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

[HTPCSourcer]

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.

Hi,

I am experiencing similar problems, however on a WS 2012 Essentials in combination with a Win 8 and a Win 7 client that connect via UNC. Lots of "invalid signature" Errors, most of them without audible/visible interruptions of the TV Picture. SO I don't think it is related to a more recent SMB Version.

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

I am using MS-DTV on all machines

 

[HTPCSourcer]

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.

Any update on this?

 

[Snoopy87]

Great to know that I'm not the only person who has this issue!


I hadn't the time to investigate this issue within the last few weeks, but I still have the issue. Sometimes it's working for hours or the whole day, sometimes it happens very often. Also MediaPortal crashes every few days after resuming from hibernate, but I don't have the time to create a bug report at the moment.

Also when it is working the whole day, I still have thousands of the Invalid Signature erros. At the moment I am still using UNC (cause RTSP is not working great) with 0ms Buffer, because when I am using the buffer (registry tweak for tsreader) it's getting worse.

But due to the fact, that those issues are random, it is almost impossible to find a solution, because whenever you change anything, you don't know if it fixes the issue or not, because it could be possible that had work for the next hours too without changing anything.

Maybe the logger should be better, because the logger doesn't log the issue. It only logs the result, that frames were dropped, repeated, delayed, etc. but not why. To say, that the invalid signature error is the cause, would be also wrong, because then it would always happen. So the question is why it sometimes not working and sometimes work. I can't find any reason for that, there are no other processes, network issues, etc. while the error occurs. Also the TV Server doesn't log any issues (no discontinuties, etc.)

 

[HTPCSourcer]

Great to know that I'm not the only person who has this issue!

Shared pain...

Also MediaPortal crashes every few days after resuming from hibernate,

I may be able to help you on this one as we have confirmed the presence of a bug. Try Seb's modified mediaportal.exe versions , V6 and V7. His V5 works best for me, but it Looks as if he removed it (or I can't find it). In any case i would be great if you reported your results there.

The invalid signature issues are IMHO due to the fact that the timeshift files are bound to storageservice.exe. If we could somehow release this link, we should at least be able to eliminate this as one source of any observed visual glitches.

 

[Snoopy87]

Ok, I will start testing V6. Attached are the latest log files before moving to V6.

 

[Owlsroost]

The invalid signature issues are IMHO due to the fact that the timeshift files are bound to storageservice.exe. If we could somehow release this link, we should at least be able to eliminate this as one source of any observed visual glitches.

Just to fill in on the background (in terms of how TsReader accesses the timeshift files) - it uses exactly the same method and code to read local (single-seat) and remote files, it's just a different file path. The actual remote access stuff (SMB) is transparent to TsReader, and is handled by the OS (Windows).

If the OS returns an error when TsReader requests data from a file, there isn't really much that can be done other than re-trying the read (or giving up !).

My *guess* is that the 'invalid signature' errors might be because security handshaking between SMB client and server is taking too long sometimes (so rather than stalling the read for a long time the OS returns an error - a reasonable thing to do). If this is a common error condition but doesn't cause stream corruption, it's actually sensible not to log these errors normally - logging is a performance overhead.

 

[Snoopy87]

My *guess* is that the 'invalid signature' errors might be because security handshaking between SMB client and server is taking too long sometimes (so rather than stalling the read for a long time the OS returns an error - a reasonable thing to do). If this is a common error condition but doesn't cause stream corruption, it's actually sensible not to log these errors normally - logging is a performance overhead.

Additionally keep in mind, that this ONLY happens with the current timeshift part file, where TSWriter ist writing to! The error does not occur with ANY other file, movie, recording or timeshift part file.

This error also occurs, if you try to copy the current timeshift part file with the Windows Explorer from the network share to your HTPC. It does not happen if you try to copy ANY other file.

While copying with the Windows Explorer, the error happens exactly at the file position where TSWriter is currently writing to. Example:
- TSWriter creates a new 256 MB file
- TSWriter starts to write bytes to the file
- If you directly try to copy the file while TSWriter starts, the error happens immediately
- If you wait 1 minute, it happens after copying XX MB
- If you wait 5 minutes, it happens after copying XX+YY MB

So it's not a general SMB issue, it's a very special SMB issue. It only happens with a file which is written or accessing to from the server side. Maybe it only happens with TSWriter, or maybe it will happens with all files (the last one is something which I can try. I will create a small app which creates a file like the timeshift part file, then writing to it and I will try to copy this file from server to htpc from a network share)

 

[HTPCSourcer]

Like @Snoopy87 I've been trying to eliminate this error message by trying a couple of different things, e.g. deactivating the security signing requirement settings in the registry both on the 2012 Server as well as the Win 7 client, however, without any effect. I can also confirm the observation (as much as I've seen) that the error is only occurring when MePo reads the timeshift file. What @Owlsroost is saying though is, that he doubts this to have any (or shall we say significant?) effect on audible/visible interruptions of Live TV. Notwithstanding I would also very much appreciate if we eliminated this signing error from the list of possible sources.

Snoopy's investigations seem to confirm that the event happens each time the current file writing position is reached. Independently of the signing error, would this not mean that tsreader is running out of data anyway? In light of @Owlsroost latest tsreader development where he is automatically adjusting the speed (forgive my inadequate wording ), would it be an option to artificially slow down the reading speed permanently by a few ppm in order to remain sustainably behind the current writing position?

 

[breese]

Have you all seen this?
https://social.technet.microsoft.co...-server-2012-to-windows-7?forum=winserver8gen

"I came across this problem today, and tracked it down to an update Intel network driver. I had allowed the driver on the client machine to be updated, but had not yet updated the same driver on the server. Certainly a bit disturbing, but updating the driver on the server rectified the problem."

 

[Snoopy87]

Thanks! Yes, I searched many days/weeks on the whole internet to find a solution, but none of them worked. I tried a lot of registry tweaks (SMB, network, security) on server/client side, I tried different drivers and driver settings, network settings, etc.

A lot of people only having this issue in combination with a virtual server and there changing the driver helped. Of course I already have installed the latest drivers, Windows Updates, BIOS firmware, etc. on server and client side.