Multiseat: A lot of stuttering, artifacts, pixelation, freezes with RTSP/UNC (4 Viewers)

[mm1352000]

No, I have no idea.

 

[Snoopy87]

Ok, I will look with Sysinternals Process Monitor, to check if there is any other process accessing the file.

Is there anybody who is using a multiseat setup with Windows 8.x as server and client? Because I think this is not a WS2012 R2 issue. I found out, that WS2012 R2 (which is based on W8.x) and Windows 8.x are using a newer SMB version: 3.0. So it could be a SMB problem with this newer version.

I will also try another RTSP port, because with the default port I can't use RTSP because it shows glitches all the time and so it is impossible to watch with RTSP. Do you all (multiseat users) using RTSP or UNC? And don't have any issues?

If there is no other process accessing the file, it seems it is a SMB 3.0 issue or a TSWriter issue (as said, the error only occur with the file part TSWriter is writing to, it does not happen with any other file or any other timeshift part file from the same recording).

I also found out, that the error occurs at the byte position where TSWriter is writing to. So when TSWriter starts, it creates e.g. a 250 MB timeshift file and begins to write into it. If I directly try to copy the file with Windows Explorer, the error is thrown directly at the beginning. If I wait 10 minutes and try to copy the same file again with Windows Explorer, the file will be copied until it reaches the filestream position where TSWriter is currently writing to, e.g. at 100 MB. This is reproducable. Is the way TSWriter is creating the filestream and writing to it, definetly correct? Are all share flags set, so that another process (in this case TSReader, MediaPortal.exe) is allowed to read the through network access?

 

[mm1352000]

Is the way TSWriter is creating the filestream and writing to it, definetly correct? Are all share flags set, so that another process (in this case TSReader, MediaPortal.exe) is allowed to read the through network access?

As far as I'm concerned: yes. The 250 MB file is allocated first then written into afterwards for better performance.
The file creation is here:
https://github.com/MediaPortal/Medi...ters/TsWriter/source/MultiFileWriter.cpp#L110

(...and here for recordings: )
https://github.com/MediaPortal/Medi...owFilters/TsWriter/source/FileWriter.cpp#L122

As you can see shared access for reading should be allowed.

 

[HomeY]

Is there anybody who is using a multiseat setup with Windows 8.x as server and client? Because I think this is not a WS2012 R2 issue. I found out, that WS2012 R2 (which is based on W8.x) and Windows 8.x are using a newer SMB version: 3.0. So it could be a SMB problem with this newer version.

Dedicated TV & File server, running Server 2012 Datacenter which streams to Windows 8.1 Clients. Using UNC, i have 0 issues.
Do you happen to run backup software on your server? Acronis maybe? If so, take a look at the Acronis Managed Machine service (which polls all the HDD's every 20 minutes). This causes corruptions in my recordings, so i've set that to manual and setup Tasks to enable/disable this service to keep be able to make backups (during night times).
I've been testing TsReader for a very very long time, because of a (Microsoft) SMB cache issue, which was fixed in the TsReader which comes with MP 1.8

 

[Snoopy87]

Thanks for the tip!

I have a clean installation of WS2012 R2 Essentials with all updates. No security software, no backup software, no antivirus, etc. So it could only be a Windows Server built-in process, no third party software. I will check this with Process Monitor.[DOUBLEPOST=1410961448][/DOUBLEPOST]Process Monitor says:

C:\Windows\System32\Essentials\storageservice.exe

is writing to the current timeshift file too. I have to check if this is normal behavior, or not and if this is the cause.

 

[davidpmays]

David, thanks for your input.

From your discussion of the RTSP port config it sounds like you're using RTSP instead of UNC shares to access timeshift files, and therefore by definition you wouldn't get the 0x80090006 errors Sascha is currently seeing.

If changing the streaming server port is helpful to you then we might suspect that (a) some kind of security software on your server is affecting traffic passing through that port or (b) some other software is already listening on that port.
I don't know what security software you have installed, but you can use netstat -an on the command line to confirm which ports are in use.

