Slow startup of Autoplay episodes in ATV

[jordy 284]

@ebr, @Luke, @cayars

For a long time now, I have been experiencing very slow start up of next episode in Android TV - could be seeing a spinning circle for anything from 3secs to 10secs.

this evening I watched several episodes back to back using autoplay next episode in ATV.

I have sent logs from ATV

Username is Paul

Playback began at 24/01/2021 10:05:47 according to the Servers activity log.

I would appreciate if you could take a look and offer some advice on how to speed things up.

thanks

embyserver(1).txt embyserver-63747129601.txt ffmpeg-transcode-575dc6b1-f2e4-4747-8004-65ee00e8abf5_1.txt ffmpeg-transcode-d8c78e4f-0637-4c51-9df1-724ad0429919_1.txt ffmpeg-transcode-508b9b1d-8da7-43a1-86ce-6f100bdf1b28_1.txt

Edited January 24, 2021 by jordy
Add Server logs

[ebr 16184]

Hi.  You are doing a full transcode of an AVI file.  I imagine this is just the time it takes to stop one and start the other.

7 minutes ago, jordy said:

I have sent logs from ATV

At what time (EST) and under what user?  

[jordy 284]

Logs were posted shortly after that - I posted them directly after stopping playback on ATV so about 30secs after the time shown in this image

Timezone is Adelaide Australia - GMT +10  UTC +9:30

 

Edited January 24, 2021 by jordy
corrected timezone

[jordy 284]

1 hour ago, ebr said:

Hi.  You are doing a full transcode of an AVI file.  I imagine this is just the time it takes to stop one and start the other.

If I take a look at SFN directly after playback has started, (1 or 2 secs) transcoding is already at 20%

Additionally, even if it is direct playback - no transcoding, playback start is always between 3 and 10 secs - it generally varies with every start

 

Server Details:

Windows 10pro 20H2

Ryzen 7 3700x @ 3.6Ghz - 8 Core

32Gb ram

nVidia GTS 1050ti

Connection is over Cat 6 cable.

 

 

EDIT: If I play the same episodes directly on the server they all start within 1sec even with Transcoding....

Edited January 24, 2021 by jordy
additional text

[Carlo 4561]

Hi, are your files stored on the server or a different network device?

How is your Android TV connected to the network (wifi or ethernet)?

[jordy 284]

6 minutes ago, cayars said:

Hi, are your files stored on the server or a different network device?

How is your Android TV connected to the network (wifi or ethernet)?

Files are stored on a 6disk Microsoft Storage Spaces array

Connection is via ethernet - Cat 6 cable via a Netgear 8 port Gigabit switch - and before you ask, even if I connect the Shield by wi-fi - the switch is still in play between the PC and Router

Edited January 24, 2021 by jordy

[jordy 284]

One more thing, playback on my Pixel 5 for the exact same episodes is pretty much instant over wi-fi and No transcoding - why does the shield transcode? I thought it used to same Exo player.

Playback on the phone via 4g is delayed by about 10 secs which is to be expected I guess - but it's still direct play

[Carlo 4561]

Hi, likely the reason is the AVI container with XVID codec.  These are very old formats and aren't streamable.
Emby clients handle these differently depending on ability.

When a client can't play those formats properly they transcode.
So a client can try to play back the AVI/XVID but then hit problems so it falls back to auto correction which takes a bit of time.

If you convert them to MP4 or MKV with H.264 or H.265 video codec and appropriate audio codec your problem should vanish.

[Luke 42079]

You could try sideloading this on the Shield and see how it compares:

https://emby.media/emby-for-android.html

[jordy 284]

7 hours ago, cayars said:

Hi, likely the reason is the AVI container with XVID codec.  These are very old formats and aren't streamable.
Emby clients handle these differently depending on ability.

When a client can't play those formats properly they transcode.
So a client can try to play back the AVI/XVID but then hit problems so it falls back to auto correction which takes a bit of time.

If you convert them to MP4 or MKV with H.264 or H.265 video codec and appropriate audio codec your problem should vanish.

I don't think so. The exact same thing happens with MKV using h|x265, x265. These def direct play but there is still a 3 to 10 sec delay in playback on my shield. Plus emby on my Pixel 5 (Android) plays those same episodes almost instantly (about 1 sec delay) - even with transcoding so this tells me that transcoding is not the issue.

