kupoint

I'm using Unraid as a media server. Today, I encountered an error in a video file I was watching. The image pixellated for a second, but the sound remained unaffected. (It looked like this (not my image): https://www.winxdvd.com/play-video/pics/mkv-pixelated.jpg I downloaded the file to my local PC and could reproduce the issue at the same timestamp, confirming that the problem lies with the file itself and not the network connection or other factors. I ripped the video file a year ago using MakeMKV, and as far as I know, that program would fail if the disk had an error like this. I'm also pretty sure that the file was intact a few months ago (I can't be certain, but I would have noticed such a significant error). Windows Explorer also indicates that the file was last modified a year ago. I've initiated a manual parity check (which will take around 20 hours) to see if any discrepancies arise. Regarding the affected file, I can re-rip the disk, but I'm concerned about the possibility of more corrupted files. Are there any additional measures I can take to safeguard my files?

I tried NFS back in November (old Unraid version) and it made no difference. I watched around an hour of 4k high bit content on my Windows machine using VLC and it worked flawlessly. It appears that the Neo and Unraid are both working correctly (I also get very good read and write speeds when copying files from Windows to Unraid) but somehow don't work well with each other. Right now I'm trying different relevant settings of the Neo (basically everything I can find). It is a tedious process but maybe it's just a single switch that needs to be turned on or off. As of my silly idea - I'm not knowledgeable enough to get it working so I gave up on it.

Thank you for all the suggestions. I also think that the Neo is not the problem because it worked flawlessly when I streamed media from my Windows desktop to it, as I mentioned a few posts above yours. It was the exact same network setup, except back when I made that test, there was even a small Wifi part between Windows and the Neo. That experiment suggests that the error occurs on the Unraid system. I haven't tried streaming from Unraid to Windows for an extended period of time, I might do that in the following days. I'm not a network expert - but I see two different possibilities: Neo somehow stops requesting new packets or Unraid somehow stops sending them. I don't think it is the network because I basically tried all of your ideas: Buying a completly new switch, trying different cables (currently running overpriced CAT7 lol), rebooting everything multiple times, upgrading firmware when possible ... I also have one more, probably silly, idea: Since streaming from Windows worked without any issues: Could I set up a Windows VM, mount my media and share them again using the Windows SMB service? I actually tried that today but Windows won't let me share a network share (probably a really strange use case).

I made the appropriate changes in the BIOS and also tried the "Disable Security Mitigations" plugin. Sadly nothing changed. The processor load during playback is always under 5 %, mostly at 1 or even 0 in the WebGUI. I also tried a Jellyfin install on the Zappiti and the app is not stable at all, so no workaround here. I think my only chance for any kind of improvements are firmware and Unraid updates. Until then I will use the old player for non 4k-files and the Neo with 4k files that are directly connected via an HDD. That's not a great solution but at least my home cinema will be usable again. Zappiti support mentioned that they tested Synology NAS systems extensivly and freezes never occured with a wired connection. I really like Unraid but unless it gets resolved I might need to switch systems. Troubleshooting for several months without any results is frustrating. One more thing: I captured a freeze during Blu-Ray playback, it lasted for around 2-3 seconds. Outbound traffic went to zero, at the same time there was a small increase in CPU load (from 1 % to maybe 3 % or 4 %), then it picked up again by itself (which does not happen with 4k media). As mentioned before, the freezes never occur at the start of playback, it is always at least 10 minutes into it and then happens periodically.

Unraid wasn't able to get an IP address so I couldn't access the server at all. I somehow fixed it by unplugging the cable and changing some BIOS settings (not sure if that did anything, maybe it was just reboot magic). BIOS is mostly untouched with default settings for the NIC, could there be anything related to my problem? There are not a lot of options regarding network stuff. It's a Gigabyte b560m d3h.

I've been in contact with the Zappiti support and apparently I am the only one with a problem like that. According to my own research on the web this seems true since no othere Zappiti user ever posted about it. It is really frustrating since it's been almost two months with many hours of troubleshooting and nothing seems to work, I like everything else about my home cinema setup, but in this state it is just not usable. I guess I have to wait for Unraid and/or Zappiti firmware updates, hoping it will fix it for good. I will also try to get my hands on a Nvidia Shield TV. I changed some networks settings for debugging but right now everything is set to default. Yesterday I tested safe mode and rebooted afterwards, since then Unraid is unable to establish a network connection and I'm not shure how to proceed.

