HD streams are jittery/pixelated (SD plays fine)

[maddox]

HD streams are jittery/pixelated (SD plays fine)

[mcqueena]

I'm having a similar problem, running on OSX. My problem might be related to the fact that my server is my laptop on wireless. I'll try tomorrow on with a wired connection.

[maddox]

You're never going to be able to have this work over wireless reliably. The raw mpeg2 streams are just too large for wireless to reliably do this kind of thing.

The rule of thumb is: never do anything with HD video over wireless. Heh.

On Jan 26, 2014, at 5:00 PM, mcqueena [email protected] wrote:

I'm having a similar problem, running on OSX. My problem might be related to the fact that my server is my laptop on wireless. I'll try tomorrow on with a wired connection.

—
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub.

[mcqueena]

Ok, thanks. I thought so and will try it on wired. I'll report back.

[mcqueena]

I still have trouble with HD channels, even on the wired connection.

[christo16]

@mcqueena This replicates my experience, wired -> wired for HD channels failed to play.

[maddox]

What are the specs of the computer doing the real time encoding?

On Jan 27, 2014, at 5:04 PM, christo16 [email protected] wrote:

@mcqueena This replicates my experience, wired -> wired for HD channels failed to play.

—
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub.

[mcqueena]

Model Name: MacBook Air
Model Identifier: MacBookAir4,2
Processor Name: Intel Core i5
Processor Speed: 1.7 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 2
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 3 MB
Memory: 4 GB

[maddox]

yeahhhhhhhhh..... that might be too slow to be encoding 20+mbit mpeg2 streams in to h.264 in real time. It just might not work :/

You could try editing this line and swap out superfast for ultrafast. It'll make encoding faster, but at a loss of quality.

I should probably make this (and a lot of other things in the ffmpeg command) an option.

[mcqueena]

Ok, I'll try that. What would you say are the minimum requirements for SD and HD?

[tmm1]

You can also try lowering the default resolution and bitrate here.

[maddox]

You can also try lowering the default resolution and bitrate here.

I really need to make a setting for that in the web views.

[wTheOnew]

Have any other performance tweaks you could suggest?

Think adding "nice -n -15" or something similar to to the exec of ffmpeg up the priority of it would help?

Changin superfast to ultrafast did seem to make it smoother, but the quality is terrible. Dropping the bitrate down to 2000k didn't seem to help.

I'm running Wallop on a Ubuntu VM that has 4 cores of a 4GHz i7 dedicated to it and the HD streams are unwatchable. Either stuttering and pixelated or buffering 50% of the time. Wired gigabit Ethernet from the HDHR to Wallop and then wired gigabit or wireless to each Roku behaves the same. The VM seems busy when encoding, but not bogged down. 50-65% cpu utilization max.

[tmm1]

Bump the bitrate up, to 6000k atleast

[mcqueena]

Is it possible the problem is on the Roku end?

[wTheOnew]

I'll try a higher bitrate this evening. Seems like that would make it harder to stream though?

I guess it could have something to do with the specific channel, since I can stream much higher bitrates using plex. This is the Roku channel: https://github.com/computmaxer/roku-hdhomerun If you look at the videoScreen.brs file it's about as simple as it gets, it just sets up the stream and displays it. Know any way I can stream an m3u8 file in Windows to test it? VLC just does the audio stream for whatever reason.

Thanks to both of you.

Hate to junk up this thread if there's a better place to troubleshoot?

edit: Had a chance to do a bit more testing. It looks like it only pixelates and bufferes really bad on the wireless Roku. The wired one rarely buffers after the first 5 minutes. It's weird since I can stream stuff with plex at 12Mbps to either one. I can live with SD on the wireless one. Going to still play with it to see if I can make it better and I'll update this if I figure something out.

[xtremedrummer7]

I guess I'm having a similar issue, my HD channels won't play at all but my SD channels play fine. I have tried reinstalling wallop and also tried doing a new install of ffmpeg but can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. Anyone else having this issue? Can anyone help? Thank you!

