Been remote at a couple locations this weekend and trying to watch football games in the Channels DVR app. Same issue in TVos, iPadOS and iOS with 12 and 13 and 13.1. Stream stops after a few minutes and doesn’t appear to be buffering or anything. Close the stream and reopen and it works again. Tried every stream speed setting and same issue. Thinking it has to be a server issue but don’t know where to start to troubleshoot...any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!
Same channel works at home? Do you have similar issues watching recordings?
Is the channel coming from a PRIME or TVE?
Thanks for the reply! Everything works great at home. I only tried PRIME channels but it was my local ABC, FOX and RedZone so none that are available TVE for my Xfinity account. I can try a playing a recording and a TVE channel from work tomorrow if that would help with the troubleshooting.
Tried here at work today and at first my transcoder would not get over .86x for no good reason. Reboot solved that. Recording seemed to play fine, or at least as long as I ran it. Live TV however is still giving me issues. Same problem as before. I look at the log and it shows nothing when the stream stops until I hit "Done". Here is the errorr I see, assuming it is related?
[h264 @ 0000000000667ac0] SPS unavailable in decode_picture_timing
Last message repeated 43 times
[h264 @ 0000000002657d40] SPS unavailable in decode_picture_timing
Last message repeated 29 times
[h264 @ 0000000000f37d40] SPS unavailable in decode_picture_timing
[h264 @ 0000000002558080] SPS unavailable in decode_picture_timing
Last message repeated 171 times
It appers to keep repeating if I leave the stream open until I start a new stream, nothing appears in the log until then. I can't do anything in the stream until I hit done and come back in. Tried moving in the timeline, skipping forward and back and nothing. Let me know what's next, Thanks!
Does switching to Software Transcoder help?
It stops the stream faster with Software Transcoder selected.
Anything else to try or data to gather?
Set the quality to the highest 1080p in the browser, then watch a channel in the web UI. What does it say underneath the player?
When it stops paste all the messages from the Log tab starting at when you began playback.
Under the player
“Transcoder Running: 16s @ 1.48x (84.18fps)”
Log
2019/09/10 21:49:55 [TNR] Opened connection to 13265513 for ch1066 WSMHDT
2019/09/10 21:49:56 [HLS] Starting transcoder for channel 1066 from 127.0.0.1 (encoder=libx264, resolution=1080, deinterlacer=blend, bitrate=10000)
2019/09/10 21:53:56 [WRN] Buffer for 13265513 ch1066 is more than 50% full (clients=1, len=16777684)
2019/09/10 21:54:32 [HLS] Stopping transcoder session ch1066-dANY-ip127.0.0.1 @ 4m35.708689s
2019/09/10 21:54:32 [TNR] Closed connection to 13265513 for ch1066 WSMHDT
2019/09/10 21:55:27 [TNR] Opened connection to 1323903E for ch1066 WSMHDT
2019/09/10 21:55:27 [HLS] Starting transcoder for channel 1066 from 127.0.0.1 (encoder=libx264, resolution=1080, deinterlacer=blend, bitrate=10000)
2019/09/10 21:55:35 [HLS] Stopping transcoder session ch1066-dANY-ip127.0.0.1 @ 4.587922s
2019/09/10 21:55:35 [TNR] Closed connection to 1323903E for ch1066 WSMHDT
2019/09/10 21:56:01 [TNR] Opened connection to 1323903E for ch1066 WSMHDT
2019/09/10 21:56:01 [HLS] Starting transcoder for channel 1066 from 127.0.0.1 (encoder=libx264, resolution=1080, deinterlacer=blend, bitrate=10000)
[mpeg2video @ 0000000002985a80] invalid cbp 0 at 35 10
[mpeg2video @ 0000000002985a80] Warning MVs not available
pipe:: corrupt decoded frame in stream 0
[ac3 @ 00000000024f8e40] exponent -1 is out-of-range
[ac3 @ 00000000024f8e40] error decoding the audio block
Error while decoding stream #0:1: Error number -16976906 occurred
[ac3 @ 000000000259e800] exponent -1 is out-of-range
[ac3 @ 000000000259e800] error decoding the audio block
Error while decoding stream #0:2: Error number -16976906 occurred
2019/09/10 22:01:35 [HLS] Stopping transcoder session ch1066-dANY-ip127.0.0.1 @ 5m31.147489s
2019/09/10 22:01:35 [TNR] Closed connection to 1323903E for ch1066 WSMHDT
It didn’t have the same behavior of totally closing the stream or the same error in the log but the stream did freeze.
