AMD Ryzen 2400g and Channels DVR

Channels DVR Server
#1

So the last month I’ve been researching and studying all the many options for cordcutting ever since my parents asked me to cut down the cable bill (which used to be $180!!!). We decided to go for Sling for broadcast channels and use an antenna for locals! Working pretty great so far!

Only problem? Plex.

Man, Plex Live TV stinks. It is just not ready for primetime. At all. Sporadic errors when tuning, inconsistent DVR, poopy (pardon my French) interface. Then I found Channels.

You guys have done amazing work. Seriously, bravo! I’m so impressed what a couple of talented developers can do. And the support and communication you offer is incredible! But I have one question before I go all in.

I noticed Intel with QuickSync is recommended, but I just built my parents a powerful little office box running an AMD Ryzen 2400g. It’s got a pretty beefy integrated GPU, so it CAN do hw transcoding (and performs well with Plex). How would it work with Channels?

#2

We just finished a updating to the latest ffmpeg, which does have support for hw transcoding with AMD on Windows. I don’t have access to an AMD box though so it’s not something that is enabled right now.

Software transcoding should work really well on that chip. If you want to help us test hw transcoding, we can probably make that work too

#3

Just fired up the app on Apple TV (last time I tried it on a Shield). I’m getting frequent skips and video distortions for some reason when watching live TV. I understand that no transcoding is involved with Live TV playback, but could this be related to my system? Unfortunately, I’m not hardwired to the router, and I’m using WiFi instead; however, I can still get consistent 25 Mbps down even on WiFi, so that’s not the issue right?

Also, I’d love to help test HW transcoding if possible!

Thank you for your prompt reply!!! :slight_smile:

#4

A single stream is 18mbps so 25mbps is cutting it close. Also it’s more about latency than bandwidth, and it sounds like your Wi-Fi is not able to keep up.

You could have your DVR transcode to reduce bandwidth usage, by setting the Home Streaming Quality rate on the Settings tab.

#5

Latency is ping right? I have 10ms so I don’t think that’s an issue…plus the Shield TV worked fine yesterday. Huh. I just tried it on a different computer now that has a 4790k, and I’m still having problems, meaning the server isn’t the source.

I guess it is WiFi? It just seems odd since I have 30mbps and 10ms ping (just checked), which should be okay for lower quality streams, surely.

How do I access Home Streaming Quality in the settings? I only see the one for Web Player. Is that the same thing?

#6

The Home Streaming Quality is in the Apple TV app.

#7

On the Settings tab of the web DVR UI, does it show hardware transcoding as an option?

I’m building a new version right now with AMD hardware support so you can test it as well.

#8

Open powershell console, run the following to update:

iwr -usebasicparsing -method Put http://127.0.0.1:8089/updater/check/2018.03.16.0155

Wait a few minutes and load the web UI to make sure it says v2018.03.16.0155. See if it shows hardware transcoding as an option.

Then in powershell, run:

iwr -usebasicparsing -method Post http://127.0.0.1:8089/hls/hwaccel

When it finishes, open http://127.0.0.1:8089/admin/log and copy/paste the messages from the bottom that start with “HWE”

#9

Got it! Thanks!

Okay, weird thing. I updated tvOS and the problems went away…haha my bad. Troubleshooting 101 flub, right here. And I’m getting 150 Mbps down now on speedtest.net? I’m thinking I was on 2.4 GHz instead of 5GHz before…haha not sure.

And yeah it did show hardware as an option. Let me check again.

#10

Yea 5ghz is usually way better perf.

Please run the commands above for AMD h/w testing.

#11

Okay done! Yes HW is definitely an option, and task manager is showing GPU being utilized by Chrome when playing on Web. Here’s the log:

2018/03/15 22:47:24 [HWE] Trying C:\ProgramData\ChannelsDVR\latest\ffmpeg.exe -hide_banner -nostats -loglevel warning -loglevel verbose -f lavfi -t 0.1 -i color=black:640x480 -c:v h264_amf -profile:v high -level 42 -b:v 400k -maxrate:v 600k -f null -y nul

#12

Cool I guess it’s working then!

#13

Awesome!!! Amazing job! Geez, I’ve never seen such prompt developer support before. Thank you so much! :slight_smile:

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