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+--- Thread: Jellyfin general instability (/t-jellyfin-general-instability)
Jellyfin general instability - timbone316 - 2025-01-22
I used to have a Jellyfin server on my Raspberry Pi 3B that ran off of the Buster distro, I think. It was stable and nice, and I never had problems with it. I had one unnmet desire though, which is that I wanted to listen to commentary tracks on my TV as I watched my media. On the Jellyfin Media Player I could, but my Roku and my TCL Roku TV could not switch the audio track. In my journey to be able to watch a kung fu flick with the commentary track, I had to update my rasp pi OS, and that meant starting from scratch as I was not able to backup my library metadata and settings prior (I don't remember why). I updated to Bullseye in an attempt to get things to work, and it still didn't. I also noticed that my Jellyfin server started to be less reliable. I would browse and jump around in the libraries, and it would hang up and get stuck. I thought it was the Rasp Pi locking up, but I was able to access my Plex server and see my media fine. It was Jellyfin that was the problem. I have tried again and again to address it, even today starting from a clean Bookworm installation, only adding a Movies and TV Shows library (no other stuff, no collections or playlists) just to see if it was more stable. Even still, it crapped out on me just browsing to find a movie with a commentary track. After letting it sit for about ten minutes and trying it again, I was able to pick a movie with a commentary track, select it, but when it plays the movie, it plays the main primary audio, even if i click up on my Roku, click the music note button, and show that the commentary track is selected. I can pick any audio track I want, but only the main audio plays.
So now after all this in a vain attempt to be able to switch audio tracks on my TV while I watch, I wish I had stayed in Jessie and left things the way they were. When it hangs up on me, what can I look at to determine what might have happened? Sometimes it's coming back from a show or movie and starting to browse around for something else. Sometimes its just looking through the libraries. Its rarely if ever just from playing. Like if I pick a show, and just let it play, it won't hang up jumping from episode to episode.
Any help would be appreciated, as I am about to find an old Jessie distro, an ancient Jellyfin version that still works on it, and pretend its a few years ago now...
RE: Jellyfin general instability - bitmap - 2025-01-22
First, I'd like to state that rPi and SBCs in general are not suitable for hosting Jellyfin. Even a 4B is underpowered. The 3B is an 8-year-old SBC so it's an old platform.
On Roku, you should be able to switch audio tracks -- even if the one you want is selected -- and wait for playback to resume, then select the audio track you want to trigger a change. I haven't noticed this behavior as an issue in a LONG time, but it may persist with older setups.
To look for basic information on what might be happening, you can check your logs (Dashboard > Logs). You could also share them here, though I would caution that the issue may come down to hosting on a Raspberry Pi. Jellyfin has become more powerful and complex over the years and I would expect system requirements to increase due to that reality.
RE: Jellyfin general instability - timbone316 - 2025-01-22
I appreciate that answer. It's true that jellyfin used to work fine, and Plex continues to work fine, on my R Pi 3, and it would suck if jellyfin getting more powerful leaves older stuff in the dust as I don't use any feature that would be too powerful for my raspberry pi.
Also, my Roku app is updated on my both TVs (the TCL one with Roku integrated and the Pioneer plasma that has a Roku streaming stick), and i can sleect either audio track while the movie is playing, it hangs for a second and buffers, then goes right back to playing the default audio track.
RE: Jellyfin general instability - bitmap - 2025-01-22
Would definitely be worth posting your logs using pastebin or privatebin. Happy to take a look and see if I can spot anything.
RE: Jellyfin general instability - timbone316 - 2025-01-22
Thanks. The next time it hangs I will check the log and post any time-related section