SOLVED: Random playback stutters

[Vinny956]

EDIT: it was a networking issue. After connecting the TV with the roter via ethernet, stutters disappeared.

Hi everyone!

Half of the times when I am trying to play a movie, the playback starts stuttering. If I restart the playback or wait a while - the stutters disappear. However, they usually come back after some minutes. 

It happens during a direct playback. If transcoded to 5mb/s bit rate, the playback is smooth but the video quality suffers a lot.

I have been trying to pin down the issue for weeks but to no avail.

My Setup
Server: Jellyfin Server 10.10.7 running in a docker container on a TrueNAS host.
Client: Jellyfin for Android TV 0.18.8 running on the latest Fire TV 4K Max.

If this is relevant, my TV is TCL C635 outputting audio to an Onkyo Receiver TX-SR252 via ARC.

Example of the playpack which was stuttering:
[2025-05-02 10:27:34.416 +02:00] [INF] [27] IntroSkipper.Manager.QueueManager: Running enqueue of items in library "Movies"
[2025-05-02 10:27:34.418 +02:00] [INF] [27] IntroSkipper.Manager.QueueManager: Running enqueue of items in library "Shows"
[2025-05-02 19:55:20.954 +02:00] [INF] [58] Emby.Server.Implementations.Session.SessionWebSocketListener: Sending ForceKeepAlive message to 1 inactive WebSockets.
[2025-05-02 19:55:32.954 +02:00] [INF] [58] Emby.Server.Implementations.Session.SessionWebSocketListener: Sending ForceKeepAlive message to 1 inactive WebSockets.
[2025-05-02 19:55:44.953 +02:00] [INF] [88] Emby.Server.Implementations.Session.SessionWebSocketListener: Lost 1 WebSockets.
[2025-05-02 19:56:57.128 +02:00] [WRN] [58] Emby.Server.Implementations.HttpServer.WebSocketConnection: WS "192.168.1.154" error receiving data: "The remote party closed the WebSocket connection without completing the close handshake."
[2025-05-02 19:56:57.134 +02:00] [INF] [58] Emby.Server.Implementations.HttpServer.WebSocketManager: WS "192.168.1.154" closed
[2025-05-02 21:23:33.612 +02:00] [INF] [46] Emby.Server.Implementations.IO.LibraryMonitor: "movies" ("/movies") will be refreshed.
[2025-05-02 21:23:33.645 +02:00] [INF] [50] MediaBrowser.MediaEncoding.Encoder.MediaEncoder: Starting "/usr/lib/jellyfin-ffmpeg/ffprobe" with args "-analyzeduration 200M -probesize 1G -i file:\"/movies/Ash (2025)/Ash.2025.2160p.MULTI.WEB-DL.SDR.H265-AOC.mkv\" -threads 0 -v warning -print_format json -show_streams -show_chapters -show_format"
[2025-05-02 21:23:34.323 +02:00] [INF] [46] Jellyfin.Server.Implementations.Trickplay.TrickplayManager: Creating trickplay files at 320 width, for "/movies/Ash (2025)/Ash.2025.2160p.MULTI.WEB-DL.SDR.H265-AOC.mkv" [ID: b8d3d6e6-d6bc-ea89-8974-e29301378d78]
[2025-05-02 21:23:34.323 +02:00] [INF] [46] MediaBrowser.MediaEncoding.Encoder.MediaEncoder: Trickplay generation: "/usr/lib/jellyfin-ffmpeg/ffmpeg -loglevel error -threads 4 -i file:\"/movies/Ash (2025)/Ash.2025.2160p.MULTI.WEB-DL.SDR.H265-AOC.mkv\" -an -sn -vf \"fps=0.10000000149011612,setparams=color_primaries=bt709:color_trc=bt709:colorspace=bt709,scale=trunc(min(max(iw\,ih*(a*sar))\,320)/2)*2:trunc(ow/(a*sar)/2)*2,format=yuv420p\" -threads 4 -c:v mjpeg -qscale:v 4 -fps_mode passthrough -f image2 \"/tmp/jellyfin/a98b59818f6644d7835d0dc55af50af9/%08d.jpg\""
[2025-05-02 21:24:36.560 +02:00] [INF] [21] IntroSkipper.Services.Entrypoint: Initiating automatic analysis task
[2025-05-02 21:24:36.624 +02:00] [INF] [21] IntroSkipper.Manager.QueueManager: Running enqueue of items in library "Movies"
[2025-05-02 21:24:36.641 +02:00] [INF] [21] IntroSkipper.Manager.QueueManager: Running enqueue of items in library "Shows"
[2025-05-02 21:24:36.650 +02:00] [INF] [21] IntroSkipper.Services.Entrypoint: No libraries selected for analysis. To enable, check library configuration > Media Segment Providers.
[2025-05-02 21:46:34.266 +02:00] [INF] [33] Emby.Server.Implementations.HttpServer.WebSocketManager: WS "192.168.1.154" request
[2025-05-02 21:46:43.655 +02:00] [INF] [80] Jellyfin.Api.Helpers.MediaInfoHelper: User policy for "user". EnablePlaybackRemuxing: True EnableVideoPlaybackTranscoding: True EnableAudioPlaybackTranscoding: True
[2025-05-02 21:47:37.353 +02:00] [INF] [52] Emby.Server.Implementations.Session.SessionManager: Playback stopped reported by app "Android TV" "0.18.8" playing "Ash". Stopped at "9226" ms
[2025-05-02 21:48:59.978 +02:00] [INF] [80] Jellyfin.Server.Implementations.Trickplay.TrickplayManager: Finished creation of trickplay files for "/movies/Ash (2025)/Ash.2025.2160p.MULTI.WEB-DL.SDR.H265-AOC.mkv"
[2025-05-02 21:53:25.704 +02:00] [INF] [59] Emby.Server.Implementations.HttpServer.WebSocketManager: WS "172.16.2.2" request

