Playback works in PlaceShifter, not in Server or Extender

[VCRUser]

I have various videos (downloaded from YouTube and copied to my server) that playback just fine via Placeshifter, but show various problems when trying to play them on the HD200 or on the server. In some cases, they actually crash the extender; on the server they might either throw an error message (playback exception) or play but without sound.

In looking over the formats reported by Sage, I'm not seeing any consistent differences between those that play and those don't:

The Youtube videos tend to show as Quicktime h.264 - some play and some don't. Sometimes I run them through Handbrake, which sometimes helps and sometimes doesn't. At least one that works fine wherever I play it, it is shown as matroska h.264. Audio reported as aac 44.1, various bit-rates plays sometimes, not others. Video bitrates and resolutions likewise show no pattern of playing/not playing.

Thoughts on how to trouble-shoot this would be appreciated, along with any experiences with similar problems.

Some log entries that look to be about the right time I last generated the error. I'm not sure what they mean or even if they're related to the problem:

Mon 3/28 0:03:47.702 [MediaServerConnection@15c8c9ca] Error in MediaServerConnection of :java.io.IOException: An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host
Mon 3/28 0:03:47.702 [MediaServerConnection@3e48c974] Error in MediaServerConnection of :java.io.IOException: An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host
Mon 3/28 0:03:47.703 [MediaServerConnection@15c8c9ca] java.io.IOException: An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host
Mon 3/28 0:03:47.703 [MediaServerConnection@15c8c9ca] at sun.nio.ch.SocketDispatcher.read0(Native Method)
Mon 3/28 0:03:47.703 [MediaServerConnection@15c8c9ca] at sun.nio.ch.SocketDispatcher.read(Unknown Source)
Mon 3/28 0:03:47.703 [MediaServerConnection@15c8c9ca] at sun.nio.ch.IOUtil.readIntoNativeBuffer(Unknown Source)
Mon 3/28 0:03:47.703 [MediaServerConnection@15c8c9ca] at sun.nio.ch.IOUtil.read(Unknown Source)
Mon 3/28 0:03:47.703 [MediaServerConnection@15c8c9ca] at sun.nio.ch.SocketChannelImpl.read(Unknown Source)
Mon 3/28 0:03:47.703 [MediaServerConnection@15c8c9ca] at sage.MediaServer$Connection.readLineBytes(MediaServer.java:241)
Mon 3/28 0:03:47.703 [MediaServerConnection@15c8c9ca] at sage.MediaServer$Connection.run(MediaServer.java:1410)
Mon 3/28 0:03:47.703 [MediaServerConnection@15c8c9ca] at sage.Pooler$PooledThread.run(Pooler.java:254)
Mon 3/28 0:03:47.703 [MediaServerConnection@3e48c974] java.io.IOException: An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host
Mon 3/28 0:03:47.703 [MediaServerConnection@3e48c974] at sun.nio.ch.SocketDispatcher.read0(Native Method)
Mon 3/28 0:03:47.703 [MediaServerConnection@3e48c974] at sun.nio.ch.SocketDispatcher.read(Unknown Source)
Mon 3/28 0:03:47.703 [MediaServerConnection@3e48c974] at sun.nio.ch.IOUtil.readIntoNativeBuffer(Unknown Source)
Mon 3/28 0:03:47.703 [MediaServerConnection@3e48c974] at sun.nio.ch.IOUtil.read(Unknown Source)
Mon 3/28 0:03:47.703 [MediaServerConnection@3e48c974] at sun.nio.ch.SocketChannelImpl.read(Unknown Source)
Mon 3/28 0:03:47.703 [MediaServerConnection@3e48c974] at sage.MediaServer$Connection.readLineBytes(MediaServer.java:241)
Mon 3/28 0:03:47.703 [MediaServerConnection@3e48c974] at sage.MediaServer$Connection.run(MediaServer.java:1410)
Mon 3/28 0:03:47.703 [MediaServerConnection@3e48c974] at sage.Pooler$PooledThread.run(Pooler.java:254)

[MattHelm]

Can you download and install a program called Mediainfo, and run it on one of the files causing issues and show us what it says about the file?

