multimedia issues with lot of BH images

[legau]

Hello all,
First, i would like to thank you for the great work, i follow and use BH since my first VU.

Here is my setup : VU DUO2 connected to gigabit lan (fixed ip) and Synology NAS 1515+ (fixed ip).
I have a share on the synology for movies and for recording path.
I use EMC from the BH addons.

Here is the situation : I have more and more issues with compatibility of media files => subtitles not showing (when integrated in mkv), sound not playing (forced to switch audio stream), black screen, no audio at all, ...
I try to use always the same codec (x264) but i have more and more difficulties to play media files.
Of course I tried several different versions of BH = 2.X and 3.X. Now running the latest release (3.0.3D)

I also noticed problems when recording or pausing (lags / cuts / no sound).

Transcoding is not working well so i gave up.

Would it be related to network?

Is there anyone having same kind of problems with similar configuration ?

Do you have any idea on what could be wrong ?
Is it the image ? Is it the network performance of the DUO2 ?

would it be better to use OpenBH for multimedia use?

please don't hesitate to comment and give suggestion.

Thanks.

 

[AlexWilMac]

The simplest try you can do if you suspect it's a network issue is copying a file (among the ones with problems) to your internal HDD or to a USB device and see if something changes.
Then you can play the file by VLC (although this is a completely different matter: a STB is not a computer).

 

[legau]

Thanks for the answer but i'm afraid it won't tell us anything because it's totally random or case specific : indeed, it is not always the same behaviour.
For example, when recording on a specific channel, it is sometimes working perfectly, sometimes not. On other channel, it is working 100% of the time.

For the media files, some are working perfectly without any issue, other are not playing correctly, lagging, not showing subtitles etc.

For the recording issue, I suspect an unstability in the network stack because it is always involving network when recording in my case (and sometimes, it is not working at all and after a reboot, it works again perfectly).

For the media file support, I suspect a driver issue (anything involving codecs).

Please let me know if I can test something or enable logging on some parts to troubleshoot, i'm open to suggestion and tests.

thanks for the help

 

[AlexWilMac]

In this case, it would be even more important, to isolate if it depends on network or not, to change the recording path to the internal HDD. After all, a NAS is intended to share other kind of files. Recordings can be share all the same, directly from the internal HDD. But if you don't do that there would be too many parts involved in the issue because a network involves the mainly the router, but also cables, wifi (in case) or switches.
If the problems randomly occurs to the same file, it very likely it is the network. Only recording to an internal HDD would give you an answer.
I repeat: why using NAS for normal recordings? If they are important you can copy them there afterwards. If they are not, the internal HDD is the perfect place.

 

[legau]

Well, I really don't want to use internal HD, that's the purpose of my NAS.
I'll explain the reason : Everything is related to network in my house => i work as a network engineer so I configured a Cisco catalyst 1Gb switch with LACP (link aggregation) for some of the gigabit interfaces of the Synology, I configured QoS for specific applications and I monitor throughput via nagios/cacti, so I can guarantee i know what's happening in my network and he is not the culprit.

Again, I've chosen the DUO2 because of his gigabit interface and because I wanted an all-in-one box (multimedia + TV).

I use the synology as my main storage device for the entire peripherals in my house, why would (should) it be different for the VU ?
(and btw i use a dedicated connection for the STB's so the other peripherals don't interferes - and it is monitored, not a factor I assure you, the bandwidth is WAY overkill).

To answer your last question :
- because HDD's are noisy, they heat up everything, they create small vibrations, they are not reliable.

I tested the bandwidth btw the DUO 2 and the synology and performance is honorable but my suspicions are the following :
Either :
- the network stack is not stable (for several reasons, might be a driver/core issue??)
or
- some channels use specific audio / video stream that might freeze/bug/lag when using network (like a small timeout before starting the recording)

Finally, I'm looking for a solution as much as possible (not especially a workaround). I hope you understand my position and I would be glad to help if someone needs to troubleshoot the network part.

Of course I take your suggestion as a test to eliminate other factors and it is really appreciated but I'm 100% sure that it will work perfectly with the internal HD. ;-)

 

[AlexWilMac]

Yes, I also use both the HDD and a NAS. In my experience (also as an old IT guy) a good HDD is not so noisy. But, as they are so cheap nowadays, my suggestion was just to test this issue and be 100% sure.
After all, an internal HDD can be removed in 5 minutes.
In Duo2 I had (and my dad uses now) a WD Purple or a WD Green. The purple could be heard only at start. The green is very silent. But for a couple of weeks whatever HDD is suitable.
Otherwise, you have to go deep into this issue with every devices involved in the network.
Instead, I don't think is a driver problem. If it's not some bottleneck in your LAN or a faulty device, it looks more likely to be a protocol issue.
Did you have this problem since the beginning or is it something occurred lately?

 

[legau]

Well, I had less problem with earliest releases of BH. I could not tell exactly which release of course. The only thing i can tell is that on 2.1.7, i already had the recording issue.

When you say protocol, do you think to NFS / SMB ?

Is that makes senses to think that both problems (media decoding and recording) could be related ?

 

[AlexWilMac]

Well, I had less problem with earliest releases of BH. I could not tell exactly which release of course. The only thing i can tell is that on 2.1.7, i already had the recording issue.

When you say protocol, do you think to NFS / SMB ?

Yes and no: but I was speaking in general, as a NAS -as you perfectly know- is not as simple as a USB or eSata connected device. I'm not so expert about NAS but in my WD I enabled every protocol.
And also the images involved play their role.
Maybe was my fault but BH works with my NAS only through NFS mounts whilst OBH wants CIFS...



Is that makes senses to think that both problems (media decoding and recording) could be related ?

Actually, if I should bet on something, the decoding issue I don't see how can be related to the use of NAS. But you should be sure it's a decoding problem and not something else.
The recording issue appear much more likely connected to it. I gave up using NAS for recordings because they were almost perfect but, sometimes, some little defects occurred.
So, I thought it was not worth having defects for something usually temporary. When I want to save a recording, I can easily copy it from HDD to NAS afterwards by EMC, for instance (usually compressed).