Cannot stream ver. 1.9.7.0

[Thomas]

Hi,

 

I recently updated to RS to 1.9.7.0 and now I can't stream over the internet. Flowplayer starts, but it just shows the circle going round all the time, no picture or audio is coming. I've also tried the old streaming way but no luck there either. Maybe something is changed in the new version? Please help.

[Thomas]

I just tried an older version of ffmpeg and this seams to have solved some of the problem. Stream starts but stops around 30 sec after, Maybe it's because of my connection where I am now.

[renzz]

I'm getting this too. 35-40 seconds of perfect video/audio then it just freezes. I've tried changing FFMPEG on the host from 64 to 32 bit, and going to older versions but it's still the same.

 

Resource monitor on the client shows it still receiving data at a healthy rate, and ffmpeg on the host is still active. Odd thing is, it only happens streaming over the Internet - local streaming seems to work. I'm fairly certain it's not speed related, as, even with a low bitrate which is well within the capabilities of both my internet connections, it still happens. It's also consistent - always after 35-40 seconds of playing. Even if you jump forward, it will then only play for 35-40 seconds.

[Thomas]

I'm getting this too. 35-40 seconds of perfect video/audio then it just freezes. I've tried changing FFMPEG on the host from 64 to 32 bit, and going to older versions but it's still the same.

 

Resource monitor on the client shows it still receiving data at a healthy rate, and ffmpeg on the host is still active. Odd thing is, it only happens streaming over the Internet - local streaming seems to work. I'm fairly certain it's not speed related, as, even with a low bitrate which is well within the capabilities of both my internet connections, it still happens. It's also consistent - always after 35-40 seconds of playing. Even if you jump forward, it will then only play for 35-40 seconds.

 

Hope the developers will look into it immediately.

Edited May 27, 2012 by Thomas

[ddichiera]

I had the same problem, see my post here: Recording Service 1.9.7.0 UPnP tab .

 

I cured it by downloading the latest version of ffmpeg from here ffmpeg.zeranoe.com/builds, unzipping and dropping the ffmpeg.exe into the DVBV folder (C:\Program Files (x86)\DVBViewer)

[Thomas]

I had the same problem, see my post here: Recording Service 1.9.7.0 UPnP tab .

 

I cured it by downloading the latest version of ffmpeg from here ffmpeg.zeranoe.com/builds, unzipping and dropping the ffmpeg.exe into the DVBV folder (C:\Program Files (x86)\DVBViewer)

 

Did you use the 32 or 64 bit? My windows is win 7 x64, so for me it makes sence that I should use the 64 bit. But since DVBViewer is only for 32 bit maybe I need the ffmpeg for 32 bit insted?

Edited May 29, 2012 by Thomas

[ddichiera]

Did you use the 32 or 64 bit? My windows is win 7 x64, so for me it makes sence that I should use the 64 bit. But since DVBViewer is only for 32 bit maybe I need the ffmpeg for 32 bit insted?

 

Like you I have Win7 x64, so I used the 64 bit version and it works fine.It seems that ffmpeg runs as a separate app to DVBV, so you don't need to run it as 32 bit.

[renzz]

I've tried numerous versions of FFMPEG - the current, a few previous, even back to a version from last December, both 32 and 64 bit, but I still have the same issue of Flowplayer freezing after 30-40 seconds.

 

I'm wondering if it's an issue with Flowplayer, or the way the stream is encoded (maybe the parameters to FFMPEG?).

[frankyshiu]

different from me, i works fine on flow player (web) but not happy with my iPad, it can't streaming more than 30 mins. i tried diff. ffmpeg too.... no one can help me.....nightmare

[ddichiera]

To be honest, I've only been testing as I don't yet have high speed broadband, but I'm streaming over my LAN at the moment and so far it has been going for 15 mins with SD/MPEG2 material.

 

Now changing to HD/H264/AC3 material (BBC HD) it's still playing after 20 mins except that it stopped for about 10 seconds as it went from interstitial to programme where there is an audio bitrate and channel change from 384K/5.1 to 192K/2.0

 

BTW, I'm using the Medium preset and I can see via remote desktop that the server's E6750 processor is running at 50-60 % with memory usage at 2.04 GB although FFMPEG is reporting only 134MB for itself. Might you be running out of resources?

 

Also is your ISP blocking video streaming

[renzz]

Ah, but that's the point. I can stream perfectly over my local LAN, using the same client PC. As soon as I use that PC connected to my second ADSL line, I get these freezes. The more I think about it, the more I think it's a problem with Flowplayer (or the way it's configured). It could be latency that is causing this, and Flowplayer can't handle it. I don't know if anything is configurable with it to increase buffer size, or anything like that which may help. I think this is backed up by the fact that FFMPEG continues to send obliviously as the log shows no interruption or anything at the point of the freeze until I close the window on the client PC.

 

As a matter of interest, is anyone on this thread streaming over the Internet and not just locally?

 

FYI, it's not a resource issue on my system. Apart from the fact it works locally, the host PC uses <5% CPU for ffmpeg when streaming SD/MPEG2 and that task uses around 35MB of RAM. This is a quad-core I7 with 12GB of RAM.

 

My ISP has no limitations on streaming (Youtube etc works fine).

Edited May 30, 2012 by renzz

[Thomas]

Yes I'm streaming over the internet, I'm currently on Malta and my server is in Denmark.

 

With SD material I can stream for about 5 minutes, but HD freezes after 30 - 40 seconds.

[Thomas]

Maybe I have found a solution. I have trouble testing it properly, since there are many on the same connection, but here it goes.

 

I found this thread in the german forum. My link and there tjod suggested that you delete the ffmpegprefs.ini and iphoneprefs.ini file ind the data folder with all DVBViewer services stoped. So here is what I did.

