Micro stutters / single frame drops

[podonnell]

Let's try repackaging one of your files.

Code:

/usr/lib/jellyfin-ffmpeg/ffmpeg -fflags genpts -i "/path/to/video.mkv" -map 0:v -map 0:a -map 0:s -map_chapters 0 -c:v copy -c:a copy -c:s copy outputFile.mkv

This will copy the video/audio/subs unmodified into a new MKV container, new packet time stamps, etc.

Alrighty, I ran that command on the same file I've been testing with and got outputFile.mkv, which loaded into Jellyfin library just fine. I played that, and went back to the maximum 4k - 120Mbps setting.
I am experiencing the same dropped frames. Here is about 30 seconds worth of playing. Consistent drop of a single frame about every six seconds or so...

[TheDreadPirate]

I don't recall you mentioning Jellyfin Media Player as a player you've tried.

Since it seems only the audio is being transcoded a lot of the time, what I'm wondering if is the CPU usage from the audio transcode is causing some weird muxing issues.

JMP should be able to direct play your videos.

[podonnell]

I don't recall you mentioning Jellyfin Media Player as a player you've tried.

Since it seems only the audio is being transcoded a lot of the time, what I'm wondering if is the CPU usage from the audio transcode is causing some weird muxing issues.

JMP should be able to direct play your videos.

I do have that as well, haven't tried it.
Just tried now, it seems the 'playback info' doesn't have dropped frames unfortunately.
However, taking a look it does not appear to be dropping frames from what I can see.
Does this media player do something different with audio transcribes?

As a test, I went back to watching on the other player, and I kept the video running until the red bar in the "active devices" went all the way to the end, presumably finishing the transcode? After that finished, I did continue to drop frames. Would this mean its not the audio transcode causing it? 

You may be on to something with the JMP, any way I can confirm no drops there?

[Efficient_Good_5784]

@TheDreadPirate, OP states this issue also happens on MPV Shim some posts ago, which should be the same player in JMP.

I wonder if the container is also being changed since the playback info states "Direct streaming". Maybe that's caused by the audio being transcoded.

[Efficient_Good_5784]

@podonnell, do you have any of the settings at the bottom of the dashboard's transcoding settings page enabled? Specifically the "Throttle Transcodes" or "Delete segments" settings?

Also, what are the specs of your Jellyfin server?

[podonnell]

@TheDreadPirate, OP states this issue also happens on MPV Shim some posts ago, which should be the same player in JMP.

I wonder if the container is also being changed since the playback info states "Direct streaming". Maybe that's caused by the audio being transcoded.

What are the specs of your Jellyfin server?

My apologies, I just tried with MPV Shim and it matches the experience on the Jellyfin Media Player -- and better -- this one has the stats showing, no dropped frames.
I am troubleshooting a few issues so I may have mistaken that I used this for the dropped frames testing previously. Or I might have enabled it and foolishly watched it in my browser without realizing I didn't enable the cast.

Hopefully knowing that these two players are good may give us some info as to why?

I did just confirm this in the dashboard while using Shim
> The source file is entirely compatible with this client and the session is receiving the file without modifications.

Regarding my settings, from top to bottom I have enabled in Transcoding:

Type: VAAPI
Enable decoding for: H264
Enable hardware encoding

"Throttle Transcodes" and "Delete segments" are both off.

[TheDreadPirate]

What CPU, GPU, and OS is your server running?

[podonnell]

What CPU, GPU, and OS is your server running?

i7 - 4790k CPU
Geforce 570 GPU
Windows 10

[Efficient_Good_5784]

Hopefully knowing that these two players are good may give us some info as to why?

I did just confirm this in the dashboard while using Shim
> The source file is entirely compatible with this client and the session is receiving the file without modifications.

The issue appears now to be that something in the conversion of your file as it's delivered to the clients causes the stutter.
JMP and MPV Shim both don't have the issue because they can handle direct playing all of the file, they both can receive the file 1:1 without any modifications.

[Efficient_Good_5784]

What CPU, GPU, and OS is your server running?

i7 - 4790k CPU
Geforce 570 GPU
Windows 10

Maybe the CPU is a bit old for handling a conversion of a BD Remux with special audio. Especially HEVC video (though I don't think that should matter here much since the HEVC is being passed directly).

And a side note. Are you using the CPU's iGPU or the Geforce 570 for HWA in Jellyfin?
Why have both if Jellyfin can only use one at a time?