[Finished] Improvements to Live TV playback rate matching - for testing (5 Viewers)

[Palm_Maniac]

Yesterday I changed and tested both clients on UNC paths. The pixelation and the short stutterer occur still. It seems to me but before as if they have become less. For my client, there are almost no more stutterer, only occasional pixelation. This is an increase. I still hope that something can be turned to the "UNC screw".

Regardless, I will still try to do something. I will remove it for testing all devices from the network, only the server and a client, and then let's see what happens. Maybe there is indeed a "disturber", so I can get on the ropes. After all, I have a few devices on the network, such as 2 IP phones and a Serial2LAN adapters that are not Gigabit-capable.

Then, when running at the end only 2 devices on the network and the problems are still there, but then I do not go on. Possibly disturb a service on the server? On the server running not only the TV part, I have there also an Apache server, a TS3 server and VM for my weather station in 24-hour operation. But no one really gives a lot of extreme load and traffic.

The only thing that would even occur to me would be a special setting on the network card. Does the TV server actually QoS for its data packets? Could not we give the highest priority to those?

I will in any case report, like my test has gone out to the network.

 

[Palm_Maniac]

Hi,

I have now done the test and turned off everything in the network. Only two units were still, my client and the server. It had not changed. There were still occasional pixelation and to the short stutterers. Then I turned off everything on services and programs on the server, which has nothing to do with the TV-Server. Again no improvement. I think now I have tested everything that goes test.

Now I could just play around in the settings of the network cards that promise a lot but I do not do it to me. After running Kodi together without the interference with the MP TV-Server.

What can I test for? Unfortunately, the Intel graphics drivers do not want to run with the build 10074 of Windows 10 together, which is why I still have to wait with the Windows10 test. I hope in the next build in Slow-ring.

 

[Owlsroost]

When using UNC paths, TsReader works the same way as it does when reading a local file - the OS handles all the client-server comms transparently to TsReader (the timeshift buffer files are just a set of remote files, like any other remote file).

Can you post the logs for the UNC path 'stutters' please ?

 

[Palm_Maniac]

Here the logs of today's network test.

What can interfere for? Kodi works at MP TV server but also with UNC paths, right? Why then dip there no errors? What makes Kodi unlike the MP client?

 

[Owlsroost]

Here the logs of today's network test.

What can interfere for? Kodi works at MP TV server but also with UNC paths, right? Why then dip there no errors?

I have no idea - if I did I would try and work out what is happening.

The thing is that these errors don't happen when using single-seat mode (i.e. client is reading local files), but TsReader does exactly the same thing in both cases - go figure....

 

[Owlsroost]

I've just been playing live HDTV (about 5-6 Mbps) over my mixed Powerline/WiFi network using UNC paths, and had 7 pairs of continuity errors (video+audio) in 4 hours. Not perfect, but pretty good overall running on an 'unreliable' network system.

 

[Sebastiii]

Merged your work into own build for testing too

 

[Owlsroost]

I notice that @Palm_Maniac is using Win 8 as server and client, so I'm going to setup a Win 8 laptop as a TV server and see if that changes how the system behaves with UNC paths (since Win 8 uses SMB3 versus SMB2 for Win 7).

I can reproduce the UNC path 'continuity error' problem occasionally (maybe once per hour) on my systems, but I've never had it happen very near to start-of-play like in Palm_Maniac's latest logs.

 

[Palm_Maniac]

Hi,

Thanks for the help and continue the search for a solution.

I wonder constantly what I can still try. Yesterday I turned off to test all plugins, no improvement. Then I V1.12.0pre installed and tested before any adjustments again. Also no improvement.

Today I have made up my mind again the settings of the LAV codec and order tests DXVA (native) switched to the Intel mode. Nothing.

Now I have everything up by a test with Windows 10 degrees.

With RTSP everything is almost perfect, with UNC paths, it just will not run properly. Unfortunately, these same faults occur irregularly, so you just can not see a pattern.

It changes just nothing, no matter what you try. Where is only the problem?

 

[Owlsroost]

With RTSP everything is almost perfect, with UNC paths, it just will not run properly.

@Palm_Maniac - can you try the attached TsReader.ax in UNC paths mode please ?

I've changed the read access mode to 'FILE_FLAG_RANDOM_ACCESS' when opening timeshift files - this has stopped the data errors I get on my system using UNC paths. It also does a simple data integrity check on the data, and has some extra logging so I can see when timeshift buffer files are opened and closed.

There may be some side effects from the mods (it changes the disk/SMB caching behaviour), so please report back with any problems.