 

Removed ffmpeg from DVBViewer folder, stopped all DVBViewer services in taskmanager, deleted ffmpegprefs.ini and iphoneprefs.ini in the data folder, put the newest ffmpeg in the DVBViewer folder restarted and now I can stream for a lot longer time. It still stops sometimes but I don't know if it's a connection problem or the old problem still persists.

 

Please post your results if you try this.

[bogdan1980]

To stream more than few minutes, use ULTRA FAST setting in encoding.

[Thomas]

To stream more than few minutes, use ULTRA FAST setting in encoding.

 

But it should work on fast too, if your server has enough power??

[ddichiera]

Today I tried streaming from outside my lan and I was able to stream an hour long SD program and an hour long HD program separately from beginning to end. (my previous post refereed to streaming from withing the lan)

[Lars_MQ]

well sounds like a network related problem in your LAN / Client setup...

[ddichiera]

well sounds like a network related problem in your LAN / Client setup...

Not sure who you're replying to Lars, but if it's me, I said it did work.

 

For the benefit of everyone reading this thread, I'm making the point that it worked for me from outside my lan, but my previous post was for a test from within my lan. Other users are experiencing problems when streaming from outside their lan.

[renzz]

So despite trying everything I can think of, even changing various params to FFMPEG, using different browsers and different PCs, I still cannot get streaming over the Internet to work reliably. I am fairly sure it's in some way bandwidth related, as it will hang more quickly if I use a higher bandwidth setting than a lower one, but even on the lower settings such as Medium 1280, it will freeze eventually (and this speed is well within my 8Mb up/download capabilities).

 

However, I think the problem lies with Flowplayer and how it handles latency or anything else affecting the stream over the Internet, so it would be good to be able to rule it out by using a different Flash-based player. Lars, how difficult would it be to offer a choice of players? Could you implement the use of JW Player, for example (http://www.longtailvideo.com/players/), which appears to be free for non-commercial use?

 

The ability to stream like this is such a good feature - if only I could get it working reliably

[renzz]

So, I've made a bit of progress on this.

 

All my testing had been done using Chrome. Thinking it might be this browser causing the issue, I tried it with IE, but was still getting the same problem. Still convinced this is a Flowplayer problem, I saw in the documentation that you can do debug logging to 'Firebug', a debug environment for Firefox. So, I downloaded Firefox, gave it a try to see if it had the same issue - and it didn't! It streamed continuously, without faltering or hanging, even HD stuff at the full 5Mb setting over the Internet.

 

Fantastic I thought - but now another problem. If you try and jump to a different time in the playback window, it jumps to the target time and then immediately starts stuttering and is unwatchable. If you stop it and close the window, then restart it from the beginning again, it still immediately stutters. I have found (for the most part) you have to close Firefox completely and then it will work flawlessly again (until you try and jump).

 

So I ran it with debugging enabled and in Firebug after I do a jump to a different start time, I can see Flowplayer continually logging Onbufferempty() and Onbufferfull() events. It looks to me like Flowplayer is screwing up it's buffer in some way (and must be caching stuff for me to have to completely close Firefox to fix it). I've tried changing the bufferlength setting to Flowplayer, and using autoBuffer, but nothing fixes it. I've looked at ways of trying to force the .swf to reload every time, but can't get that to work either.

 

So, it sort of works if you don't want to jump through your file. This also looks like a Flowplayer issue, so I repeat my request above - could we please have a version that uses JW Player to try??

[DisTreSs]

Sorry to bring up this old thread, but I'm experiencing similar issues as renzz. I'm still on RS 1.26 and have no problem streaming locally, but when I move outside of my LAN, even with good connections, I have my streams freeze up on me after 10 or so seconds.

Currently I've tried this on a Mac with Chrome, Safari and Firefox and an Android tablet and phone.

No idea why this is happening and would like to check whether other users also still have this kind of issue.

 

Thx

[Zerubbabel]

Hi. Id like to up this thread a little also.

 

I have the same problem. I cant stream over the internet. I can stream 10 sec. And that is bougth on my iphone, ipad, and mac, using safari..

 

Any new suggestions, i just updated everything to newest version, |DVBViewer, recording service and ffmpeg|

 

Thx

[MarkusK]

Try my webapp in the members area and "play" with the buffer in streaming settings window. Then it works

[beach]

Try my webapp in the members area and "play" with the buffer in streaming settings window. Then it works

Hello,

which streaming settings window are you reffering to?

My problem is that streaming on my home lan is working 100% using your webapp and transcoded ffmpeg streaming, but over the internet the max data rate which can be achieved is around 2 mbits, so the 1.5 mbits ffmpeg preset works fine but the 2 mbits preset doesnt and ends up in heavy stuttering. My upload bandwidth is 5 mbits and no matter how I test it on the Recording Service machine I always reach these 5 mbits (speedtests, file transfers etc.). I am still in the process of testing, but so far my results are:

Streaming to webapp on Android - 2 mbits max - tested on a Galaxy S2 + two different S3, and a Nexus 7 (2012) using MXplayer, BSplayer, Vplayer, VLC, Dice Player. All other speedtests on these devices give me roughly 20 mbits.

Streaming to browser with flow player on an old Windows XP Laptop - 5 mbits max - the way it should be.

I have tried to eliminate all the known bottlenecks on the Recording Service side, like turning off Antivirus and Firewall, tried 2 different routers, various ffmpeg builds.

And now I am running out of ideas...

[beach]

Wow, I completely screwed up by mixing up MarkusK with VinoRosso and his Android webapp - sry.

So my prevoius post is at the very wrong place :-)