I am watching a full sized BD rip of SIX and the audio is smooth, but the video is choppy. If I set the transcode quality to 20mbps, it plays fine. Any ideas? Logs attached.
Media info:
General
Unique ID : 203925506815024200100473024216621093887 (0x996A9FBE75C656675ECE73CA51EB93FF)
Complete name : /…/SIX/Season 01/SIX - s01e03 - Tour of Duty.mkv
Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 4 / Version 2
File size : 7.67 GiB
Duration : 43mn 3s
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 25.5 Mbps
Encoded date : UTC 2017-03-06 12:55:45
Writing application : mkvmerge v9.6.0 (‘Slave To Your Mind’) 64bit
Writing library : libebml v1.3.4 + libmatroska v1.4.5
Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 4 frames
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 43mn 3s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 25.0 Mbps
Maximum bit rate : 35.0 Mbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 (24000/1001) fps
Standard : NTSC
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.503
Stream size : 7.52 GiB (98%)
Title : MPEG-4 AVC Video / ~25000 kbps / 1080p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Color range : Limited
Color primaries : BT.709
Transfer characteristics : BT.709
Matrix coefficients : BT.709
Audio
ID : 2
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Mode extension : CM (complete main)
Format settings, Endianness : Big
Codec ID : A_AC3
Duration : 43mn 3s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 448 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Frame rate : 31.250 fps (1536 spf)
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 138 MiB (2%)
Title : Dolby Digital Audio / 5.1 / 48 kHz / 448 kbps
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Text #1
ID : 3
Format : PGS
Codec ID : S_HDMV/PGS
Codec ID/Info : Picture based subtitle format used on BDs/HD-DVDs
Duration : 42mn 19s
Bit rate : 29.7 Kbps
Count of elements : 1110
Stream size : 9.00 MiB (0%)
Title : SDH
Language : English
Default : No
Forced : No
Text #2
ID : 4
Format : PGS
Codec ID : S_HDMV/PGS
Codec ID/Info : Picture based subtitle format used on BDs/HD-DVDs
Duration : 42mn 13s
Bit rate : 25.1 Kbps
Count of elements : 950
Stream size : 7.59 MiB (0%)
Language : Spanish
Default : No
Forced : No
Menu
00:00:00.000 : en: Chapter 1
00:08:49.446 : en: Chapter 2
00:13:09.455 : en: Chapter 3
00:17:53.447 : en: Chapter 4
00:27:42.452 : en: Chapter 5
00:34:04.417 : en: Chapter 6
Think about what you’re described.
You increase the data transfer rate to full, it gets choppy. You back it down to 20 Mbps and it plays fine.
This points directly to two things. 1) The player can’t keep up above 20 Mbps and 2) Networking is not capable (2.4 Ghz WiFi is the first to suffer here)
I have thought about all of the other Full sized BD rips that I push though to my hardwired Apple TV to a server hardwired as well. This is not a network related item, it is specific to this media.
So that you are aware and can begin to look deeper, I have nothing but full sized rips in my collection, it is full quality all the way. I run an iscsi synology rackmount with 2 direct connected nics to my server with MCS enabled.
I can post a link to a sample if it will help, but that is why I included my logs. Additionally, this program has Ref Fames = 4, so it should not be affected by the low ref frames bug.
Oh crap. media-specific issues are such a problem. d
Please be careful about using the term MCS. it also directly relates to 802.11n and wifi APs. Cisco has a bunch of products which support it.
Suffice it to say, You have two adapters running to a switch (which you only need 1 to get 100/1000 Mbps … unless it’s a 10 Mbps switch??)
Here’s a test which will always tell us what the player is seeing. take a laptop to the end of the ATV wire, open the browser to that movie, hover over the movie and ‘Download’ it. Monitor the download rate. That answer will be definitive. If the data flow is full rate, it’s below that point (in the ATV). If not full rate, back to Settings - Server - Network and see what isn’t right.