127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:01] "GET /channels HTTP/1.1" 200 87021 0.0255
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:01] "GET /css/styles.css HTTP/1.1" 200 - 0.0235
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:01] "GET /css/font-awesome.min.css HTTP/1.1" 200 - 0.0283
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:01] "GET /css/bootstrap.min.css HTTP/1.1" 200 - 0.0463
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:01] "GET /js/jquery-1.9.1.min.js HTTP/1.1" 200 - 0.1014
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:01] "GET /css/bootstrap-responsive.min.css HTTP/1.1" 200 - 0.1071
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:01] "GET /js/jquery-ui-1.9.1.min.js HTTP/1.1" 200 - 0.0342
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:01] "GET /js/plugins/spin.min.js HTTP/1.1" 200 - 0.0116
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:01] "GET /js/plugins/jquery.spin.js HTTP/1.1" 200 - 0.0115
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:01] "GET /js/coffee-script.js HTTP/1.1" 200 - 0.0139
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:01] "GET /js/bootstrap.min.js HTTP/1.1" 200 - 0.0141
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:01] "GET /js/src/settings.coffee HTTP/1.1" 200 - 0.0034
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:02] "GET / HTTP/1.1" 302 - 0.0012
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:02] "GET /channels?type=favorites HTTP/1.1" 200 4501 0.0038
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:02] "GET /css/bootstrap.min.css HTTP/1.1" 200 - 0.0038
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:02] "GET /css/font-awesome.min.css HTTP/1.1" 200 - 0.0150
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:02] "GET /css/bootstrap-responsive.min.css HTTP/1.1" 200 - 0.0024
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:02] "GET /css/styles.css HTTP/1.1" 200 - 0.0031
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:02] "GET /js/jquery-1.9.1.min.js HTTP/1.1" 200 - 0.0018
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:02] "GET /fonts/fontawesome-webfont.woff?v=3.0.1 HTTP/1.1" 200 - 0.0144
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:06] "GET / HTTP/1.1" 302 - 0.0012
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:06] "GET /channels?type=favorites HTTP/1.1" 200 4501 0.0031
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:17] "GET /channels HTTP/1.1" 200 87021 0.0155
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:33] "GET /channels/2 HTTP/1.1" 200 4581 0.0736
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:33] "GET /channels/2/status HTTP/1.1" 404 - 0.0010
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:33] "GET /channels/2.m3u8 HTTP/1.1" 404 - 0.0012
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:33] "POST /channels/2/tune HTTP/1.1" 200 29 0.0161
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:33] "GET /js/src/settings.coffee HTTP/1.1" 304 - 0.0017
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:33] "GET /channels/2.m3u8 HTTP/1.1" 420 - 0.0011
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:33] "GET /channels/2.m3u8 HTTP/1.1" 420 - 0.0012
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:34] "GET /channels/2/status HTTP/1.1" 200 81 0.0011
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:35] "GET /channels/2/status HTTP/1.1" 200 81 0.0010
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:36] "GET /channels/2/status HTTP/1.1" 200 81 0.0011
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:37] "GET /channels/2/status HTTP/1.1" 200 81 0.0011
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:38] "GET /channels/2/status HTTP/1.1" 200 80 0.0009
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:38] "GET /channels/2.m3u8 HTTP/1.1" 200 - 0.0014
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:38] "GET /channels/20.ts HTTP/1.1" 200 - 0.0077
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:41] "GET /channels/2.m3u8 HTTP/1.1" 200 - 0.0014
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:41] "GET /channels/21.ts HTTP/1.1" 200 - 0.0079
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:44] "GET /channels/2.m3u8 HTTP/1.1" 200 - 0.0010
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:44] "GET /channels/22.ts HTTP/1.1" 200 - 0.0046
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:44] "GET /channels/23.ts HTTP/1.1" 200 - 0.0043
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:45] "GET /channels HTTP/1.1" 200 87021 0.0208
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:46] "GET /channels/20.ts HTTP/1.1" 200 - 0.0044
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:47] "GET /channels?type=hd HTTP/1.1" 200 45661 0.0043
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:50] "GET /channels/402 HTTP/1.1" 200 4589 0.0018
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:50] "GET /channels/402/status HTTP/1.1" 404 - 0.0010
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:50] "GET /channels/402.m3u8 HTTP/1.1" 404 - 0.0011
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:50] "POST /channels/402/tune HTTP/1.1" 200 29 0.0168
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:51] "GET /js/src/settings.coffee HTTP/1.1" 304 - 0.0011
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:51] "GET /channels/402.m3u8 HTTP/1.1" 420 - 0.0010
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:51] "GET /channels/402.m3u8 HTTP/1.1" 420 - 0.0009
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:51] "GET /channels/402/status HTTP/1.1" 200 83 0.0010
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:52] "GET /channels/402/status HTTP/1.1" 200 83 0.0012
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:53] "GET /channels/402/status HTTP/1.1" 200 83 0.0012
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:54] "GET /channels/402/status HTTP/1.1" 404 - 0.0012
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:55] "POST /channels/402/tune HTTP/1.1" 200 29 0.0049
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:55] "GET /channels/402/status HTTP/1.1" 200 83 0.0064
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:56] "GET /channels/402/status HTTP/1.1" 200 83 0.0011
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:56] "GET /channels/402/status HTTP/1.1" 200 83 0.0013
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:57] "GET /channels/402/status HTTP/1.1" 200 83 0.0016
127.0.0.1 - - [17/Feb/2014 22:18:57] "GET /channels HTTP/1.1" 200 87021 0.0121

[maddox]

If you're seeing video work at all, then its working. What are the specs of the machine doing the transcoding? It may not be fast enough to do real time transcoding of the large mpeg2 HD video streams.

You can try messing with the FFMPEG options in the config file to get things to go a little faster. Specifically the h264_preset option. Try setting it to ultrafast.

[xtremedrummer7]

I changed it to ultrafast and still can't get it to play HD channels, SD still plays fine.

I'm running it on a Mac Mini 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5, 4 GB Ram. Are there any other settings I might need to change?

Thanks so much for your help!

[maddox]

Is the computer on Ethernet or wireless?

On Feb 18, 2014, at 6:39 PM, xtremedrummer7 [email protected] wrote:

I changed it to ultrafast and still can't get it to play HD channels, SD still plays fine.

I'm running it on a Mac Mini 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5, 4 GB Ram. Are there any other settings I might need to change?

Thanks so much for your help!

—
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub.

[xtremedrummer7]

Ethernet.

I tried a couple other channels and it seems to work on HD but not on ABC, CBS, or NBC haha, the main channels… have you experienced this before? I checked in the HDHR Prime config while it was running and it seems to tune to it correctly and there isn't any protection on them. I'm rescanning right now to see if this will help.

[tmm1]

If you get no video at all, it might be some sort of ffmpeg issue. Check log/ffmpeg.log

[xtremedrummer7]

I think I've narrowed my issue down to 4 local HD channels, and for some reason the HDHR Prime is giving a CableCard message "Error requesting channel. Please try again later." Anyone else have this issue with specific channels? I've rescanned twice and get the same thing. Also, I'm on TWC, with a Motorola CableCARD and a TA. It reads the channels as unlocked with no protection on them. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[tmm1]

I just made a change in d92ccd3 that might help fix the stuttering issue. Can you try it?