Mezzmo stops streaming for no reason

This used to be an intermittent problem but now it has become the norm. Even if I pretranscode the file I want to stream, mezzmo will stop streaming it after a few seconds. Everything starts normally but then the black arrow on the icon becomes white and the status goes from streaming to an empty box. Of course I am using remuxing to embed the subtitles in the video in order to avoid full transcode because there is no reason to. My tv supports all formats just fine.
The weird thing is that sometimes it doesn't have a problem playing a file but then the next day it will just stop streaming it for no apparent reason. I've already sent a ticket to support but the only reply was to just do a full transcode so I am asking here in case someone else had similar issues and found a solution.

Thanks,
Andreas

Hi Andreas,

If you provide a set of logs when the problem occurs, then we may be able to see what's going wrong. Turn on logging (see http://forum.conceiva.com/showthread...nostic-logging) and restart your Mezzmo server. Reproduce the streaming problem on your TV and then stop your Mezzmo server and exit Mezzmo. Zip up all the logs and email them to us at support [at] conceiva [dot] com. In your email, let us know your TV model and the type of home network you are using (Ethernet cables, wireless, powerline, etc.).

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Originally Posted by Paul

Hi Andreas,

If you provide a set of logs when the problem occurs, then we may be able to see what's going wrong. Turn on logging (see http://forum.conceiva.com/showthread...nostic-logging) and restart your Mezzmo server. Reproduce the streaming problem on your TV and then stop your Mezzmo server and exit Mezzmo. Zip up all the logs and email them to us at support [at] conceiva [dot] com. In your email, let us know your TV model and the type of home network you are using (Ethernet cables, wireless, powerline, etc.).

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I've already sent my logs so I don't think there's anything there. In any case you can find them here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/6609911/logs.rar

Yesterday I had no problems with streaming any video without problems. Even 1080p videos were transcoded (remuxed) and finished streaming completely. So there must be a solution to this problem other than doing a full transcode.

The fact that you streamed without any problems yesterday but you have problems on other days hints that your home network could be the cause (e.g. wireless connection is not strong or has interference so streaming aborts) or that certain videos are badly encoded and your device's firmware cannot decode and play the files well.

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Originally Posted by Paul

The fact that you streamed without any problems yesterday but you have problems on other days hints that your home network could be the cause (e.g. wireless connection is not strong or has interference so streaming aborts) or that certain videos are badly encoded and your device's firmware cannot decode and play the files well.

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While I can accept that the wireless connection maybe the issue even though it seems unlikely cause it's always been quite stable (I keep track through utorrent at all times), I have tried the same file over and over and some days it works and sometimes it doesn't. Basically it's not a problem with a specific video file but an a problem with mezzmo just stopping streaming it.
I assume the logs weren't any help in indicating the problem?

Thanks for the further details. Just to explain what happens - each time to play a file from your device, your device requests that file from Mezzmo server and Mezzmo server then streams the file to your device. Mezzmo server will continue to stream the file to your device until your device aborts the connection between Mezzmo server and itself. For some reason, your device is aborting the connection whilst streaming. Common reasons for this are (i) your device's firmware has been interrupted by another event, (ii) your home network connection is not stable, or (iii) the file is not able to be decoded and played by your device so it gives up. It seems we can rule out reason (iii) since you say that you can play the same file many times over but only sometimes does it stop midway.

Regarding reason (i), we know this can happen for Samsung devices as they are easily disrupted by DLNA/UPnP communication whilst streaming. Try turning off all other DLNA/UPnP devices in your home and play the file several times to see if it plays OK. Also reboot your router to make sure it is not causing the problem.

Regarding reason (ii), an unstable wireless connection or one that is getting interference from other electronic devices can cause disruptions in streaming. If possible, as a test, try using an Ethernet cable between your device and router to see if that improves things. It may isloate the problem down to your wireless connection. Also, if you have a dual band router, then try using the 5GHz band rather than the 2.4GHz band. The 5GHz band may provide better streaming performance and have less interference from other devices in your home. Many Mezzmo users have reported better wireless streaming performance when using the 5GHz band. Consult your router's and devices' documentation for the recommended 5GHz configuration.