[jordy 284]

5 hours ago, Luke said:

You could try sideloading this on the Shield and see how it compares:

https://emby.media/emby-for-android.html

The 2017 shield has a Tegra x1 processor, not sure which apk to download - arm or x86?

[Carlo 4561]

31 minutes ago, jordy said:

The 2017 shield has a Tegra x1 processor, not sure which apk to download - arm or x86?

x86 refers to PC so definitely not that.  Arm is a typicall processor used on devices <- this is what you want.

38 minutes ago, jordy said:

I don't think so. The exact same thing happens with MKV using h|x265, x265. These def direct play but there is still a 3 to 10 sec delay in playback on my shield. Plus emby on my Pixel 5 (Android) plays those same episodes almost instantly (about 1 sec delay) - even with transcoding so this tells me that transcoding is not the issue.

We don't know the reason.  Please provide logs for mkv playback as well which will be a different reason but we can find out why.

[jordy 284]

47 minutes ago, cayars said:

x86 refers to PC so definitely not that.  Arm is a typicall processor used on devices <- this is what you want.

We don't know the reason.  Please provide logs for mkv playback as well which will be a different reason but we can find out why.

Thanks. Will do a MKV x264/5 check later tonight

[jordy 284]

7 hours ago, Luke said:

You could try sideloading this on the Shield and see how it compares:

https://emby.media/emby-for-android.html

OK, apk downloaded, tested and... instant playback on both AVI / mpeg 4 and MKV x264. And this is apparent on both Wi-Fi and Ethernet

Maybe you should update the EXO player version in ATV. Would prob solve all my problems.

 

thanks

[Carlo 4561]

10 minutes ago, jordy said:

Maybe you should update the EXO player version in ATV. Would prob solve all my problems.

That's what we're striving for and getting people like yourself to try it for things that don't work in the ATV version.

[jordy 284]

Another thing that Emby For Android does that ATV does not, is update the watched count on the home page without refreshing it.

[ebr 16184]

12 hours ago, jordy said:

Maybe you should update the EXO player version in ATV. Would prob solve all my problems

If that app is direct playing AVI then it isn't using Exo.  There is a hidden secret still in that app.  I assume these only have stereo audio?

[ebr 16184]

Just now, jordy said:

Another thing that Emby For Android does that ATV does not, is update the watched count on the home page without refreshing it.

So does the Android TV app for everyone else .  We haven't been able to determine why it isn't working for you - just sometimes.

[jordy 284]

Just now, ebr said:

If that app is direct playing AVI then it isn't using Exo.  There is a hidden secret still in that app.  I assume these only have stereo audio?

Yes, they are Stereo MP3 2.0 I believe. SFN shows EXO Player?

[jordy 284]

4 minutes ago, ebr said:

So does the Android TV app for everyone else .  We haven't been able to determine why it isn't working for you - just sometimes.

Maybe if I uninstall/reinstall ATV, It might fix that ? That's about the only thing I haven't tried. I thought that updates would have taken care of that anyway.

Job for Tomorrow...

[jordy 284]

On 1/26/2021 at 12:43 AM, jordy said:

Maybe if I uninstall/reinstall ATV, It might fix that ? That's about the only thing I haven't tried. I thought that updates would have taken care of that anyway.

Job for Tomorrow...

@ebr, I Un/Re-installed ATV on my shield and the watched count issue appears to have resolved.

The slow episode starts are much better, initial start up of the first episode in a session can still be a little slow - 2-5 secs, but autoplay next episode starts are now in the 1 sec range.

Overall it's much better.

cheers

[Carlo 4561]

Thanks for the feedback jordy, appreciated!

[ebr 16184]

5 hours ago, jordy said:

@ebr, I Un/Re-installed ATV on my shield and the watched count issue appears to have resolved.

The slow episode starts are much better, initial start up of the first episode in a session can still be a little slow - 2-5 secs, but autoplay next episode starts are now in the 1 sec range.

Overall it's much better.

cheers

That's very interesting.  Now, If I could just figure out why that worked... I guess it's the equivalent of a "reboot" from an app perspective.