Android MiniClient Placeshifting Skipping Issue

[KarylFStein]

I've been having trouble with skipping when remote viewing for a while and over several releases of the Android mini client (AMC). I sometimes revert to Placeshifter on a laptop, but it has its own issues which I have been told are probably due to the FFmpeg version it uses, so I've pretty much given up on reporting those.

Lately my travel schedule has really "taken off" and catching up on TV remotely is becoming more the norm than the exception. I mean, the AMC works and is good quality even overseas, but skipping (e.g. commercials) is hit or miss. (Placeshifter on the laptop is sometimes better and other times worthless.)

I have not been able to find a common thread to files having issues on the AMC such as type (i.e. CableCard MPEG2-TS and OTA MPEG2-PS) or resolution (e.g. 720p and 1080i) or channel. And even in the same playback session it may skip fine in some places but not others, (and there is no common thread that I can see there either--sometimes it doesn't work for the whole file while other times it may work at the beginning then stop working mid-way, or not work at first then start working near the latter bit, etc.)

There have been some cases (rare though) where the AMC did a FC and I ended up just streaming the show from a web site because I couldn't skip or resume to where I was.

Anyway, if there are some things I could provide to help debug, please let me know.

EDIT: I do not recall any recent issues with skipping using the AMC when on the LAN.

[KarylFStein]

Last night I watched two episodes of a show, (same channel and resolution, but recorded a week apart). The first skipped fine for the first two commercial breaks then did not skip after that. The other skipped fine for the whole file.

Any ideas on debugging??

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by KarylFStein

Last night I watched two episodes of a show, (same channel and resolution, but recorded a week apart). The first skipped fine for the first two commercial breaks then did not skip after that. The other skipped fine for the whole file.

Any ideas on debugging??

NOt really any good way to debug this. What is your device, player being used, etc?

[KarylFStein]

Galaxy Tab S 10.5, 2015 version I think, IJKPlayer. The files last night were CableCard captures MPEG2-TS, 720p. I'll try to take some better notes on things.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by KarylFStein

Galaxy Tab S 10.5, 2015 version I think, IJKPlayer. The files last night were CableCard captures MPEG2-TS, 720p. I'll try to take some better notes on things.

To be honest, I've never used the remote placeshifter to view anything, and other than logging in, I've never used video playback. I do know that sagetv has to transcode on the fly when you use the placeshifter, and that means when you skip, it has to tear down and re-create the transcoder at a new location. have you checked the server logs to see what is happening. From the AMC point view, it's just another stream, just watching tv on the LAN.

[KarylFStein]

I don't see anything obvious for errors, but this is something logged from a failed commercial skip:

