NVIDIA Shield Playback issues just started after getting Premiere.

[Mkilbride 76]

I have a NVIDIA Shield and a Denon 3500X receiver. so I support all the audio formats.

 

Previously when playing a FLAC release, it would DirectStream the video, but obviously downmixing the audio. HOWEVER. It's weird...I bought Premiere after debating...and now suddenly a host of issues popped up. My TrueHD Anime files stopped playing entirely on my NVIDIA Shield. HEVC, 10-bit releases, which previously direct played with ease.  I tried restarting my SHIELD and messing with the audio settings, no go.  They still play in my browser(transcoding of course).

As for FLAC files, now any file that has FLAC transcodes the video as well due to "Unsupported video profile".

 

I thought it might be Hardware Acceleration for some reason - despite direct play back of TrueHD, maybe it was the FLAC issue...but no.

 

If I transcode, the TrueHD media plays, but obviously not wanted. I'm so confused as it because just yesterday, they ran fine. All that has changed since then is me getting Premiere.

 

 

Here is a log of TrueHD. Gotta run, but will do FLAC later. (FLAC Added)

 

 

 

 

ffmpeg-transcode-751e35e8-b395-4626-b04c-aece16792753_1.txt

ffmpeg-transcode-2e5fbc62-509e-45b9-adb1-3be630b7bd4d_1.txt

Edited May 16, 2020 by Mkilbride

[ebr 14897]

Hi, unless it is related to hardware acceleration somehow, Premiere would have absolutely no impact here so that is likely just a coincidence.  Did anything else change in your setup?

[ebr 14897]

In your logs, it is the combination of unsupported audio and PGS subs that is causing the transcode.

[Mkilbride 76]

Nothing else has changed. And no, it still says direct stream...but nothing plays. As for flac and pgs, it used to downmix flac to aac...still does, but now says "unsupported audio profile" and transcodes the video as well, instead of remuxing. PGS subs can direct play on the shield as well, and other series do it fine.

 

As I said, these files worked fine just the other day...now all they show is a black screen(truehd)

Edited May 17, 2020 by Mkilbride

[Mkilbride 76]

They've started working again - but with a caveat. They are now transcoding. Even if I disable subtitles.  It says "Direct Play Error". I've changed nothing at all..yesterday they literally would not play, just a black screen, now they play, but they transcode with "Direct Play Error" as the only information.  Not even a DirectStream with the HEVC video being passed through or anything, everything is converted.

 

Attached log files to showchase what was happening.  This is SO weird. I swear to god, just 2 days ago, they were Direct Playing without issue(I almost always have Stats for Nerds up when trying new media). I cannot think what has happened.

 

Only thing I could I find on google is a post from 2017 with Plex, someone had a similar issue to me:

 

"Discovered that the root cause of the issue is with PGS subs and audio being transcoded. If the file requires audio transcoding then turning on subs forces the video to be transcoded too. Otherwise, files that direct play the subs work without the need to transcode. Anyone know why this is the case?"

 

Seems a similar case. Yet even without subs, they still transcode...

 

***Interesting little bit of info I found. When I use my headphones, that is why they are playing now.  For some reason the video is still being transcoded.  So I turned my headphones off and it went back to the black screen - but stats for nerds says it is Direct Playing...but my Receiver NEVER Switches to TrueHD. The web interface says the video is playing as well, but nothing is moving on the TV. No sound or anything.  So if I disable subs, use my headphones(So audio transcodes), then it Remux's for the video, directly playing it. But if I enable subs (PGS, which the Shield is capable of playing without issue, and was until now), it transcodes.  If I don't use my headphones, it Direct Plays both...but no video actually displays.