In this case, I see the transcoder is WAY ahead of playback. (sloth mode)
To see why it decided to transcode is the next step.
Please enable Verbose Logging (settings - server - general) and check the box.
Start playback of that same episode.
Run for 15 seconds
Stop
Wait 30 seconds for all to end and quiesce
Now grab the log files again please.
After the logs are grabbed, Turn verbose logging off again please.
Please attach that log file set.
MCS is multiple connection services with respect to iSCSI. I have my nas, nic 1 and nic 2 connected to my quad port nic in my server. This allows me to get two different connections to the nas with individual 1gig link and saturate them both, simultaneously.
Then my net is all gigabit from there. Obviously the appletv 4 is 10/100. Now to answer the speed test question, while this is internet, not local transfer speed, it sees 57mbps. This by itself shows it is not the bottle neck for 25.5mbps media.
This happens on two 3 different appletv 4’s, but just this media.
I will attach the logs in another reply since I am on my phone. I took a video of the symptom, I will try to post that too.
Thanks for looking into this.
Philip
Thanks for the clarification of MCS in the context of iSCSI. Perfectly clear now. Thanks for clarifying and educating. For me, I run my connections over LACP at 3 Gbps.
Hardware out of the way, Guess it’s time to peel open the media itself and see what the XML is telling us compared to something which plays without issue.
logs attached.
Philip,
Thanks for the logs and the video capture .
I would to ask if you can dig into the media a bit deeper and grab the XML please (Get Info - View XML). This is behaving like a Reference Frames problem to me but I am not certain. I do know to get the transcoder team involved when it’s this ‘unique’ .
They will also want a sample if possible. They usually ask for just enough to make it misbehave as you have it there.
Between the XML and a sample (so they can reproduce), we will know if it’s a problem with just that file (and why) or an issue somewhere else for them to address.
Download the Sample: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7KNMhVTvesBbk43TjV0ZEk0Rjg
Reproduced on Apple TV 4 when set to original quality.
XML copy in paste in the text file attached.
This is not the same behavior I have seen when there were 2 ref frames. This media has 4, so it should be playing fine from that standpoint, just based on my experience.
Also, what gives with that issue? Why does the AppleTV appear to be receiving so little support? I have posted a few times to no response in that forum. I even have an issue with the search screen where text lays on top of each other, but I do not see the point in posting if it is ignored.
That is a long way of saying, thanks for helping me out on this. . . I have been feeling quite ignored.
I downloaded and added it to my TestLib. Here is the MediaInfo Text info of the file:
General
Unique ID : 137865649134452863368405367057220346444 (0x67B7F54C66C1825A63086E22EA63A24C)
Complete name : C:\Users\cayars\Downloads\SIX - s01e03 - Tour of Duty SAMPLE-001.mkv
Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 4 / Version 2
File size : 605 MiB
Duration : 3 min 0 s
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 28.1 Mb/s
Encoded date : UTC 2017-04-04 17:07:06
Writing application : mkvmerge v9.0.1 (‘Obstacles’) 64bit
Writing library : libebml v1.3.3 + libmatroska v1.4.4
Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 4 frames
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 3 min 0 s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 27.6 Mb/s
Maximum bit rate : 35.0 Mb/s
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Standard : NTSC
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.555
Stream size : 595 MiB (98%)
Title : MPEG-4 AVC Video / ~25000 kbps / 1080p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Color range : Limited
Color primaries : BT.709
Transfer characteristics : BT.709
Matrix coefficients : BT.709
Audio
ID : 2
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Mode extension : CM (complete main)
Format settings, Endianness : Big
