Audio issues/Playback buffering issues

[rifth427]

Hey, and welcome. I am an avid fan of makemkv. But it seems all this time I've been using it I never really knew what I was doing. Basically

So here's what I'm trying to accomplish: I use MAKEMKV to rip UHD movies and a few misc other blurays/dvds into MKV files with all the tracks included (audio and subtitle) for the main movie. After I get it ripped (profile default) to the computer, I'm streaming from my living room on Jellyfin or Plex depending on what has been working for the past day the best. I just found out about FFmpeg conversion to AC3 to prevent conversion during playback. So I'm taking the ripped mkv with all the audio and subtitles and converting it to AC3 640 kbps for 5.1 surround sound playback in my living room.

But, even after all this, it still briefly buffers playback at different times during the movie with Jellyfin for no reason that I can tell. I checked the playback info and it's not being converted so IDK why it would stop and restart for no reason.

My router is a gaming router ac3200 I believe. The network is not overloaded with data.

Perhaps I've been doing this all wrong from the get-go, if someone has a better method for Ripping 4k -> MKV -> AC3 -> Playback on network let me know, I just learned it has a profile setting in makemkv. I don't even know what that's for though. I've been trying to read the forums but they don't really allow for searching of keywords that are over used. It's kind of sloppy imo but I love makemkv.

[Nucleus]

I'm streaming from my living room on Jellyfin or Plex depending on what has been working for the past day the best.

Streaming via wifi or wired? Not familiar with streaming from Jellyfin or Plex but you don't mention encoding your UHD rips so I assume you're streaming UHD remuxes - and muxing your new AC-3 audio track into them? Obviously 4k remuxes are huge files. If the device you're streaming to is wi-fi I'd try a wired connection. Have you/can you run a speed test on whatever device you're streaming to, and see if it meets that devices requirement to stream 4k?

[rifth427]

I'm streaming for the most part wireless. I do not think that's the problem but I could totally be wrong. I was thinking it would be enough bandwidth for those files even though they are huge. IDK. I'll give it an investigation when I have some time tomorrow and see what I can find.

[dcoke22]

Is it just UHDs that occasionally buffer? Or do regular blu-rays do it too? As a rule of thumb, a blu-rip is about half the size of a UHD rip.

Wired ethernet's main advantage over wireless is it has consistent, stable bandwidth and is less affected by environmental concerns. WiFi doesn't have the wire, of course, but can be affected by your neighbor using the microwave or whatever.

[rifth427]

Pretty sure just the UHD needing a wired connection, as I play a blu-ray today I'll let you know if that's the case.

I have had this whole system wired before and experienced the SAME thing so I just gave up. That of course was before I knew I needed to transcode over to ac3 for my sound system though.

[rifth427]

Okay, I've been enjoying a standard blu-ray today and it's played flawless with ONE hiccup or two. And this is exactly what I was referring to. I think you guys hit the nail on the head. Because Jellyfin reports this to me:

The source file is entirely compatible with this client, and the session is receiving the file without modifications.

And it sounds and looks excellent minus the couple of hiccups. I will try and figure a way to run it all on wires. Not gonna be easy however.

But, thank you both.

Have a good one!

[Nucleus]

Wired ethernet's main advantage over wireless is it has consistent, stable bandwidth and is less affected by environmental concerns.

Sorry to bump this thread after a few days but taking into account what @dcoke22 posted, it is indeed true. I've just this weekend wired my Firestick 4K and although the wired connection to it is slower (Firestick Ethernet Adapter is limited to 100 Mbps) it has cured occasional stutters/freezes when streaming 4k encodes. I should have taken screenshots of the speed tests but here's the setup. Firestick is now wired from a 1Gbps 5 port switch which also feeds the TV, and cable box.

Firestick 4K when connected via wifi - speed test consistently shows 250 odd Mbps. Wired - speedtest consistently shows 90 odd Mbps, but here's the thing!

I use Vimu player or sometimes Nova player on my Firestick to stream stuff from my NAS. 4K encodes via wifi, either player will just occasionally stutter/freeze. In Vimu player you can see the buffer level via its on screen display, and at a stutter you can see the buffer is down at 0% -10%, but wired (remember a slower speed) stutters are nil! Also noticeable is fast forwarding through something, resume is quicker. So yes in my experience and thanks to what @dcoke22 posted, everything from my NAS to Firestick 4k now runs very very smooth.

[MartyMcNuts]

Wired ethernet's main advantage over wireless is it has consistent, stable bandwidth and is less affected by environmental concerns.

Sorry to bump this thread after a few days but taking into account what @dcoke22 posted, it is indeed true. I've just this weekend wired my Firestick 4K and although the wired connection to it is slower (Firestick Ethernet Adapter is limited to 100 Mbps) it has cured occasional stutters/freezes when streaming 4k encodes. I should have taken screenshots of the speed tests but here's the setup. Firestick is now wired from a 1Gbps 5 port switch which also feeds the TV, and cable box.

Firestick 4K when connected via wifi - speed test consistently shows 250 odd Mbps. Wired - speedtest consistently shows 90 odd Mbps, but here's the thing!

I use Vimu player or sometimes Nova player on my Firestick to stream stuff from my NAS. 4K encodes via wifi, either player will just occasionally stutter/freeze. In Vimu player you can see the buffer level via its on screen display, and at a stutter you can see the buffer is down at 0% -10%, but wired (remember a slower speed) stutters are nil! Also noticeable is fast forwarding through something, resume is quicker. So yes in my experience and thanks to what @dcoke22 posted, everything from my NAS to Firestick 4k now runs very very smooth.

You could reencode your 4k rips down to half their bitrate and not notice any quality loss which would probably solve your issue when using wi-fi.

[Nucleus]

You could reencode your 4k rips down to half their bitrate and not notice any quality loss which would probably solve your issue when using wi-fi.

...when streaming 4k encodes.

4K encodes via wifi...

As mentioned I do encode them, keeping huge 4K remuxes would soon eat my NAS. Sorted now anyway.