Video Stuttering After Upgrade to 5.0.4


Recommended Posts

I recently upgraded to 5.0.4 from 4.7, I replaced my 2TB parity drive with a 4TB drive, and repurposed my old parity to a data drive in my array.

 

Since the upgrade, I am seeing intermittent stuttering during video playback. I'm streaming ISOs from my unRAID server to a DUNE player, and I've never had any stuttering issues before. I'm not sure where to begin troubleshooting this, and I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction!

 

Thanks in advance

 

EDIT: Syslog attached. Also, both my server and my Dune have statically mapped IP addresses assigned by my router if that's of any importantance.

syslog.txt

Link to comment

You say you're streaming ISO's.

Does that mean that when you look at the movie's file on unRAID:

1. its a single file of 4 Gig size?

2. Or is at a folder (named after the movie) and within the main folder is a folder called 'VIDEO_TS' and within that folder is a folder with several dozen files named things like 'VTS_01.BUP' and 'VTS_03.1.VOB'?

 

 

Link to comment

These are Blu-ray ISOs. Each is a single file (with extension .iso) with an average size of 25 GB each. I haven't tried streaming a DVD, and I'm not sure I even have one in folder structure to test.

 

It's a very strange behavior. Typically when it stutters, I can rewind and replay the same section of the movie with no stuttering.

 

Thanks!

Link to comment

(my question about single file vs. multiple was to figure out if disk spin up could be the problem...apparently not)

 

Your syslog doesn't show anything like Plex, or Serviio media servers...

So you're just accessing the ISO directly and streaming it in its entirety to your DUNE player?

 

I didn't spot a cache drive in your SYSLOG.

Is this all movies, or just recent additions? (curious about file fragmentation...)

Is it a movie newly added since 4.7?

 

It Looks like you have 4 Gig of RAM on the unRAID box...perhaps you're running out of RAM for buffers?

 

Do you use anything other than your DUNE player? and do other devices suffer, too?

And is there a syslog in the Dune Player?

Link to comment

Dale, you are a machine, sir! I greatly appreciate the feedback!

 

I am accessing the ISO files directly from the server. The DUNE player handles the files directly, so my server is not transcoding anything. My understanding is it is just operating as a file server.

 

I do not have a cache drive, you are correct.

 

I'm not sure as to whether this affects movies loaded prior to 5.0.4 or not. I can only say for sure that I've seen this on the three movies I've added to my server since the upgrade (i.e., I've added three movies since the upgrade, and each has stuttered). I don't believe I've watched any other movies since the upgrade.

 

I have no idea about running out of RAM. Does 5.0.4 use significantly more RAM? I never had an issue before, and after I setup my server initially (4.7) I ran some high bit rate test videos to see what would happen. No issues then. It's been a long time ago, so I can't remember what I used for tests or any of the specifics. Just that I was satisfied at the time that I should be able to stream movies without issue.

 

Aside from streaming video, my unRAID server is just for backups. So read and write performance is not a concern with any other applications. I haven't noticed any issues when transferring files to it.

 

I do not know if my DUNE player has a syslog. I'll look into that.

 

Thanks again for the feedback! I'm open to any suggestions/advice.

Link to comment

We have our iDevices, a laptop, a desktop, and the Dune. The short answer is I don't think any of those would be a problem.

 

I don't believe the iDevices are a concern. The last time I watched a movie, the desktop was off, so it shouldn't be a problem. I can't think of anything that my laptop would be doing that would require moving lots of data, and it goes to sleep when I'm not using it. I can make sure to shut it down the next time I test this out, though. It's worth eliminating every variable.

 

I did eliminate one additional variable. I started wondering if I could be having an issue with this new data disk, so I moved one of these movies to an older drive and watched a problematic scene again. There was no improvement. My Dune claims the scene was somewhere between 30 and 40 Mbps (lowercase bps). I think that eliminates the specific drive as a problem.

 

Also, if I can transfer a file FROM my unRAID server at 70 MB/s (capital B), there should be no issue streaming a video requiring 40 Mbps (lowercase b) correct? Is there a way to monitor the traffic/data coming from my unRAID server to try to figure out where the bottleneck is?

 

I can't say this enough, but I really appreciate the help!

Link to comment

For the other devices, I was thinking of a long-shot possibility..

if a device tries to initiate a connection, it can 'time out' the device until it receives a response back.

That can cause the device to 'hang' until the 'error' times out.

 

 

Did I read your last post correctly? You can get the same movie to pause at the same place--even from two different hard drives?

Link to comment

Our network is pretty straight simplistic. Since we have a data cap on our internet, we don't have many devices connected (no xbox, play stations, etc.).

 

 

Did I read your last post correctly? You can get the same movie to pause at the same place--even from two different hard drives?

 

That is correct. Before the upgrade to 5.0.4 I had 7 data disks. I added the 8th, and that's where I've added my newest movies. Last night I found a scene that I remembered being particularly bad, and played it. Sure it enough, it stuttered. I MOVED the movie from disk 8 to disk 6 (I just picked one with enough space, nothing special about it), and replayed the same scene and it stuttered during the high bitrate portions.

Link to comment

I'll see if I can save the file to my PC and access it from Dune player. I've not done that before, and I set the thing up years ago so I've forgotten a lot of the Dune networking details.

 

The video doesn't stutter on the same frames each time, just during high bitrate scenes. I can play the same scene three or four times and it will stutter in different places each time.

