Emby streaming choppy

[aunsoenr]

I have a freenas server and have been running into issues after the 11.2 upgrade.

I have my emby setup in iocage on 11.2, but for some reason cannot stream video that require greater than 3mb/s bandwidth. The playback is choppy.

Videos play fine if I transcode. However I can sustain a steady 1.6 MB/s upload from my other plugins (my bandwidth is 30mb/s upload).

I can also play videos fine in my LAN. My WAN connection outside my network has plenty of bandwidth and have not had issues with other services.

How do I diagnose the issue?

 

[dlavigne]

Hardware specs?
How many plugins/jails/vms installed?
Anything in /var/log/messages when the choppiness occurs?
What's the full output of ifconfig within code tags?

 

[aunsoenr]

I have a quad core e5 processor (e5-1603), 32gb of ram, 8 jails - mostly idle, except emby.

/var/log/messages inside the emby jail?

I don't know where ifconfig is.

 

[DrKK]

"ifconfig" is a UNIX command she would like you to issue and report the results on.

And I would check those files both in the jail, and in the host, same with issuing ifconfig in both. Just for completeness.

 

[aunsoenr]

No messages inside the jail:

Ifconfig inside jail:

No messages in main either, ifconfig in main:


em0: flags=8943<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 150 0
options=2098<VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,VLAN_HWCSUM,WOL_MAGIC>
ether 90:b1:1c:93:73:9a
hwaddr 90:b1:1c:93:73:9a
inet 192.168.0.101 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.0.255
nd6 options=9<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED>
media: Ethernet autoselect (1000baseT <full-duplex>)
status: active
lo0: flags=8049<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 16384
options=600003<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,RXCSUM_IPV6,TXCSUM_IPV6>
inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128
inet6 fe80::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x2
inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000
nd6 options=21<PERFORMNUD,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
groups: lo
bridge0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
ether 02:26:88:7f:b7:00
nd6 options=1<PERFORMNUD>
groups: bridge
id 00:00:00:00:00:00 priority 32768 hellotime 2 fwddelay 15
maxage 20 holdcnt 6 proto rstp maxaddr 2000 timeout 1200
root id 00:00:00:00:00:00 priority 32768 ifcost 0 port 0
member: vnet0:9 flags=143<LEARNING,DISCOVER,AUTOEDGE,AUTOPTP>
ifmaxaddr 0 port 12 priority 128 path cost 2000
member: vnet0:8 flags=143<LEARNING,DISCOVER,AUTOEDGE,AUTOPTP>
ifmaxaddr 0 port 11 priority 128 path cost 2000
member: vnet0:7 flags=143<LEARNING,DISCOVER,AUTOEDGE,AUTOPTP>
ifmaxaddr 0 port 10 priority 128 path cost 2000
member: vnet0:6 flags=143<LEARNING,DISCOVER,AUTOEDGE,AUTOPTP>
ifmaxaddr 0 port 9 priority 128 path cost 2000
member: vnet0:5 flags=143<LEARNING,DISCOVER,AUTOEDGE,AUTOPTP>
ifmaxaddr 0 port 8 priority 128 path cost 2000
member: vnet0:4 flags=143<LEARNING,DISCOVER,AUTOEDGE,AUTOPTP>
ifmaxaddr 0 port 7 priority 128 path cost 2000
member: vnet0:3 flags=143<LEARNING,DISCOVER,AUTOEDGE,AUTOPTP>
ifmaxaddr 0 port 6 priority 128 path cost 2000
member: vnet0:2 flags=143<LEARNING,DISCOVER,AUTOEDGE,AUTOPTP>
ifmaxaddr 0 port 5 priority 128 path cost 2000
member: vnet0:1 flags=143<LEARNING,DISCOVER,AUTOEDGE,AUTOPTP>
ifmaxaddr 0 port 4 priority 128 path cost 2000
member: em0 flags=143<LEARNING,DISCOVER,AUTOEDGE,AUTOPTP>
ifmaxaddr 0 port 1 priority 128 path cost 20000
vnet0:1: flags=8943<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
description: associated with jail: unifi
options=8<VLAN_MTU>
ether 02:ff:60:87:00:b4
hwaddr 02:6c:d0:00:04:0a
nd6 options=1<PERFORMNUD>
media: Ethernet 10Gbase-T (10Gbase-T <full-duplex>)
status: active
groups: epair
vnet0:2: flags=8943<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
description: associated with jail: madsonic
options=8<VLAN_MTU>
ether 02:ff:60:df:35:cc
hwaddr 02:6c:d0:00:05:0a
nd6 options=1<PERFORMNUD>
media: Ethernet 10Gbase-T (10Gbase-T <full-duplex>)
status: active
groups: epair
vnet0:3: flags=8943<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
description: associated with jail: rslsync
options=8<VLAN_MTU>
ether 02:ff:60:51:f4:ac
hwaddr 02:6c:d0:00:06:0a
nd6 options=1<PERFORMNUD>
media: Ethernet 10Gbase-T (10Gbase-T <full-duplex>)
status: active
groups: epair
vnet0:4: flags=8943<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
description: associated with jail: sonarr
options=8<VLAN_MTU>
ether 02:ff:60:a5:a4:7e
hwaddr 02:6c:d0:00:07:0a
nd6 options=1<PERFORMNUD>
media: Ethernet 10Gbase-T (10Gbase-T <full-duplex>)
status: active
groups: epair
vnet0:5: flags=8943<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
description: associated with jail: lidarr
options=8<VLAN_MTU>
ether 02:ff:60:ba:f6:9a
hwaddr 02:6c:d0:00:08:0a
nd6 options=1<PERFORMNUD>
media: Ethernet 10Gbase-T (10Gbase-T <full-duplex>)
status: active
groups: epair
vnet0:6: flags=8943<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
description: associated with jail: radarr
options=8<VLAN_MTU>
ether 02:ff:60:c1:df:ca
hwaddr 02:6c:d0:00:09:0a
nd6 options=1<PERFORMNUD>
media: Ethernet 10Gbase-T (10Gbase-T <full-duplex>)
status: active
groups: epair
vnet0:7: flags=8943<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
description: associated with jail: transmission
options=8<VLAN_MTU>
ether 02:ff:60:03:aa:46
hwaddr 02:6c:d0:00:0a:0a
nd6 options=1<PERFORMNUD>
media: Ethernet 10Gbase-T (10Gbase-T <full-duplex>)
status: active
groups: epair
vnet0:8: flags=8943<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
description: associated with jail: emby
options=8<VLAN_MTU>
ether 02:ff:60:79:aa:5f
hwaddr 02:6c:d0:00:0b:0a
nd6 options=1<PERFORMNUD>
media: Ethernet 10Gbase-T (10Gbase-T <full-duplex>)
status: active
groups: epair
vnet0:9: flags=8943<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
description: associated with jail: jackett
options=8<VLAN_MTU>
ether 02:ff:60:b1:b8:71
hwaddr 02:6c:d0:00:0c:0a
nd6 options=1<PERFORMNUD>
media: Ethernet 10Gbase-T (10Gbase-T <full-duplex>)
status: active
groups: epair