Anything in that reply catch your eye as to what the issue could be?
I'm not really sure what's going on. Did this used to work fine before you updated to the latest builds?
Recordings are still fine, but live tv has this issue?
I honestly don't use Channels remote unless it's football season or another sport is going on during the day at work, can't remember the last time I used it remote before last Saturday.
I have switched servers twice since the last time I used it regularly outside of the house. It does appear to only be live TV but I don't really have many recordings anyway. I mainly use Channels because we like apple TVs and (until this) it just works.
I have family that accesses my Plex and transcodes from the same server outside the house and there are no issues with that so I don't think that it's an issue with the power of the server or anything. It's definitely a strange one.
I just know I will be using it to watch redzone or a second game when I'm not home so I would like to get it working properly sooner rather than later if possible.
Okay let's try to narrow down the variables. Has your testing so far been at home or remotely?
If you can try streaming that same channel (ch1066) with the same settings (1080p @ 10mbps) at home in Chrome a few times. How long does it take for a problem to occur? What exactly is the behavior? If it's freezing, does the number ("Transcoder Running: XXX") keep increasing? Does pause/resume the player make any difference?
Had no problems streaming for over 10 mins from chrome on the server itself, another desktop locally and a laptop remotely.
Stopped and started a few times with no issues.
Streaming in the web seems to be fine, tonight at least.
Seeing as that seems to be working okay, I'll try on my iPad at work again tomorrow. Anything I need to look for or logs to grab there?
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Tried it again this weekend, this time at a different house again on a Fire TV. Same behavior. Plays for a random amount of time, then just black screen, no buffering and like it paused itself. I submitted diagnostics from the device, I can post more logs but it's more of the same, everytime it freezes it shows "SPS unavailable in decode_picture_timing". Still at a loss myself, googling shows ffmpeg issues but that's over my head for this situation. Anything else I can do?
Previously we were testing with FOX which is mpeg2. If the SPS errors are the cause then it wouldn't affect mpeg2 only h264. Does it happen in the web browser with h264 channels?
It doesn't have the exact same behavior in the web but it's similar. The transcoder suddenly drops off after holding at around 1.06 for a few minutes then the buffer dies and I have to completely reload the page to get anything to work again.
