Emby pauses/stops keeps stuttering over WAN

[gattaca-mcs 3]

Hi All,

I've been an Emby subscriber for over a year and generally like it a lot more than Plex. it has some really annoying limitations, but generally I like the interface better and feel its a better user experience.

My setup is a bit complicated, but essentially my LAN internal is as follows:

Virgin Media (200Mbps/20Mbps), Hub 3 (modem only mode), pfSense firewall (1gig interfaces), HP 1gig managed switch, HP Gen8 Microserver with WD RED drives - this runs ESXi and a Windows file server (Server 2019), then I have a separate box for running Emby. That box is something like an Intel i5 CPU, 16GB DDR4 RAM, and a 256GB SSD PCIe running Ubuntu Linux.

The network shares from the Windows box are mapped into the Linux box which runs Emby and internally over the LAN seems flawless for films or TV Shows, for music it seems flaky depending on the client, for example the web client music randomly stops and screws up all the time, but the Xbox app seems to be flawless etc for sometimes saying a compatible stream isn't available.

If I go to my friends house, and start a film, It says the film is 'Direct Playing' and has all sorts of weird pausing and screwing up issues. and it happens on Films and TV Shows. I'm at a loss as to why it does this as internally on my LAN It works perfectly. Most of the content is standard def with some HD content. I'm running 4.6.4.0 Emby and this issue has been there since the earlier versions for me. The client side at my friends house is an Xbox One.

I really need to get to the bottom of why this is happening. I don't think the Emby server is even breaking a sweat. Can anyone help?

Thanks,

[Happy2Play 9781]

What are the bitrates of the Direct playing items?  But if Direct Play is having issue it sounds like a bandwidth or network issue.

Have you tried a lower playback quality to see if a transcode plays?

[Carlo 4561]

This sounds like a Internet/network/bandwidth issue to me as well.

[gattaca-mcs 3]

I'm not sure how to tell if its a internet/network/bandwidth issue. and I can't see how his Xbox is playing at this very second, but playing the same video on mine its saying 'DirectPlay' 2.1Mbps Bitrate.

I've just quickly tried transcoding from 1080p down to 720p internally on my Xbox and that seems to work OK as well, I can't ask him to try that at the moment.

 

It just feels like if there was a way to make his xbox buffer a bit more it would be fine. he's also on 200Mbps Virgin Media.

[Happy2Play 9781]

4 minutes ago, gattaca-mcs said:

It just feels like if there was a way to make his xbox buffer a bit more it would be fine. he's also on 200Mbps Virgin Media.

Only factor to worry about would be your 20Mbps upload.  But if the item has only a 2Mb bitrate then yes there is a issue somewhere.  I only have a 10Mbps upload and direct play 6Mbps itews without issue remotely.

But there are many variable to this.

[gattaca-mcs 3]

5 minutes ago, Happy2Play said:

Only factor to worry about would be your 20Mbps upload.  But if the item has only a 2Mb bitrate then yes there is a issue somewhere.  I only have a 10Mbps upload and direct play 6Mbps itews without issue remotely.

But there are many variable to this.

This is the thing isn't it... lots of variables... always are with these things! It feels like it should be fine. and whilst the hard drives in the server aren't the quickest (being WD Red 5.4k RPM drives, as I say it works internally fine.

I should have also mentioned I'm using Cloudflare as a Proxy for it. that might have some sort of say in it all. I'm really keen to troubleshoot this if someone has the right no how/questions to ask etc.

Any help welcomed!

[Luke 42079]

Hi, can we please look at a specific example?

Thanks.

[gattaca-mcs 3]

13 hours ago, Luke said:

Hi, can we please look at a specific example?

Thanks.

Hi Luke, thanks for posting. I'm not sure how to respond to 'can we please look at a specific example'. 

I've tried to best describe the issue, but happy to try again if you can point me in the direction of what I've missed.

As my friend's client is an Xbox One using the Emby app on that I don't think I'll be able to get any logs from that side. I did try and download my emby log from the server but it seems to be HUGE. I'll need to perhaps workout how to clear the log and start a new one.

I can give you a user login to my Emby server if that helps, see if you get similar issues?

Thanks,

[rbjtech 5284]

So we need to make some basic assumptions - your remote setup is good as the client can connect ok and locally, the file plays fine - ruling out any local (LAN) issues - this leaves us with the WAN connection - which can either be your upload and/or the clients download.

Is the client on wireless - can they do a speedtest (using nperf, don't use speedtest.net as they have dedicated trunks into the ISP's..) - if they are on VM 200Mb, then they should be getting pretty much the wifi-max - so this should not be an issue but worth checking.

Have you checked the same file over 4G as a test (turn off wifi on your phone) - how does that play ?  if that is ok (or another 'WAN' client) - then we can probably rule out your WAN upload as the problem.

