTS support is lacking, as a side room device it's pretty hard to beat for the price.

[timnop 1]

Yes, It's the Xiaomi Mibox3. I have 3 of them and I have the leaked nougat update on one of them. The other 2 are stock MM. I'm mainly trying to determine what is causing the issues mentioned in the OP. Is it a problem with the server on my Windows i7, or the wifi router, or the mibox3? I forgot to mention before that my internet is spectrum 100mbps and my tuner is hdhomerun prime and my mibox3's are all connected to 5ghz band. 2.4 was way worse.

[ebr 16184]

 and thought it would be supported and updated frequently, but that has not been the case. 

 

What do you feel is not being supported or updated frequently?

[ebr 16184]

are all connected to 5ghz band. 2.4 was way worse.

 

If the problem was worse with the other wifi band then that could point to wifi being the issue.  Is it possible for you to hardwire one of them just to test?

[timnop 1]

What do you feel is not being supported or updated frequently?

I am referring to the mibox3. There haven't been any updates for this product and it doesn't do all that was advertised. It is still a great device for the price, but the development that I expected, being an official Google device has disappointed.

 

Sent from my LG-D851 using Tapatalk

[timnop 1]

@@timnop, welcome. Can we please look at an example of an issue you are having? please attach the information requested in how to report a media playback issue. thanks !

Hi Luke. Here are the logs from this morning. I've been watching a channel and experienced quite a few freeze, unfreeze issues on mibox3. Same on another mibox3 on a different channel in a different room. One other thing to mention, I use other apps such as Hulu, CBS all access and the CW app without any issues. The problems only happen with Live TV. Thanks for the help!

server-63649929600.txt

ffmpeg-transcode-8055aa5d-bd18-4ec6-a1dc-2e6bbc44d7c8.txt

[ebr 16184]

Try setting the bitrate in the app above 20Mb/s

[timnop 1]

Try setting the bitrate in the app above 20Mb/s

I have set the bitrate to 30 and have also sent reports from each of the 2 active mibox3's just now.

[ebr 16184]

I have set the bitrate to 30 and have also sent reports from each of the 2 active mibox3's just now.

 

In the two logs you just sent, communications with your server was timing out - again pointing to some sort of network issues.

[timnop 1]

In the two logs you just sent, communications with your server was timing out - again pointing to some sort of network issues.

Okay, thank you. I will investigate. Does anyone know what router settings to alter for streaming priority? I will begin by altering the 5ghz band only. I'm glad to be narrowing down the problem. Thanks for the help and suggestions.

[mastrmind11 722]

Okay, thank you. I will investigate. Does anyone know what router settings to alter for streaming priority? I will begin by altering the 5ghz band only. I'm glad to be narrowing down the problem. Thanks for the help and suggestions.

Hardwire the thing.  As I noted in post #2, wifi is trash for sustained bandwidth.  If you can't hardwire ethernet to the box, look into MoCA adapters.  Actiontec makes a reasonably priced bonded 2.0 compliant pair that I use throughout my house (1925 construction, full plaster walls).  I think the model is ECB6200K2 for a pair, run around $150USD, and you basically get a Cat5 hard run out of it via coax.

 

In the end, wifi is not going to work for you unless you pre-transcode everything to a lower bitrate prior to watching.  Live TV requires a solid, consistent, hard connection that can handle bitrate fluctuations.... wifi was not designed for this.  Just because Netflix, etc work via wifi means exactly 0...  they have 10 versions of everything you want to watch and flip on the fly based on bitrate fluctuations.