 

[dlavigne]

Were you able to resolve this?

 

[aunsoenr]

No

Were you able to resolve this?

 

[anmnz]

cannot stream video that require greater than 3mb/s bandwidth. The playback is choppy.

Videos play fine if I transcode.

I don't have experience with Emby, just Plex, but thought I would mention this as perhaps the same thing could be happening.

A thing that happens with Plex is that when transcoding it serves up data in a large number of tiny chunks, compared to the much much larger chunks it serves up when playing directly. This means that sometimes clients will play back *much* more smoothly from a transcoded stream than from a direct play stream at a similar bit rate. I definitely see this in action when streaming at 1080p to a Samsung TV at home.

I imagine the effect is most pronounced for relatively resource-constrained clients like a smart TV. You don't mention what kind of client you are streaming to though.

 

[aunsoenr]

I don't have experience with Emby, just Plex, but thought I would mention this as perhaps the same thing could be happening.

A thing that happens with Plex is that when transcoding it serves up data in a large number of tiny chunks, compared to the much much larger chunks it serves up when playing directly. This means that sometimes clients will play back *much* more smoothly from a transcoded stream than from a direct play stream at a similar bit rate. I definitely see this in action when streaming at 1080p to a Samsung TV at home.

I imagine the effect is most pronounced for relatively resource-constrained clients like a smart TV. You don't mention what kind of client you are streaming to though.

I am using a Firetv box, 2nd gen 4k. These devices can play without issue inside the LAN without transcoding.

 

[aunsoenr]

Just as an update..

This problem only happened when I was out of country or out of province. It works fine in the same city or province. I can comfortably stream videos requiring over 20mbps, with no delay. Must be some odd thing my ISP is doing (or issue with latency)?

I have also decided to move my jails to a dedicated ssd, move my downloads to a separate 1tb raid, add 128gb of ram and a 8core processor (e5-2680). Will start with a fresh install, this setup has been unstable since the change from jails to iocage.