Can't Solve Constant Buffering Issues

jmichl · February 14, 2021, 2:25pm

Running Channels on my Synology DS216Play with recently upgraded 8GB WD NAS drives. It will work great for awhile (days) then suddenly bog down with unwatchable buffering. Doesn't matter if I'm watching live or a recording. Though I have a 4 channel HDHomerun, I only record a handful of shows so would rarely have more than one recording at a time. My log shows there was a show successfully recorded about midnight last night and the commercials identified. Six hours later I woke up to watch the news and immediately encountered the buffering. I restarted the Channels DVR twice and restarted my eero network. Still can't watch anything on Channels. Where to start to try to trouble shoot and solve?

2021/02/13 23:28:28.312072 [DVR] Commercial detection for Austin City Limits S46E13 Allen Toussaint New Orleans Legend 2021-02-13-2200.mpg finished with 4 markers.
2021/02/14 06:12:28.668644 [TNR] Opened connection to 1079809C/0 for ch4.1 WTMJ-DT
2021/02/14 06:12:59.860506 [WRN] Buffer for 1079809C ch4.1 is more than 50% full (clients=1, len=33556816)
2021/02/14 06:13:13.520276 [WRN] Buffer for 1079809C ch4.1 is more than 75% full (clients=1, len=50332000)
2021/02/14 06:13:24.340036 [WRN] Buffer for 1079809C ch4.1 is more than 95% full (clients=1, len=63753752)
2021/02/14 06:13:26.444908 [WRN] Buffer for 1079809C ch4.1 is more than 99% full (clients=1, len=66440892)
2021/02/14 06:18:49.586920 [SYS] Shutting down...
2021/02/14 06:18:49.693858 [SYS] Bonjour service stopped.
2021/02/14 06:18:49.752596 [DVR] Recording engine stopped.
2021/02/14 06:18:50.752883 [SYS] Goodbye.
2021/02/14 06:19:11.302417 [SYS] Starting Channels DVR v2021.02.04.1931 (linux-armv7l pid:5273) in /volume1/@appstore/ChannelsDVR/channels-dvr/data
2021/02/14 06:19:11.374138 [SYS] Started HTTP Server
2021/02/14 06:19:11.833815 [HDR] Found 1 devices
2021/02/14 06:19:14.970740 [DVR] Recording engine started in /volume1/dvr
2021/02/14 06:19:14.972671 [SYS] Bonjour service running for dvr-macnas.local. [192.168.7.45]
2021/02/14 06:19:15.028272 [DVR] Waiting 40m44.971786018s until next job 1613307600-7 Sunday Today With Willie Geist
2021/02/14 06:19:16.850971 [SYS] Created database snapshot: backup-20210214.061916
2021/02/14 06:19:16.851419 [SYS] Removing old backup backup-20210116.154504
2021/02/14 06:19:25.263349 [IDX] Pruned 1344 expired airings from USA-OTA53089 in 256.846976ms.
2021/02/14 06:19:30.287961 [TNR] Opened connection to 1079809C/0 for ch4.1 WTMJ-DT
2021/02/14 06:19:57.568083 [WRN] Buffer for 1079809C ch4.1 is more than 50% full (clients=1, len=33555500)
2021/02/14 06:20:10.832057 [WRN] Buffer for 1079809C ch4.1 is more than 75% full (clients=1, len=50334500)
2021/02/14 06:20:21.174922 [WRN] Buffer for 1079809C ch4.1 is more than 95% full (clients=1, len=63753620)
2021/02/14 06:20:23.438900 [WRN] Buffer for 1079809C ch4.1 is more than 99% full (clients=1, len=66440892)
2021/02/14 06:24:36.276074 [SNR] Statistics for ch4.1 WTMJ-DT: ss=100% snq=100% seq=99%,0%-100% bps=8696513,0-13997728 pps=191,0-1657 neterr=78%
2021/02/14 06:24:36.282429 [TNR] Closed connection to 1079809C/0 for ch4.1 WTMJ-DT
2021/02/14 06:26:09.757886 [TNR] Opened connection to 1079809C/0 for ch4.1 WTMJ-DT
2021/02/14 06:26:41.803373 [WRN] Buffer for 1079809C ch4.1 is more than 50% full (clients=1, len=33556684)
2021/02/14 06:26:54.946297 [WRN] Buffer for 1079809C ch4.1 is more than 75% full (clients=1, len=50333316)
2021/02/14 06:27:05.567528 [WRN] Buffer for 1079809C ch4.1 is more than 95% full (clients=1, len=63755068)
2021/02/14 06:27:07.673724 [WRN] Buffer for 1079809C ch4.1 is more than 99% full (clients=1, len=66438260)
2021/02/14 06:38:17.650645 [WRN] Buffer for 1079809C ch4.1 is more than 50% full (clients=1, len=33554608)
2021/02/14 06:38:21.697895 [SNR] Statistics for ch4.1 WTMJ-DT: ss=100% snq=100% seq=100% bps=9194623,2445504-14081952 pps=106,0-3307 neterr=88%
2021/02/14 06:38:21.698467 [TNR] Closed connection to 1079809C/0 for ch4.1 WTMJ-DT
2021/02/14 06:38:26.494923 [TNR] Opened connection to 1079809C/0 for ch4.1 WTMJ-DT
