UMS 10.6-10.8.2 Stuttering videos

For help and support with Universal Media Server
Forum rules
Please make sure you follow the Problem Reporting Guidelines before posting if you want a reply
Post Reply
Startropic1
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu Jul 25, 2013 5:29 am

UMS 10.6-10.8.2 Stuttering videos

Post by Startropic1 »

I have been having a lot of problems with UMS since updating to 10.6.0 (and later updated to 10.8.2) A lot of choking on videos I'm trying to stream to my PS4, (even old avis with resolutions lower than 640x480) stuttering, UMS itself crashing, etc. I would have included a zip of logs, but EVEN THAT HAS ISSUES! I did create trace logs, and after restart & reproducing the bugs, I tried to save the zip. At first I tried to save it in program files/UMS but that didn't work, then I tried saving the zip to a temp folder. This finally produced a .zip file.....but it's 0KB and WinRAR won't even open it.
So I guess the first step is trying to get the logging system to work so I can actually provide logs to diagnose the massive instability?

Incidentally, I am running Windows 10 Pro x64.

Edit: So finally a logs .zip successfully saved, but UMS crashed in between save attempts, so the relevant data may or may not be in there. The zip included a massive debug.log.prev which I am NOT going to include for obvious reasons.
Attachments
umslogs.zip
UMS logs minus debug.log.prev
(108.38 KiB) Downloaded 171 times
Nadahar
Posts: 1990
Joined: Tue Jun 09, 2015 5:57 pm

Re: UMS 10.6-10.8.2 Suuuuuuuuuuper Unstable

Post by Nadahar »

The log isn't "trace mode", so unfortunately it doesn't contain much information. There's one clear bug revealed at line 722, IndexOutOfBoundsException can only really be caused by bad coding and is clearly a bug, but I really doubt this bug explains the problems you describe.

You can try to set the log level to "trace" on the bottom of the "Logs" tab, which should result in a more useful log even if the full "Restart in trace mode" doesn't work.
User avatar
mik_s
Moderator
Posts: 1115
Joined: Wed Aug 23, 2017 11:03 pm
Location: UK

Re: UMS 10.6-10.8.2 Suuuuuuuuuuper Unstable

Post by mik_s »

Its strange that the debug.log.prev was so large, that usually means the UMS is in trace mode so the file will be a lot larger, but for some reason it switched back to INFO mode when you created the logs. maybe there is a bug that switches to the wrong mode when creating logs as I have seen this before recently.

I think the issue you are having saving the logs was that the directorys you were trying need admin access so are normally not allowed. the default place to save is on the desktop so it can easily be found. (one small caveat is if your desktop is on another drive it will be saved to the one on C drive instead)

If you try again with logs and they are too large to post on the forum you can use a site like Mega upload and post the link.

But I think I can see the problem, you have the config set so that most of your files are being transcoded instead of just streaming if they are supported by your renderer.
In the Transcoding Settings tab, clear the box that says "Force transcoding for the following extensions". It is currently set to "mkv, mp4, avi" which will most likely be supported by your renderers and can just be streamed instead.

In theory those should play fine with transcoding but there could be other issues that cause the stuttering like network speed, but would need to see trace logs to be sure.

@Nadahar could it be due to the length of the file path?

Code: Select all

 E:\CSI.Crime.Scene.Investigation.S03.720p.AMZN.WEBRip.DDP5.1.x264-NTb[rartv]\CSI.Crime.Scene.Investigation.S03.720p.AMZN.WEBRip.DDP5.1.x264-NTb[rartv]\CSI.Crime.Scene.Investigation.S03E02.The.Accused.Is.Entitled.720p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.x264-NTb.mkv
or maybe something wrong with that file

Code: Select all

[matroska,webm @ 000001fee108da40] Format matroska,webm detected only with low score of 1, misdetection possible!
[matroska,webm @ 000001fee108da40] 0x00 at pos 0 (0x0) invalid as first byte of an EBML number
[matroska,webm @ 000001fee108da40] EBML header parsing failed
E:\CSI.Crime.Scene.Investigation.S03.720p.AMZN.WEBRip.DDP5.1.x264-NTb[rartv]\CSI.Crime.Scene.Investigation.S03.720p.AMZN.WEBRip.DDP5.1.x264-NTb[rartv]\CSI.Crime.Scene.Investigation.S03E02.The.Accused.Is.Entitled.720p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.x264-NTb.mkv: Invalid data found when processing inputt
Logs are important for us to help, Please follow This Link before asking for support. Just a forum cleaner, Will help if I can but no expert.
Startropic1
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu Jul 25, 2013 5:29 am

