I've had my server running for over a year and it's been fantastic until last week. Suddenly, I'm having a lot of issues playing certain titles on certain devices, but none of it really makes sense to me. Here's what I know: I have two Roku TVs in separate rooms. Both are nearly identical models (and support the same codecs). One is directly connected to the server and the other uses a power line adapter or WiFi. The direct connection does not stutter when playing anything so far. The other tv is nearly unplayable with stuttering. My first thought was a network issue, but other apps (Netflix, etc) play just fine. I then thought it was transcoding ( I use QSV), but it doesn't make sense that the DC tv doesn't have the same issue. Other devices which connect over WiFi also have the same issue. Is there some way to tell through the logs if jellyfin is actively transcoding or failing to serve media in real-time? Or any other steps I could take to troubleshoot the root cause of my issues. Thanks in advance!

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

The OTHER thing that could cause stuttering is if it needs to be transcoding and that transcode is happening slower than realtime (unlikely to be happening here).

You'd look in the logs for a transcode log for this sort of thing:

frame=  408 fps= 82 q=37.0 size=N/A time=00:00:15.51 bitrate=N/A speed= 3.1x  
[hls @ 0x5c9ae0dde940] Opening '/config/transcoding-temp/transcodes/2d181c04b2b6d7ab2bdc2405c6ae5c875.mp4' for writing  
[hls @ 0x5c9ae0dde940] Opening '/config/transcoding-temp/transcodes/2d181c04b2b6d7ab2bdc2405c6ae5c876.mp4' for writing  
[hls @ 0x5c9ae0dde940] Opening '/config/transcoding-temp/transcodes/2d181c04b2b6d7ab2bdc2405c6ae5c877.mp4' for writing  
[hls @ 0x5c9ae0dde940] Opening '/config/transcoding-temp/transcodes/2d181c04b2b6d7ab2bdc2405c6ae5c878.mp4' for writing  
[hls @ 0x5c9ae0dde940] Opening '/config/transcoding-temp/transcodes/2d181c04b2b6d7ab2bdc2405c6ae5c879.mp4' for writing  
[hls @ 0x5c9ae0dde940] Opening '/config/transcoding-temp/transcodes/2d181c04b2b6d7ab2bdc2405c6ae5c8710.mp4' for writing  
frame=  796 fps=145 q=30.0 size=N/A time=00:00:31.65 bitrate=N/A speed=5.75x  
[hls @ 0x5c9ae0dde940] Opening '/config/transcoding-temp/transcodes/2d181c04b2b6d7ab2bdc2405c6ae5c8711.mp4' for writing  
[hls @ 0x5c9ae0dde940] Opening '/config/transcoding-temp/transcodes/2d181c04b2b6d7ab2bdc2405c6ae5c8712.mp4' for writing  
[hls @ 0x5c9ae0dde940] Opening '/config/transcoding-temp/transcodes/2d181c04b2b6d7ab2bdc2405c6ae5c8713.mp4' for writing  
[hls @ 0x5c9ae0dde940] Opening '/config/transcoding-temp/transcodes/2d181c04b2b6d7ab2bdc2405c6ae5c8714.mp4' for writing  
[hls @ 0x5c9ae0dde940] Opening '/config/transcoding-temp/transcodes/2d181c04b2b6d7ab2bdc2405c6ae5c8715.mp4' for writing  
frame= 1189 fps=198 q=20.0 size=N/A time=00:00:48.04 bitrate=N/A speed=8.01x

if the speed drops below 1.0x, you'll stutter.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

This should be in the stuttering faq in the doc 😁

Also if your CPU maxes out, a GPU would do a better job

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 hours ago

I've never used a Roku--can you install a speed test app or access a website to verify your network connection is solid?

The one and only time I've experienced stuttering from my media server, I eventually found that my chromecast had roamed to a different access point with low signal for some reason. There is a handy android app to get your chromecast to run and display a speed test, which is what clued me in.

Uncompressed bluray streams use a surprising amount of bandwidth, let alone 4k bluray! Especially compared.to Netflix, Hulu, etc.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 hours ago

If you're watching high quality video like blu-ray remuxes, that's a much higher bitrate than stuff like Netflix. Netflix will also automatically adjust the quality of the stream, whereas Jellyfin will default to max quality.

The first thing I'd try is this:

You could set the max bitrate to a lower level on the Roku that's lagging, maybe 15 Mbps (generally the highest bitrate used by Netflix)