2021/02/14 06:38:39.357717 [SNR] Statistics for ch4.1 WTMJ-DT: ss=100% snq=100% seq=83%,0%-100% bps=7819296,0-11204800 pps=743,0-1064 sigerr=16%
2021/02/14 06:38:39.370880 [TNR] Closed connection to 1079809C/0 for ch4.1 WTMJ-DT
2021/02/14 06:43:48.242062 [TNR] Opened connection to 1079809C/0 for ch4.1 WTMJ-DT
2021/02/14 06:43:59.926911 [SNR] Statistics for ch4.1 WTMJ-DT: ss=100% snq=100% seq=83%,0%-100% bps=6071146,0-8275008 pps=576,0-786 sigerr=16%
2021/02/14 06:43:59.927240 [TNR] Closed connection to 1079809C/0 for ch4.1 WTMJ-DT
2021/02/14 06:44:06.290495 [TNR] Opened connection to 1079809C/0 for ch4.1 WTMJ-DT
2021/02/14 06:44:36.634511 [SNR] Statistics for ch4.1 WTMJ-DT: ss=100% snq=100% seq=93%,0%-100% bps=7402487,0-11374752 pps=703,0-1080 sigerr=6%
2021/02/14 06:44:36.635006 [TNR] Closed connection to 1079809C/0 for ch4.1 WTMJ-DT
2021/02/14 07:00:00.005925 [DVR] Starting job 1613307600-7 Sunday Today With Willie Geist on ch=[4.1]
2021/02/14 07:00:00.471088 [TNR] Opened connection to 1079809C/0 for ch4.1 WTMJ-DT
2021/02/14 07:00:00.504683 [DVR] Recording for job 1613307600-7 from 1079809C ch4.1 into "TV/Sunday Today With Willie Geist/Sunday Today With Willie Geist S2021E07 2021-02-14-0700.mpg" for 59m59.993900742s
2021/02/14 07:00:00.562524 [IDX] Generating video index for job 1613307600-7
2021/02/14 07:59:47.076713 [SYS] Shutting down...
2021/02/14 07:59:47.135904 [SYS] Bonjour service stopped.
2021/02/14 07:59:47.184558 [DVR] Recording engine stopped.
2021/02/14 07:59:48.184769 [SYS] Goodbye.
2021/02/14 08:00:21.822164 [SYS] Starting Channels DVR v2021.02.04.1931 (linux-armv7l pid:29077) in /volume1/@appstore/ChannelsDVR/channels-dvr/data
2021/02/14 08:00:21.858203 [SYS] Started HTTP Server
2021/02/14 08:00:22.322162 [HDR] Found 1 devices
2021/02/14 08:00:25.874025 [DVR] Recording engine started in /volume1/dvr
2021/02/14 08:00:25.939031 [SYS] Bonjour service running for dvr-macnas.local. [192.168.7.45]
2021/02/14 08:00:26.095525 [DVR] Marking expired job 1613307600-7 Sunday Today With Willie Geist
2021/02/14 08:00:28.618585 [SYS] Created database snapshot: backup-20210214.080028
2021/02/14 08:00:28.618968 [SYS] Removing old backup backup-20210117.154504
2021/02/14 08:00:36.190770 [IDX] Pruned 158 expired airings from USA-OTA53089 in 82.375629ms.
2021/02/14 08:02:18.827075 [TNR] Opened connection to 1079809C/0 for ch4.1 WTMJ-DT
2021/02/14 08:02:33.935459 [SNR] Statistics for ch4.1 WTMJ-DT: ss=100% snq=100% seq=85%,0%-100% bps=8945147,0-11302560 pps=849,0-1073 sigerr=14%
2021/02/14 08:02:33.935676 [TNR] Closed connection to 1079809C/0 for ch4.1 WTMJ-DT
2021/02/14 08:02:41.720714 [TNR] Opened connection to 1079809C/0 for ch4.1 WTMJ-DT
2021/02/14 08:02:58.857740 [SNR] Statistics for ch4.1 WTMJ-DT: ss=100% snq=100% seq=88%,0%-100% bps=9122762,0-11104032 pps=866,0-1055 sigerr=11%
2021/02/14 08:02:58.858177 [TNR] Closed connection to 1079809C/0 for ch4.1 WTMJ-DT
2021/02/14 08:09:18.721233 [TRS] DNS: OK: Resolved host via system DNS
2021/02/14 08:09:19.148574 [TRS] Cloud Reachable: OK: Connected to community.getchannels.com
2021/02/14 08:09:19.295864 [TRS] Local Time: OK: Local clock is accurate
2021/02/14 08:09:19.295993 [TRS] Remote Access: OK: Remote access not configured
2021/02/14 08:09:19.321820 [TRS] Disk Permissions: OK
2021/02/14 08:09:31.503109 [DIAG] Could not package /providers/tve/error_screenshot.png: 404 Not Found
2021/02/14 08:09:31.509013 [DIAG] Could not package /providers/tve/error_screenshot.html: 404 Not Found
2021/02/14 08:09:31.819460 [DIAG] Could not find file: channels-comskip-controller.log: open channels-comskip-controller.log: no such file or directory
2021/02/14 08:09:44.408320 New diagnostic log submitted under 4aec4aec-b095-4279-86ed-ea9ce94586ae
2021/02/14 08:15:29.744599 [TRS] DNS: OK: Resolved host via system DNS
2021/02/14 08:15:31.021852 [TRS] Cloud Reachable: OK: Connected to community.getchannels.com
2021/02/14 08:15:31.192163 [TRS] Local Time: OK: Local clock is accurate
2021/02/14 08:15:31.192292 [TRS] Remote Access: OK: Remote access not configured
2021/02/14 08:15:31.194045 [TRS] Disk Permissions: OK

