Pause, Freeze, Reload while streaming ISO files

[cchasecfi]

Hello.

I have installed Mezzmo v5.2.0.0 on our Windows 7 64bit Dell XPS 730x. I have 530+ iso files stored on a NAS connected to our home 10/100 Mbps network. I stream to our TV via ROKU Ultimate connected to the wifi network via 11AC.

I am periodically seeing a video play OK for several minutes, then it "Reloading" starts playing from about 40 seconds earlier, plays the 40 seconds and repeats this process. I pause the play back, press the back page button, and resume the video. It resumes at the same point and plays for 40 seconds and then repeats the "Reloading" process. If I fast foreword to another part of the video, it plays for another 40 secs and repeats the problem.

Most of the time, Mezzmo plays the videos OK, but on occasion, we run into this problem.

Any ideas?

[Peter]

This may be a problem with the bandwidth of the wireless network when streaming to the Roku or it is a problem with transcoding speed of the Mezzmo server. You can try pre-transcoding an ISO file in Mezzmo then stream it to the Roku and if it plays without issue then the problem is the transcoding speed, if it still has a problem then it is bandwidth and you may need to run a wired cable to the Roku to stream the content or change the Performance settings in Device Settings to lower the bitrate or resolution when transcoding.

[cchasecfi]

This may be a problem with the bandwidth of the wireless network when streaming to the Roku or it is a problem with transcoding speed of the Mezzmo server. You can try pre-transcoding an ISO file in Mezzmo then stream it to the Roku and if it plays without issue then the problem is the transcoding speed, if it still has a problem then it is bandwidth and you may need to run a wired cable to the Roku to stream the content or change the Performance settings in Device Settings to lower the bitrate or resolution when transcoding.

The Roku box connects to the wifi network via an 11AC connection to a Netgear WAC104 access point. The access point is wired to the network. The 11AC connection is capable of up to 867 Mbps. The network is wired at 10/100 Mbps. The wifi connection is faster than the wired network. I am going to upgrade the wired network to a Gigibit system. So you are saying that the problem appears to be bandwidth either wifi or wired. Hopefully then, the upgrade to the gigabit network should clear this up. I'll let you know.

[Peter]

The problem could be network bandwidth or transcoding speed, you should check to see if pre-transcoding a file resolves the issue then you will not need to upgrade the network. Also the wifi network may be AC but does the Roku device support AC? The wifi signal may be reduced to a compatibility mode to connect to the older wifi in the device, it could also be an issue with signal interruption if the wifi is dropping out.

[cchasecfi]

The Roku Ultimate box connected to the 11AC wifi access point OK. During setup, it listed the 3 ssid's on our home network and selected the 11AC as default. I upgraded the network to a 1 Gigibit system by swapping the Zonet zfs3018p 10/100 Mbps switch to a Dlink dgs-1008g 1Gbit switch.
Before the upgrade I noted the following:
I ran a disk speed test utility from BlackMagic Design on the same computer were the Mezzmo Media Server is installed. The Dlink DNS345 NAS drive tested at: Disk write speed 10 MBps, (80 Mbps), Disk read speed 2 MBps, (16 Mbps). This would appear to be the streaming problem.

After the upgrade the Dlink DNS345 speeds did not change, 10MBps write, and 2 MBps read speed. I noted that another smaller NAS connected in a different location tested at 20MBps write speed and 20MBps, (160Mbps) read speed, (this is faster than the 10/100 Mbps switch capacity). I relocated the Dlink DNS345 to another location in the network. It then tested at 65 MBps, (520 Mbps), 65 MBps read speed. This appeared to be the solution to the problem.

I have found that the Pause, Freeze, Reload problem still exists as before. I am playing a Blu-Ray ISO file. It takes about 30 secs to load. It plays OK for 30 secs and goes black for several seconds. The metadata screen is displayed. When "Resume" is selected, it starts at the beginning and plays for about 5 min then goes black and returns to the metadata screen. When "Resume" is again selected, it starts at the beginning and plays for about 8 min and goes black and returns to the metadata screen. This repeats 3 or 4 times.

During this activity, the Mezzmo Server displays
Steaming file: 'xxxfilm' to Device: Roku Streaming Player (192.168.1.91) on the Status Panel.

The Transcoding Panel displays, File: 'xxxfilm', Device: Roku Streaming Player, Format: hls(+h264,+aac,+burn.en) Status: Queued.

While it is streaming OK, THE cpu shows 2%, the Networking shows less than 5%.

While it is paused, Loading, the Transcoding Panel shows, Server Transcoding 4.6% at 16fps. After the "Resume" is selected the streaming starts again and the transcoding status clears. Then after several more minutes the Transcoding Panel status changes to 'Server Transcoding: 4.1% at 17 fps'. The fps changes from 17, 18, and 20. The CPU then increases to 22%, Mediaserver, 12%, ffmpeg.exe 10%. Then the screen goes black, the metadata screen is shown. When "Resume" is selected, it starts the film at the beginning.

