Universal Media Server | Forum

Referencing: viewtopic.php?t=13415

I had been using UMS for the past 3 years with pretty much ZERO issues. Was on build 13.8.0 for past several months
I have UMS running on a PC (win10) and my renderer is a 2019 LG C9 TV (with latest firmware) using the built in video/media player.

A few days ago, I noticed a few things, just out of the blue:
- All videos were buffering like hell, even smaller ones. I can now barely get anything to play.
- File sizes are GONE from 99% of the video files. Just the "-" like Seleic mentioned in the above referenced thread. So no more fast forward or rewind. This was a red flag.
- Tried restarting UMS and rebooted PC, changed USB ports for my media drive (I am using USB2 with no issues again), rebooting router, etc. Nothing helped
- I deleted the entire <UMS profile folder>/database folder and then rescanned the directory. This did not bring back the file sizes.
- Updated to 13.9.0, did not help.

Some points:
- I specifically use video files where I KNOW that the file sizes are shown on my specific LG TV renderer. I very selectively only keep files in my directory that have always shown the sizes on my renderer.
-- Every single one of my videos used to have file sizes shown, and I was able to fast forward and rewind, again ALL files HAD the sizes shown, now only like 1% of the files show the size.
- I use a specific .conf file that was optimized for my LG TV, obtained from this forum years ago, and again I have had no issues with it.
- My videos are all < 20GB each, I'd say average size is about 8GB, a mix of HEVC and H.264. Some videos are just a few hundred megabytes, but again the LG TV does not see the file sizes anymore.

I am so confused here, what has broken in the last few days for me? Why did the file sizes ALL disappear (which lost my ability to seek and cause huge buffering issues)?

I'm new to troubleshooting UMS, but can provide any logs requested. Really hope this can be resolved and I welcome any help...

It sounds like maybe your video files were previously streaming and now transcoding.
To test go into the transcoding folder for the videos in UMS and choose "No Transcoding" and check if the vidoes can be played.

ok, so had to first enable the "Show the "#-TRANSCODE-#" folder" under Navigation Settings. Done

Results:
1. I tried to play a few video files that were marked "no transcoding"
2. Most files started to play, but buffering was absolutely horrendous.

conclusion is that the user experience was very very bad. videos just keep buffering then playing, then buffering again.

I am so confused how UMS got to this state when absolutely nothing has changed from my side as far as h/w or s/w.

The fact that the rendered on the TV now is forcing transcode (rather than streaming) is very perplexing and worrisome.

Can you post the renderer configuration file.
Likely: LG-WebOS.conf

Also you need to attach your log file:
Like this: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=556
After putting UMS into trace mode, play one of the files giving problems and then post the logs.
Take UMS out of trace mode afterwards.

Sounds like something is wrong with your network and its speed has significantly dropped.
This is the only thing I can think of they would make UMS suddenly transcode videos that would previously stream.

Only way to be sure is if you post your logs. See the section in red above.

How is your network configured? Are you connecting using wired or wireless?

Thanks for the reply Boss and mik_s. I will absolutely post the .conf file and logs shortly (tomorrow), and will capture the traces while the TV is choking on a video file.

As for my network setup it is all 100% wired GigE. The media files are on a USB2.0 drive. I had some disconnects when running the drive on 3.0 ports early on, so gave up on that a long time ago. The USB2 bandwidth has been good enough, and my user experience for all my video files (big and small) was flawless for the past several years.

Thanks again, and looking forward to more investigation after I provide the logs and .conf file...

I would think your USB2 drive is fast enough.
A USB2 drive can do 480Mbps and your TV can only do 100Mpbs.
If... The USB2 drive is operating OK.
Maybe you can do a speed test on your USB2 drive.

Yes Boss, I will run the crystaldrivemark tool on the networked USB2 drive and post the results.

My TV is plugged into an AP right next to it which then goes to a switch. Switch goes to my master router where the PC running UMS is located. Again everything is GigE. My Cat5 cable runs are a bit long but am still well within the 100 meter spec.

For some reason the forum held that post for approval. It should only do that for suspected spam.

Only way I can be of any help is if I can see your logs to see if and why it is transcoding.

One thing you have said that also makes me suspect a network problem is that the videos buffer even when playing with the no transcoding option as all UMS is doing is streaming the video unaltered.

Has anything on your network changed? anything had an update?