I would appreciate any help since this inconsistency is driving me crazy

Thank you all in advance!

[Winifred Benedict]

Hi everyone!

Half of the times when I am trying to play a movie, the playback starts stuttering. If I restart the playback or wait a while - the stutters disappear. However, they usually come back after some minutes. 

It happens during a direct playback. If transcoded to 5mb/s bit rate, the playback is smooth but the video quality suffers a lot.

I have been trying to pin down the issue for weeks but to no avail.

My Setup
Server: Jellyfin Server 10.10.7 running in a docker container on a TrueNAS host.
Client: Jellyfin for Android TV 0.18.8 running on the latest Fire TV 4K Max.

If this is relevant, my TV is TCL C635 outputting audio to an Onkyo Receiver TX-SR252 via ARC.

Example of the playpack which was stuttering:
[2025-05-02 10:27:34.416 +02:00] [INF] [27] IntroSkipper.Manager.QueueManager: Running enqueue of items in library "Movies"
[2025-05-02 10:27:34.418 +02:00] [INF] [27] IntroSkipper.Manager.QueueManager: Running enqueue of items in library "Shows"
[2025-05-02 19:55:20.954 +02:00] [INF] [58] Emby.Server.Implementations.Session.SessionWebSocketListener: Sending ForceKeepAlive message to 1 inactive WebSockets.
[2025-05-02 19:55:32.954 +02:00] [INF] [58] Emby.Server.Implementations.Session.SessionWebSocketListener: Sending ForceKeepAlive message to 1 inactive WebSockets.
[2025-05-02 19:55:44.953 +02:00] [INF] [88] Emby.Server.Implementations.Session.SessionWebSocketListener: Lost 1 WebSockets.
[2025-05-02 19:56:57.128 +02:00] [WRN] [58] Emby.Server.Implementations.HttpServer.WebSocketConnection: WS "192.168.1.154" error receiving data: "The remote party closed the WebSocket connection without completing the close handshake."
[2025-05-02 19:56:57.134 +02:00] [INF] [58] Emby.Server.Implementations.HttpServer.WebSocketManager: WS "192.168.1.154" closed
[2025-05-02 21:23:33.612 +02:00] [INF] [46] Emby.Server.Implementations.IO.LibraryMonitor: "movies" ("/movies") will be refreshed.
[2025-05-02 21:23:33.645 +02:00] [INF] [50] MediaBrowser.MediaEncoding.Encoder.MediaEncoder: Starting "/usr/lib/jellyfin-ffmpeg/ffprobe" with args "-analyzeduration 200M -probesize 1G -i file:\"/movies/Ash (2025)/Ash.2025.2160p.MULTI.WEB-DL.SDR.H265-AOC.mkv\" -threads 0 -v warning -print_format json -show_streams -show_chapters -show_format"
[2025-05-02 21:23:34.323 +02:00] [INF] [46] Jellyfin.Server.Implementations.Trickplay.TrickplayManager: Creating trickplay files at 320 width, for "/movies/Ash (2025)/Ash.2025.2160p.MULTI.WEB-DL.SDR.H265-AOC.mkv" [ID: b8d3d6e6-d6bc-ea89-8974-e29301378d78]
[2025-05-02 21:23:34.323 +02:00] [INF] [46] MediaBrowser.MediaEncoding.Encoder.MediaEncoder: Trickplay generation: "/usr/lib/jellyfin-ffmpeg/ffmpeg -loglevel error -threads 4 -i file:\"/movies/Ash (2025)/Ash.2025.2160p.MULTI.WEB-DL.SDR.H265-AOC.mkv\" -an -sn -vf \"fps=0.10000000149011612,setparams=color_primaries=bt709:color_trc=bt709:colorspace=bt709,scale=trunc(min(max(iw\,ih*(a*sar))\,320)/2)*2:trunc(ow/(a*sar)/2)*2,format=yuv420p\" -threads 4 -c:v mjpeg -qscale:v 4 -fps_mode passthrough -f image2 \"/tmp/jellyfin/a98b59818f6644d7835d0dc55af50af9/%08d.jpg\""
[2025-05-02 21:24:36.560 +02:00] [INF] [21] IntroSkipper.Services.Entrypoint: Initiating automatic analysis task
[2025-05-02 21:24:36.624 +02:00] [INF] [21] IntroSkipper.Manager.QueueManager: Running enqueue of items in library "Movies"
[2025-05-02 21:24:36.641 +02:00] [INF] [21] IntroSkipper.Manager.QueueManager: Running enqueue of items in library "Shows"
[2025-05-02 21:24:36.650 +02:00] [INF] [21] IntroSkipper.Services.Entrypoint: No libraries selected for analysis. To enable, check library configuration > Media Segment Providers.
[2025-05-02 21:46:34.266 +02:00] [INF] [33] Emby.Server.Implementations.HttpServer.WebSocketManager: WS "192.168.1.154" request
[2025-05-02 21:46:43.655 +02:00] [INF] [80] Jellyfin.Api.Helpers.MediaInfoHelper: User policy for "user". EnablePlaybackRemuxing: True EnableVideoPlaybackTranscoding: True EnableAudioPlaybackTranscoding: True
[2025-05-02 21:47:37.353 +02:00] [INF] [52] Emby.Server.Implementations.Session.SessionManager: Playback stopped reported by app "Android TV" "0.18.8" playing "Ash". Stopped at "9226" ms
[2025-05-02 21:48:59.978 +02:00] [INF] [80] Jellyfin.Server.Implementations.Trickplay.TrickplayManager: Finished creation of trickplay files for "/movies/Ash (2025)/Ash.2025.2160p.MULTI.WEB-DL.SDR.H265-AOC.mkv"
[2025-05-02 21:53:25.704 +02:00] [INF] [59] Emby.Server.Implementations.HttpServer.WebSocketManager: WS "172.16.2.2" request

