FireTV can't play from remote NAS

[danergo 37]

I have a problem with Emby app on FireTV (paid subscription):

 

Whenever I'm trying to (direct)play a movie from a remote NAS, it constantly stops.

 

I have created a network bandwidth screenshot of the problem:

 

This is during an active playback of FireTV Emby app.

 

Same stream on the LG TV's native Emby app can play smooth.

 

At the high red bars the bandwidth is more than 20MBps, and it is rock solid if I test with manual tools (like iperf).

1 red bar is 1 second, so you can have an idea how bad the experience is, some seconds video, then a lot of waiting.

 

My FireTV is 4K capable, I think it shall have enough juice for streaming a FullHD video. My wifi router is also very good, I don't think that's the problem.

 

I'd be stick with Emby (not switch to other client app), if we can work on this, because I like it very much.

 

What shall be worth checking?

[danergo 37]

Playing the same media on the LG TV, results full of those red bars and plays without glitches.

 

I can connect FireTV to my computer to grab some ADB logs if that helps.

 

But I'd really like to solve this, as I've an active Emby for FireTV subscription, and now I can not use it at all.

[mastrmind11 722]

what happens when you force a transcode by lowering the bitrate settings in the client app? 

what does your server dashboard say while you are playing something on the firestick?

are you running your iperf tests from the firestick to your nas?

[danergo 37]

Original Media is 15.62Mbps.

 

 

what happens when you force a transcode by lowering the bitrate settings in the client app? 

It plays fine around 1-3Mbps but I didn't buy FireTV Stick 4K for watching FHD videos with 1MBps bitrate..

 

 

what does your server dashboard say while you are playing something on the firestick?

What do you mean by this? Dahsboard prints on firetv's player:

xy's FireTV
AndroidTv 1.7.92a

Direct playing

are you running your iperf tests from the firestick to your nas?

From stick to nas, yes:

 

 

 

Do you see something wrong?

Edited May 13, 2020 by danergo

[danergo 37]

This version on stick seems old, but how do I update Emby on firetv stick? All apps updates automatically without user intervention.

 

-I mean there is a newer but beta version. I'll try to sideload it give it a chance.

Edited May 13, 2020 by danergo

[ebr 16184]

Hi.  Your app version is correct.

 

I see your max bandwidth at 20Mb and, whenever the delivery goes over that (as shown in your graph) that causes a lag.

 

One thing to try would be to go into the playback settings in the app and set the buffer value to "Small" and see if that makes a difference.

[danergo 37]

... whenever the delivery goes over that (as shown in your graph) that causes a lag.

On this diagram there the red bars top is around 20Mbps. But wait! Why does the delivery ever need more than 20Mbps in case the media is "only" max 16Mbps?

 

 

One thing to try would be to go into the playback settings in the app and set the buffer value to "Small" and see if that makes a difference.

Also tried that, same results unfortunately.

 

This is probably a client app problem: it seems something prevents ExoPlayer to start downloading the next chunk, which then results timeout exceptions. 

 

I got a bunch of timeout exceptions, one for every 90sec:

2020-05-13 17:55:14.145 5666-5666/? E/EventLogger: internalError [90.08, 10.38, window=0, period=0, loadError]
    com.google.android.exoplayer2.upstream.HttpDataSource$HttpDataSourceException: java.net.SocketTimeoutException: timeout

My link is able to provide the stream perfectly, as I can play it with other clients.

 

I'd be happy to help you to investigate this. I still prefer sticking with Emby for Android instead of others.

 

Do you need something more from my side?

 

Thank you!

[ebr 16184]

The bitrate you see reported on the media is likely an average as opposed to a max.  The media could very well have bursts well over that.

 

In my experience, smooth playback is guaranteed by keeping the media average at about half the available bandwidth.  Does it play smoothly with the app set to 10Mb/s?

[danergo 37]

No, 10Mbps is absolutely not plays smooth. For smooth I need to set it to somewhere 1-3Mb/s.

 

I'm far from the NAS. There is latency of let's say 160ms. But! LG TV native Emby app works fine, Emby theatre on Windows works fine. Web app also suffers from this problem as the Android one.

 

What is different in Emby Theatre (+LGTV) and Android playback?

[danergo 37]

Is it possible that external players work better then the bundled? How can I use external players on FireTV stick? Is VLC an option?

[danergo 37]

I tried VLC as external but it's even worse.