Peacock Downloader

jimc115

Analyzing Phase is using 100% of the C drive capacity and freezing everything from running. What the hell did you people do to this new update????
Do we need 10 instances of QCEF.exe running?

What exactly are you doing during the analyzing phase that would use 100% drive capacity?

MrGrackle

No idea about the new version, but during downloading since day one with Streamfab I had to move the temp location to an SSD because it made my Seagate Exos drive sound like it was going to launch. (Well, the Exos is an ENTERPRISE class drive, but I don't think they meant that. The competitor doesn't handle the disk system the same way)

Cats4U

If you have 10 instances of QCEF.exe that usually implies that you have improperly exited SF several times. Terminate them using your task manager. In the rare occasions where I get a (one) QCEF.exe still running after closing StreamFab, it continues to eat up 13% of my CPU until I terminate it. If you have ten instances going then I don't doubt you are freezing. I keep a system monitor widget on my screen (not for this reason) and I can easily see if there is excessive CPU usage after SF has ended.
I agree with MrKrawk in that StreamFab runs best with your Temp folder on a non-C: drive SSD. To a certain extent having your Log and Output folders on a non-C: drive SSD also benefits it. It will have no effect on your QCEF issue though.

Chameleon

I don't use this app for Peacock anymore, what a relief, a different app not mentioned of course just got Peacock, and it is totally different from here.

Cats4U

I don't use this app for Peacock anymore, what a relief, a different app not mentioned of course just got Peacock, and it is totally different from here.
Chameleon

The issue the OP posts about is not indigenous to the Peacock module so I would not point my arrows in only that direction. Best I can determine through testing is that when QCEF.exe is left behind running it is because the StreamFab program, as a whole, was improperly exited. It does not matter what module was run during a SF session. Let me clarify, I'm not blaming the original poster for doing the improper exit; I'm saying that something has caused the program to end without cleaning up its workspace. In every case where I checked the log following an exit that resulted in QCEF to keep running, the log shows that CEF closing was listed as having been done. It could be as simple as a timing issue where not enough time was given to closing QCEF.exe before the whole program was shut down.

MrGrackle

I agree with MrKrawk in that StreamFab runs best with your Temp folder on a non-C: drive SSD. To a certain extent having your Log and Output folders on a non-C: drive SSD also benefits it. It will have no effect on your QCEF issue though.
Cats4U

Originally I did have the temp and log files on my Samsung 860 PRO C: SSD drive and it did work fine, but as I upgraded SSDs and also went to a super fast Samsung 990 PRO M2 as my C:, I simply relettered my regular SATA SSD drive and use it for Streamfab Temp, logs and general backup of smaller files (such as my documents folder, my movie database data, and such).

Occasionally, maybe once a month, I add some data to the extra SSD even though it is probably not necessary, to protect the same sectors from being overwritten hundreds of times. It's a 2TB drive with practically nothing on it, so the temp downloads get pushed further out over time as I add said data.

corey75

Analyzing Phase is using 100% of the C drive capacity and freezing everything from running. What the hell did you people do to this new update????
Do we need 10 instances of QCEF.exe running?

What exactly are you doing during the analyzing phase that would use 100% drive capacity?
jimc115

Same here my friend. It's been ongoing for me for a long time on all of my computers. At the moment I currently have two machines running streamfab. One of the computers is running 9 instances of QCEF with crackle, and one of the servers is running 12 instances of QCEF with amazon. There have been no other widows/providers opened on either of those two machines, only one each. This QCEF has been an ongoing problematic thing on my end for months now.

Regardless, whether it be a platter or SSD drive, it usually runs ok until it reaches the "processing" and "remux" stages. My computers cry for help most of the time (and mostly with amazon). From what I can tell, Paramount and Hulu are usually the ones that give me the least trouble. If I'm doing anything during any of those other stages with other stream providers, my disks scream for help. It doesn't matter what drive it's on, all of the activity seems to prioritize whatever drive is running the streamfab temp files. I have changed them numerous times over the last couple of years and end up with the same results. Having a dedicated drive for streamfab temp files, another dedicated one for logs, another dedicated one for the install path, and then of course my system drive as another isolated source doesn't solve the situation. Sometimes it has less of a lag with dedicated drives for such, but the problem is still there. With the other guys, I have no such issues.

