Live TV -high CPU used by FFMPEG - stuttering and poor picture

[whyteknt 3]

I've tried reading through some of the similar posts around issues similar to mine, but  did not find a solution that worked for me.

 

my setup: 

Windows 7 SP1 

intel cpu N2930 1.83ghz, 8gb ram, using built in GPU (Zotac Zbox HTPC)

2 HDHR units (4 tuners total) - one HDR3 and the other is an older Dual HDHomerun

using WMC server for guide data (Plugin in Emby)

 

 

I'm finally trying to migrate my DVR usage to Emby so I can take advantage of it on my new LG OLED CP7 tv with the available LG Emby ap. 

 

I'm able to stream recorded movies fine (well, 'ok' is a better description), but LIVE tv on both the computer with the Emby server and on the LG tv are unusable.

 

On the server, when I open up in Chrome, and try and turn on Live TV, my CPU maxes out (all 4 cores) to 100% - it appears to be related to FFMPEG.exe taking pretty much everything.

 

I have not yet tried disabling WMCserver yet to see if that helps, but that is not a long term solution for me because I use that for the guide data.

 

WMC still plays live TV just fine with NO issues on the same computer.  in fact, WMC has worked so well for me for so long, the only reason I jumped to Emby Premier was to try and integrate the Live TV DVR functions and run everything through the LG TV with ONE remote control to run everything  (easier for the wife... and me too).

 

I've attached the server log (partial), and the full Transcode log

 

Suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

I suspect the issue is FFMPEG - is there an alternative that I can somehow replace it with??

 

 

 

 

emby server log mar2018.rtf

emby transcode log mar2018.rtf

Edited March 3, 2018 by whyteknt

[Luke 42078]

Hi @@whyteknt, this is the way ffmpeg works. It will go as fast as it possibly can. What you can try to do is use the emby server transcoding settings to lower the maximum transcoding thread count. This may reduce cpu usage but you have to be careful because it may also cause the transcoding process to not be fast enough to be playable.

 

If you'd like a solution that can solve both the CPU and quality concerns, try instead to play with an Emby app that can direct play the live stream without any transcoding. Good candidates are Emby Theater for Windows Desktop:

 

https://emby.media/emby-theater.html

 

As well as our android apps. Please let us know if this helps. thanks !

[econ 74]

@@whyteknt I’m curious as to what percentage your embyserver.exe is processing during playing live tv vs ffmpeg.

[Luke 42078]

@@whyteknt I’m curious as to what percentage your embyserver.exe is processing during playing live tv vs ffmpeg.

 

Well he's using ServerWMC so it's not really a direct comparison of what I know you're thinking of.

[whyteknt 3]

the embyserver.exe appeared to use about 20-25% of cpus, compared to ffmpeg running between 70-90% when this was happening.  (It sounds like this may be a unneeded response now, but just in case someone still wanted to know...)

 

I did download Emby theater.  Live tv seems fine (CPU usage is very reasonable) using that instead of viewing through the server (which must be what I was doing before).

 

 

I must admit; I've been an EMBY user for years (non-premiere user) using the WMC plugin to view my movie and tv files.   I never really understood what 'EmbyTheater's' purpose really was, and since I did not have premiere I didn't have an opportunity to really try it out.

 

Ultimately, before I'd ever make the full switch from WMC to Emby, I need to see how stable and accurate it is for scheduled recordings.   As much as I want to start using Emby through the my LG Tv ap, stability in my recording schedule is my number one priority.  I plan to see how well that can happen over the next month or so of scheduled recordings.

 

I will say, the fact that there was an Emby LG ap was the final selling point for me purchasing a LG OLED TV.   So if anyone from LG happens to read this, know that your sales are impacted by supporting and approving these Aps for your TVs.

[Luke 42078]

Thanks for the feedback.