 

 

**************

 

Now this is really weird. I just went and tested it again, put my headphones on...and it DirectPlayed. Both Audio and video, WITH Subtitles.  For some reason there's no log in Emby Logs. But it played...perfectly, with subtitles and no transcoding...and I didn't change anything...I am at a loss. I've tried restarting my Receiver, TV, Shield, Emby. I'm clueless as to why this started happening.

ffmpeg-transcode-610fe4d0-9ee8-4ee9-928e-a860863e343e_1.txt

ffmpeg-transcode-2b4241db-193f-4215-8af8-33cbc19dc2a9_1.txt

ffmpeg-remux-e5776979-e750-466e-8ed5-6a84512ec071_1.txt

ffmpeg-transcode-9162b8d1-e1e8-45d9-b4dd-f24ca7d7057c_1.txt

ffmpeg-transcode-40ddee53-49c5-4623-9311-5564f948283f_1.txt

Edited May 17, 2020 by Mkilbride

[ebr 14897]

Hi.  As I mentioned originally, it is the *combination* of PGS subs with unsupported audio causing the transcode.

 

The Shield can handle PGS subs if the content can be direct played.  But, once it must be processed by ffmpeg on the server - for any reason (in your case, audio) - then it is no longer possible to transfer the graphical (PGS) subs any way other than burning them into the video which is why it is transcoding.

 

Does that make sense?

[Mkilbride 76]

I understand what you're saying, but I don't think you understand what I'm saying. Unless I down mix the audio, by using my headphones, all they get is a black screen, despite it saying direct played, subs or not.

My receiver support true HD audio, and can play it from other files, but has recently not started playing it from these files, stats for nerds says that it is direct playing both video audio and subtitles, but nothing is displaying on the screen

 

___________

 

Alright, I'm home now. I've used my phone to take pictures of what I mean, in hopes it'll be understood better. As it seems the logs aren't helping.

 

Trying to play my x265 HEVC, TrueHD Media file I receiver this in Stats for nerds:

 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/42AG86L9YbTGV4ZV8

 

The screen remains black, however long I wait.  Subs enabled.

 

Another x265, HEVC, TrueHD file - however a movie:

 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/1Zc74iUA1c8WYLiK8

 

Plays flawlessly. Goes right to TrueHD on my receiver and plays with no issues at all. Same exact format...I even enabled PGS subtitles.

 

Now one of the media files I'm having issue with, same thing here:

 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/c3P8Fd9FxdCzG8Xx5

 

I get a black screen unless I hit "Fix video issues", which then it transcode and redoes everything.  Including burning in subtitles.  If I disable subtitles, it DirectStreams HEVC as seen here:

 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/J1Fkgec9NKh9fmYj6

 

But ...it should DirectPlay it. My receiver, as shown, supports TrueHD.

 

Here is where things get confusing, and is what I think you're not understanding.

 

if I use my Bluetooth headphones, connected using LDAC protocol, I get HEVC DirectStream video(WITH SUBTITLES), still AAC from the trueHD(Because they don't support TrueHD, being BT headphones and headphones in general). I get a Remux.  But when NOT using my Bluetooth headphones, I get a Transcode. 

 

Without using my BT Headphones, I get a black screen unless I hit the "Fix video issues" button.  So I have to do it for every episode, or use my BT Headphones.  I am trying to figure out WHY this is the case. Based on everything I've shown...the file should DirectPlay, or at the very least DirectStream  - because it does that with my Bluetooth headphones...but not with my actual Receiver / Speaker. Sorry if I'm still not explaining this well.

 

 

___

 

And finally, here is the file...playing in Plex, Directly. So the Shield supports it.

 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/pEXEX1aLSQhYp4g77

 

The real question is why is it having issues with Emby?

Edited May 18, 2020 by Mkilbride

[ebr 14897]

It sounds like a problem with some of the encodes.  Can you do two things?

 

Play one of the ones that doesn't produce video for just a few seconds and then immediately send the log from the app.  Do not play for a long time or try and correct it.

 

Then, also, can you PM me a link to a sample that has this problem?

 

Thanks.

[Mkilbride 76]

File and logs sent. Hope it helps. If it was a problem with the encodes, why does Plex play them directly without issue?