Re: UMS 10.6-10.8.2 Suuuuuuuuuuper Unstable

Post by Startropic1 »

mik_s wrote: Fri Aug 06, 2021 6:26 am Its strange that the debug.log.prev was so large, that usually means the UMS is in trace mode so the file will be a lot larger, but for some reason it switched back to INFO mode when you created the logs. maybe there is a bug that switches to the wrong mode when creating logs as I have seen this before recently.

I think the issue you are having saving the logs was that the directorys you were trying need admin access so are normally not allowed. the default place to save is on the desktop so it can easily be found. (one small caveat is if your desktop is on another drive it will be saved to the one on C drive instead)

If you try again with logs and they are too large to post on the forum you can use a site like Mega upload and post the link.

But I think I can see the problem, you have the config set so that most of your files are being transcoded instead of just streaming if they are supported by your renderer.
In the Transcoding Settings tab, clear the box that says "Force transcoding for the following extensions". It is currently set to "mkv, mp4, avi" which will most likely be supported by your renderers and can just be streamed instead.

In theory those should play fine with transcoding but there could be other issues that cause the stuttering like network speed, but would need to see trace logs to be sure.
I'm streaming to PS4 which has narrow codec support. PS4 does not support x265 or the new high end audio codecs that show up with x265. So I do have to transcode a lot of newer stuff. I often go back and forth between common formats being forced to transcode or forced to skip transcoding.

I will make another attempt to save more logs later and post them here.
User avatar
mik_s
Moderator
Posts: 1115
Joined: Wed Aug 23, 2017 11:03 pm
Location: UK

Re: UMS 10.6-10.8.2 Suuuuuuuuuuper Unstable

Post by mik_s »

True that the PS4 does not support h265 but UMS knows that because of the conf for the ps4, and will automatically transcode anything not supported. Having it set to force transcode those files skips the automatic detection for all devices. If you need to force transcode of a file it is better to use the #--TRANSCODE--#, if you do not see it you can enable it in the Navigation settings tab.
Logs are important for us to help, Please follow This Link before asking for support. Just a forum cleaner, Will help if I can but no expert.
Nadahar
Posts: 1990
Joined: Tue Jun 09, 2015 5:57 pm

Re: UMS 10.6-10.8.2 Suuuuuuuuuuper Unstable

Post by Nadahar »

@mik_s There's not really much point in trying to speculate as to what causes the index out of bounds exception, I don't know what triggers this. What I do know is that this is a kind of error that can only be caused by flawed logic, logic that is sound will never try to access an index that doesn't exist. So, it's clearly a bug, regardless of what characteristic of the media file that triggers it.
Startropic1
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu Jul 25, 2013 5:29 am

Re: UMS 10.6-10.8.2 Suuuuuuuuuuper Unstable

Post by Startropic1 »

I'm attaching a new set of logs, there is another massive debug.log.prev (1.1GB in size) which I skipped and oddly ps4.conf was not an option to include in the zip. At least this time the logs are trace mode. There were still crashes in between so again there might still be something missing. If these logs are insufficient I will add the debug.log.prev somehow later.
mik_s wrote: Fri Aug 06, 2021 6:38 am True that the PS4 does not support h265 but UMS knows that because of the conf for the ps4, and will automatically transcode anything not supported. Having it set to force transcode those files skips the automatic detection for all devices. If you need to force transcode of a file it is better to use the #--TRANSCODE--#, if you do not see it you can enable it in the Navigation settings tab.
I have had some issues with the auto-transcode system you mentioned. It possibly doesn't help that I also have it set to skip transcode for certain formats. (This is not currently set though.) I'll give things a try with both of these fields cleared. It has certainly been a while (and many versions of UMS) since I last tried things with both fields empty.
Attachments
ums_dbg_2021-08-06-00-07.rar
(734.52 KiB) Downloaded 167 times
User avatar
SubJunk
Lead Developer
Posts: 3705
Joined: Sun May 27, 2012 4:12 pm

