FAQ - PCoIP Performance (5398)

 

FAQ – Performance Summary

 

FAQ – Questions

Audio/Video

1. No Audio: How to fix audio issues?
2. Poor Audio: How to fix audio breaking or popping issues?
3. Poor Video: How to fix video playback that is jittery or has a low frame rate?
4. Audio/Video Sync: How to fix lip sync issues?

Displays

1. No Display: How to fix black, grey or "No Source Signal" screen issue?
2. Poor Display: How to fix blurry, dithering, pixelated, or flickering black displays?
3. Wrong Resolution: how to fix display resolution issues?

Input Peripheral Devices

1. Mouse/Keyboard: How to fix a laggy keyboard/mouse or mouse that does not track accurately?
2. Tablet: How to fix Wacom device performance issues? 
3. USB: How to fix poor USB performance?

Answers  - General

No Audio: How to fix audio issues?

Cause: 

No audio (silence) will happen if the audio stream has been muted or disabled on either the PCoIP Client or PCoIP Host.   The cause could be the driver for the audio stream is not installed correctly, the audio is muted, the settings are disabled, etc.   

Resolution: 

The key to fixing a 'no audio' problem is to figure out if the root cause is on your PCoIP Client, your PCoIP Host.  The following checklist will help you identify the root cause on why your audio feed is silent. 

STEP 1: Is audio working on your client?

• Is your client a Zero Client?
  • Make sure Audio is enabled: AWI>Configuration>Audio page
  • Enable local UBS audio driver: AWI->Configuration>Audio page and select your USB audio input and audio output device. 
  • Run audio diagnostics from AWI >Diagnostics>Audio page
  • Result 
    • If you hear audio, the client is okay.  Problem is on the host, go to STEP 2.
    • If you do not hear audio, the problem is on the client, reboot the client and try again.  If that does not help, create a case and attach the log from the Zero Client.
• Is your client a PCoIP Software Client?
  • On your client machine, verify that you can hear audio when you are not connected to a PCoIP session. 
  • Result:
    • If you do hear audio, then the problem is on the host.  Go to STEP 2. 
    • If you do not hear audio even when not connected to the host, then your client device is misconfigured.  Consult your IT group to get additional help.

STEP 2: Is audio working on your PCoIP Host?
 

• Is your host a computer configured with a Remote Workstation Card?
  • Ensure that audio is enabled in AWI>Configuration>Audio page.
  • If you are using USB headset and it is configured as a bridged USB device, then you need to select the correct device as a default playback and recording device. Right click the sound icon in the system tray, select playback devices tab and click on the device you want to use and then click the "Set Default" button. You can follow same steps to select a recording device. Playback and recording devices should use the correct drivers for that particular device.
• Is your host a HP Anyware Agent machine?
  • Ensure that you have not disabled audio in PCoIP group policy variables.
  • Ensure that you are using "HP Anyware virtual audio driver" in your default playback and recording device. Right click the sound icon in the system tray, select playback devices and click on the device you want to use and then click the "Set Default" button. You can follow same steps to select a recording device. 
• Is your host a VMware Horizon Desktop?
  • Have you installed HP Anyware virtual audio driver in the VMware Horizon desktop? 
  • Ensure that you are using "HP Anyware virtual audio driver" in your default playback and recording device. Right click the sound icon in the system tray, select playback devices and click on the device you want to use and then click the "Set Default" button. You can follow same steps to select a recording device. 

For more information on audio issues, refer this link - Troubleshooting Audio Issues (1049) 

Poor Audio: How to fix audio breaking or popping issues?

Cause: 

Poor quality audio is caused by poor network conditions such as out of order packets, duplicate packets, packet loss or excess jitter. These network characteristics can affect audio performance and can introduce undesirable audio problems such as silence, stuttering, hissing, pops and squeaks. 

Recommendations:

• Tune your network for PCoIP traffic

If you are hearing poor quality audio, measure the performance of your network using the PCoIP agent logs and then compare these measurements to the required network requirements.   If they are out of spec, follow these tuning guidelines.

•  Locally terminate USB audio device in the PCoIP Zero Client

When a USB audio device is manually configured to be bridged from a Zero Client to a host, the audio stream is transferred to the host as uncompressed audio data using a PCoIP USB channel. The PCoIP USB channel enforces reliable (guaranteed) delivery of packets so lost USB packets are retransmitted. The audio data inside the USB channel inherits the network conditions including out of order packets, duplicate packets, packet loss and jitter. These network characteristics can affect audio performance and can introduce undesirable audio problems such as silence, stuttering, hissing, pops and squeeks. 

