Suggestions for long (5+ hr) recordings, transcoding, FF/Rewind?

[Mister Steve 28]

The US Open tennis tournament is broadcast in some long stretches, 5+ hrs.    Navigating through the recording on my kitchen TV (LG 24LM520S-WU) is near impossible.    It would be great if there was an option to split recordings into multiple files, say 15 or 30 min each that Emby could recognize as separate episodes.  Is this possible, perhaps by a post-processor?   Any other suggestions, short of purchasing another TV or additional hardware for the transcoding?   

I'm using software transcoding and never have issues except for large MPEG-2 files.    I plan to add H/W transcoding at some point, but I kind of doubt an upgrade would sufficiently speed up FF/Rewind on such large files.

 

A few details in case it helps:

2021-09-07 20:22:47.062
Operating System: Linux version 5.10.0-0.bpo.5-amd64 (debian-kernel@lists.debian.org) (gcc-8 (Debian 8.3.0-6) 8.3.0, GNU ld (GNU Binutils for Debian) 2.31.1) #1 SMP Deb
OS/Process: x64/x64
Emby Server version: 4.6.4.0
Operating system: Unix 5.10.0.0
Command Line: /opt/emby-server/system/EmbyServer.dll -programdata /var/lib/emby -ffdetect /opt/emby-server/bin/ffdetect -ffmpeg /opt/emby-server/bin/ffmpeg -ffprobe /opt/emby-server/bin/ffprobe -restartexitcode 3 -updatepackage emby-server-deb_{version}_amd64.deb

App: Emby Theater 1.0.24
LG Smart TV (24LM520S-WU)

>>>>>>  User policy for emby
        EnablePlaybackRemuxing: True
        EnableVideoPlaybackTranscoding: True
        EnableAudioPlaybackTranscoding: True

>>>>>>  Affected codecs
Encoder libx264 Software Encoder
        Profiles: Baseline Profile (Level 6.2), Main Profile (Level 6.2), High Profile (Level 6.2), High 10 Profile (Level 6.2), High 4:2:2 Profile (Level 6.2), High 4:4:4 Predictive Profile (Level 6.2)

>>>>>>  FindVideoEncoder - Media: h264, UseHardwareCodecs: True, Mode: Automatic
Info    Checking: 'libx264 Software Encoder'
Info    Check successful - selecting 'libx264 Software Encoder'

>>>>>>  FindVideoDecoder - MediaType: mpeg2video, Mode: Automatic
Info    Checking: 'Automatic software decoder'
Info    Check successful - selecting 'Automatic software decoder'

>>>>>>  Processing Plan
Info    Name                                        CanDoInHardware      WillDoInHardware     Reason                                  
Info    Automatic software decoder               >> False                False                Software Codec                           
Info    VideoInput                               >> False                False                Not a hardware decoder                   
Info    VideoOutput                              >> False                False                Not a hardware encoder                   
Info    libx264 Software Encoder                 >> False                False                Software Codec                           

>>>>>>  Projected Processing Formats
Info    Previous                HW-Context   Format       SW-Format           Size   Next
Info    mpeg2video           >> -            yuv420p      yuv420p         1280x720 >> 

/opt/emby-server/bin/ffmpeg -loglevel +timing -y -print_graphs_file "/var/lib/emby/logs/ffmpeg-transcode-ebe44e23-f04c-43ad-b095-778c7e1527e6_1graph.txt" -copyts -start_at_zero -f mpegts -ss 00:26:15.000 -c:v:0 mpeg2video -i "/media/video/recordedtv/2021 U.S. Open Tennis/2021 U.S. Open Tennis 2021_09_03_12_00_00 - Third Round.ts" -map 0:0 -map 0:1 -sn -c:v:0 libx264 -g:v:0 180 -maxrate:v:0 8389307 -bufsize:v:0 16778614 -sc_threshold:v:0 0 -keyint_min:v:0 180 -pix_fmt:v:0 yuv420p -preset:v:0 veryfast -profile:v:0 high -level:v:0 3.2 -x264opts:v:0 "subme=0:me_range=4:rc_lookahead=10:partitions=none" -crf:v:0 23 -c:a:0 copy -metadata:s:a:0 language=eng -disposition:a:0 default -max_delay 5000000 -avoid_negative_ts disabled -f segment -map_metadata -1 -map_chapters -1 -segment_format mpegts -segment_list "/media/emby/transcode/transcoding-temp/DAA040.m3u8" -segment_list_type m3u8 -segment_time 3 -segment_start_number 525 -individual_header_trailer 0 -write_header_trailer 0 -segment_write_temp 1 "/media/emby/transcode/transcoding-temp/DAA040_%d.ts"

20:22:47.075 ffmpeg version 4.3.0-emby_2021_02_27 Copyright (c) 2000-2021 the FFmpeg developers and softworkz for Emby LLC
20:22:47.075   built with gcc 8.3.0 (crosstool-NG 1.24.0)
20:22:47.075 Execution Date: 2021-09-07 20:22:47
20:22:47.106 [mpeg2video @ 0x2229640] Invalid frame dimensions 0x0.
    Last message repeated 3 times
20:22:47.122 [mpegts @ 0x2209440] PES packet size mismatch
    Last message repeated 1 times
 

Thanks

[MBSki 1014]

You can set the thumbnail images interval to be chapter markers for the library. That way you can just jump to the chapter you want to watch. I believe it's set to 5 minutes by default. 

[Mister Steve 28]

The "video preview thumbnails" option is enabled, I tried both "chapters" and 10 sec settings, ran the scheduled task but I cannot find any trace of using chapter thumbnails during playback on my devices.  The scheduled task takes 1 sec, so I believe the server is not generating chapter thumbnails.  It does generate a thumbnail for the episode.  Am I missing something?

Edited September 8, 2021 by Mister Steve

[Carlo 4330]

Do you have the option set "Save video preview thumbnails into media folders"?

If so do you see any bif files in your media folders?

[MBSki 1014]

@Mister Steve Which client are you using?

[Mister Steve 28]

"Save video preview thumbnails into media folders" was not enabled for the library, I enabled it and ran the "Thumbnail image extraction" task.    But there were no updates to the media folder.

@mbarylski I tried on my LG Smart TV (24LM520S-WU Emby Theater 1.0.24),  Samsung QLED, browser and Emby Theater for windows.  Though it appears the server isn't extracting the thumbnails.

[Q-Droid 641]

You could convert the recordings to a friendlier and more efficient format though it might not be ideal for sports. Test one or two to see if they're good enough. 

 

[Mister Steve 28]

Chapter thumbnails are working now, they're a great help for long titles.   It seems Emby won't generate thumbnails for files that have already been added to the library.   

Thumbnails aren't shown for FF/Rew on my devices but the 5-min chapters solve the problem.    Thanks for the help everyone!