[VCRUser]

Thanks for the info on that app - I hadn't heard of it previously. Here is the report on a recent video that exhibits a problem. On the server it throws "playback exception;" On extender HD200 it starts but then audio continues and video freezes:


Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media / Version 2
Codec ID : mp42 (isom/mp42)
File size : 174 MiB
Duration : 27 min 23 s
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 888 kb/s
Encoded date : UTC 2022-03-26 18:29:02
Tagged date : UTC 2022-03-26 18:29:02
gsst : 0
gstd : 1643833

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L3.1
Format settings : CABAC / 3 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames : 3 frames
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 27 min 23 s
Bit rate : 757 kb/s
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 29.970 (30000/1001) FPS
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.027
Stream size : 148 MiB (85%)
Title : ISO Media file produced by Google Inc. Created on: 03/26/2022.
Encoded date : UTC 2022-03-26 18:29:02
Tagged date : UTC 2022-03-26 18:29:02
Color range : Limited
Color primaries : BT.709
Transfer characteristics : BT.709
Matrix coefficients : BT.709
Codec configuration box : avcC

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC LC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec Low Complexity
Codec ID : mp4a-40-2
Duration : 27 min 23 s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 128 kb/s
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel layout : L R
Sampling rate : 44.1 kHz
Frame rate : 43.066 FPS (1024 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 25.1 MiB (14%)
Title : ISO Media file produced by Google Inc. Created on: 03/26/2022.
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2022-03-26 18:29:02
Tagged date : UTC 2022-03-26 18:29:02

This one was re-encoded with Handbrake and seems to be working correctly on the extender, but throws sage.playbackexception when attempting to view it directly on the server:

Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media / Version 2
Codec ID : mp42 (isom/iso2/avc1/mp41)
File size : 438 MiB
Duration : 3 h 7 min
Overall bit rate : 327 kb/s
Encoded date : UTC 2022-03-25 05:34:03
Tagged date : UTC 2022-03-25 05:34:03
Writing application : HandBrake 1.3.3 2020061300

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : Main@L3.1
Format settings : CABAC / 4 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames : 4 frames
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 3 h 7 min
Bit rate : 155 kb/s
Width : 640 pixels
Height : 360 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 30.000 FPS
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.022
Stream size : 208 MiB (47%)
Writing library : x264 core 157 r2935 545de2f
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x1:0x111 / me=hex / subme=7 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=0 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=6 / lookahead_threads=1 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=300 / keyint_min=30 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=26.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / vbv_maxrate=14000 / vbv_bufsize=14000 / crf_max=0.0 / nal_hrd=none / filler=0 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Encoded date : UTC 2022-03-25 05:34:03
Tagged date : UTC 2022-03-25 05:34:03
Color range : Limited
Color primaries : BT.709
Transfer characteristics : BT.709
Matrix coefficients : BT.709
Codec configuration box : avcC

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC LC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec Low Complexity
Codec ID : mp4a-40-2
Duration : 3 h 7 min
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 161 kb/s
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel layout : L R
Sampling rate : 44.1 kHz
Frame rate : 43.066 FPS (1024 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 216 MiB (49%)
Title : Stereo
Language : English
Default : Yes
Alternate group : 1
Encoded date : UTC 2022-03-25 05:34:03
Tagged date : UTC 2022-03-25 05:34:03

I have no idea how to interpret any of this, so appreciate all & any help.

[VCRUser]

Does anyone have any clues? I did a bit more exploring, and the second file I posted about works in my HD200 and in PlaceShifter, but not in my HD300 or my HD100, or on the server PC.

[KryptoNyte]

I compared a similar file, handbrake encoded, to yours and its very near identical, except audio is AC-3, and it's a significantly higher resolution and bitrate. Otherwise, I have no explanation as to why the encoded file wouldn't play on and HD300.

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

I compared a similar file, handbrake encoded, to yours and its very near identical, except audio is AC-3, and it's a significantly higher resolution and bitrate. Otherwise, I have no explanation as to why the encoded file wouldn't play on and HD300.

Did you ever figure our why, or a way to re-code it so it would play back?

I just received a couple of very long, large concert video files, 1920x1080, one as 'quicktime' and one as 'matroska', neither of which will either play in sync, or not at all. The quicktime version plays on both my HD200's and HD300's, but video is way out of sync, a couple of seconds behind audio.

Oddly, they both play fine via Sage TV Server software, VLC, Windows Media
Player, and VideoReDo.

What is it about the Sage Media Extenders that they can't handle - codecs, or sheer file size (one is 7gb, one 11gb)

[KryptoNyte]

For starters, I don't think I have a file that the HD300 can't play, with the exception of 4k and h.265 of course. I recall the comparison file played fine, but I can't recall what file it was. To answer your last questions, the extender hardware is 10 to 15 years old, and it's darn amazing what they CAN play at this point.

If you have an example media file (or better yet a small portion of it) that you can make available for download I can check it and play with it in Handbrake to see if I can get it into a more Sage friendly format.