Wed 11/16 22:27:01.758 [Pusher@bb813c] Client Buffer size=4145152 estimRateKbps=1518 avgRateKbps=1606 rateKbps=1517 estimStreamRateKbps=2129 avgStreamRateKbps=1624
Wed 11/16 22:27:01.761 [Pusher@bb813c] Adjusted bitrate UP to : 1560
Wed 11/16 22:27:02.806 [Pusher@bb813c] Client Buffer size=4112384 estimRateKbps=1518 avgRateKbps=1606 rateKbps=1560 estimStreamRateKbps=2129 avgStreamRateKbps=1624
Wed 11/16 22:27:02.810 [Pusher@bb813c] Adjusted bitrate DOWN to : 1555
Wed 11/16 22:27:03.817 [Pusher@bb813c] Client Buffer size=4161536 estimRateKbps=1718 avgRateKbps=1665 rateKbps=1555 estimStreamRateKbps=2129 avgStreamRateKbps=1624
Wed 11/16 22:27:03.821 [Pusher@bb813c] Adjusted bitrate UP to : 1621
Wed 11/16 22:27:04.408 [Pusher@bb813c] Client Buffer size=4145152 estimRateKbps=1751 avgRateKbps=1630 rateKbps=1621 estimStreamRateKbps=2129 avgStreamRateKbps=1624
Wed 11/16 22:27:04.411 [Pusher@bb813c] Adjusted bitrate DOWN to : 1576
Wed 11/16 22:27:07.008 [Pusher@bb813c] Client Buffer size=4112384 estimRateKbps=1874 avgRateKbps=1681 rateKbps=1576 estimStreamRateKbps=2129 avgStreamRateKbps=1624
Wed 11/16 22:27:07.011 [Pusher@bb813c] Adjusted bitrate UP to : 1637
Wed 11/16 22:27:08.210 [Pusher@bb813c] Client Buffer size=4145152 estimRateKbps=2130 avgRateKbps=1749 rateKbps=1637 estimStreamRateKbps=2129 avgStreamRateKbps=1624
Wed 11/16 22:27:08.214 [Pusher@bb813c] Adjusted bitrate UP to : 1705
Wed 11/16 22:27:09.480 [Pusher@bb813c] Client Buffer size=4145152 estimRateKbps=2480 avgRateKbps=1930 rateKbps=1705 estimStreamRateKbps=2129 avgStreamRateKbps=1624
Wed 11/16 22:27:09.483 [Pusher@bb813c] Adjusted bitrate UP to : 1791
Wed 11/16 22:27:11.185 [Pusher@bb813c] Client Buffer size=4145152 estimRateKbps=2395 avgRateKbps=1814 rateKbps=1791 estimStreamRateKbps=2129 avgStreamRateKbps=1624
Wed 11/16 22:27:11.189 [Pusher@bb813c] Adjusted bitrate DOWN to : 1761
Wed 11/16 22:27:13.434 [Pusher@bb813c] Client Buffer size=4145152 estimRateKbps=2265 avgRateKbps=1832 rateKbps=1761 estimStreamRateKbps=2129 avgStreamRateKbps=1624
Wed 11/16 22:27:13.438 [Pusher@bb813c] Adjusted bitrate UP to : 1784
Wed 11/16 22:27:15.819 [Pusher@bb813c] Client Buffer size=4145152 estimRateKbps=2025 avgRateKbps=1762 rateKbps=1784 estimStreamRateKbps=2129 avgStreamRateKbps=1624
Wed 11/16 22:27:15.822 [Pusher@bb813c] Adjusted bitrate DOWN to : 1705
Wed 11/16 22:27:17.745 [Pusher@bb813c] Client Buffer size=4112384 estimRateKbps=1993 avgRateKbps=1777 rateKbps=1705 estimStreamRateKbps=2129 avgStreamRateKbps=1624
Wed 11/16 22:27:17.748 [Pusher@bb813c] Adjusted bitrate UP to : 1729
Wed 11/16 22:27:19.009 [Pusher@bb813c] Client Buffer size=4112384 estimRateKbps=1977 avgRateKbps=1910 rateKbps=1729 estimStreamRateKbps=2129 avgStreamRateKbps=1624
Wed 11/16 22:27:19.012 [Pusher@bb813c] Adjusted bitrate UP to : 1791
Wed 11/16 22:27:20.177 [EventRouter-4b5258504f48@85bb04] processUserEvent-UserEvent[right] evtTime=Wed 11/16 22:27:22.312
Wed 11/16 22:27:20.180 [EventRouter-4b5258504f48@85bb04] VF.submitJob(VFJob[TimeSet r=0.0 t=1479004663524 file=null ifn=null])
Wed 11/16 22:27:20.183 [VideoFrame-4b5258504f48@1a6de69] VF processing job VFJob[TimeSet r=0.0 t=1479004663524 file=null ifn=null] nPlayin=true
