[Solved] Several web interface video problems

[TheRedRaccoon]

I set up UMS headless on an Ubuntu server some time ago (I'm still running UMS 10.4, I believe) and had encountered few and minimal problems with it; however, a couple weeks ago, UMS has suddenly stopped allowing me to play video via the web interface. What makes matters even stranger is that I also set up UMS on a completely separate server for a family member, and neither can I nor they play video via the web interface on their's either.

Whenever I open up a video, all the content on the page comes up, but Firefox's (or Chrome's, it does it in Chrome, too) web page progress icon keeps spinning, and any attempt to play the video just produces an eternal buffering symbol. I can still access my content via VLC, but would like to know why I can't get access via the web interface anymore when nothing seems to have changed.

I tried a clean, up-to-date install of version 11, but encountered a completely different problem: any video I open up claims to be an unsupported format.

Anyway, below is a log from the original 10.4 version. Any help would be appreciated.

[mik_s]

Since you had not changed version and it was working fine I think some system update is to blame, either that or anti virus or adblocker might be blocking it.

I'm not good at the networking side of things but there is one thing that I noticed in the logs.

Code: Select all

TRACE 2022-07-07 21:25:56.683 [Thread-210] Sending stream with premature end: 1212416 bytes. Reason: Broken pipe

I believe the pipe is what redirects the output from FFMpeg to the network so if something is wrong here the browser will not receive any data.

Are you able to play the videos in the web browser on the machine UMS is running on? Does it only effect that one file or for all?

V11 has had a lot of improvements to the web interface, mainly the ability to use HLS for the streams which now allows seeking in transcoded videos. That should work better for you but if the cause of the problem is on that machine then would effect that version too. There has also been changes to how it handles networking too so maybe logs of that version might help. Try doing a clean install with default settings and only add a few files to share, and post logs trying to play.

[TheRedRaccoon]

Are you able to play the videos in the web browser on the machine UMS is running on?

The server is headless, so remote desktop-ing in may not be the most reliable indicator, but attempting that way even the machine itself gets a permanent buffering lock.

Does it only effect that one file or for all?

This problem is for all video files. I have a couple MP3s I tested out on there, and they play, but videos do not anymore.

Since you had not changed version and it was working fine I think some system update is to blame, either that or anti virus or adblocker might be blocking it.

Adblock is off, and the system doesn't update unless I tell it to (which I did after the problem started in an attempt to see if it was somehow a bad bit of background software). And again, we're having the same problem on a second, completely different system running it's own UMS, which is very curious.

Default settings with V11 just continues to produce an "The media could not be loaded, either because the server or network failed or because the format is not supported." error via the web interface. Log attached below.

[mik_s]

Since you had not changed version and it was working fine I think some system update is to blame, either that or anti virus or adblocker might be blocking it.

Adblock is off, and the system doesn't update unless I tell it to (which I did after the problem started in an attempt to see if it was somehow a bad bit of background software). And again, we're having the same problem on a second, completely different system running it's own UMS, which is very curious.

Very strange. I have no experience with running UMS headless and don't know much about networking so can't be much help. I still think something on the machine or maybe your router is blocking some needed network traffic but I have no idea what. I don't see anything obvious in the logs either.

If your server has not had any updates it may be possible a security certificate has expired so maybe a system update is needed.

[TheRedRaccoon]

Well, I reinstalled Ubuntu in its entirety (it's lightweight, not like it takes long to do) as well as the latest UMS (11.1.1.1) and I'm still getting a "The media could not be loaded, either because the server or network failed or because the format is not supported." error on the latest UMS. I'm kind of at my wits' end here. Transcoding still allows me to play the things, sure, but ultimately is a poor replacement for the earlier setup that worked—largely because transcoding results in a video that hitches every few seconds and is noticeably lower in quality.

Without the ability to access my content from outside my local network except through the web interface, this kind of defeats the purpose of setting it up in the first place. (Unless there is a way to access it? VLC runs just fine via UPnP, but can't—to my knowledge—access it like the web interface can from an external network?)

I'm quite baffled as to why anything would have broke on a system that nothing changes on, why V11 suddenly can't serve videos properly on said system, why there seems to be nobody else here to look into this issue (though, I do appreciate your attempts, mik_s), or how nobody else seems to be having this problem.

Thanks anyway, truly. Guess I'll just keep fiddling with it, but I am kind of lost on what I actually have any control of here.

[mik_s]

Ah I did not realise you were accessing UMS from an external network. As far as I know UMS is officially meant to serve the local network but I know some people have it working on an external network. I'm sure I have heard that the devs were planning on making this work officially and easier to set up but don't know if or when that will happen.

This also make me suspect that maybe something on your network changed, router update or a the firewall rules/port forwarding has changed.

I think part of the reason transcoded video is hitching is that UMS runs a speed test on the local network of the available devices and uses that to set the best settings to transcode. If the renderer is outside the network it does not do this so has trouble using the right settings.

There may also be a bug in v11 that prevents serving the HLS stream to an external network too as the networking protocols in UMS have been overhauled.

I'll post an issue on GitHub and see if the developers can have a look and see what is wrong.

[TheRedRaccoon]

Oh, I think you've misunderstood me a little. These problems also happen locally.

[mik_s]

Oh OK so is happening on the local network too. I made an issue anyway so hopefully someone who knows better than me will be able to figure it out

[TheRedRaccoon]

Just for sake of being thorough, I downloaded UMS on my Windows 10 laptop on a completely different network somewhere other than my home, still get the same error with Firefox, Chrome, and Opera browsers on a different Windows device and on my Android phone (don't really have a reliable Mac to test with).

[SubJunk]

Thanks for reporting this. It will be fixed in 11.3.0 which is being released this week