Serious Recording Issues

[mark-in-dallas 87]

For the last couple of weeks the majority of TV shows that I record are experiencing issues. 

 

When watching a show that's been recorded the screen will either freeze or cycle back about 20 seconds and replay parts of what has already played repeatedly, making it pretty much impossible to watch those recordings.  To put it in context, 30 minute shows recorded in 720P are consuming over 10 GBytes of disk space.

 

When watching live TV shows play fine on the same devices.

 

I have Emby Server installed on a WD DL2100 NAS Drive, and have attempted watching the recordings on an LG OLED55C6P TV using the Emby app, as well as on a Windows Computer.

 

The latest recordings to experience this issue were this morning, and I have attached the server and ffmpeg logs.

 

I am guessing the issue is caused by the Non-monotonous DTS in output stream message that begins on line 56 and has over 150,000 entries, but I have no idea of what is causing it, and did not have this issue in the past.

 

 

Edited August 2, 2019 by mark-in-dallas

[Luke 42077]

Hi, are you watching these recordings in progress, or after they have completed?

[mark-in-dallas 87]

Hi Luke,  I am trying to watch them after the recordings have completed.  Of the 6 episodes of Scare Tactics that recording earlier today, none of them were playable without issue each of them took up between 10 and 12 GBytes of disk space.

 

The issue is not limited to a single channel and has happened with about 12 recordings so far on 3 different channels.

[mark-in-dallas 87]

Hey Luke, seems I've been forgotten? 

 

On top of the recording issue I am now also having the same EPG guide data issue listed in this thread:  Lost XML guide data channel mappings unable to remap

 

[Luke 42077]

The server is just saving the data from the stream. Why do you feel that the size is an emby problem?

[mark-in-dallas 87]

The server is just saving the data from the stream. Why do you feel that the size is an emby problem?

 

 

The stream goes from beginning to end without repeating segments over and over, and a normal 30 minute recording would only be approximately 1 to 1.5 GBytes.  The 10+ GByte size of the recordings indicate to me that somehow the repeat segments are being inserted into the recordings.

[Luke 42077]

What do you mean by "the repeat segments" ?

[mark-in-dallas 87]

When I tried to watch any of those recorded shows, they would play for about a minute, then skip back 10 or 15 seconds and replay the previous segment that had just been viewed, then play for another 30 seconds to 1 minute, then skip back again.  This would repeat throughout the entire recording, and what should be a 30 minute recording would stretch on for hours.  That's why I pointed out the size of the recordings, to show that those repeating segments are actually within the recordings.  Yet the live streams play fine

[ZootsAllure 4]

I have also had this happen on many recordings.  File size and displayed length both reflect the additional data from the constant loops that occur.

[Luke 42077]

Are you able to try the beta server and see how that compares?

[ZootsAllure 4]

Running the beta for last 2 months.  Most recordings are fine but around 20% end up with the repeating loops.  No pattern to it as some are in middle of night with nothing else happening some are when I am also watching.  The loops usually are 10-20 secs and can repeat multiple times.  The loops start going farther into the loop until they eventually stop and the video proceeds until the next loop.  This may occur at any time, Ive had the 1st 10 minutes filled with loops and the next 20m are fine.

[Luke 42077]

Running the beta for last 2 months.  Most recordings are fine but around 20% end up with the repeating loops.  No pattern to it as some are in middle of night with nothing else happening some are when I am also watching.  The loops usually are 10-20 secs and can repeat multiple times.  The loops start going farther into the loop until they eventually stop and the video proceeds until the next loop.  This may occur at any time, Ive had the 1st 10 minutes filled with loops and the next 20m are fine.

 

Please make sure to see how to report a problem. thanks.

[mark-in-dallas 87]

Are you able to try the beta server and see how that compares?

 

 

If there is a beta version for the NAS DL2100 I am happy to install it and compare, but I don't know where to find the beta versions.  Can you point me in the right direction?

[Luke 42077]

If there is a beta version for the NAS DL2100 I am happy to install it and compare, but I don't know where to find the beta versions.  Can you point me in the right direction?

 

The download page of our website:

https://emby.media/download.html

 

Thanks.

[mark-in-dallas 87]

Well I feel stupid!  I never scrolled down the page to see if there might be beta versions at the bottom.  I've just installed the beta version and will come back to advise if it helps with the issue.  Thank you.

[Luke 42077]

Let us know how you get on. Thanks.

[mark-in-dallas 87]

Sorry for taking so long to respond, but my EPG provider had been having issues and I wasn't able to schedule recordings. 

 

I have installed the 4.2.0.25 Beta and of the last 6 recordings none had the repeating segment issues, so it does appear to have fixed the issue.

[Luke 42077]

Thanks for the feedback.