Another prime example... I can be running streamfab on the video server and all of my streaming around the house starts freezing, locking up, or constant buffering during the processing and remux phases. This particular server has dedicated drives to run such software. The local files are completely isolated from streamfab and its operations. Any TV in the house watching video service from it are having buffer issues when it starts processing, regardless of whether it be 480 or 4k video. I agree it's very frustrating. I've presented this issue over time but it doesn't seem to get resolved. The QCEF issues have been happening over the last two years with multiple reports filed to streamfab. It's quite a challenge, but I manage. It would be nice if this program worked without interfering with other things. The only workaround I've found is to use "angry's" software lol.

Cats4U

Yes, the QCEF issue should be fixed by StreamFab but it is your own fault for letting it get beyond 1 iteration of QCEF running. Although it happens rarely to me now, I always assume that a QCEF will be left running after exit. Having the system monitoring widget on the desktop makes it super easy to see if that's the case but loading up the task manager is almost as easy. Someone here previously wrote a script to close down any QCEF.exe running after exiting SF. I have a copy of it that I use that I modified to work with my automation program. That one would be worthless to you if not teamed up with the automation program. I'll try to find the original and post the message link here.

Cats4U

Ok, here it is. Written by @Pastordl and posted by @Down2Earth

https://forum.dvdfab.cn/forum/software-support-english/youtube-to-mp3-youtube-video-downloader/407260-qcef-here-we-go-again?p=421627#post421627

:: For testing if Streamfab is running, if not kill Qcef
Echo off
Set "MyProcess=streamfab64.exe"
echo "%MyProcess%"
tasklist /NH /FI "imagename eq %MyProcess%" 2>nul |find /i "%MyProcess%" >nul
If not errorlevel 1 (
Echo "%MyProcess%" is running
:: pause
goto quit
) else (
echo "%MyProcess%" is not running
Echo Killing Qcef.exe
taskkill /IM "QCef.exe" /F
TIMEOUT /T 6
)
:: pause
:quit
Exit

corey75

Thanks for the recommendation and I do appreciate it, but unfortunately, this issue has been ongoing for a very long time. That was my original post about 1.5 years ago. The problem never completely went away. It's on multiple machines doing the exact same thing. I could see if the behavior happened on just one computer, but the same thing repeatedly happens on all four of my machines. The qcef.exe goes from zero to usually 5 or more within a few seconds when starting up streamfab, before even attempting to load a streaming service. I usually open up the task manager and watch this process happen repeatedly. Regardless of a fresh install/clearing cache/reboot, this is a repeat issue upon initial startup. Hopefully streamfab will address this issue.

Chameleon

Yes, the QCEF issue should be fixed by StreamFab but it is your own fault for letting it get beyond 1 iteration of QCEF running. Although it happens rarely to me now, I always assume that a QCEF will be left running after exit. Having the system monitoring widget on the desktop makes it super easy to see if that's the case but loading up the task manager is almost as easy. Someone here previously wrote a script to close down any QCEF.exe running after exiting SF. I have a copy of it that I use that I modified to work with my automation program. That one would be worthless to you if not teamed up with the automation program. I'll try to find the original and post the message link here.
Cats4U

Nobody who pays this much for a program should have to go into the program and shut down a running process by themselves. This is not the way good software works. Sure all software will have glitches but this is ridiculous, no one has even made an attempt to fix this, besides the customers. This has been identified a long time ago. It should have been fixed already.

Cats4U

Corey,
What you are seeing is perfectly normal and is NOT what I am talking about. I'm not concerned with the adding (and subtracting) of processes while the program is running. What I am talking about is the issue with QCEF.exe sometimes remaining after SF is closed and assumes a large CPU load (around 13%, in my case) while doing nothing and when QCEF shouldn't be running at all. What you are seeing when you load up StreamFab is normal behavior. QCEF is SF's browser. It will add and subtract processes as needed and the CPU percentage for each process will be low, on average 2% or less for each process. As I said, this is totally normal for a browser. Monitor your Task Manager and load up Chrome, or Firefox, or Edge. You will see exactly the same action. Initially the process count will soar and depending on what the browser is doing will adjust the process count to match its actions. If you just open a browser and let it sit idle, the process count will often go down to just one process, no matter what browser you are using, including QCEF. In all cases the CPU load for each process will remain low. Under these normal conditions you will not notice any computer or network slowdown and absolutely nothing that could be considered freezing. If you are sensing a slowdown or freeze you need to look to see what is eating up your CPU capacity and lowering your responsiveness. Any number of things can cause this such as a background program such as antiviruses, defraggers, backup programs, the list is near endless. The key is to monitor to see what is using your CPU excessively at that time.
What I was talking about could cause one to notice a slowdown and in extreme cases, a freeze. On rare occasions SF will not close QCEF properly when StreamFab is shut down. The QCEF will remain active and in fact increase in CPU usage all the while doing nothing. I don't know if you can officially call it a memory leak or whatever name a systems analyst might come up with but it is not normal and is a bug. This resource eater will remain for as long as your computer is running. If you were unfortunate enough to have this rogue process appear multiple times (extremely rare and unlikely) you would definitely feel a slowdown and possibly a temporary freeze. That is not normal. What you are reporting is totally normal.