By locally terminating the audio stream at the PCoIP Zero Client, audio data is compressed and optimized for both lower bandwidth and better audio quality using a local audio driver and dedicated audio channel.  Local audio termination is configured at AWI>Configuration>Audio in the Zero Client.  

For more information on audio issues, refer this link - Troubleshooting Audio Issues (1049)

Poor Video: How to fix video playback that is jittery or has a low frame rate?

Cause:

Factors that impact the performance of video playback include:

• Quality of your network:  Is your network experiencing high packet loss, high latency or high jitter?  
• Power of your PCoIP Client: How powerful is your CPU on your Thin Client or Software Client?
• Bandwidth: Are you using a high CPU clock speed or a high display resolution on your PCoIP Agent?
• Optimizations: Have you disabled hardware assist options on your PCoIP Agent?

Recommendations:

The article Troubleshooting Video Playback Issues (1560) will explain what performance you can expect under various scenarios while also providing troubleshooting tips for how to solve most video playback issues. ​​​​​​
 

Audio/Video Sync: How to fix lip sync issues?

Cause:

If the audio and video are drastically out of sync during video playback, this is usually an indication of poor network conditions including variable latency or significant packet loss.

If the audio and video are generally in sync but need fine tuning (i.e. audio is a few frames behind the video), then this is usually an indication that the av sync feature on the client is disabled.  This is typically a more advanced requirement for video editorial use cases.

Recommendation:

If the audio and video are drastically out of sync, then we recommend measuring the performance of your network using the PCoIP agent logs and then compare these measurements to the required network requirements.   If they are shown to be out of spec, follow these tuning guidelines to correct the problem.

If the audio and video are generally in sync but need fine tuning, then enable on the HP Anyware Software Client the feature called Enhanced Audio and Video Synchronization.   This feature employs a local buffer to improve frame synchronization.  To enable this feature, follow these steps:

1. If you are in full-screen mode, reveal the menu bar on the display you want to enhance by moving the mouse cursor to the top.
2. On the display you want to enhance, Select View > Enhanced A/V Sync to toggle enhanced sync mode.

To find out more about the feature of Enhanced Audio and Video Synchronization, please refer to the HP Anyware Software Client Administrator's Guide: Windows, Linux , macOS.

No Display: How to fix black. grey or a "No Source Signal" screen issue?

Cause:

Black screen can be caused by unsupported GPU drivers installed in the host.

Black Screen on a monitor directly connected to your host server seen when you come back to the office and use a host server that had previously been used remotely.  The cause of the issue, is that the machine is setup to broadcast the monitor contents to the remote client and is not setup to use the monitor locally. 

Grey screen seen while connecting to a host server that has a remote workstation card installed. It can be caused by incorrect cabling or faulty cables connected between remote workstation card and Graphic card.

"No Source Signal" appears at the start of a PCoIP session to indicate no video source.  It can be caused by incorrect cabling, faulty cables or Host software settings

Recommendations:

Black Screen caused by GPU drivers?

• Black screen can be caused by unsupported GPU drivers installed in the host. Please refer system requirements page for Windows and Linux to know the supported drivers version for your particular agent version.

Black Screen caused when display setup to remote but you are accessing locally.

• Follow the steps in this link - Black screen on my locally connected monitor on a physical workstation after remotely connecting to a PCoIP session.

Grey Screen when connecting to a remote workstation card machine

• Do you get display if you attach monitors locally with graphic card? If yes then did you test the cables connected from graphic card to remote workstation card?
• Do you have monitor emulation enabled in the host card? It should be enabled only for the ports which are actually connected to the graphic card.
• Ensure that the only GPU in the system is the one the host card is attached to. If it isn't and the other GPU can't be removed, ensure in the BIOS the host card GPU is the default.
• When connecting the host card please only use the supplied short black mini DP to DP and mini DP to DVI cables. If you plan on using aftermarket cables please test those later after the system is working.
• Ensure no local monitors are connected to the GPU in Remote workstation card machine.
• Try in full screen mode from software client because in full screen mode we send actual EDID of client.

"No Source Signal" when connecting to a remote workstation card machine

• Refer to the article, What does the "No Source Signal" message mean? 1524 

Poor Display: How to fix blurry, dithering or flickering black displays?