2019/09/16 15:10:42 [TNR] Opened connection to 13265513 for ch1215 NFLHD
2019/09/16 15:10:43 [HLS] Probed live stream in 1.6340471s: h264 1280x720 progressive 2797438bps
2019/09/16 15:10:44 [HLS] Starting transcoder for channel 1215 from 10.0.0.16 (encoder=remux, resolution=1080, deinterlacer=, bitrate=10000)
[h264 @ 00000000025e7ac0] SPS unavailable in decode_picture_timing
Last message repeated 135 times
[h264 @ 00000000025e7ac0] Increasing reorder buffer to 2
2019/09/16 15:14:40 [HLS] Stopping transcoder session ch1215-dANY-ip10.0.0.16 @ 3m58.112411s
2019/09/16 15:14:40 [TNR] Closed connection to 13265513 for ch1215 NFLHD
2019/09/16 15:16:09 [TNR] Opened connection to 13265513 for ch1066 WSMHDT
2019/09/16 15:16:11 [HLS] Starting transcoder for channel 1066 from 10.0.0.16 (encoder=libx264, resolution=1080, deinterlacer=blend, bitrate=10000)
2019/09/16 15:17:41 [HLS] Stopping transcoder session ch1066-dANY-ip10.0.0.16 @ 1m29.339245s
2019/09/16 15:17:41 [TNR] Closed connection to 13265513 for ch1066 WSMHDT
2019/09/16 15:19:47 [TNR] Opened connection to 13265513 for ch1066 WSMHDT
2019/09/16 15:19:47 [HLS] Starting transcoder for channel 1066 from 73.18.196.185 (encoder=libx264, resolution=1080, deinterlacer=blend, bitrate=10000)
2019/09/16 15:21:31 [HLS] Stopping transcoder session ch1066-dANY-7d8d66d5110e @ 1m42.784477s
2019/09/16 15:21:31 [TNR] Closed connection to 13265513 for ch1066 WSMHDT
2019/09/16 15:21:50 [sessions] ERROR! securecookie: base64 decode failed - caused by: illegal base64 data at input byte 0
2019/09/16 15:21:50 [sessions] ERROR! securecookie: base64 decode failed - caused by: illegal base64 data at input byte 0
2019/09/16 15:21:57 [sessions] ERROR! securecookie: base64 decode failed - caused by: illegal base64 data at input byte 0
2019/09/16 15:22:05 [TNR] Opened connection to 13265513 for ch1066 WSMHDT
2019/09/16 15:22:05 [HLS] Starting transcoder for channel 1066 from 204.80.212.1 (encoder=libx264, resolution=1080, deinterlacer=blend, bitrate=10000)
2019/09/16 15:22:07 [HLS] Stopping transcoder session ch1066-dANY-6a524ed5af57 @ 0s
2019/09/16 15:22:07 [TNR] Closed connection to 13265513 for ch1066 WSMHDT
2019/09/16 15:22:18 [TNR] Opened connection to 13265513 for ch1066 WSMHDT
2019/09/16 15:22:19 [HLS] Starting transcoder for channel 1066 from 204.80.212.1 (encoder=libx264, resolution=1080, deinterlacer=blend, bitrate=10000)
2019/09/16 15:26:43 [HLS] Stopping transcoder session ch1066-dANY-6a524ed5af57 @ 4m20.793866s
2019/09/16 15:26:43 [TNR] Closed connection to 13265513 for ch1066 WSMHDT
2019/09/16 15:26:57 [TNR] Opened connection to 1323903E for ch1215 NFLHD
2019/09/16 15:26:57 [HLS] Probed live stream in 441.5061ms: h264 1280x720 progressive 856731bps
2019/09/16 15:26:58 [HLS] Starting transcoder for channel 1215 from 204.80.212.1 (encoder=remux, resolution=1080, deinterlacer=, bitrate=10000)
[h264 @ 0000000000668980] SPS unavailable in decode_picture_timing
Last message repeated 25 times
[h264 @ 0000000000668980] Increasing reorder buffer to 2
2019/09/16 15:29:43 [HLS] Stopping transcoder session ch1215-dANY-6a524ed5af57 @ 2m20.4403s
2019/09/16 15:29:43 [TNR] Closed connection to 1323903E for ch1215 NFLHD
2019/09/16 15:30:55 [TNR] Opened connection to 13265513 for ch1215 NFLHD
2019/09/16 15:31:08 [HLS] Probed live stream in 12.1041246s: h264 1280x720 progressive 4117225bps
2019/09/16 15:31:08 [HLS] Starting transcoder for channel 1215 from 204.80.212.1 (encoder=remux, resolution=1080, deinterlacer=, bitrate=10000)
[h264 @ 00000000026c7ac0] SPS unavailable in decode_picture_timing
Last message repeated 219 times
[h264 @ 00000000026c7ac0] Increasing reorder buffer to 2
2019/09/16 15:33:28 [HLS] Stopping transcoder session ch1215-dANY-6a524ed5af57 @ 2m19.906433s
2019/09/16 15:33:28 [TNR] Closed connection to 13265513 for ch1215 NFLHD
Not sure if anything here helps at all.