corey75

I don't think we're on the same page. I monitor my computers and network VERY closely, daily. I always have my task manager visible either up on the screens or in the taskbar. I have more than enough resources in the whole infrastructure. I am rarely seeing the improper shutdown of qcef as of lately. Yes, I've had major issues with qcef in the past, but I'm referencing my current issues being "similar" to what I'm sensing the OP is expressing. Not necessarily in this case that this issue is improper shutdown of qcef, but that a dozen or more open up when initiating some providers in streamfab. I assure you none are running at the time I open up streamfab. My beef is that most of the time, when it starts processing and remuxing, I get whole system slowdowns. Some are unresponsive for brief moments. After the process finishes, it releases all slowdowns and starts running normal again... UNTIL it starts the processing and remux phases. I might add, it's not just over the network to the tvs. Streamfab appears to be hijacking and prioritizing drive activity. My CPU generally doesn't run over 30% on average. Most of the time it sits at about 8-10% usage and my memory usually never exceeds about 40%. Streamfab is the ONLY software that displays such bad behavior. No other software comes to memory that gives me such issues. Now, I can probably replicate this issue outside of streamfab if I open up 58 tabs in firefox, of which 12 of them are all playing 4k youtube videos at the same time. I know that sounds silly, but that's pretty much an accurate comparison. When it's done processing & remuxing, everything returns to normal. It's a wash, rinse, repeat issue.

One other thing to add... No streamfab, no qcef, nada... is running. I open up streamfab WITHOUT opening up a provider and 5 qcef windows pop open in the task manager. Going from none to 5 qcef.exe windows open. Is that normal behavior? That's one that needs a valid explanation since nothing but the base program of streamfab is running.

october262

I don't think we're on the same page. I monitor my computers and network VERY closely, daily. I always have my task manager visible either up on the screens or in the taskbar. I have more than enough resources in the whole infrastructure. I am rarely seeing the improper shutdown of qcef as of lately. Yes, I've had major issues with qcef in the past, but I'm referencing my current issues being "similar" to what I'm sensing the OP is expressing. Not necessarily in this case that this issue is improper shutdown of qcef, but that a dozen or more open up when initiating some providers in streamfab. I assure you none are running at the time I open up streamfab. My beef is that most of the time, when it starts processing and remuxing, I get whole system slowdowns. Some are unresponsive for brief moments. After the process finishes, it releases all slowdowns and starts running normal again... UNTIL it starts the processing and remux phases. I might add, it's not just over the network to the tvs. Streamfab appears to be hijacking and prioritizing drive activity. My CPU generally doesn't run over 30% on average. Most of the time it sits at about 8-10% usage and my memory usually never exceeds about 40%. Streamfab is the ONLY software that displays such bad behavior. No other software comes to memory that gives me such issues. Now, I can probably replicate this issue outside of streamfab if I open up 58 tabs in firefox, of which 12 of them are all playing 4k youtube videos at the same time. I know that sounds silly, but that's pretty much an accurate comparison. When it's done processing & remuxing, everything returns to normal. It's a wash, rinse, repeat issue.

One other thing to add... No streamfab, no qcef, nada... is running. I open up streamfab WITHOUT opening up a provider and 5 qcef windows pop open in the task manager. Going from none to 5 qcef.exe windows open. Is that normal behavior? That's one that needs a valid explanation since nothing but the base program of streamfab is running.
corey75

see this thread here - https://forum.dvdfab.cn/forum/software-support-english/youtube-to-mp3-youtube-video-downloader/403122-qcef-exe-continues-to-run-and-leaks-memory
it may be a memory leakage.

corey75

see this thread here - https://forum.dvdfab.cn/forum/software-support-english/youtube-to-mp3-youtube-video-downloader/403122-qcef-exe-continues-to-run-and-leaks-memory
it may be a memory leakage.
october262

Thank you for sharing. I am one of the original participants in that thread and that issue isn't the one here. That pertains to qcef not closing properly. This thread is about a dozen of them opening up from the start of the program and eating up the drive.