 

This is kinda funny and frustrating. I switched from Plex like a week or two ago after I had enough issues with it trying to transcode a bunch of stuff it didn't need to, among other issues.

 

I enjoy emby so much, I buy premiere...I'd had no real problems before hand, then I put down 119$...and suddenly Plex is direct playing the stuff I want it to, and Emby isn't. It's kind of a like "Really?" moment.

[ebr 14897]

Thanks I'll look at your logs and file and see what I can determine.

[Mkilbride 76]

Another bit of info. My Samsung Galaxy S7(2016) is capable of DirectPlaying these files with subtitles enabled(from Emby). And as I said, Plex can. So it's definitely something on Emby's end...whether or not it's my fault is the big question here.

[Mkilbride 76]

Update.

 

Out of curiosity, I started turning settings on and off. Frame rate, resolution ect, seeing if it was related. I switched to the ENGLISH Audio Track. Also TrueHD, but 5.1 instead of Stereo.

 

And it direct played.  I wonder - is this related to the issue I had with the other series I messaged you about? That one also had an issue where only English audio could be played.  Interestingly, they all direct play on Plex, my phone, and Jellyfin. (if Jellyfin can do it, Emby certainly can).

 

It makes me feel they're related, but I'm not a coder or anything. The Shield can obviously play it though, based on Jellyfin and Plex. Makes me wonder what is going on?

 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/cAJs8D8yPDfG9Xji9

 

I also messed around with the Shield's audio support section. Disabling TrueHD caused it to transcode right away without needing to use the "fix" button.  With it enabled, it's a black screen, with it disabled - it transcodes, burning in subtitles and all that.

Edited May 20, 2020 by Mkilbride

[ebr 14897]

I think this has to be related to the resolution switching.  Your sample direct plays fine for me.

 

Can you test by just disabling the automatic resolution switching?

[Mkilbride 76]

Yeah. I disabled that in testing. Didn't fix it. So it direct played fine for you, using the Japanese audio option with subtitles? On a NVIDIA Shield?

[ebr 14897]

I'll try a few more combinations.  Which subs are you selecting (there are two)?

[ebr 14897]

I cannot make it fail...

 

[Mkilbride 76]

English Dialogue.

 

I am lost. I have no idea what I am doing wrong or why this is happening. I sent you the logs. I disabled res and frame rate switching as well.

 

On a side note, using the audio / video fix on that series I sent you that was only playing English - fixes it and makes it play Japanese. It feels more and more related.

 

My NVIDIA Shield is on the latest update. What Shield do you have? I have the 2017 model.  Googling around, I've seen the Shield has some issues with TrueHD, even recently.  Maybe I should switch to a beta branch of the Shield.

 

I've attached a few more logs. This morning I manually enabled and disabled certain audio settings on my shield, i.e, letting my shield pick, or me pick. I chose me. It auto-transcoded on Japanese again.

 

I gave Emburary a shot as well. Direct played. At this point, everything is direct playing it but emby itself. Plex, Jellyfin, Emburary. I am at a loss.  I even tried upgrading to the Emby beta to see if it fixed it. For Some reason, on Stream #2, the Japanese TrueHD Audio Track, Emby tries to convert it to AAC for no reason - when it should direct play.

ffmpeg-transcode-b07f01bf-5aa0-45ee-a6c9-dfda71210da1_1.txt

ffmpeg-transcode-29b80d0c-024f-46a8-8efa-a5162bc29526_1.txt

ffmpeg-transcode-87dd983d-cdc2-4d05-b3ae-de7824337394_1.txt

Edited May 21, 2020 by Mkilbride

[ebr 14897]

Can you update your Emby beta app on the Shield as it appears you are a couple revs behind.

[Mkilbride 76]

I went to the store and it says I'm on the latest; but the bottom of the app only says 1.800g. Can't see any way to update.  I uninstalled, then reinstalled.

