Remote Streaming problems

Channels DVR Server
#1

In the last week or so there’s been a variety of problems happening when remote streaming. A few examples:

Last night: unable to watch more than 2 seconds at a time. The cpu% was running ffmpeg at 250%+

Today: worked fine for about 30 mins, then stopped. The cpu% normal (i think) ffmpeg at around 40-55%. BUT ran a speed test and getting poor results. Ran separate tests at each location and it seems as though the upload speed for where the dvr is located will drop super low. This could be obvious answer. That said, some tests say low upload speed (less than 3mbps) while others say its in the 9-10mbps range which should be fine.

Checked the logs just now while trying to watch both live channel and recording:

2018/02/10 18:20:53 [HLS] Starting transcoder for channel 1062 from 23.243.160.4 (encoder=h264_videotoolbox, resolution=720, deinterlacer=linear, bitrate=2000)
2018/02/10 18:21:34 [NAT] Successfully mapped port 8089 using natpmp
2018/02/10 18:25:04 [HLS] Stopping transcoder session ch1062-dANY-d4749a157fec @ 4m9.115533s
2018/02/10 18:25:04 [TNR] Closed connection to 1325A30D for ch1062
2018/02/10 18:25:31 [HLS] Starting transcoder for file270-d4749a157fec at 0s from 23.243.160.4 (encoder=h264_videotoolbox, resolution=720, deinterlacer=linear, bitrate=2000)
[mpegts @ 0x7fafbe808000] Dropped corrupted packet (stream = 1)
[mpegts @ 0x7fafbe808000] Dropped corrupted packet (stream = 0)
2018/02/10 18:25:34 [HLS] Stopping transcoder for file270-d4749a157fec after seek to 4m32s (out=8.775444s, finished=false)
2018/02/10 18:25:34 [HLS] Starting transcoder for file270-d4749a157fec at 4m32s from 23.243.160.4 (encoder=h264_videotoolbox, resolution=720, deinterlacer=linear, bitrate=2000)
[mpegts @ 0x7feeb6004800] Dropped corrupted packet (stream = 1)
[mpegts @ 0x7feeb6004800] Dropped corrupted packet (stream = 0)
[mpegts @ 0x7feeb6004800] Dropped corrupted packet (stream = 1)
Last message repeated 1 times
[mpegts @ 0x7feeb6004800] Dropped corrupted packet (stream = 0)
[mpegts @ 0x7feeb6004800] Dropped corrupted packet (stream = 1)
[mpegts @ 0x7feeb6004800] Dropped corrupted packet (stream = 0)
[mpegts @ 0x7feeb6004800] Dropped corrupted packet (stream = 1)
[mpegts @ 0x7feeb6004800] Dropped corrupted packet (stream = 0)
2018/02/10 18:28:08 [HLS] Pausing transcoder (out: 10m39.100078s, view: 5m39s)…

Any ideas whether it is computer/internet/both?

#2

Sounds like the culprit. You need a really stable upload for a constant stream like video.

#3

And now trying to watch same recording, but CPU% jumping to 150% and unable to stream. Plus the lipsync is off when it does actually work for a short period of time.

#4

You can try streaming at home over Wi-Fi directly by changing the Streaming Quality over Wi-Fi to the same bitrate. If that works fine then your transcoder and cpu are fine.

#5

Man, yeah that seems to work fine. Thank you, it’s helpful to at least narrow the issue down. Ugh, I have xfinity and it’s been fine, but have you seen where services suddenly just decide to crap out like this over long stretches? Definitely will call them, but want to make sure they attempt to fix the right thing.

#6

Also, when the load averages are jumping over 2 and 3 that shouldn’t be worrisome then?

#7

Do you happen to have gigabit from Xfinity? I have it, with 35Mbps upload, but over the holidays when I was out of town the upload went to crap, just like you mention. Fluctuating in the 2-10Mbps range. They came out and replaced the line from the street to my house and it’s been fine since. I just mention it in case your situation is similar.

#8

I don’t have gigabit, but it’s definitely dropped dramatically. Will have them investigate. The thing is, if I use Xfinity’s speed test it appears fine (of course), but if I use others it gives me much lower marks. Will be interesting to see what they say. Thank you so much for the tip!