Codec ID : A_AC3
Duration : 3 min 0 s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 448 kb/s
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate : 31.250 FPS (1536 spf)
Bit depth : 16 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 9.65 MiB (2%)
Title : Dolby Digital Audio / 5.1 / 48 kHz / 448 kbps
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Text #1
ID : 3
Format : PGS
Muxing mode : zlib
Codec ID : S_HDMV/PGS
Codec ID/Info : Picture based subtitle format used on BDs/HD-DVDs
Duration : 2 min 53 s
Bit rate : 8 404 b/s
Count of elements : 96
Stream size : 178 KiB (0%)
Title : SDH
Language : English
Default : No
Forced : No
Text #2
ID : 4
Format : PGS
Muxing mode : zlib
Codec ID : S_HDMV/PGS
Codec ID/Info : Picture based subtitle format used on BDs/HD-DVDs
Duration : 2 min 46 s
Bit rate : 6 586 b/s
Count of elements : 74
Stream size : 134 KiB (0%)
Language : Spanish
Default : No
Forced : No
Menu
00:00:00.000 : en: Chapter 1
Here is Plex’s XML
<MediaContainer size="1" allowSync="1" identifier="com.plexapp.plugins.library" librarySectionID="33" librarySectionTitle="TestLib" librarySectionUUID="c07af7f2-d614-4a8c-bd1d-0164e66f8750" mediaTagPrefix="/system/bundle/media/flags/" mediaTagVersion="1491147490">
<Video ratingKey="1136275" key="/library/metadata/1136275" parentRatingKey="1136274" grandparentRatingKey="1136273" guid="com.plexapp.agents.thetvdb://311809/1/3?lang=en" librarySectionID="33" librarySectionKey="/library/sections/33" type="episode" title="Tour of Duty" grandparentKey="/library/metadata/1136273" parentKey="/library/metadata/1136274" grandparentTitle="SIX" parentTitle="Season 1" contentRating="TV-MA" summary="The truth about Rip’s departure from SEAL Team Six is revealed, while in Nigeria, Rip makes a move to escape." index="3" parentIndex="1" rating="7.0" viewOffset="83698" lastViewedAt="1491350259" year="2017" thumb="/library/metadata/1136275/thumb/1491350168" art="/library/metadata/1136273/art/1491350169" parentThumb="/library/metadata/1136274/thumb/1491350169" grandparentThumb="/library/metadata/1136273/thumb/1491350169" grandparentArt="/library/metadata/1136273/art/1491350169" grandparentTheme="/library/metadata/1136273/theme/1491350169" duration="180704" originallyAvailableAt="2017-02-01" addedAt="1491349809" updatedAt="1491350168">
<Media videoResolution="1080" id="1721911" duration="180704" bitrate="28073" width="1920" height="1080" aspectRatio="1.78" audioChannels="6" audioCodec="ac3" videoCodec="h264" container="mkv" videoFrameRate="24p" videoProfile="high">
<Part accessible="1" exists="1" id="1897037" key="/library/parts/1897037/1491349809/file.mkv" duration="180704" file="D:\TestLib\Six\Season 1\SIX - s01e03 - Tour of Duty SAMPLE-001.mkv" size="634123257" container="mkv" videoProfile="high">
<Stream id="3646995" streamType="1" default="1" codec="h264" index="0" bitrate="27625" language="English" languageCode="eng" bitDepth="8" chromaSubsampling="4:2:0" colorRange="tv" colorSpace="bt709" frameRate="23.976" hasScalingMatrix="0" height="1080" level="41" profile="high" refFrames="4" scanType="progressive" title="MPEG-4 AVC Video / ~25000 kbps / 1080p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1" width="1920"/>
<Stream id="3646996" streamType="2" selected="1" default="1" codec="ac3" index="1" channels="6" bitrate="448" language="English" languageCode="eng" audioChannelLayout="5.1(side)" samplingRate="48000" title="Dolby Digital Audio / 5.1 / 48 kHz / 448 kbps"/>
<Stream id="3646997" streamType="3" codec="pgs" index="2" bitrate="8" language="English" languageCode="eng" headerCompression="1" title="SDH"/>
<Stream id="3646998" streamType="3" codec="pgs" index="3" bitrate="7" language="Español" languageCode="spa" headerCompression="1"/>
<Stream id="3647011" key="/library/streams/3647011" streamType="3" codec="srt" language="English" languageCode="eng"/>
</Part>
</Media>
<Director id="33781" filter="director=33781" tag="Kimberly Peirce"/>
<Writer id="38572" filter="writer=38572" tag="Bruce C. McKenna"/>
<Extras size="0"></Extras>
</Video>
</MediaContainer>
When I play this back via Chrome, Roku or my ShieldTV I have no problems playing this video back. No stutters anywhere.