 

It says "Emby for Android TV(Beta)" in the play store as well.  Not sure what else I can do here...is there a direct download link I can put on a USB drive or something? Cause I have auto update and everything on as well.++

 

 

https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/83678-android-tv-beta-1793/page-16

 

People here are reporting the same thing. Guess I'll have to sideload it afterall.

 

I updated it to 1.803g via the APK. It's still a black screen.

Edited May 21, 2020 by Mkilbride

[ebr 14897]

Just for grins have you re-seated cables, tried different cables, etc?

[Mkilbride 76]

Yeah. I did that earlier. Other truehd content plays fine.

 

 

On a side note, with the latest beta, you did infact fix that issue I had with that one series only playing in English. Pretty quick fix on that, that's cool.

 

I just wish I could figure out what is going on here. I sent some more logs from the app, but apparently we can't figure out what it is.

 

if TrueHD wasn't playing in my movie selection, I'd think it was my Receiver / the cable...but it does, and it plays in Plex & Jellyfin.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Mkilbride

[Mkilbride 76]

@@ebr

 

I wanted to post I figured it out. I trying to figure out WHY. Why did it Direct Play for you, not for me, and WHY did English work, but NOT other languages?  As said, I had everything reset...except Preferred Audio selection. That was set to "Japanese" ( I never imagined this option could have any affect on manual selection, but apparently it does, it ignores the users selection)

 

Sure enough...I set "preferred Language to English", and suddenly English was transcoding. I tried to select Japanese audio as a track...and it would not play. It would switch to English...and transcode. So I set "preferred language" to any, and now everything direct plays.

 

So I've managed to fix it, but now I need to select audio for each episode I watch...I already had to do that with subtitles due to being unable to select a series preferred subtitle track and having to go with Emby's guessing, this just makes it an extra layer of annoyance.

 

What I can conclude is that this is a bug on Android TV's side, because as said, on my phone it Direct Plays. Same with Tablet. (An Amazon Fire HD10..so pretty low end). Plex, Jellyfin both direct play with language options. so clearly it's related somehow to the option in Android TV's side.  I'd love for this to be looked into and fixed ASAP, it's just one of those "Minor, but gets really annoying when binge watching" kind of things.

 

____________

 

To add to this, I just went and tried to play the next episode. Same issue. Black screen.  So I  recreated all the steps I used to get it to Direct Play:

 

First, I went and changed my NVIDIA Shield to "let me select what audio my device supports", and selected everything.

 

Then I went back to Emby. Tried to play. It transcodes with a direct play error. English audio still direct plays.  Then I go back to my NVIDIA Shield settings and let the Shield automatically select what my Receiver supports.  Back to Emby.

 

It direct plays, but defaults to English REGARDLESS of my own wishes. If I stay IN the episode...and switch to the secondary track of Japanese audio, it then switches to Direct Play.  Doing this for every episode would be a pain. I wonder what is causing this?

 

EDIT 3: So it turns out as long as I do not go back to Emby's main screen, but stay WITHIN the player, I can keep direct playing. I just need to select the 2nd track and Subtitles.  As long as it starts with the 5.1 track.  This is so weird. At least as long as I let it play English first it'll keep going.

 

So now we know what is causing it; now we need to know why it is causing it...and how come it's not happening for you.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Mkilbride

[ebr 14897]

Then I went back to Emby. Tried to play. It transcodes with a direct play error. 

 

Can you reproduce that situation (just that situation) and then send a log from the app and tell me exactly when you did that?

 

Thanks.

[Mkilbride 76]

I've sent a few logs over. From the time of this post, likely 5 or 10 minutes before.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Mkilbride

[ebr 14897]

Something definitely goofy here with an audio track:

E EventLogger: Caused by: com.google.android.exoplayer2.audio.AudioSink$ConfigurationException: Unsupported channel count: 0

But it doesn't seem to be consistent as other playback attempts seem to decipher it properly (assuming it is the same item).  Can you please send just ONE more log - only play the item that produces the direct play error and only until it re-starts as transcoding.  Then immediately go back home and send the log, then tell me what time that was.

 

Thanks.