tmm1 · February 14, 2021, 5:20pm

This is bad and means either your disk or your cpu/ram is getting overloaded on your NAS.

jmichl · February 14, 2021, 5:51pm

Well, thanks, though I kind of figured that much out. It only happens with Channels-DVR. My question is how to I figure out why my Channels-DVR is doing that so I can fix it. I don’t have that problem with any other apps, in fact, I have hardly anything else running on the Synology except basic file storage. The hard drives are high quality and only a few months old with plenty of free space.

When this happens, can I kill a channels process some way? Restarting channels and even restarting the Synology and router don’t help.

Thanks.

tmm1 · February 14, 2021, 6:47pm

First step would be to check the cpu monitor on the Synology to see what's using the most cpu and ram.

jmichl · February 14, 2021, 7:25pm

It is happening now. This is what the Synology shows.

For channels-dvr it shows they are all sleeping though I'm trying to watch a program.

Sorted by CPU usage I get this:

It doesn't appear there is a single thing grabbing the majority of the resources. Though I've read some posts in the Synology Community that universal search can cause problems. I'll try turning that off and see if I get improvement.

Macnbaish · February 16, 2021, 2:56am

You might want to check what the load averages on the main page of the channels DVR web ui show at the time of the issue. High numbers there were would help confirm if the system is heavily loaded. You might be dealing with a disk IO issue, not COU/RAM.

jmichl · February 16, 2021, 3:29am

Thanks. I think I solved it. I think the ethernet switch I was using was going bad. I had the same buffering problems when using the HDHR app which suggested the problem wasn't with the DVR. I have two switches in my home network -- a 24 port and a 16 port. Both the HDHR and the Synology were connected to the 16 port switch. When I moved them to the 24 port switch, everything worked fine. I'm going on one day now without buffering issues. A new switch is scheduled to arrive tomorrow.