KidJoe

Analyzing Phase is using 100% of the C drive capacity and freezing everything from running. What the hell did you people do to this new update????
Do we need 10 instances of QCEF.exe running?

What exactly are you doing during the analyzing phase that would use 100% drive capacity?
jimc115

I know I'm joining late, but... I don't see the analyzing phase eating hard drive space.

And while I don't see "10" QCEF.EXE instances, I have on occasion seen as many as 7 ot 9 while downloading. AND I have on occasion seen 3 or 4 instances of QCEF.EXE remain in "Background processes" in Task Manager on my windows 10 box, after exiting StreamFab. I'd have to manually kill those if I want to restart StreamFab. BUT that is not consistent.

I just downloaded Asteroid City and The Super Mario Bros. Movie from Peacock. StreamFab was listed in task manager under Apps, under it I had 9 QCef.exe, a YoutubeToMP3Process, YoutubeToMP3Service, and StreamFab. During the processes, the number of QCef.exe dropped to as few as 4 and up to to as many as 11, then settled on 9.

That said, I moved my StreamFab Temp and Log folders under D:\- C\StreamFab\ (a WD WD80EDAZ, white label 8TB removed from EasyStore USB). And the output drive is F:\BluRay-Working\- DVDFab10\DVDFab Downloader\ (a WD WD4005FZBX Black 4TB) I never see the free space majorly change on any drive while SF is downloading no matter how many files I have queued up.

I only update SF by using the Offline Installer. (I download it each release and run it).

Cats4U

Thank you for sharing. I am one of the original participants in that thread and that issue isn't the one here. That pertains to qcef not closing properly. This thread is about a dozen of them opening up from the start of the program and eating up the drive.
corey75

As I said, open any browser and watch with the Task Manager. The browser processes will grow (even with 1 tab open) to 5 or more active processes and then shrink and grow and shrink, etc. This is absolutely normal. I have yet to see an individual process eat up more that 3% CPU while the browser is idle. In your other message you say that StreamFab sometimes goes unresponsive. How are you measuring that? I hope you aren't relying on the green line going across the screen. That is purely cosmetic and absurdly inaccurate.
I just don't understand your comment that normally your CPU is at 8-10% and memory at under 40%. You make it sound like that should not increase when SF is running. You don't get something for nothing. StreamFab performs many complex calculations and actions; of course your resources are going to be used.
Let me show you with screenshots... I started out with my computer running idle (several programs running in the background such as Qbittorrent). I then started up StreamFab and let that run idle. I then loaded up Paramount+ (just randomly chosen out of all the VIPs that I subscribe to) and started a download of a random show episode (The Neighborhood S04E04). And finally it was processed by SF. I did not get to screenshot of the Remux because it completed too fast. It was probably comparable to the processing phase.

Computer idle

StreamFab idle

StreamFab downloading

StreamFab processing

I don't know where those readings in the white came from. I did not actually see them there while I was screen capturing otherwise I wouldn't have captured them. They seem to be a prior reading and still follow the progression I was trying to show. If you are wondering which program I used, it is Process Lasso Pro. https://bitsum.com/

jimc115

I know I'm joining late, but... I don't see the analyzing phase eating hard drive space.

And while I don't see "10" QCEF.EXE instances, I have on occasion seen as many as 7 ot 9 while downloading. AND I have on occasion seen 3 or 4 instances of QCEF.EXE remain in "Background processes" in Task Manager on my windows 10 box, after exiting StreamFab. I'd have to manually kill those if I want to restart StreamFab. BUT that is not consistent.

I just downloaded Asteroid City and The Super Mario Bros. Movie from Peacock. StreamFab was listed in task manager under Apps, under it I had 9 QCef.exe, a YoutubeToMP3Process, YoutubeToMP3Service, and StreamFab. During the processes, the number of QCef.exe dropped to as few as 4 and up to to as many as 11, then settled on 9.

That said, I moved my StreamFab Temp and Log folders under D:\- C\StreamFab\ (a WD WD80EDAZ, white label 8TB removed from EasyStore USB). And the output drive is F:\BluRay-Working\- DVDFab10\DVDFab Downloader\ (a WD WD4005FZBX Black 4TB) I never see the free space majorly change on any drive while SF is downloading no matter how many files I have queued up.

I only update SF by using the Offline Installer. (I download it each release and run it).
KidJoe

Thanks KidJoe....

I just got a new drive to toss in that I could dedicate just for SF and AS...moved as you suggested. I also did re-update with the offline copy and it helped also.