Runaway ffmpeg process usage after MyCloud5 upgrade

@ggirelli Ditto - indexing took approximately an hour yesterday, but the ffmpeg has been chugging along for 24h now…

@SBrown I just ssh’ed in to get a closer look at what ffmpeg is up to and would appreciate a bit more detail about what the system is doing:

/usr/bin/ffmpeg -hwaccel vaapi -vaapi_device /dev/dri/renderD128 -i /mnt/HD/HD_a2/24TB/Movies/Rosie (2018)/Rosie.mkv -vf format=nv12,hwupload,scale_vaapi=w=1280:h=544,fps=30.00 -vcodec h264_vaapi -f ssegment

This feels like going beyond just generating thumbnails (especially considering how long this process takes per each media file) and actually analyzing and uploading transcoded versions of my media?

Is there an option to just allow Cloud Access to browse shared files and CRUD file abilities (Create/Read/Update/Delete) within the mobile app in lieu of going through whatever transcoding is happening on my system?

Thanks!

@arm3n This looks like you many have Plex installed and doing some trans-coding. Can you confirm?

As I mentioned earlier, I have no apps installed (I have a dedicated Plex server).

Let me consult with our engineering teams. My Cloud PR series support hardware transcoding of content. Will have more detailed information for you shortly.

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In meantime, I renamed /usr/bin/ffmpeg on the system and killed the process with no deleterious effects. My system is now very quiet and all my Cloud/Mobile functionality still works.

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@arm3n I confirm that ‘ffmpeg’ is included on My Cloud PR2100/PR4100 which support the pre-transcoding of video content for mobile and web app playback. This happens outside of the OS 5 Update Indexing process. If the content is not transcoded, the mobile and web app will be unable to play the content. IE: media not supported message.

@SBrown Got it, thank you for confirming. I usually just use Open In VLC option, so personally really no need for this transcoding work. Is there an official way of disabling that as opposed to my workaround?

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@arm3n… having VERY limited experience with this type of interface (I mainly rely on the web GUI), can you explain the steps that you took to “rename” /usr/bin/ffmpeg and stop the processing? Apologies in advance for my lack of understanding the process.

@cbsc139 No worries:

  1. first be sure you are able to SSH in (Settings->Network)
    image

  2. Use an SSH client (freeware like PuTTY) using the sshd username and the password you’ve set above.

  3. type mv /usr/bin/ffmpeg /usr/bin/ffmpegbak

  4. type pkill ffmpeg

  5. Verify the there is no ffmpeg process running any longer when you type top and push p to sort by CPU utilization (should look similar to below)

That’s it!

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Caveat for all - should go without saying, but if you plan on installing any apps that depend on transcoding, you might have to either rename back or figure out a way to configure app to look for new ffmpeg location/name. Some apps might already bundle their own compilation of ffmpeg though, so you would be in the clear (thx @scb99)

Obviously the best solution would be for WD to get back to us with a way to toggle the MyCloud transcoding as we see fit.

Emby has its own ffmpeg not in usr bin
I assume plex the same

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Plex uses its own modified version of ffmpeg. When transcoding the Plex Process will spike.

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WOW. . . .transcoding media without initiating the process? Definitely something that needs an “off” or “pause” button.

Good to know. . .

Thank you very much for sussing that out.

(Does not affect me, as I have an EX2; I long ago decided to transcode myself (for plex and for tablet use) using a faster machine that I could dedicate to the task.

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I would like a clarification here. Does your statement means that EVERY video gets a transcoded copy BEFORE it is even requested by mobile or web client?

Sadly yes - it is why even after all the main indexing was completed, the transcoding kept running 24h later, chugging through my 16TB of media until I killed/renamed ffmpeg

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Peachy. I am not touching this update with a 10 meter long pole.
@SBrown, would you be as kind as to find out who made this function this wholesomely retarded way, ask him to pull his head out of his arse and make it opt-in only in next release? Thank you.

My content gets reencoded when I want, especially or PR line which is powerful enough to do it on the fly. The HDD space consumption of this function no one wants must be also nice.

I’m very new to all the tech talk but I have picked up bits.

In simple terms I had it more or less confirmed about the transcoding on every every file & like the user mentioned it eats up your drives space very quickly. So in short I have lost around 200GB due to this “ change” I won’t get it back according to the WD, they add looking into it though.

Long story short I have had to disable the cloud on the settings as it was still doing stuff 24 hours plus later eating more GB by the hour. I had loads of warning messages telling me my drive is nearly full. It also became very laggy due to this.

There is an old saying “if it’s no broke don’t fix it”. There was nothing wrong with the old iOS app & access files via that remotely it did not transcode & wipe GB of memory in 24 hours I have now lost over 200GB & maybe more if I let it do more transcoding etc. It’s an absolute joke that this new “update” can take so much GB just because they changed something. I have a 8TB NAS (raid 1 I think so essentially 4TB) I had loads of stuff I wanted copied over the weekend which I can’t do now.

I am also not able to remotely access the stuff I need on the apps due to the process starting over again as soon as I switch cloud on back on.

I know there is a suggestion on how to stop this but struggling for time at the mo.

WD took over my my computer the end of last week & more or less confirmed the above about the GB loss. I honestly hope they do a firmware to revert back to the way it was as I’ve lost a lot of free memory due to this.

The drive also took an absolute ponding for over 24 hours & didn’t even go on standby

Oh & I purposely mentioned arms suggestion to WD direct about fixing/delaying the process which they can’t comment on & will look into it.

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I’ve also had a couple of hundred gig (Maybe 200-300GB, maybe more?) disappear from my available space and just figured cos I’d loaded a few extra backups onto it that it was just me

Now I’ve read this I’ve killed ffmpeg off as per OP advice and RAM usage is down - NAS had been chugging away at ~85% ram usage for 7 days - no idea if I can get rid of the transcode info so i can retrieve my space back though

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