MemTest reported no errors. The media files are spread out over all my disks and I already checked that it doesn't matter on which disk the file is placed. I'm not transcoding, streaming directly to the Neo with a wired Gb connection, yes. The biggest improvement I noticed during the last two months was when I upgraded UnRaid to 6.11.5 from, I believe, 6.9.x. Before that every media file, no matter the bitrate, would freeze around every ten minutes. With 6.11.5 lower bit content plays longer and recovers faster, 4k media is the main problem now - picture freezes, audio is gone, after 0.5 seconds I get the next image frame and maybe some audio. This goes on indefinitely until I stop the playback. If I start it again at the same timestamp it plays normally. With Blu-Ray content it is more like a glitch now, like you get on youtube or Netflix, it lasts for a second and it goes back to normal. Even lower quality plays mostly fine. Weird thing is: I have a Zappiti Mini (older version, unfortunately not capable of playing Dolby Vision and has some other device related problems) that never had problems like these (and it wasn't even a wired connection). I'm still using it because playback is smooth and without any of these issues. But I'm also pretty sure that the Neo is not broken because I already tried a different Android player with the same Realtek chip as the Neo which had the exact same issue. It might be some weird incompatibility between the current Realtek firmware and the Unraid version. I alreay mentioned that playing 4k files from a Windows machine in the same network configuration was perfectly fine with the Neo, the error only occurs when playing a file from Unraid. I also tested safe mode and it still occured, but I had the feeling that it was not "as bad" as before - even in 4k files it was only a few glitches. Debugging it is hard because there is no real pattern when it happens, except that higher bit content is more affected. And it is never at the start of playback, always at least 8 to 10 minutes after starting it. As requested, I uploaded the diagnostics file after I encountered a glitch during playback. I don't have the exact time but it happened around 13:40 to 13:41 - I hope it helps. tower-diagnostics-20230117-1342.zip

Well, I finally made a direct LAN connection possible. But, as before, the problem still occurs. Pretty disappointed since upgrading the network was a heavy task. At least the drop count remains stable at 0 now. I monitored the network traffic panel during a freeze and noticed something: As the image was freezing, network traffic obviously went down to 0 (from around 100 Mbit/s since I was watching a 4k file) and remained at 0 - 10 Mbit/s. At the same time CPU usage spiked for a second and then went back down. The Unraid Web GUI became unresponsive and didn't update itself while the image on my TV was frozen. Maybe this is a system error? Some kind of HW failure? Going to do a Memtest now ...

I'm using the default Unraid network settings so MTU is already set to 1500 bytes. I rebooted and reset all network devices including the Zappiti. I also received the Intel NIC and installed it - still getting freezes. Well, it was worth a try. At least I can return the NIC. As you mentioned my motherboard already uses a built in Intel NIC (I specifically chose the mb because of it) I didn't know about the error info tab. Since I had to shutdown the server the count is only for the last few hours. On bond0 I have 322 drops in the "receive counters" section, everything else is 0. Transmit counters shows 0 errors even though I just had freezes during playback. What does that mean? Yes, I'm streaming uncompressed Blu-ray and UHD rips - the outbound measurement shows up to 128 Mb/s and it generally works until it freezes for a couple of seconds. You are also right about Wifi - I'm still working on the wired connection but it's not that simple (old house, lots of walls to pass)

I upgraded to 6.11.5 and noticed that performance improved a bit. It now sometimes recovers very fast by itself (freezes for 1 or 2 seconds only). Before it did not recover, I had to exit playback and start again. Right now there is a small wifi "bridge" (Unraid is connected via Lan to router, wifi, access point is connected via Lan to Neo) but the same network configuration with the Windows PC was working without any freezes. In an earlier experiment I directly established a Lan connection using a newly bought switch between Unraid and the Neo - I got more frames during the slow motion part. Back then I was still on 6.9.x. But you are right - I already bought new networking gear and I will establish a wired connection this weekend. I also ordered an additional Intel NIC which I will install in the server. Maybe one of those things will help. NFS is supported but the error still occured during playback. What about the Unraid SMB settings? Are there any commands that I could try? (I don't really know all that much about SMB to be honest)

I'm using my server to store all my media files. Recently, I bought a Zappiti Neo (android media player) to access the files from Unraid. Around every 10 minutes I get playback freezes - the image goes into "slow motion" (getting new frames every 0.5 seconds) and the audio is gone. It also doesn't matter if it is a low or high bit file. If I exit the player and start the video again at the same point in time it plays completely normal for the next ten minutes and then it happens again. My first thought was that the Zappiti Neo is faulty but I've got an replacement unit with the exact same problem. Also, according to the Zappiti support my problem is not common. I moved on to my network configuration, changing cables and even buying a new switch. Nothing changed. I then updated Unraid from 6.9.2 to 6.11.3 which actually improved the playback. Now, I get the freezes mostly on very high bit files while Blu-ray rips sometimes play without any issues. But most of the time the issue still persists. Yesterday, I tried streaming from a Windows PC within the same network configuration - playback was perfect. I watched a 2 hour 4k movie without any issues, no freezes, no lags and the player seemed more responsive when changing chapters. I watched other files for the rest of the night and everything was perfect. Now I'm pretty sure that my network and the media player are both working and the problem occurs on the Unraid server. The player is using the SMB protocol. Might this be a problem which can only be fixed by an Unraid update? Which are the best Unraid network settings for streaming media? Any other ideas to fix this problem? The specs of my servers are: Motherboard: B560M D3H with 1GB Intel NIC and a Intel Core i3-10100, drives are WD REDs and Seagate Exos.