UNC PATHS SET, Emby still transcodes to Mediabrowser app

[andrewbee 15]

Hello, I am having trouble understanding why this happens. I have a variety of video player apps on my iPad (cinex player, VLC, Moli player HD, playerXtreme HD, it's playing pro) and Media Browser.

The apps all come with network/uPnP capabilities.

 

Playing a video through the media browser app on my local network, I notice emby server constantly transcodes the clip(ffmpeg.exe) in task manager and the dashboard but if I play through VLC or any of the apps mentioned above, which can see and have access to the emby server, they play the clip directly and no transcoding is done.

My media library is setup with UNC paths.

 

Is the app broken or am I doing something completely wrong. I also have issues with resuming play and occasionally losing the playback interface in the app, which has been mentioned in other threads. Any advice getting this to work without it transcoding will help. Thank you.

 

Using the latest server release: 3.0.5597

[andrewbee 15]

I was hoping for an update by now so I will try and make my case again to in order to SOLVE DIRECT STREAMING LOCALLY. I decided to take a few screenshots and logs to help you understand why this has me baffled. I have Emby and Serviio Server installed on the same machine.
 
Emby Server streaming to iOS (iPad) MediaBrowser.app

Attached log from Emby:Emby Server streanming to iOS (iPad) MediaBrowser.app_log.txt

 

The server starts off with a high CPU processing (ffmpeg.exe) and settles to about 2-3% after a while. Scrubbing through the video playback, Media Browser iOS app seeks for a while and plays the content but picture often gets pixelated. Ocassionally the video never completes a playthrough on the iOS app and freezes. Going in and out of the app, elevates this problem for a while but it still reoocurs.

 

Emby Server streaming to iOS (iPad) VLC.app(v2.3.0) and all other iOS video players mentioned above

 

Attached log from Emby: Emby Server streaming to iOS_VLC.txt

 

The Server streams directly and plays to VLC but unable to scrub forward or backwards. Attempting to do so will cause the picture to go white and pixelate before resuming its previous play point. No transcoding is taking place.

 

Serviio Server streaming to iOS (iPad) VLC.app(v2.3.0) and all other DLNA Clients.

 

Attached log from Serviio: Serviio Server streaming to iOS_iPad_VLC.log (hope it helps)

 

Serviio server streams directly to VLC and other players on my local network without a hitch. CPU usuage is at 0% and I can scrub forwards and backwards in the player without a single spike in the CPU usuage. Picture is excellent and clear, no transcoding taking place.

 

 

Other things to note:

My UNC paths setup was creating following the guide in the forum

I also have a Sony Bravia TV(2014) that can see the server and access the content. I could post log info on what the server does when feeding the client.

 

Thoughts:

I think Emby is a phenomenal media server with several features from its metadata handling, Channels, liveTV, plugins to its presentation but I strongly feel its DLNA/uPNP capabilities, specifically with direct streaming (locally) are severely lacking compared to Serviio.
 
Also, after messing with the OS X and Windows installation process, including Emby/Kodi plugin, I find that trying to get everything up and running is an absolute minefield especially coming from the simple and easy 'straight-out-the-box' setup Serviio offers. Granted Emby is more Robust in features but the installation guides could be really improved across the board.
For example, Mentioning the importance of UNC/Network paths and explaining path substitution for direct streaming, all the extra plugins and downloads needed on OS X from Xcode, MacPorts, Mono etc could be added and better streamlined in the guide(s).

 

I appreciate all your efforts in making this product and will gladly become a supporter once this is resolved. I hope to have one server to rule them all and Emby is almost there.

[Luke 37045]

We don't have an included Vlc profile so it's transcoding. We should be able to whip one up and then everything will play with Dlna the same was as serviio.

[Luke 37045]

Also, what did you have to do as far as installing the server, because the OSX installer should lay down everything. You shouldn't have to do anything with mac ports or xcode.

[andrewbee 15]

We don't have an included Vlc profile so it's transcoding. We should be able to whip one up and then everything will play with Dlna the same was as serviio.

Thanks for the quick response! I just wanted to be able to play and scrub through videos on the server using the mediabrowser app without it transcoding. Does this mean, I need to set Dlna profiles for the mediabrowser and VLC app to have this work? If so, please point me to a guide and I could go about trying to set it up.

 

Also, what did you have to do as far as installing the server, because the OSX installer should lay down everything. You shouldn't have to do anything with mac ports or xcode.

I kept having issues with playback, 'media resolve.local', 'too many opened files' error messages etc and also later learnt the web client will always transcode the videos it plays. At the time, I also didn't know about network paths and Since there wasn't an Emby theater app for the Mac, I decided to forget about turning my old MacBook to a server/htpc. Kodi's interface wasn't as nice as Emby theater's simplicity and since it was relative a new development, I decided to wait till that gets more adopted and so I drop trying to get it to work, moved to Windows. Installing xcode, mac ports etc was from the forum http://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/5883-os-x-setup/?p=90807

Edited May 4, 2015 by andrewbee

[Luke 37045]

Well I'm going ahead and creating a vlc profile to be included in the next server release (and bubble upnp while i'm at it since it's popular).

[andrewbee 15]

Well I'm going ahead and creating a vlc profile to be included in the next server release (and bubble upnp while i'm at it since it's popular).

THANK YOU!

 

Btw, Could you please confirm whether I need to create a Dlna profile for the mediabrowser.app to have it stop transcoding? and how would I go about it?

Edited May 4, 2015 by andrewbee