Vero 4K+: 4K films not playing / Potential SMB issue

Help and Support
1

Hi,
I’ve been trying to trouble-shoot an issue with high bitrate 4K films not playing on the Vero4K+.
(Standard 4K films play just fine.) The issue has been with high bitrate films like the newly released Back to the Future trilogy films - all are 70-75GB mkv files. The films will play anywhere from 1-5min before stuttering, then locking up. They never unlock/unfreeze.

These MKV files are located on a remote Mac server (connected over LAN, not Wifi). I’ve tested the network speeds with iperf3 and they are excellent (>500Mbits/sec). The films WILL play just fine if connected to the Vero4K+ with a locally mounted USB drive. So, this rules out the processing power/capability of the Vero4K+. Based on all the research I’ve been able to gather, I now suspect the SMB connection within OSMC/Kodi is the weak point.

As such, (and using other’s suggestions) I’ve been trying for the last week to automount the server drive outside of Kodi using autofs, but after days of trial and error, I simply can’t get the syntax right to mount the remote Mac server. I’ve started with the instructions located here:
Mounting network shares with autofs (alternative to fstab)

I believe there must be a different syntax likely needed to connect to a mac server drive.
DOES ANYONE HAVE EXPERIENCE WITH AUTOFS CONNECTING TO A MAC SERVER??
I’ve tried ‘afp’ vs. ‘cisfs’ terminology, and I’ve played with the path names with no avail…It appears instead of ://SERVER-IP/FILE-SHARE, that I should possibly be using ://username:password@SERVER-IP:/FILE-SHARE
But nothing seems to work…when testing the mount, I constantly get the ‘No such file or directory’ error

When testing the autofs status with ‘sudo systemctl status autofs’, I get:

● autofs.service - Automounts filesystems on demand
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/autofs.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Sat 2020-12-12 13:35:01 MST; 4min 6s ago
Process: 379 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/automount $OPTIONS --pid-file /var/run/autofs.pid (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Main PID: 463 (automount)
Memory: 4.1M
CGroup: /system.slice/autofs.service
└─463 /usr/sbin/automount --pid-file /var/run/autofs.pid

Dec 12 13:35:00 HTPC-2 systemd[1]: Starting Automounts filesystems on demand…
Dec 12 13:35:01 HTPC-2 systemd[1]: Started Automounts filesystems on demand.

While, I’ve tried hundreds of different combinations, or approaches, this is the syntax I started with in the etc/auto.smb.shares file:

/mnt/Test1/Movies1 -fstype=cifs,rw,username=myserverusername,password=myserverpassword,iocharset=utf8,uid=osmc,gid=osmc ://192.168.1.10/Volumes

Any assistance with correct context for connecting to a Mac Server would be much appreciated, or even a simple way to validate the path (or username/password) is correct. I’ve thrown in the towel.

Thanks!

2

First, >500 Mbps is a tad slow for a wired gigabit network. I’d have expected to see a figure closer to >900 Mbps, but 500-ish Mbps should be more than sufficient if that speed can be reliably and continuously achieved.

As to your problems with autofs, two points. First, if your server will be running 24/7, you might generally find it easier to go for the fstab solution, though autofs will also work. Second, since you’re having problems with autofs, I’d recommend that you take a step back and see if you can manually mount the share from the command line. Remember to create the mount point first. If you’re unfamiliar with the syntax, here’s an example: Network drives - #5 by darwindesign

3

Network speed is usually around 800+Mbits/sec, but the worst iperf3 results I’ve received are attached below…I assume this should still be sufficient.

Here’s the output of iperf3:

osmc@HTPC-2:/$ iperf3 -c 192.168.1.10 -p 5201 -R
Connecting to host 192.168.1.10, port 5201
Reverse mode, remote host 192.168.1.10 is sending
[ 5] local 192.168.1.12 port 34993 connected to 192.168.1.10 port 5201
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate
[ 5] 0.00-1.00 sec 91.8 MBytes 770 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 1.00-2.00 sec 62.5 MBytes 524 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 2.00-3.00 sec 60.6 MBytes 509 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 3.00-4.00 sec 70.9 MBytes 595 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 4.00-5.00 sec 76.0 MBytes 638 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 5.00-6.00 sec 82.5 MBytes 692 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 6.00-7.00 sec 93.1 MBytes 781 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 7.00-8.00 sec 84.0 MBytes 704 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 8.00-9.00 sec 87.8 MBytes 736 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 9.00-10.00 sec 91.1 MBytes 764 Mbits/sec

[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 801 MBytes 672 Mbits/sec sender
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 800 MBytes 671 Mbits/sec receiver

I manually created a directory named ‘new’ under the /mnt path, and tried to manually mount the server drive using this syntax:

sudo mount -t cifs //192.168.1.10/Desktop /mnt/new -o rw,iocharset=utf8,username=***********,password=****,uid=osmc,gid=osmc,file_mode=0770,dir_mode=0770

And I get the following error:
mount error(5): Input/output error
Refer to the mount.cifs(8) manual page (e.g. man mount.cifs)

(I removed vers=3.0 from the command since it was generating an ‘invalid argument’ error.

