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How do I know if I'm using direct play, streaming, or transcoding?


smidley
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smidley

I've got Kodi set up with the Emby add-on at home.  How do I know if playback is using Direct Play, streaming, or transcoding?  When I'm playing something, I can see what looks like a buffer amount in the progress bar.  Is there any way to know what method is being used within Kodi or within Emby server?  Sorry if this is a noob question, I'm new to this setup.  :)

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Angelblue05

Adding to what null_pointer already mentioned.

 

In your Emby server dashboard, under Active device, when Kodi plays something you can simply mouseover the Kodi device and it will tell you if it's Direct playing, Direct streaming or transcoding. :)

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smidley

Thanks for the replies!  That's what I figured was happening.  Now one last question - With Emby, what's the difference between streaming and transcoding?

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Angelblue05

Very simple :)

 

Direct play: Kodi plays the file, bypassing your Emby server. This can only happen if Kodi has access to the file via local/network.

Direct stream: Emby server feeds the file as is to Kodi. There is no modification done to the file.

Transcoding: Emby server feeds the file in a readable format to Kodi. This happens in the event Kodi doesn't support the file format you are trying to play.

Edited by Angelblue05
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smidley

Very simple :)

 

Direct play: Kodi plays the file, bypassing your Emby server. This can only happen if Kodi has access to the file via local/network.

Direct stream: Emby server feeds the file as is to Kodi. There is no modification done to the file.

Transcoding: Emby server feeds the file in a readable format to Kodi. This happens in the event Kodi doesn't support the file format you are trying to play.

 

Excellent explanation!  I assume pretty much the only time transcoding is done would be for things like playback via the web browser?

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Angelblue05

Excellent explanation!  I assume pretty much the only time transcoding is done would be for things like playback via the web browser?

Exactly, the only time you should see transcoding is if the format is not supported (web browser have limited support) and/or if you force it by lowering the Video quality.

In Kodi, you should be able to play everything directly (there's very few things Kodi can't play).

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xnappo

Yes, just turn on the 'Play from HTTP instead of SMB' option, then you can select the bitrate.

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cw-kid

Exactly, the only time you should see transcoding is if the format is not supported (web browser have limited support) and/or if you force it by lowering the Video quality.

In Kodi, you should be able to play everything directly (there's very few things Kodi can't play).

So when the Kodi PC is remote to the Emby server, the play from HTTP option should be used. In this situation the only items that transcoded during my tests were a DVD VIDEO_TS rip and a Bluray ISO rip.

 

Everything else seemed to direct stream OK apart from .mov which it doesn't seem to like playing remotely.

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xnappo

Can you try playing that .mov remotely through the web interface?

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cw-kid

Hi

 

OK this is one of the same .mov files we have talked about in other threads, "Aliens in the Attic" just tried to play it in the Emby web GUI in Chrome browser remotely as I'm at my parents house now.

 

Its playing fine and Emby says its transcoding.

 

However when playing this same movie in Kodi it starts to play but then pauses, press play again and it plays for a few seconds and then pauses again. The server says its direct streaming.

 

So its still the same as before in Kodi when trying to play any .mov files.

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Angelblue05

It has to do with Quicktime, maybe the fact that we use apple.com to detect if we should use the user agent should change to detect the type QuickTime (.mov)?

if "apple.com" in playurl:
    USER_AGENT = 'QuickTime/7.7.4'
    playurl += "?|User-Agent=%s" % USER_AGENT
Edited by Angelblue05
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cw-kid

I just tried to play another .mov file in Kodi remotely, one which we have not tried before "Dances with Wolves" and that does the same starts to play for a few seconds and then pauses etc. So I would say probably all my .mov files are affected, I've not had one play OK yet.

 

Looking at this title in the Emby web GUI in the media info section Emby is still showing two video sections, what did @@Luke say? Something about it reading the embedded image..

 

5566007a220f2_Embymov.png

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cw-kid

Also other Apple formats / containers such as .m4v .mp4 play fine in kodi remotely and direct stream. Just .mov seem to be an issue.

 

And is it expected that DVD VIDEO_TS rips transcode remotely in kodi?

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xnappo

Try a hack.  Change line 152 of playUtils.py from:

if "apple.com" in playurl:

to:

if 1==1:

Restart Kodi, and try playing one of them.  This will break everything OTHER than .mov files :)

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Angelblue05

And is it expected that DVD VIDEO_TS rips transcode remotely in kodi?

 

I don't know if the server can direct stream these formats (including blurays). I'm not sure how to support it.

Edited by Angelblue05
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cw-kid

Try a hack.  Change line 152 of playUtils.py from:

if "apple.com" in playurl:

to:

if 1==1:

Restart Kodi, and try playing one of them.  This will break everything OTHER than .mov files :)

 

I can try this if you want? next time I am there. 

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im85288

Oh yeah - that is something for the trailers stuff I think.

 

@@im85288 - do we still need that?

 

I don't think so, we used that if I recall correctly when streaming trailers. As we only support real local ones in this addon it should be safe to remove if it's causing any issues.

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Angelblue05

It's not that it's causing an issue. We are wondering if it would help .mov (quicktime) content play properly. :)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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cw-kid

Try a hack. Change line 152 of playUtils.py from:

if "apple.com" in playurl:
to:
if 1==1:
Restart Kodi, and try playing one of them. This will break everything OTHER than .mov files :)

Hi @@xnappo

 

Just tried this and it did not seem to make any difference to the playback of the .mov files, they still don't play properly and keep on pausing.

 

I was still able to play other file types like ,mkv OK though.

 

Thanks

Edited by cw-kid
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xnappo

Honestly I have no clue on this one.

 

@@Luke - anything special we need to know about streaming .MOV files?

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cw-kid

All the .mov movies seem to play fine in Kodi with the Emby add-on on the LAN. Only remotely in Kodi they don't play properly.

 

Cheers

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xnappo

Yep - I am sure it is something to do with how we are requesting the transcode from the server, but I don't know what.

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