 

Thanks for the feedback!

Link to comment

Well, the plot thickens. That file will barely play at all off my desktop. The problem seems to be related to my Verizon HomeFusion router.

 

About two months ago we changed broadband carriers and we got a new router. I didn't think about it because we changed to Verizon several weeks before I upgraded my unRAID server. I guess I just didn't watch any movies during that time (that's kinda sad I must say). I plugged in the old Netgear router, and I watched the test scene four times with no stuttering.

 

Now the question is how do I configure the Verizon router so that it stops choking my network? It seems like a fairly straightforward setup. It's providing DHCP on my network and the access to the internet. I don't understand why it would be choking my network so severely.

Link to comment

Is it an older ethernet switch?  ...specifically, does it 'auto negotiate' speeds? If not, then the switch's maximum speed is the speed of the slowest device...often this is a printer that will only go 10Meg or 100Meg.

If you have a slower/older device, try turning it off and see if the speeds improve.


I checked on the Verizon HomeFusion support pages...it may only go 100Meg.

 

-Do you have another router around the house? If so, apparently, you can put the HomeFusion router into 'bridge mode', and then, (where you currently have your ethernet switch) insert another router.  EDIT: Looks like Verizon may call this 'DHCP Relay' mode.

The newly inserted router should then be able to handle DHCP addressing, and manage all the traffic internal to your LAN.

 

-If you don't have another router, I'd look up the specs on your ethernet switch. If its older (see auto negotiate above) then new ones are pretty cheap.

 

-Another alternative you could try is to disconnect your HomeFusion router, assign each device on the LAN a static IP address, and see if the problem goes away.  If so, then use all static addresses on the HomeFusion router.

 

http://support.verizonwireless.com/support/devices/knowledge_base.html/53395/

http://onlinehelp.verizon.net/consumer/bin/pdf/VzMI424WRUserManualv4.pdf

 

Link to comment

Thanks again!

 

I have an auto negotiating switch, and my slowest hardwired device is my Dune (and possibly my Verizon router, now). Everything else on our network (including my printer) is wireless.

 

That said, I think I did as you suggested. I've been considering it, but needed a nudge. I set my Verizon router to DHCP relay, and I connected it to the "internet" port on my Netgear router. Then reassigned my LAN addresses on the Netgear router and connected it to my LAN. My Verizon Routers IP address in now XXX.XXX.1.1 and my Netgear router is assigning IP addresses in the XXX.XXX.2.1 range. So now I think my Verizon router is on a different subnet (is that the right terminology?). I have no idea if I set this up correctly or not, but I can get to the internet through either a wired or wireless connection using my Netgear router, and my video does not seem to be stuttering. So I think it's a successful change. Whether it's optimal or not, I'm not sure.

 

I'm open to any suggestions for how to optimize this setup.

Link to comment

I have a 1G switch that all of my devices are connected to. The Verizon router only has one Ethernet cable connected to it and that is connected to my 1G switch.

 

Also, the Verizon router appears to be a 1G router, but it will only connect at 100M for some reason.

 

Reboot both the router and the switch.  (I had a similar problem about a month ago and reboot the router and switch 'fixed' the problem.  It is necessary to realize that these are NOT just dumb electronic things.  They have CPU's, programs that run on these CPU's, and memory to store and process the data that passes through them. )

Link to comment

Indeed people forget this fact very often. They wonder why after 5 years a lot of routers and/or switches start getting flaky connections or wifi dropouts. Somehow many people just do not want to replace/upgrade these, but have no problem getting a new phone all the time.

 

 

I have a 1G switch that all of my devices are connected to. The Verizon router only has one Ethernet cable connected to it and that is connected to my 1G switch.

 

Also, the Verizon router appears to be a 1G router, but it will only connect at 100M for some reason.

 

Reboot both the router and the switch.  (I had a similar problem about a month ago and reboot the router and switch 'fixed' the problem.  It is necessary to realize that these are NOT just dumb electronic things.  They have CPU's, programs that run on these CPU's, and memory to store and process the data that passes through them. )

Link to comment

I've rebooted the router during all of this, but when I get a chance I'll put everything back to its original configuration and reboot both the router and the switch just to make sure.

 

Also the Verizon router is about two months old and my switch is only a couple years old. So I wouldn't think I'm seeing age related issues. Also, the fact that I can replace the "newest" component in the chain (the Verizon router) and my video stuttering goes away also leads me to believe it's not an age related problem.

 

It's a valid point, though. I have no idea how old that router was before it came out of the box. The firmware is up to date, though.

 

I'll report back once I've had a chance to put everything back and reboot all the components.

 

Thanks again for all the advice!

Link to comment

I finally have a solution of sorts to the issue. My Verizon router finally lost its 4G connection a few nights ago. Once it became an internet issue, I could finally get some support from Verizon. I'm not exactly sure what the problem was, but the solution was a complete restore to factory defaults of my Verizon router. This solved my 4G connection issue as well as the video stuttering when streaming between my unRAID server and my DUNE player. The Tech said they recommend rebooting the router about once a week to make sure it gets the proper updates and renews its connection with whichever tower it prefers. He said they see all sorts of issues once these systems have been left on for several weeks without being reset.

 

So there you have it. Apparently if it's not rebooted regularly enough, it will end up requiring a complete system restore. Not exactly a great solution, but at least its one I can work with.

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.