Emby and my work VPN

[cpdigger31 3]

So I have a friend that remotes into my emby server and is getting occasional stuttering issues.  I have the same thing locally on occasion.  She is using emby theater.  The file we are messing with is an MP4.  So we have been looking and reading most of the morning.

The problem I identified is that when my VPN for work is running and she is streaming, my Emby Server Process kicks up to around 50-60% CPU Usage.  With the VPN off it merrily hums along at 2-4%.  ?????!!

I am going to try Force Bind IP https://www.howtogeek.com/117890/how-to-force-an-application-to-use-a-specific-network-card/ and see if that fixes it.

Any thoughts?

[Carlo 4561]

Hi, If you're talking about the VPN software on the server itself I wouldn't recommend that as it can do things like change your public port, change your routing, etc.

In your case it could actually be streaming through your work VPN which is not likely a good idea.

[cpdigger31 3]

Eh, I am not terribly worried about streaming over the VPN, as I work for a small company I know no one on the other end uses Emby.

I don't have much of a choice as to where the server resides, as the server that is the file share is not terribly capable.  I could run it from the wife's machine, but it is much less powerful than mine, and I may get appendages cut off in the night for messing with her PC.

I am just confused as to why it pegs out the CPU, and if there is a way to prevent it from happening from within Emby itself without having to implement fixes outside of Emby.

[Carlo 4561]

Do you have the ability to bypass the VPN when using Emby Server?

[cpdigger31 3]

That is what I was attempting to do with ForceBindIP.exe.  I don't know if the VPN has any option for that, but I will look into it. 

I realize Emby is not responsible for silliness with my VPN, as you have no control over it's implementation.  I was just curious if you guys knew why it might be doing that.

[cpdigger31 3]

After further testing, it appears to affect a single file that I know of right now.  It is a small 480p mp4 file.  Emby is fine with other mp4s, so I assume that there is something about the file that Emby doesn't like and starts transcoding it for some reason.  It plays locally fine, it plays on her system locally fine, but when she tries to stream it over Emby, Emby goes bananas if my VPN is connected. It streams fine for 30 seconds and then it streams really slowly, causing the CPU to spike and causes stuttering on her end.  With the VPN off, it streams fine.

This is an odd problem that seems to affect a single file (I know there are more files, I just haven't identified another one).

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1woka7fytuwkd3u/Terminator The Sarah Connor Chronicles_S01E03_The Turk_2008-01-21.mp4?dl=1

Here is the relevant section of the server log:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rk9xadeo59aqczi/Emby Server Log.txt?dl=0  I obscured IPs and identifying names.

I know nothing about encoding beyond the very basics.  If anyone who knows something about it can take a look and let me know if there is something strange about it, at least I have a place to start looking for a fix for the file or for the problem.

Any help would be appreciated.

Edited July 13, 2021 by cpdigger31