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Choppy Playback on Apple TV


BoneBoxer

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BoneBoxer

Forgive me if this is the wrong subforum, but I did not see one specifically for Apple TV.

 

On my current generation Apple TV, and ONLY on my Apple TV, playback is very choppy/jerky, with any file. When I play through the LG TV Emby app it doesn't happen, but I really dislike the LG app's UI and the TV remote. I actually quit using Plex a while back because they would not address problems like this on the Apple TV. And now this same issue has cropped up in Emby, so I sure hope there is some hope for a fix or I'm just out of luck.

 

A log file is attached to this post. 

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I’m experiencing the same issue. This is happening after the latest Apple TV app update. I will upload some logs tomorrow.

 

Great, thanks !

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vdatanet

Are you playing 4k HDR items? What are your Apple TV video settings? Can you post media information of the problematic item?

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BoneBoxer

Are you playing 4k HDR items? What are your Apple TV video settings? Can you post media information of the problematic item?

 

It is happening with any video I try to play, which has been about 5-10 since I started having the problem.

 

Here are stats for the last video I tried to play:

 

Title1080p H264
CodecH264
AVCYes
ProfileHigh
Level41
Resolution1920x1040
Aspect ratio1.85:1
AnamorphicNo
InterlacedNo
Framerate23.976
Bitrate6,437 kbps
Bit depth8 bit
Pixel formatyuv420p
Ref frames1
NAL4
Audio
TitleEnglish Dolby Digital 5.1 (Default)
LanguageEnglish
CodecAC3
Layout5.1
Channels6 ch
Bitrate640 kbps
Sample rate48,000 Hz
DefaultYes
Subtitle
TitleUnd (SUB)
CodecSUB
DefaultNo
ForcedNo
ExternalYes
Containermkv

Size4476 MB

 

Which Apple TV settings are relevant to share?                   
Edited by BoneBoxer
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BoneBoxer

Under "Video and Audio" in Apple TV settings, here's what I've got:

 

Format: 4k HDR.

Chroma: 4:2:0

Match Content: Range & Frame Rate

 

And to answer your other question, both 4k and HD videos have had the same problem when I try to play them. And again, just to be clear, this is ONLY happening on the Apple TV client. From the same server, playing to my LG TV Emby app, everything is fine on any of the videos I've tried to play. Same thing using the web player on my laptop.

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vdatanet

That's the issue. If you want Emby to Apple TV to work, you have to set 4K SDR, because match content frame rate and dynamic range, does not work for Emby for Apple TV player.

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BoneBoxer

That's the issue. If you want Emby to Apple TV to work, you have to set 4K SDR, because match content frame rate and dynamic range, does not work for Emby for Apple TV player.

 

Okay, I tried to switching to 4k SDR in Apple TV settings, however this had no affect. Video playback still has the exact same choppy playback. Something like every half second it seems to suddenly jump a few frames or something. Which is exactly what it has been doing.

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vdatanet

Is it transcoding or Direct Play? Where's is your media located? I see you are using Google Drive. You are in sync with Google Drive or you stream directly from Google Drive? 

 

If you stream directly from Google Drive, try to play a local file to see if there are differences.

2019-12-07 17:48:44.387 Info LibraryMonitor: Abominable (/Volumes/GoogleDrive/My Drive/Media/Video/Film/Abominable.2019.1080p.BluRay.x264-SPARKS[rarbg]/abominable.2019.1080p.bluray.x264-sparks.mkv) will be refreshed.
Edited by vdatanet
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BoneBoxer

I can answer the one right now, though. Those files are not in the google drive cloud, but set to be in sync on the server's hard drive. It is a powered USB external. (And, keep in mind, they play fine to the LG tv client without any issues. It's only Apple TV that has these problems, and it always has them on any file I try to play). They are on a hard drive on a Mac Pro that is my emby server on my local network at home.

 

As far as transcoding, I don't know. I will have to look at the server when I get home.

Edited by BoneBoxer
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Sorry I was suppose to upload some logs and forgot about this topic. I’m now in vacation for the holidays and won’t be able to provide logs any time soon.

 

Following the conversation, with my setup I have the media in google drive and use rClone to make it available to Emby.

 

It doesn’t matter what type of media I play on the Apple TV, SD, 720 or 1080 even live tv is choppy on the new version of the app.

 

I have try the same media on the iPhone, shield tv and firestick 4K and I don’t get any of the choppy playback that I see on the Apple TV.

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sfatula

I find they almost all look bad in the no longer so new app. None of the settings matter for that. A 1080p/60 is the only video that looks good, anything else is clearly a mismatched framerate on my Samsung TV. In the "old" version using the Apple player, they all looked great. Don't even talk about interlaced, even worse. 

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BoneBoxer

Sorry for the delay. It's been a very busy week for me. But I now have the answer to the second question; videos I tried are direct playing from the Emby server to my Apple TV. No transcoding. But still, there is this frame-jumpy kind of choppiness.

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sfatula

Sorry for the delay. It's been a very busy week for me. But I now have the answer to the second question; videos I tried are direct playing from the Emby server to my Apple TV. No transcoding. But still, there is this frame-jumpy kind of choppiness.

 

Yep, same thing.

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BoneBoxer

If "you" is me, I can't remember exactly when it first started happening. Perhaps several months ago? I don't use my emby server on a regular basis, but more in chunks of time throughout, say, the year. At first I wasn't sure if it was just the files I was trying to play, but eventually it became clear this would happen with any video.

 

Here is what I can tell you, though. It started happening on my previous generation Apple TV - the one before the 4k. I didn't have any change in my setup that I remember that seems to coincidence with the trouble starting. Same server, same Apple TV device (at the time the problem started). And, the same problem has continued since I got my 4k Apple TV, about a month ago.

 

Prior to that I had used Emby for maybe a year, quite happily. Before that, for a couple of years straight I had chronic problems with Apple TV (and ONLY Apple TV) playback via Plex and it was clear that Plex wasn't really prioritizing fixes for Apple TV, and had no plans to do so in the near future, This was why I made the jump to Emby. Now I'm in the same boat with Emby - bad playback ONLY on Apple TV. Everything plays fine via the web client, on other iOS devices (tablet and phone), and on my LG TV app.

 

I really hope I'm not in the same boat with Emby as I was with Plex. Perhaps Apple TV fans like myself are in the minority of users, so it doesn't make sense to prioritize support for us over all the other apps a streaming app tends to support. If that's the case, I understand it, but I'd also by lying if I said I wasn't disappointed.

Edited by BoneBoxer
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