Re: UMS 10.6-10.8.2 Suuuuuuuuuuper Unstable

Post by SubJunk »

Thanks for the logs Startropic. You have identified 10.6 as when the problems started, which is a really important clue so I want to make sure that's correct. Can you please confirm it by installing 10.5 again and verifying that these problems do not happen with that version?
If we can identify the version it will really help our chances of fixing this
User avatar
mik_s
Moderator
Posts: 1115
Joined: Wed Aug 23, 2017 11:03 pm
Location: UK

Re: UMS 10.6-10.8.2 Suuuuuuuuuuper Unstable

Post by mik_s »

So the reason for the large file size of the logs is because UMS is scanning your media library and building a database, this should only happen once when you first start UMS and can take a while depending on the size of your library. You have the "scan shared folders on startup" option enabled so this is happening every time UMS is restarted which is unnecessary. I would recommend that you disable that option (in shared content tab) as the directory is also monitored to look for new files if you add any.

I can still see that file detection is still disabled as it is forced by your configuration eg.

Code: Select all

Final verdict: "Cyborg.009.2001.S01E40.480i.Bluray.REMUX.AVC.DD.5.1-cyb0rg.mkv" will be streamed since it is forced by configuration
Strange that it is now saying it is forced streaming instead of forced transcoding, your settings still "Force transcoding for the following extensions" is set to mkv, mp4, avi
It is possible the changed settings were not included in the logs though. check that the option "Skip transcoding for the following extensions" is also blank so that automatic detection can work for those files.

The issues you may have had with automatic detection will have been due to the wrong conf being used for your renderer but it is fairly easy to make or update one to have all supported formats for it. Disabling that detection affects all devices on your network, not just the one you have issues with.

The ps4.conf was not included as it was not detected by UMS at the time, maybe it was off or sometimes it can be slow to announce its presence on the network.

Try clearing the skip and force options and disable file scanning and see if things run any better for you, if you are still seeing crashes then this will help narrow thing down a bit.

I also see that there is no network speed tests are being done, which is used to give the best quality available allowed by your network speed. It could be that part of network is too slow and cannot handle the amount of data when transcoding in high quality which could cause stuttering/crashes. I see that the option "automatic_maximum_bitrate =false" is set in your UMS.conf which disables this test, I don't think there is an option in the GUI for that so you will have to edit the file manually.
Make sure UMS is not running then edit "C:\ProgramData\UMS\UMS.conf"
search for "automatic_maximum_bitrate =" and delete false
while you are there you could double check the options are blank for

Code: Select all

disable_transcode_for_extensions =
force_transcode_for_extensions =
save and restart UMS.
Logs are important for us to help, Please follow This Link before asking for support. Just a forum cleaner, Will help if I can but no expert.
Startropic1
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu Jul 25, 2013 5:29 am

Re: UMS 10.6-10.8.2 Suuuuuuuuuuper Unstable

Post by Startropic1 »

SubJunk wrote: Fri Aug 06, 2021 4:54 pm Thanks for the logs Startropic. You have identified 10.6 as when the problems started, which is a really important clue so I want to make sure that's correct. Can you please confirm it by installing 10.5 again and verifying that these problems do not happen with that version?
If we can identify the version it will really help our chances of fixing this
I double-checked which versions I have downloaded, and it does appear the one I had before 1.6.0 was indeed 1.5.0. I'll try to reinstall that.

I can report that things run a little better with both the "force transcode" and "skip transcode" fields left empty. However, UMS continues to crash and there are still some streaming hiccups, (much better but not completely solved.)

I am using wifi, but my streaming devices are not that far from the router/my computers, and my computers are connected to the router via ethernet. Wifi is only used by my streaming devices, (PS4.)

I suspect there may be a memory leak, (I've noticed the java runtime hitting a good 2GB of RAM usage in task manager), but I need to see more data from my UMS usage to confirm this.

Edit: Also, I did fail to mention before that I am a programmer myself, so I can dig a little deeper myself if necessary.
Post Reply