I would appreciate any help since this inconsistency is driving me crazy  Baseball Bros Game
Thank you all in advance!

Have you tried monitoring your server's CPU/RAM or I/O speeds while streaming? Is it possible that the Docker container is limiting resources or that TrueNAS is running a background task that is impacting the streaming experience?

[Vinny956]

Have you tried monitoring your server's CPU/RAM or I/O speeds while streaming? Is it possible that the Docker container is limiting resources or that TrueNAS is running a background task that is impacting the streaming experience?

Yes, CPU and RAM usage stay roughly the same when I start playing a video. This is, however, is not surprising given that my TrueNAS system has a Ryzen 7 5825U, up to 4 cores of which can be allocated to the Jellyfin container. I suppose it is more that enough for a direct play. The RAM is plenty as well with most of it either allocated to my ZFS Cache with a ~3Gb free.

Haven't tried monitoring the IO speeds though. The videos are located on Seagate X18 drives. When playing, the read spikes up to ~30MiB/s.

[Vinny956]

Sometimes videos play just fine, sometimes the same videos are freezing every few seconds. The container is barely using any resources. I am honestly beyond confused at this point

[Juanama]

Hi, did you find any more information about this?
I have a similar problem. It is not a complete freeze, but like it slows down like it looses fps in the playback.
I did resolved it using findroid instead of the official jellyfin android tv client but it has come back.
The docker container barely uses resources like your case.

I dont know what to do, it only happens on the tv(it is connected via ethernet) every other client(even those on wifi) connected to the server does not have the problem

Any help is welcome!

[Vinny956]

Hi, did you find any more information about this?
I have a similar problem. It is not a complete freeze, but like it slows down like it looses fps in the playback.
I did resolved it using findroid instead of the official jellyfin android tv client but it has come back.
The docker container barely uses resources like your case.

I dont know what to do, it only happens on the tv(it is connected via ethernet) every other client(even those on wifi) connected to the server does not have the problem

Any help is welcome!

Hi! My issues were apparently connected to WiFi. After connecting the TV via ethernet, all stutters disappeared. Sorry it is not much of a help in your case