As a comprehensive test (as I presume you are pretty IT/network literate if you are running pfsense etc) then you can setup an iperf3 'server' (on your system), and run the iperf3 'client' on the client end (WAN) and see the actual real bandwidth available to you (use TCP, the same as emby does). 

btw - I'm happy to test your setup as you are in the UK - my f/w geo blocks everywhere else using the standard emby https ports.   I'm on VM 350/35 - so probably a reasonable comparison vs your other client.

Edited July 14, 2021 by rbjtech

[gattaca-mcs 3]

21 minutes ago, rbjtech said:

So we need to make some basic assumptions - your remote setup is good as the client can connect ok and locally, the file plays fine - ruling out any local (LAN) issues - this leaves us with the WAN connection - which can either be your upload and/or the clients download.

Is the client on wireless - can they do a speedtest (using nperf, don't use speedtest.net as they have dedicated trunks into the ISP's..) - if they are on VM 200Mb, then they should be getting pretty much the wifi-max - so this should not be an issue but worth checking.

Have you checked the same file over 4G as a test (turn off wifi on your phone) - how does that play ?  if that is ok (or another 'WAN' client) - then we can probably rule out your WAN upload as the problem.

As a comprehensive test (as I presume you are pretty IT/network literate if you are running pfsense etc) then you can setup an iperf3 'server' (on your system), and run the iperf3 'client' on the client end (WAN) and see the actual real bandwidth available to you (use TCP, the same as emby does). 

btw - I'm happy to test your setup as you are in the UK - my f/w geo blocks everywhere else using the standard emby https ports.   I'm on VM 350/35 - so probably a reasonable comparison vs your other client.

That's very kind of you to offer. I've just sent you a direct message to arrange something.

I've just tried a 4G test on my phone and it seems to stutter and pause a LOT. its possible that that is due to poor signal in our area, or it could be another example of the issue here.

[rbjtech 5284]

So a quick update - I have zero issues with direct playback and client side forced transcoding - so the issue appears to be the client users internet connection as the client is wired to the ISP router/switch.  

We are going to repeat the testing tonight during peak periods as sometimes VM have a habit of over subscribing their network but at 2-3 Mbit/sec I'd be surprised if it was this.

edit - so some further testing has revealed that the upload limit is approx 20Mbit (as expected) and the OP can run multiple streams up to this limit without issue - so I believe the server side of emby is good.

The only oddity, which I have seen before, is Auto on the web client thinks the best connection is 6Mbit/sec - when it clearly could be much higher.  Maybe it's being very conservative in it's estimate - but by forcing the client to 15Mbit/sec - it direct plays just fine.

I would therefore try and set the xbox client to say 10Mbit instead of Auto - this should then not interfere with any bandwidth calculations.  If the xbox client still can't play a 2-3Mbit/sec file - then I would suggest a speedtest, followed by a call to VM to ask them to test the broadband.

Edited July 14, 2021 by rbjtech

[solidsnakex37 55]

On 7/14/2021 at 5:50 AM, rbjtech said:

So a quick update - I have zero issues with direct playback and client side forced transcoding - so the issue appears to be the client users internet connection as the client is wired to the ISP router/switch.  

We are going to repeat the testing tonight during peak periods as sometimes VM have a habit of over subscribing their network but at 2-3 Mbit/sec I'd be surprised if it was this.

edit - so some further testing has revealed that the upload limit is approx 20Mbit (as expected) and the OP can run multiple streams up to this limit without issue - so I believe the server side of emby is good.

The only oddity, which I have seen before, is Auto on the web client thinks the best connection is 6Mbit/sec - when it clearly could be much higher.  Maybe it's being very conservative in it's estimate - but by forcing the client to 15Mbit/sec - it direct plays just fine.

I would therefore try and set the xbox client to say 10Mbit instead of Auto - this should then not interfere with any bandwidth calculations.  If the xbox client still can't play a 2-3Mbit/sec file - then I would suggest a speedtest, followed by a call to VM to ask them to test the broadband.

Did you ever solve this? 

I only have this issue when direct playing remotely, even though both internet connection speeds are plenty fast. My server speed is on a 2.5G FTTH connection, and the receiving party is on a 1G symmetrical fiber connection. 

The video will just pause, but it doesn't resume playback on it's own which is the irritating part. 

[Luke 42079]

9 hours ago, solidsnakex37 said:

Did you ever solve this? 

I only have this issue when direct playing remotely, even though both internet connection speeds are plenty fast. My server speed is on a 2.5G FTTH connection, and the receiving party is on a 1G symmetrical fiber connection. 

The video will just pause, but it doesn't resume playback on it's own which is the irritating part. 

Hi, remember there could be port throttling occurring on either side of the connection.