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Originally Posted by Paul

Thanks for the further details. Just to explain what happens - each time to play a file from your device, your device requests that file from Mezzmo server and Mezzmo server then streams the file to your device. Mezzmo server will continue to stream the file to your device until your device aborts the connection between Mezzmo server and itself. For some reason, your device is aborting the connection whilst streaming. Common reasons for this are (i) your device's firmware has been interrupted by another event, (ii) your home network connection is not stable, or (iii) the file is not able to be decoded and played by your device so it gives up. It seems we can rule out reason (iii) since you say that you can play the same file many times over but only sometimes does it stop midway.

Regarding reason (i), we know this can happen for Samsung devices as they are easily disrupted by DLNA/UPnP communication whilst streaming. Try turning off all other DLNA/UPnP devices in your home and play the file several times to see if it plays OK. Also reboot your router to make sure it is not causing the problem.

Regarding reason (ii), an unstable wireless connection or one that is getting interference from other electronic devices can cause disruptions in streaming. If possible, as a test, try using an Ethernet cable between your device and router to see if that improves things. It may isloate the problem down to your wireless connection. Also, if you have a dual band router, then try using the 5GHz band rather than the 2.4GHz band. The 5GHz band may provide better streaming performance and have less interference from other devices in your home. Many Mezzmo users have reported better wireless streaming performance when using the 5GHz band. Consult your router's and devices' documentation for the recommended 5GHz configuration.

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I 've tried using the 5GHz band but the issue persists. If I stream any video file without subtitles it will play just fine. If I add subtitles into the mix then I get the freeze. Sometimes if I restart the video it will play until completion. But I don't understand why playing a remuxed video with subtitles is so problematic. The wifi is great, obviously the video plays fine on the tv without the subtitles with no hiccups or stuttering so the above explanation about communication disruption doesn't make sense. This is something else.

Hi Andreas,

Thanks for the testing notes. It is odd that subtitles are possibly causing the freezing/streaming problem on your TV. I guess this could happen if your subtitles files/resources (external or embedded) are badly encoded in such a way that is causing the renderer in your TV's firmware to have problems decoding and displaying them. Can you email us a new set of logs when streaming a video with an external subtitle file and then stream the same video file without an external subtitle file. We will be able to compare what your TV is doing regarding streaming. Email the logs to us at support [at] conceiva [dot] com.

Also, as a test, try using different external subtitle files for the video and see if that plays OK. That may help you isolate if the problem is with particular subtitle files that you have. The test subtitle file does not need to match the movie - just use any subtitle file that you have (.SRT, etc.). Rename the subtitle file to the same name as the video file. Then right-click on the video in Mezzmo and click Properties. On the Properties dialog, go to the Subtitles tab and click 'Update Subtitles' so that your subtitle file is read by Mezzmo before streaming.

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Originally Posted by Paul

Hi Andreas,

Thanks for the testing notes. It is odd that subtitles are possibly causing the freezing/streaming problem on your TV. I guess this could happen if your subtitles files/resources (external or embedded) are badly encoded in such a way that is causing the renderer in your TV's firmware to have problems decoding and displaying them. Can you email us a new set of logs when streaming a video with an external subtitle file and then stream the same video file without an external subtitle file. We will be able to compare what your TV is doing regarding streaming. Email the logs to us at support [at] conceiva [dot] com.

Also, as a test, try using different external subtitle files for the video and see if that plays OK. That may help you isolate if the problem is with particular subtitle files that you have. The test subtitle file does not need to match the movie - just use any subtitle file that you have (.SRT, etc.). Rename the subtitle file to the same name as the video file. Then right-click on the video in Mezzmo and click Properties. On the Properties dialog, go to the Subtitles tab and click 'Update Subtitles' so that your subtitle file is read by Mezzmo before streaming.

