Horrible Streaming Rates on Remote Connection

[Tony B. 38]

I have a 20Mbps guaranteed upload with my business line and a 100+ Mbps on the download on the other side of the country.

Yet to check with iPerf, but this seems really bad.

Streaming TV and pre-recorded shows MUST be done at 720kbps with a large playback buffer (configured in 'Playback'), in order to view ANYTHING without tons of buffering.

What should I be looking at to find out what the bottleneck is? iPerf my only true option?

[Happy2Play 9780]

Is the client Playback set to Auto?  If so have you tried adjusting it to a set Quality?

[Tony B. 38]

As I just stated.. 720kbps is even pushing it. Auto is out of the question.

I come to this house 2 times every year, this winter was fine with Auto. Now, 720kbps is about all it will do. The only thing that changed is the emby version.

Seriously doubt a log is going to help with this one. It's bottlenecking somewhere.

 

[Happy2Play 9780]

Have you restarted network devices modem/router/switches?

But could be hard to say, maybe ISP port throttling?  Have only really seen a issue on Auto for remote connections and low bitrates like that.

[Tony B. 38]

Restarted pfSense, my modem and my switch. Same on the other side.

ISP throttling on the remote side (residential account), could be an issue but it seems odd that it's surfaced after all the years I've been using that port here.

 

[Luke 42079]

3 hours ago, Tony B. said:

Restarted pfSense, my modem and my switch. Same on the other side.

ISP throttling on the remote side (residential account), could be an issue but it seems odd that it's surfaced after all the years I've been using that port here.

 

If ISP throttling is the issue then that doesn't sound odd to me at all. ISP providers are getting more strict every day. You could try using a different port and see if that helps.

[Tony B. 38]

@Luke

Should I try the non-https port? Encoding must put some strain on the connection with a 4096bit key, right?

 

When using Emby Connect, what does it use? HTTP or HTTPS?

Edited June 18, 2021 by Tony B.

[Luke 42079]

3 minutes ago, Tony B. said:

@LukeWhen using Emby Connect, what does it use? HTTP or HTTPS?

It uses whichever address is displayed as your remote address on your server dashboard.

[Tony B. 38]

HTTPS in my case.. I will try the http.

 

Does the 4096bit key have an effect?

[Tony B. 38]

Either way, no more Direct Play. Even with the increased buffer in playback it is pausing every 2 seconds to buffer more.

 

720kbps and large buffer is all.

 

I'll have to get iPerf on that port and see what's going on..

 

Just tried a speedtest.net from the Emby server location to the nearest city that has a speed test server (same carrier as the location on question)... It wouldn't hold the 20mbps upload, it went down to 7.5..

 

Edited June 18, 2021 by Tony B.

[pwhodges 2012]

Time for you to call support for that guaranteed performance, it seems.

Paul

[Tony B. 38]

It seems as if it's not traveling very well across the country. Backbones and old cabling to a state that's in shambles (Upstate NY) for infrastructure are at fault.

[kikinjo 281]

Use MTR tool on linux or WinMTR on windows to check connection and possible pocket loss from your client to your server. This sounds just like pocket loss on some point towards server. MTR tool will display real time statistics for every point in communication.

[Tony B. 38]

1 minute ago, kikinjo said:

Use MTR tool on linux or WinMTR on windows to check connection and possible pocket loss from your client to your server. This sounds just like pocket loss on some point towards server. MTR tool will display real time statistics for every point in communication.

Thank you!

[rbjtech 5284]

Network LATENCY may also be an issue here which people frequently forget about - for 'chatty' TCP protocols (such as emby), this latency could lower throughput significantly.

From AZ to NY latency should be in the 60mS range - which should not have any impact on throughput - but if this is much higher than this, then it starts to slow down TCP throughput unless you start using larger packet sizes to combat the latency.

What does the speed test/ping test show as the latency ?  

 

 

[Carlo 4561]

@Tony B. Do you have the ability to test your server from a different ISP closer to home like from work or a friends house? If you want to send me a login via PM and a movie/show to try I'd be happy to give this a test run for you from the Phila area (I'm on gig up and down) on Verizon FIOS and also on Comcast (400 down) as I have both.

What that test might help to show is if it's on the server side or not.

If it's ISP throttling at either end you may be able to work around this with a point to point VPN.  Sometimes as Luke suggested a switch to a different uncommon port might thwart ISP throttling.

But as @rbjtech mentioned if it's a latency issue the only possible fix is to contact the ISP or switch ISPs.

[Tony B. 38]

 

10 hours ago, rbjtech said:

Network LATENCY may also be an issue here which people frequently forget about - for 'chatty' TCP protocols (such as emby), this latency could lower throughput significantly.

From AZ to NY latency should be in the 60mS range - which should not have any impact on throughput - but if this is much higher than this, then it starts to slow down TCP throughput unless you start using larger packet sizes to combat the latency.

What does the speed test/ping test show as the latency ?  

 

 

 

That's NY to AZ..

 

That's the Emby Server in AZ to NY. Doesn't look very good.

 

Edited June 18, 2021 by Tony B.

[Tony B. 38]

Here is an interesting one for you @Luke and @ebr

I can Direct Play anything on my Surface Book 2 without a single skip (buffer) using the Web app.

[Carlo 4561]

What apps do you have the problem with?

[Richard Branches 330]

29 minutes ago, Tony B. said:

Here is an interesting one for you @Luke and @ebr

I can Direct Play anything on my Surface Book 2 without a single skip (buffer) using the Web app.

If you people are using the Android Mobile app there is a problem with the upload/download speed detection as that's what I've been facing ever since... I really don't know how long it's being there but the web app has always been working correctly.

[Tony B. 38]

41 minutes ago, cayars said:

What apps do you have the problem with?

Fire Stick; as stated in the beginning of this thread.

[Carlo 4561]

I think this is the first mention of it.

Have you tried Theater or any other apps just to try and narrow it down to possibly a Firestick issue?

[ebr 16184]

3 hours ago, Tony B. said:

 

 

That's NY to AZ..

 

That's the Emby Server in AZ to NY. Doesn't look very good.

 

Given that, I don't think the app/device is the problem...

[Tony B. 38]

7 minutes ago, ebr said:

Given that, I don't think the app/device is the problem...

Just kinda odd that I have no issues direct streaming from the SB2

[rbjtech 5284]

15 hours ago, Tony B. said:

 

 

That's NY to AZ..

 

That's the Emby Server in AZ to NY. Doesn't look very good.

 

NY to AZ is 'ok' - Adding up those latency figures gives you ~500mS - which should be fine.  That sort of latency is not good, but it should not cause you throughput issues.

However - AZ to NY appears to be stuck in a loop (max 30 hops) - suggesting a routing issue on the ISP side of things.  That will cause you issues - causing packet loss and seemingly random issues.