Frequent Pausing on Firestick Playback

[Dizzy49 99]

Ok, this is the third trip I've been on where when I try to watch something it it will play for a few minutes, then pause for 3-5 seconds, then play for 10-15sec, then another 3-5sec pause, and so on.  It really makes things unwatchable.

 

The first time I thought it was a bandwidth issue.  The second time I also had some blockiness so I was sure it was a bandwidth issue.

Now I'm here for a week (vs previous overnight trips) and I can't be without my shows!

 

I have attached logs from playback, Supergirl specifically.  It happned a few times with Sunnyside, but it was only once or twice per episode.

 

I had a similar issue previously and you told me to have everything transcoded.  I even lowered the transcode bitrate.

I thought that MAYBE the server wasn't keeping up (not likely), but I checked and it had transcoded almost 10% more than where I was at.

My bandwidth here at the hotel is 6-7Mbps

 

So, it's not bandwitdh, it's not the server, hopefully you can see something in the logs.

 

Emby Server v4.3.0.30

Emby v1.7.62a

 

Thanks!

embyserver.txt

ffmpeg-transcode-5f0d1ab0-ea72-4200-ac32-40ba29867d47_1.txt

ffmpeg-transcode-0fb6ea05-92b4-479b-94c0-368e3959be9a_1.txt

Edited December 11, 2019 by Dizzy49

[Luke 42079]

Hi, try lowering the in-app quality setting a little bit more. Looks like it is currently 1.5 mbps. Please try setting it to 1 mbps and see how that compares. Thanks.

[Dizzy49 99]

It's still happening but not as bad.  I was able to get through a couple shows (25min shows), but the last 10min of a longer show (43min) was horrible.

I disabled Hardware Acceleration on the server for good measure since I know that caused issues previously.

I'll see if it's any better tonight.

[Luke 42079]

Thanks for the feedback. Nine times out of ten stuttering and pausing is simply a sign that the bitrate is too high for the connection.

[Dizzy49 99]

So I was watching a 43min video, and after about 1min, it started pausing.  After the 2nd or 3rd time I manually paused it to check the server to make sure it was transcoding correctly.  Everything looked good, and when I unpaused it, it was fine.

The only thing I noticed was that the progress line on the server showed green, there was no orange (which I believe indicates how much it has transcoded).

 

I started a second 43min video and it at about the 1min mark it restarted itself, and then 30sec in it started pausing a bunch.  I stopped it and attached the files.

 

When I went back in to continue watching, it doesn't have the Resume option...

embyserver.txt

ffmpeg-transcode-822a94f3-ad5e-480e-ba81-85d4fd61f78e_1.txt

ffmpeg-transcode-9d0cf6c3-bc6a-4124-bf42-f12c4f27ca50_1.txt

Edited December 12, 2019 by Dizzy49

[Luke 42079]

You may want to try lowering the in-app quality setting a little bit more.

[Dizzy49 99]

Lowered to 720 and I can see the differences, even on this small screen, and I don't like it.

It is STILL pausing!  It's not as bad, but still happening.  If you are trying to tell me that 5-7Mbps isn't enough to sustain a 720 bitrate then something is SERIOUSLY wrong!

I don't think the issue is the bitrate. It may be a factor, but it isn't the entire issue.  If I pause it manually it will play for 20-30min w/o skipping, but starts again afterwards.  

I can understand while you think it's the bitrate, but it's more like a buffer issue.  The server is ahead of where I'm watching, but the Firestick isn't buffering enough.  There is plenty of bandwidth to do so, so something else is the issue.

[ebr 16184]

What part of your connection is 5-7Mps?  If that is an advertised value then, yes, it could actually not be enough to sustain a constant bitrate that is very high at all.

[Dizzy49 99]

What part of your connection is 5-7Mps?  If that is an advertised value then, yes, it could actually not be enough to sustain a constant bitrate that is very high at all.

 

I ran SpeedTest 6 times, and it ranged from 5.3-7.1Mbps

Upload speed from the server is averages 9-10Mbps

[Luke 42079]

There could be isp throttling happening though, on either side.

[ebr 16184]

Also, with a connection that slow, there could be significant latency.  In today's world, that is a very slow connection.