4

I’ve tried to simplify the mount command down to the minimum arguments, and I still get the same error:

osmc@HTPC-2:/$ sudo mount -t cifs -o username=myusername //192.168.1.10/Desktop /mnt/new2

Password for myusername@//192.168.1.10/Desktop: ****
mount error(5): Input/output error

I simply don’t understand why I can’t mount this server/drive outside of OSMC/Kodi. The drive mounts fine within Kodi using SMB. What the heck am I doing wrong?

EDIT:

Not sure if the path was correct (as Desktop is in my home userfolder).
I confirmed that Kodi is connecting to the server with the following path: smb://RM-MacMini or smb://RM-MacMini/HTHD

So from the command line I tried:
osmc@HTPC-2:/$ sudo mount -t cifs -o username=myusername //RM-MacMini/HTHD /mnt/new2

And I get:
Password for myusername@//RM-MacMini/HTHD: ****
mount error(95): Operation not supported

(No longer an Input/output error, but now an Operation not supported error)
(RM-MacMini is the name for the server at 192.168.1.10 - I’ve tried both interchangeably with no success).

5

Everything below 920Mbit would indicate a cable or switch issue and should be investigated.

While I would suggest we continue with the testing with autofs as I personally use that your first step is to check with smbclient.

First install it sudo apt-get install smbclient
Then run smbclient -U myusername -L 192.168.1.10

6

This it the output of smbclient check:

osmc@HTPC-2:/$ smbclient -U myusername -L 192.168.1.10
Unable to initialize messaging context
Enter WORKGROUP\myusername’s password: ****

Sharename       Type      Comment
---------       ----      -------
HTHD            Disk      
IPC$            IPC       
Macintosh HD1   Disk      
Movies          Disk      
myhomefolder     Disk

Reconnecting with SMB1 for workgroup listing.
do_connect: Connection to 192.168.1.10 failed (Error NT_STATUS_CONNECTION_REFUSED)
Failed to connect with SMB1 – no workgroup available

HTHD is the server drive I’m trying to mount.

7

There are no shares of Desktop or Volumes that you tried in your fstab and autofs tries.

8

I had tried ‘Desktop’ which is a folder in my user home directory (in case it was pointing there).
I had tried ‘Volumes’ which is where the Mac contains its attached drives (such as HTHD).
And I had also tried HTHD.

Here’s the results trying to mount HTHD (it still errors, but with ‘Operation not supported’ instead of ‘Input/output error’):

osmc@HTPC-2:/$ sudo mount -t cifs //192.168.1.10/HTHD /mnt/new2 -o rw,iocharset=utf8,username=myusername,password=****,uid=osmc,gid=osmc,file_mode=0770,dir_mode=0770

mount error(95): Operation not supported

And in another attempt using less arguments, I get:

osmc@HTPC-2:/$ sudo mount -t cifs -o username=myusername //RM-MacMini/HTHD /mnt/new2

Password for myusername@//RM-MacMini/HTHD: ****
mount error(95): Operation not supported

I also tried 192.168.1.10 (instead of RM-MacMini), and get the same results.

I confirmed that Kodi is connecting to the server with the following path: smb://RM-MacMini or smb://RM-MacMini/HTHD

I Just don’t understand why I can’t mount the server outside of Kodi.

9

If that’s the share name you used in the Kodi-based mount, it’ll be the same for a kernel-based mount.

That could be a version issue. Until kernel 4.13, the default SMB version was 1.0. Try adding vers=3.0 to the command line options.

10

As you can see all “shares” that are provided are HTHD, Macintosh HD1, Movies and myhomefolder

For your problem with HTHD try adding vers=3.0 as @dillthedog wrote.
Alternative let us switch to autofs as it might be more informative what is going wrong.
Last suggest to stick using IP.

12

Thanks for the guidance, but still no success:
I tried both the long & short commands, and with vers=3.0 specified, I get the old ‘Input/output error’. With vers=2.0 or vers=1.0, I get the same ‘Operation not supported’ error.