So if this isn’t playing correctly my guess is that it’s a bandwidth issue!
Carlo
how could it be a bandwidth issue if I can play other, higher bit-rate, files with no problem? I believe it is a client specific issue. The apple tv already has it’s own fair share of issues.
I tried the web client and it does play fine. I will confirm my xbox, which is on the same switch tonight and report back.
Maybe I misunderstood but I was only commenting on WIFI bandwidth that could cause you a problem on higher bit-rate files. Is the Apple TV 4 hooked up on wifi or hardwired?
The file itself looks fine but it’s a higher bitrate file.
I don’t own an Apple TV 4 or I would have tried testing with that to help you. It did play back on all devices and browsers I tried with no problem. Some wired some wifi.
Sorry i couldn’t be of more help to you,
Carlo
Keep in mind, that the bitrate you are seeing in mediainfo and elsewhere is the mediate bitrate which is determined simply by doing filesize/playtime.
You can draw no definitive conclusions from this, because you are missing information on bitrate spikes. Particularly how steep they are and for how long the ‘worst’ of it lasts.
Call up the Plex XML info of both a smooth running video and the problematic one.
Then go into the address bar of that browser window and replace the part of the URL that says includeExtras=1 with includeBandwidths=1 and press Enter.
In the new XML output, seek for the first occurence of the
requiredBandwidths= key.
Compare the output between both videos.
Is the first number in the list significantly higher for the problematic video?
P.S. this detailed bandwidth information is only available if both videos have been analyzed by the ‘thorough’ media analysis, which is only performed by the Plex Butler or by triggering the analysis manually on a single item.
P.S. 2: your MKV file uses the problematic header compression. You better remux the file with MKVtoolnixGUI and default settings to remove this ‘header compression’. Just to avoid potential issues with clients which do support mkv files.
@OttoKerner said:
Compare the output between both videos.
Is the first number in the list significantly higher for the problematic video?
No. If I am reading this right the file in question has a required bandwidth for the video of 31868 whereas Rogue One has 35126 for the first values.
The file in question (I Remuxed with MKVToolNix):
<Media id="114280" duration="180704" videoProfile="high" videoFrameRate="24p" container="mkv" videoCodec="h264" audioCodec="ac3" audioChannels="6" aspectRatio="1.78" height="1080" width="1920" bitrate="28067" videoResolution="1080">
<Part id="130428" size="633983186" duration="180704" key="/library/parts/130428/1491685191/file.mkv" videoProfile="high" container="mkv" file="G:\Home Movies\SIX - s01e03 - Tour of Duty SAMPLE-001-FIXED.mkv" exists="1" accessible="1" requiredBandwidths="32334,31293,29678,27902,27406,27406,27406,27406" deepAnalysisVersion="2">
<Stream title="MPEG-4 AVC Video / ~25000 kbps / 1080p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1" id="313524" language="English" height="1080" width="1920" bitrate="27619" scanType="progressive" refFrames="4" profile="high" level="41" hasScalingMatrix="0" frameRate="23.976" colorSpace="bt709" colorRange="tv" chromaSubsampling="4:2:0" bitDepth="8" languageCode="eng" index="0" codec="h264" default="1" streamType="1" requiredBandwidths="31868,30829,29216,27438,26938,26938,26938,26938"/>
<Stream title="Dolby Digital Audio / 5.1 / 48 kHz / 448 kbps" id="313525" language="English" bitrate="448" languageCode="eng" index="1" codec="ac3" default="1" streamType="2" samplingRate="48000" audioChannelLayout="5.1(side)" channels="6" selected="1" requiredBandwidths="437,437,437,437,437,437,437,437"/>```