Wed 11/16 22:27:20.186 [VideoFrame-4b5258504f48@1a6de69] VF processing on UI Thread VFJob[TimeSet r=0.0 t=1479004663524 file=null ifn=null]
Wed 11/16 22:27:20.189 [VideoFrame-4b5258504f48@1a6de69] VideoFrame.timeSelected(Sat 11/12 21:37:43.524, true) currFile=MediaFile[id=26171731 A[26069644,26069629,"Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency",64492@1112.21:00,60,T] mask=TV host=STEINSERVER encodedBy=DCT-Ceton InfiniTV PCIe (00-80-8b-81) Tuner 4 on 127.0.0.1:9000 BBCAHD format=MPEG2-TS 0:00:02 2884 kbps [#0 Video[MPEG2-Video 29.97003 fps 1920x1080 16:9 interlaced id=0100]#1 Audio[AC3 48000 Hz 6 channels 384 kbps MAIN idx=1 id=0101 eng]{ScrapedBy=Phoenix, IMDBID=tt5753470, MediaType=TV, ScrapedDate=1479006001442, MediaProviderDataID=312505, MediaTitle=Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, SeriesInfoID=2496947, SREv4_Monitored=false, MediaProviderID=tvdb}] \\STEINSERVER\Recorded TV\DirkGentlysHolisticDetectiveAgency-S01E04-26069644-0.ts, Seg0[Sat 11/12 21:00:00.014-Sat 11/12 22:00:00.020]]
Wed 11/16 22:27:20.192 [VideoFrame-4b5258504f48@1a6de69] VideoFrame.timeSelected2(Sat 11/12 21:37:43.524, true) currFile=MediaFile[id=26171731 A[26069644,26069629,"Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency",64492@1112.21:00,60,T] mask=TV host=STEINSERVER encodedBy=DCT-Ceton InfiniTV PCIe (00-80-8b-81) Tuner 4 on 127.0.0.1:9000 BBCAHD format=MPEG2-TS 0:00:02 2884 kbps [#0 Video[MPEG2-Video 29.97003 fps 1920x1080 16:9 interlaced id=0100]#1 Audio[AC3 48000 Hz 6 channels 384 kbps MAIN idx=1 id=0101 eng]{ScrapedBy=Phoenix, IMDBID=tt5753470, MediaType=TV, ScrapedDate=1479006001442, MediaProviderDataID=312505, MediaTitle=Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, SeriesInfoID=2496947, SREv4_Monitored=false, MediaProviderID=tvdb}] \\STEINSERVER\Recorded TV\DirkGentlysHolisticDetectiveAgency-S01E04-26069644-0.ts, Seg0[Sat 11/12 21:00:00.014-Sat 11/12 22:00:00.020]] realDur=0
Wed 11/16 22:27:20.433 [VideoFrame-4b5258504f48@1a6de69] seeking numpushbuffers=12698 seekTime=2263510
Wed 11/16 22:27:20.436 [VideoFrame-4b5258504f48@1a6de69] Seeking within the push buffer limit crmt=562427 to=1564150 lpt=97007167 seek=2263510
Wed 11/16 22:27:20.440 [VideoFrame-4b5258504f48@1a6de69] seekPull0(699360)
Wed 11/16 22:27:20.443 [VideoFrame-4b5258504f48@1a6de69] VF processing job null nPlayin=true
Wed 11/16 22:27:20.447 [VideoFrame-4b5258504f48@1a6de69] isRec=false rd=3600006 base=2263510 eos=false
Wed 11/16 22:27:20.451 [VideoFrame-4b5258504f48@1a6de69] VF thread is now waiting for 0:22:16.246
Wed 11/16 22:27:23.712 [Pusher@bb813c] Client Buffer size=4145152 estimRateKbps=1453 avgRateKbps=1802 rateKbps=1791 estimStreamRateKbps=2129 avgStreamRateKbps=1624
Wed 11/16 22:27:23.716 [Pusher@bb813c] Adjusted bitrate DOWN to : 1748
Wed 11/16 22:27:26.887 [Pusher@bb813c] Client Buffer size=4046848 estimRateKbps=1718 avgRateKbps=1841 rateKbps=1748 estimStreamRateKbps=2129 avgStreamRateKbps=1624
Wed 11/16 22:27:26.890 [Pusher@bb813c] Adjusted bitrate UP to : 1791
Wed 11/16 22:27:27.483 [Pusher@bb813c] Client Buffer size=4145152 estimRateKbps=1732 avgRateKbps=1768 rateKbps=1791 estimStreamRateKbps=2129 avgStreamRateKbps=1624
Wed 11/16 22:27:27.486 [Pusher@bb813c] Adjusted bitrate DOWN to : 1711