I also tried to connect an ethernet cable to the Roku box and connect to the access point via a wired connection. Same problem.

[Peter]

The problem appears to be the transcoding speed, 17 fps is not fast enough to play the file while transcoding on the fly. Please try pre-transcoding http://www.mezzmo.com/wiki/doku.php?id=pre-transcoding_files&s[]=pre&s[]=transcoding the file and this should resolve the issue. You can also investigate ways to speed up transcoding by looking into the Performance Settings http://www.mezzmo.com/wiki/doku.php?id=reduce_video_stuttering&s[]=performance&s[]=settings#transcoding_performance or Hardware transcoding http://www.mezzmo.com/wiki/doku.php?id=hardware_transcoding&s[]=hardware

[cchasecfi]

Hi Peter. Thanks for your replies. I have researched the links you supplied and modified some performance parameters in the device settings for the Roku boxes, (we have 3 boxes installed). I changed the maxbit rate to 1 Gbps and added Direct3D to hardware acceleration. Still have the problems. The pre-trancoding works. Forget about about trying to transcode Blu-Ray ISO files on the fly. I'm sure the problem here is the ISO file size. Blu-Ray ISO files average 30+GB compared to a DVD ISO file average of around 6GB. They both have to stream to the TV in a 2 hr time frame, so roughly 5 times more data must be streamed in Blu-Ray. The Blu-Ray ISO files that I have pre-transcoded play perfectly.

Our video library consists of 550 BD and DVD ISO files at the moment and growing. The current space requirement for the library is 4TB on the NAS drive. I have some questions about pre-transcoding:
1) Where are the pre-transcoded files stored?
2) What are the sizes of the transcoded files compared to the original ISO files?
3) Can the transcoded file libray location be controlled?
4) Can it be located on the same NAS as the ISO files?

I'm afraid if the transcoded files are stored in the Mezzmo library: c:\users\CChase\AppData\Local\Concieva\Mezzmo, the C: drive is a 2TB system boot drive. It only has about 1.5TB of available space. It wouldn't appear to be a good location for the transcoded files.

I would certainly appreciate any advice you could share.

[Peter]

1) Transcoded files are stored in the temporary transcoding folder which is by default in the same folder as the Mezzmo database, you can find this location in Transcoding Settings in Mezzmo
2) The sizes of the transcoded files can vary depending upon the transcoding format, mpeg files are generally larger than h264 files
3) You can change the location of the transcoding folder in Transcoding Settings
4) it is best to keep the location on the same computer as Mezzmo server. Putting the location on a NAS drive can make transcoding slower and introduce problems if network problems occur while transcoding.

Since pre-transcoding is going to require you to convert all of the BD/DVDs I would recommend using Handbrake to convert the BD/DVD iso files to mp4 for streaming so that you have all your files ready to go. You could keep an mp4 copy in addition to the original ISO if you want, possibly have the mp4 in the same folder as the ISO with the same name and different extension, the mp4 should be much smaller than the ISO. You can pre-transcode and then save the pre-transcoded file to the NAS in Mezzmo and then delete the pre-transcoded file but it would be much easier to have Handbrake scan the folder of ISO files and convert them.

[smitbret]

Hello.

I have installed Mezzmo v5.2.0.0 on our Windows 7 64bit Dell XPS 730x. I have 530+ iso files stored on a NAS connected to our home 10/100 Mbps network. I stream to our TV via ROKU Ultimate connected to the wifi network via 11AC.

I am periodically seeing a video play OK for several minutes, then it "Reloading" starts playing from about 40 seconds earlier, plays the 40 seconds and repeats this process. I pause the play back, press the back page button, and resume the video. It resumes at the same point and plays for 40 seconds and then repeats the "Reloading" process. If I fast foreword to another part of the video, it plays for another 40 secs and repeats the problem.

Most of the time, Mezzmo plays the videos OK, but on occasion, we run into this problem.

Any ideas?

What CPU is in that 730x? Shouldn't it be an i7? I can't imagine that any i7 would have trouble transcoding any BD or DVD ISO in real time. Additionally, if you are able to FFW to any part of the movie, that would suggest that transcoding has already completed or wasn't necessary in the first place. You shouldn't be able to FFW or Rew if Mezzmo is transcoding. Can you rip one of the BDs with something like MakeMKV, turn off transcoding and try to stream that file?

[jbinkley60]

It would need to be ripped to a format that Rokus support. They have a limited codec set. But I concur with the suggestion. I try to avoid transcoding at almost all costs even though my Mezzmo server has an nVidia 1060 card in it. Also the i7 should have IQS support depending upon the model.