LONG COMMAND:
osmc@HTPC-2:/$ sudo mount -t cifs //192.168.1.10/HTHD /mnt/new2 -o rw,iocharset=utf8,username=myusername,password=****,uid=osmc,gid=osmc,file_mode=0770,dir_mode=0770,vers=3.0

mount error(5): Input/output error

osmc@HTPC-2:/$ sudo mount -t cifs //192.168.1.10/HTHD /mnt/new2 -o rw,iocharset=utf8,username=myusername,password=****,uid=osmc,gid=osmc,file_mode=0770,dir_mode=0770,vers=1.0

mount error(95): Operation not supported

SHORT COMMAND:

osmc@HTPC-2:/$ sudo mount -t cifs -o username=myusername,vers=3.0 //192.168.1.10/HTHD /mnt/new2
Password for myusername@//RM-MacMini/HTHD: ****

mount error(5): Input/output error

osmc@HTPC-2:/$ sudo mount -t cifs -o username=myusername,vers=1.0 //192.168.1.10/HTHD /mnt/new2
Password for myusername@//RM-MacMini/HTHD: ****

mount error(95): Operation not supported

Will stick with the IP address as the ‘server’, and HTHD as the ‘share’ going forward…that’s a couple less variables to toggle. ‘new2’ is an existing & empty folder within the mnt directory.

I’m open to trying autofs again, but being able to mount from the command line seems like an initial requirement. Is there a different command line syntax I can use to test autofs (vs. appending the auto.smb.shares file?

13

To get more diagnostic information, run mount with the -v option.

14

Here’s with the diagnostic option. I ran with and without vers=3.0.
Just ran the shortened command line to keep it simple.

osmc@HTPC-2:/$ sudo mount -v -t cifs -o username=myusername,vers=3.0 //192.168.1.10/HTHD /mnt/new2
Password for myusername@//192.168.1.10/HTHD: ****

mount.cifs kernel mount options: ip=192.168.1.10,unc=\192.168.1.10\HTHD,vers=3.0,user=myusername,pass=********

mount error(5): Input/output error

WITHOUT VERS=3.0:

osmc@HTPC-2:/$ sudo mount -v -t cifs -o username=myusername //192.168.1.10/HTHD /mnt/new2
Password for myusername@//192.168.1.10/HTHD: ****

mount.cifs kernel mount options: ip=192.168.1.10,unc=\192.168.1.10\HTHD,user=myusername,pass=********

mount error(95): Operation not supported

15

You might try using nounix,sec=ntlmssp

16

Well debugging option for autofs is explained in the thread sudo automount -f -v -d
More than happy to help you with that. Alternatively you also can try with smbclient.

17

What are the permissions on /mnt/new2?

ls -ld /mnt/new2
21

Permissions on mount folder:

osmc@HTPC-2:/mnt/new2$ ls -ld /mnt/new2
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 0 Nov 25 20:18 /mnt/new2

22

I tried adding the nounix & sec=ntlmssp to the command line:
(I didn’t get an error this time, but not sure it actually mounted anything.)

osmc@HTPC-2:/mnt$ sudo mount -v -t cifs -o username=myusername,nounix,sec=ntlmssp //192.168.1.10/HTHD /mnt/new2
Password for myusername@//192.168.1.10/HTHD: ****

mount.cifs kernel mount options: ip=192.168.1.10,unc=\192.168.1.10\HTHD,nounix,sec=ntlmssp,user=myusername,pass=********

osmc@HTPC-2:/mnt$ cd new2
osmc@HTPC-2:/mnt/new2$ ls -a
ls: cannot access ‘’: No such file or directory
ls: cannot access ‘’: No such file or directory
ls: cannot access ‘’: No such file or directory
ls: cannot access ‘’: No such file or directory
…

23

mount and df -h would give you indication if and how it is mounted.

24

SUCCESS!!

I tried the nounix & sec=ntlmssp options in the original, longer command line, and successful mounting was achieved. I can now see the folders from HTHD in my mounted folder. What do these options do?

osmc@HTPC-2:/mnt/new2$ sudo mount -t cifs //192.168.1.10/HTHD /mnt/new2 -o rw,iocharset=utf8,username=myusername,password=****,uid=osmc,gid=osmc,file_mode=0770,dir_mode=0770,nounix,sec=ntlmssp,vers=1.0

(vers=3.0 doesn’t work)

Thanks all! Now I need to see if I can get the high bitrate films to play successfully with the server drives now mounted outside of Kodi. If fstab works, then I may still go back and try autofs.