The above was the Web Player, here is both channels from the iPad from work today.
2019/09/16 16:36:27 [TNR] Opened connection to 13265513 for ch1066 WSMHDT
2019/09/16 16:36:27 [HLS] Starting transcoder for channel 1066 from 204.80.212.1 (encoder=libx264, resolution=720, deinterlacer=blend, bitrate=2000)
2019/09/16 16:38:05 [HLS] Stopping transcoder session ch1066-dANY-b07475e013b7 @ 1m35.512078s
2019/09/16 16:38:05 [TNR] Closed connection to 13265513 for ch1066 WSMHDT
2019/09/16 16:38:07 [TNR] Opened connection to 13265513 for ch1066 WSMHDT
2019/09/16 16:38:07 [HLS] Starting transcoder for channel 1066 from 204.80.212.1 (encoder=libx264, resolution=720, deinterlacer=blend, bitrate=2000)
2019/09/16 16:38:46 [HLS] Stopping transcoder session ch1066-dANY-b07475e013b7 @ 36.3363s
2019/09/16 16:38:46 [TNR] Closed connection to 13265513 for ch1066 WSMHDT
2019/09/16 16:38:54 [TNR] Opened connection to 13265513 for ch1215 NFLHD
2019/09/16 16:38:55 [HLS] Probed live stream in 876.642ms: h264 1280x720 progressive 1962675bps
2019/09/16 16:38:55 [HLS] Starting transcoder for channel 1215 from 204.80.212.1 (encoder=remux, resolution=720, deinterlacer=, bitrate=2000)
[h264 @ 0000000002657ac0] SPS unavailable in decode_picture_timing
Last message repeated 51 times
[h264 @ 0000000002657ac0] Increasing reorder buffer to 2
2019/09/16 16:40:26 [HLS] Stopping transcoder session ch1215-dANY-b07475e013b7 @ 1m25.902489s
2019/09/16 16:40:26 [TNR] Closed connection to 13265513 for ch1215 NFLHD
[mpegts @ 000000000260bfc0] Dropped corrupted packet (stream = 1)
[mpegts @ 000000000260bfc0] Dropped corrupted packet (stream = 2)
2019/09/16 16:40:51 [TNR] Opened connection to 13265513 for ch1215 NFLHD
2019/09/16 16:40:52 [HLS] Probed live stream in 370.0113ms: h264 1280x720 progressive 1594300bps
2019/09/16 16:40:52 [HLS] Starting transcoder for channel 1215 from 204.80.212.1 (encoder=remux, resolution=720, deinterlacer=, bitrate=2000)
[h264 @ 0000000000d77ac0] SPS unavailable in decode_picture_timing
Last message repeated 31 times
[h264 @ 0000000000d77ac0] Increasing reorder buffer to 2
2019/09/16 16:41:03 [HLS] Stopping transcoder session ch1215-dANY-b07475e013b7 @ 5.6056s
2019/09/16 16:41:03 [TNR] Closed connection to 13265513 for ch1215 NFLHD
Both had the same behavior, stream just dead stopped with a black screen like it paused and buffer still showing. Yesterday when I had to close the app on the fire tv it would say I was behind the timeline which is what appears here but the app doesn't give that warning. If I try to select play nothing happens, I have to close the channel and open it again.
Not sure if it helps at all...
Those "SPS unavailable in decode_picture_timing" are usually harmless, but they do seem relevant in this case. Do those appear when you first start watching? Or only when it freezes up?
Right now the h264 channels are being remuxed (see where it says encoder=remux next to Starting). Can you try changing the quality to 480p so that it forces a transcode and see if that makes any difference.
Also can you record off the same channel and see if the recording plays back fine or has the same problem?
The SPS seems to start the error when the stream starts but it wont show up in the log until I start another stream if that makes sense.