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I hope you don't mind if I upload them here but if you need I can send them by email later as well. Just make note that my TV can play the subtitles just fine via usb and via streaming. Of course streaming them with mezzmo by remuxing the video will make it freeze but only the first time because if i restart it, after a couple of tries it will play fine. Also I noticed that if I play a video with no subtitles, I can fast forward and skip and all is ok and I can see how long the video is and the current timeframe. When I stream with subtitles remuxed, it just shows 00:00 and I cannot skip or do anything with the video besides pause it until it freezes. This always happens when streaming with subs. When I restart it and usually by the first time it will show the timeframe and the video will play through till the end with no problems.
The logs are attached below and thanks for your time!

The logs show that when streaming with subtitles Mezzmo is transcoding the file, when streaming without subtitles the original file is streamed so this explains why there is no duration shown and why skipping does not work. A device like the Bravia will do a head request on the file before streaming to get the length of the file but when transcoding this is not known so the length is not returned to the device. After transcoding has begun Mezzmo has an estimated length so when the Bravia does the head request this is returned and it can show the duration. The best approach here would be to pre-transcode http://forum.conceiva.com/showthread...nscoding-Files when using subtitles.

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Originally Posted by Peter

The logs show that when streaming with subtitles Mezzmo is transcoding the file, when streaming without subtitles the original file is streamed so this explains why there is no duration shown and why skipping does not work. A device like the Bravia will do a head request on the file before streaming to get the length of the file but when transcoding this is not known so the length is not returned to the device. After transcoding has begun Mezzmo has an estimated length so when the Bravia does the head request this is returned and it can show the duration. The best approach here would be to pre-transcode http://forum.conceiva.com/showthread...nscoding-Files when using subtitles.

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Thanks Paul, that makes sense about the duration not being shown during the first time I stream the video. Unfortunately pretranscoding every file would defeat the purpose of having mezzmo. It would be easier to just transfer the to a usb and play them from there. The logs didn't point to any issues as to why the video gets stuck during the first couple of minutes?

Mezzmo has different rules for handling the content length and other headers when transcoding files so you could try a different one of these rules to see if it works better. Open the SonyBraviaKDL_2014.prf device profile (see this thread for its location: http://forum.conceiva.com/showthread...ofiles-located) and look for the value:

contentlength="4"

It is in the transcoding tag in the device section <transcoding enabled="1" minimumstreamingsize="3000000" waitmsbeforestreaming="6000" contentlength="4" autorotateimages="0" />

Change the value 4 to 5 then save the file and restart your Mezzmo server and try streaming the transcoded file with the subtitles to see if it plays better. If it does not you can try other values, 0, 1, 2 and 3 to see if these work better. Each presents a slightly different variation of headers to the device when delivering the file.

Don't ask me why, how, what for.

But in the beginning I had mezzmo, and actually switched back just a few seconds ago to test it and it still is an issue on my network, with the default Server Advertisement Interval I do get alot
of error messages on the Samsung TV. No issues on other devices.

But since I found out 1 or 2 years ago to change it from default to 3600 seconds, never had any issues anymore (only that seeing mezzmo popping up in the samsung takes 5-6 seconds, while
with an interval of 1800 it pops up within 1 second.. but at the 1800 interval i get disruptions every 5-10 minutes.. with the 3600 setting I get no disruptions at all..)

don't ask me how a setting 1800 seconds to 3600 seconds, can change anything from 5-10 minutes to none at all..

I really dont know how and the whys about UPnP..

also I noticed, while UPnP on the routers switched on at 1800 gives errors, less errors when I switch it off.
But at the 3600 second setting, I can switch on UPnP at all routers (Class B network) and no issues playing the files or browsing the mezzmo library..

like I said, don't ask me how, why, just wanted to let you know, playing with this number might help you as well, as it solved some really odd
behavior on my end..

apart from the fact there are tons of other odd behaviors on home grade networks, independend from mezzmo.. Don't need mezzmo for weird
things in home grade networks and home grade hardware.