Rogue One:
```<Video title="Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" librarySectionID="1" primaryExtraKey="/library/metadata/52458" chapterSource="media" updatedAt="1491697764" addedAt="1491697096" originallyAvailableAt="2016-12-10" duration="8037279" art="/library/metadata/52457/art/1491697764" thumb="/library/metadata/52457/thumb/1491697764" tagline="A Rebellion Built on Hope" year="2016" rating="7.3" summary="A rogue band of resistance fighters unite for a mission to steal the Death Star plans and bring a new hope to the galaxy." contentRating="PG-13" type="movie" studio="Lucasfilm" librarySectionKey="/library/sections/1" guid="com.plexapp.agents.imdb://tt3748528?lang=en" key="/library/metadata/52457" ratingKey="52457">
<Media id="114325" duration="8037279" videoProfile="high" audioProfile="ma" videoFrameRate="24p" container="mkv" videoCodec="h264" audioCodec="dca-ma" audioChannels="8" aspectRatio="1.78" height="1080" width="1920" bitrate="40489" videoResolution="1080">
<Part id="130473" size="40677674513" duration="8037279" key="/library/parts/130473/1491694643/file.mkv" videoProfile="high" audioProfile="ma" container="mkv" file="G:\Movies\Adult\Rogue One A Star Wars Story (2016)\Rogue One A Star Wars Story (2016).mkv" exists="1" accessible="1" requiredBandwidths="42401,42139,41676,41137,40623,40557,40478,40478" deepAnalysisVersion="2">
<Stream id="313618" language="English" height="1080" width="1920" bitrate="37417" scanType="progressive" refFrames="4" profile="high" level="41" hasScalingMatrix="0" frameRate="23.976" chromaSubsampling="4:2:0" bitDepth="8" languageCode="eng" index="0" codec="h264" streamType="1" requiredBandwidths="35126,35013,34689,34152,33816,33814,33814,33814"/>
<Stream title="Surround 7.1" id="313619" language="English" bitrate="1536" profile="ma" bitDepth="24" languageCode="eng" index="1" codec="dca" streamType="2" samplingRate="48000" audioChannelLayout="7.1" channels="8" default="1" selected="1" requiredBandwidths="5961,5746,5417,5293,5214,5148,5137,5137"/>
<Stream title="Surround 5.1" id="313620" language="English" bitrate="1536" profile="dts" languageCode="eng" index="2" codec="dca" streamType="2" samplingRate="48000" audioChannelLayout="5.1(side)" channels="6" requiredBandwidths="1509,1509,1509,1509,1509,1509,1509,1509"/>
<Stream id="313621" language="English" languageCode="eng" index="3" codec="pgs" streamType="3" requiredBandwidths="40,40,40,40,40,40,40,40"/>```You’re right. Rogue One has a higher bitrate, so it can’t be that easy.
I do notice that RO has DTS audio, whereas SIX has DD. I am not sure if that may be a clue.
Did you have any subtitles activated while testing these videos?
What is stated as the producer/distributor of the SIX BluRays? Is it Sony or one of its subsidiaries, perhaps?
Lionsgate? I want to try transcoding the audio and Remux it back in. I want to see if it is the audio causing an issue. I have had that problem in the past. But whatever it is, is unique to the AppleTV. Other clients seem to play fine. I will report back soon.
Oh, an no subtitles.
@hatflix said:
Lionsgate?
I guess not. There is a known incompatibility of ATV4 with BluRay encodes by Sony, but this is apparently not the case here.
sigh nope.
@OttoKerner said:
@hatflix said:
Lionsgate?I guess not. There is a known incompatibility of ATV4 with BluRay encodes by Sony, but this is apparently not the case here.
A know incompatibility? That’s a bummer. Would there not be a way to flag such files to mark for “always transcode”. I prefer full quality, but I’d prefer for it to play smoothly from the get go more though.
Is this an Apple thing or a Plex thing?