Regards,
mm

Thanks for the note. I apologize for the intrusion I was looking at the stuttering, glitches and I knew changing the port solved my problem. One other time experiencing suttering skipping delay problems I tracked the problem to a DGS-1005G sub-hub, if that helps anyone else. After removing it from the system problems dissolved. I did not realize you had focused in on the problem. I will read more carefully in the future.

Then second thing. I read the other post talking about UNC and you made comment as well. I looked all over for a way to turn that on. I even downloaded 1.9.0 to see if I could find it. I must be getting really bad/old, because I could not find it and it said in the notes it was an option. I already share the record directory and often use videos to find shows and play them. However, I prefer using TV. Should I prefer UNC? I have one central system that records TV as well as supports my big screen and three Windows PC and two android tablets. Thanks for the help. I love MediaPortal!

 

[mm1352000]

I apologize for the intrusion...

No need to apologise - no harm done!

Then second thing. I read the other post talking about UNC and you made comment as well. I looked all over for a way to turn that on. I even downloaded 1.9.0 to see if I could find it. I must be getting really bad/old, because I could not find it and it said in the notes it was an option.

If using MP 1.9 PR the option is in MP configuration in the "TV/Radio" section "advanced options" subsection:
http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_...iaPortal_Configuration/22_TV/Advanced_Options

You probably need to have expert mode enabled (top right hand corner) in order to see that section.

I already share the record directory and often use videos to find shows and play them. However, I prefer using TV. Should I prefer UNC? I have one central system that records TV as well as supports my big screen and three Windows PC and two android tablets. Thanks for the help. I love MediaPortal!

I'm not sure what you mean by "I prefer using TV". Nevertheless, the choice between RTSP and UNC is completely up to you. For some people only one of those options is able to deliver stutter free playback, and so the choice is clear for them. For other people, one of the options (usually UNC) gives faster channel change times.
In short, if I were you (and feeling in an experimental frame of mind) I'd try UNC and see whether it works for a start (there is no 100% guarantee of this, as Sascha has found out)... then consider if you have any reason to prefer UNC or RTSP after that.

Regards,
mm

 

[Owlsroost]

@mm:

Do you have any idea, why the 0x80090006 error only happens with the current splitted timeshift file, where TSWriter is writing to and why this is not happening with all previous splitted timeshift files from the same timeshift recording? There is no anti virus software or any other security software blocking this file.

The last two days I have suddenly absoletly no visual glitches, even though I have thousands of the 0x80090006 erros in the log file. So maybe it could be that it is random if TSReader is still able to read the neccessary bytes or reading the bytes exactly while the 0x80090006 error occured.

If it gets file read errors, TsReader will retry the reads which is why you can get lots of read errors but it still plays OK. Errors only happen with the current 'live' file because the others are not being written to (or read from most of the time, unless you have paused live TV).

And then, when this happens, there is still a main problem with the TSReader that whenever such problem occur for a few bytes or frames, the TSReader is not able show the correct frames after this issue, so that you endless see glitches (artifacts, pixelation, etc.) until you switch the channel. So the issue is not there anymore, but TSReader is still struggling with a previous issue. I don't know if this could be also fixed, to make the TSReader more robust and error tolerant. I noted this behavior many times in the past. Whenever there is any short issue, the playback struggles endless after that.

It's probably the video decoder that is actually having problems. Have you got any logs for this situation ?

 

[Vasilich]

@Snoopy87
have you tried to disable endpoint protection as described here http://social.technet.microsoft.com...-server-2012-to-windows-7?forum=winserver8gen ?

 

[Snoopy87]

@Owlsroost Currently I have no log, because it is working at 99% of the time. I don't know why. I will upload new log files when the problem comes back.

@Vasilich As said, there is no antivirus software installed. It's a clean installation of WS 2012 R2 Essentials without anything else. I searched many days for the error message and tried all tipps around the world without any success. Due to the fact that this error message only happens with the timeshift file of TSWriter it could also be a special issue which only happens with this combination.