[mark-in-dallas 87]

So this issue appears to be starting again.  I had a recording from last night that was supposed to be 1h 03m in length, and the Emby Server log shows it at 62.9583797866667 minutes, but the actual recording length was 1h 37m, and at the 1:01;02 mark it started repeating previous segments already recorded, and continued to do so until the end of the recording.

 

I have attached the log files, and uploaded a copy of the recording to Drop Box, so you can view and/or download it yourself if you would like to see the issue I'm experiencing.  Again the repeating segments start at 1:01:02 into the video.

 

  

 

Link to video:  https://www.dropbox.com/s/h0hnvh1ekc86i43/Ancient%20Aliens%202019_07_26_20_00_00.ts?dl=0

 

Emby Server Version:  4.2.0.34 Beta  installed on a WD DL2100 NAS Drive, with the Emby Client installed on an LG OLED55C TV.   I also tried viewing it in the Emby Client on a Windows 7 Computer, and in Windows Media Player.

Edited August 2, 2019 by mark-in-dallas

[Luke 42077]

is the repetition in the file if you play it in something like vlc?

[mark-in-dallas 87]

Yes it is.  What is strange is that some shows record fine while others don't, and there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. 

 

As best as I could tell the emby server log shows that the recording started at: 2019-07-26 20:00:02 and stopped at:  2019-07-26 21:03 for a 1h 03m recording, which would be the correct times and length, but the actual file length is 1h 37m, with the last 35 minutes repeated various previous sections over and over.

 

I don't know if its helpful or means anything, but I also noticed a bunch of errors reports in the log for this error:  Error PortMapper: Error creating port map

Edited July 27, 2019 by mark-in-dallas

[Luke 42077]

Are you sure it's not just a problem in the source then?

[mark-in-dallas 87]

I don't see how it could be, because its a live stream, and it has happened with different channels and programs.  And, the log shows that the recording stopped after 1h 03m, Yet the actual length is 1h 37m

[mark-in-dallas 87]

And I just found that I had a second recording from last night that did the same thing.  A recording that should have only been 1 hour long is 1h 30m instead and the scene repetitions start from the very beginning and continue throughout the entire recording.  Different channel and different show.

 

Edited to add:  Another 2 shows from last night on the same channel as the last recording that experienced issues, one from 2 hours earlier and one that recorded an hour later had no issues and recorded fine.

 

I also wanted to add that I do realize that with coding it should either work or not work, and that intermittent issues are usually not caused by faulty coding, but I'm wondering if it could be an issue related to stream fault tolerances?   Could a short glitch in the stream possibly be the cause?

 

My reasoning is that the the logs show that the last 2 recordings with the repeating segment issues started and stopped on time, but one of those recordings was actually 34 minutes longer than it should have been, and the other is 30 minutes longer than what it should have been and what the log shows as starting and stopping points.

 

From the Log:

 

Line 7608:  2019-07-26 20:00:02.497 Info LiveTV: Will record to /shares/tv/Ancient Aliens/Ancient Aliens 2019_07_26_20_00_00.ts for 62.9583797866667 minutes.

Line 7633:  2019-07-26 20:00:02.600 Info LiveTV: Triggering refresh on /shares/tv/Ancient Aliens/Ancient Aliens 2019_07_26_20_00_00.ts

Line 7634:  2019-07-26 20:00:02.602 Info LiveTV: Refreshing recording parent /shares/tv/Ancient Aliens

Line 7635:  2019-07-26 20:00:02.602 Info LiveTV: Copying recording stream to file /shares/tv/Ancient Aliens/Ancient Aliens 2019_07_26_20_00_00.ts

Line 8516:  2019-07-26 21:03:00.250 Info LiveTV: Recording stopped: /shares/tv/Ancient Aliens/Ancient Aliens 2019_07_26_20_00_00.ts

 

 

Line 8192:  2019-07-26 21:00:00.641 Info LiveTV: Will record to /shares/tv/Killjoys/Killjoys 2019_07_26_21_00_00 - Blame it on the Rain.ts for 59.989309475 minutes.

Line 8219:  2019-07-26 21:00:00.829 Info LiveTV: Triggering refresh on /shares/tv/Killjoys/Killjoys 2019_07_26_21_00_00 - Blame it on the Rain.ts

Line 8220:  2019-07-26 21:00:00.830 Info LiveTV: Refreshing recording parent /shares/tv/Killjoys

Line 8221:  2019-07-26 21:00:00.831 Info LiveTV: Copying recording stream to file /shares/tv/Killjoys/Killjoys 2019_07_26_21_00_00 - Blame it on the Rain.ts

Line 9135:  2019-07-26 22:00:00.260 Info LiveTV: Recording stopped: /shares/tv/Killjoys/Killjoys 2019_07_26_21_00_00 - Blame it on the Rain.ts

 

Screen capture of episode info in Emby Recordings

 

    

Edited July 28, 2019 by mark-in-dallas

[mark-in-dallas 87]

Hey Luke, seems I'eve been forgotten again?