Cause:

Typically a blurry screen is due to the lack of available network bandwidth. Throughout a PCoIP session, the PCoIP network adaptation algorithm intelligently monitors the network to estimate bandwidth availability. If the network is congested, PCoIP reduces the estimate of how much bandwidth is available. The number of pixels changing on the screen dictates how much bandwidth is required. If a low number of pixels are changing, reduced bandwidth availability may not impact the session. If there are more pixels changing than available bandwidth, PCoIP optimizes frame rate and initial image quality to fit in the available bandwidth. When the quality drops low enough this causes the display to be 'blurry'.

Recommendations:

• Please follow below KB articles to troubleshoot:
  • Blurred Image https://help.teradici.com/s/article/1401
  • Dithering          https://help.teradici.com/s/article/1087
  • Flickering Display https://help.teradici.com/s/article/1347

 

Wrong Resolution: how to fix display resolution issues?

Cause:

Display resolutions are set based on the requested settings of the PCoIP Software Client or Zero Client and capability of host GPU. If your host GPU is incapable of the resolution requested by the client, the PCoIP Session will fall back to a lower resolution supported by the GPU.
 

Recommendations:

PCoIP Software Client

In full screen mode, the software client uses the display resolution and topology of the underlying operating system. When in windowed mode, the software client will adjust the resolution to match the window size when possible. If the local display resolution has been set to anything but the optimal resolution for the attached display, black borders will appear around the desktop when running the client in full screen mode. Ensure you have set the optimal resolution in your client machine before connecting a PCoIP Session.

PCoIP Zero Client

Topology and display resolution must be set prior to connection with the HP Anyware Host. The PCoIP Zero Client display topology and screen resolution information is used when establishing the PCoIP session to set the required display settings. To modify the topology and display resolution:

1. In the OSD, select Options, User Settings.

2. Select the Display Topology tab.

3. Tick Enable Configuration

4. Select the preferred Layout

5. Change the Primary Display, Position, Rotation and Resolution as required.

PCoIP Host

• Make sure that you are using supported drivers for the particular agent version. You can check the system requirements page to find supported driver version.
• Make sure that you have not set any Primary display resolution in agent machine via GPO. If the display attached to the PCoIP Client is not compatible with the selected resolution it may result in no display. Once set, the setting takes effect at the start of the next PCoIP Session.

Mouse/Keyboard: How to fix a mouse/keyboard that is laggy or mouse that does not track accurately?

Causes:

Keyboard and Mouse issues are typically caused by:

• Large customer pointer shapes
• Poor network conditions from the client to host
• Bridging USB Keyboard and Mouse devices over high latency networks
• Incorrect display topology 

Most common cause of this issue is incorrect topology or resolution.
 

Recommendation:

Find out more on mouse related issues, refer this link - Troubleshooting keyboard and mouse issues (1429)
 

Tablet: How to fix Wacom device performance issues?

Causes:

Tablet issues are typically caused by:

• Poor network conditions from the client to host
• Bridging WACOM devices over high latency networks
• Trying to use Touch Sensitivity when using a locally terminated Wacom tablet (i.e. touch sensitivity is supported only when you bridge the USB connection for the Wacom device over a low latency network, it is not supported when the tablet is locally terminated)  

Recommendation:

For more information on Wacom tablet support, how to locally terminate, how to bridge and how to enable touch sensitivity, refer this link: Wacom Tablet Support.  Refer to this link for How to fix poor USB performance? if you need guidance on how to identify and fix poor network conditions.

USB: How to fix poor USB performance?

Causes:

The most common cause of slow USB data transfers is related to the network environment. USB data transfers are sensitive to the available network bandwidth, latency, and packet loss. Following are the few reasons that can cause the reduction in performance:

• Some USB devices are not capable of functioning at the maximum specified transfer rate, even when directly connected to a local computer. 
• USB devices were designed for short distance communication (connected to local PC by a USB cable) and not to traverse a network. Therefore, transfer rates observed locally may not be maintained when the USB device is bridged and communication travels across a network.

 

Recommendations:

• Ensure sufficient network bandwidth for possibly high USB data rates.
• Minimize latency on the network between endpoints.
• Minimize out-of-order packets (packet re-ordering at the end point increases the processing delay).
• Avoid network packet loss which causes a delay in re-sending lost USB packets.

For further guidance, refer to Troubleshooting USB peripherals (1404)