Direct Play Problem

[Guest]

Hello,

I noticed some of my movies (personally encoded in Handbrake) are manifesting an interesting "phenomena" .. to put it bluntly.

Dashboard says the following:

Quote

The media is compatible with the device regarding resolution and media type (H.264, AC3, etc.), but is in an incompatible file container (.mkv, .avi, .wmv, etc.). The video will be re-packaged on the fly before streaming it to the device.
Direct Streaming a file uses very little processing power without any loss in video quality.

I always encode stuff to avoid transcoding, for home/LAN use as well as for remote streaming. So you can imagine how surprised I was (especially when Plex and Jellyfin play affected movies without any issue).

ffmpeg-remux file is included. What strikes me is the following:

>>>>>>  Processing Plan
Info    Name                              CanDoInHardware         WillDoInHardware     Reason                                  
Info    Copy video stream                 >> False                False                Software Codec                           
Info    VideoInput                        >> False                False                Not a hardware decoder                   
Info    VideoOutput                       >> False                False                Not a hardware encoder                   
Info    Copy video stream                 >> False                False                Software Codec

Right now I'm subcribed to Premiere, right now for a month only (I'm in the middle of transition from Plex to .. something else, so it is a kind of testing flight, but Emby seems to be a winner). If I read it right, the above says there is no HW decoding available, which is strange as it is enabled...

Server is up-to-date 4.6.7.0 running on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, client is Nvidia Shield on up-to-date image (Shield Experience 9.0.1).

Thank you

ffmpeg-remux-ec764620-384e-4cf8-87ea-011851aa8c7b_1.txt

Edited February 19, 2022 by gabbercon
Typos corrected

[Guest]

vainfo

libva info: VA-API version 1.1.0
libva info: va_getDriverName() returns 0
libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/i965_drv_video.so
libva info: Found init function __vaDriverInit_1_1
libva info: va_openDriver() returns 0
vainfo: VA-API version: 1.1 (libva 2.1.0)
vainfo: Driver version: Intel i965 driver for Intel(R) Haswell Mobile - 2.1.0
vainfo: Supported profile and entrypoints
      VAProfileMPEG2Simple            :	VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileMPEG2Simple            :	VAEntrypointEncSlice
      VAProfileMPEG2Main              :	VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileMPEG2Main              :	VAEntrypointEncSlice
      VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline:	VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline:	VAEntrypointEncSlice
      VAProfileH264Main               :	VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileH264Main               :	VAEntrypointEncSlice
      VAProfileH264High               :	VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileH264High               :	VAEntrypointEncSlice
      VAProfileH264MultiviewHigh      :	VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileH264MultiviewHigh      :	VAEntrypointEncSlice
      VAProfileH264StereoHigh         :	VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileH264StereoHigh         :	VAEntrypointEncSlice
      VAProfileVC1Simple              :	VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileVC1Main                :	VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileVC1Advanced            :	VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileNone                   :	VAEntrypointVideoProc
      VAProfileJPEGBaseline           :	VAEntrypointVLD

 

[Luke 37249]

Hi, there's no hardware decoding because in this transcoding session there is no decoding or encoding occurring. It is simply passing through the original video untouched.

So why is it doing this in the first place and not direct playing? According to the log the app first tried to direct play, then had an error with the file and automatically switched to repackaging it on the server to ensure successful playback.

[Guest]

I still have the "untouched" (audio-wise) version of video file in question with DTS-MA audio track. That version plays fine, no problem. However, with FLAC audio track it fails to direct play. I picked randomly some previously added movies with FLAC audio tracks and they fail to direct play almost immediately.

Makes no sense.

Mediainfo output (without chapters info)

General
Unique ID                                : 285069472975386545091207929862607614728 (0xD6766228092D02D8DBEC47E38C183308)
Complete name                            : /media/NAS414/Plex/Movies/Predator (1987)/Predator (1987)  -  Home.mkv
Format                                   : Matroska
Format version                           : Version 4
File size                                : 8.27 GiB
Duration                                 : 1 h 46 min
Overall bit rate mode                    : Variable
Overall bit rate                         : 11.1 Mb/s
Movie name                               : Predator (1987)
Encoded date                             : UTC 2022-02-19 08:40:46
Writing application                      : mkvmerge v64.0.0 ('Willows') 64-bit
Writing library                          : libebml v1.4.2 + libmatroska v1.6.3 / Lavf58.29.100

Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : High@L5.1
Format settings                          : CABAC / 16 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames        : 16 frames
Codec ID                                 : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration                                 : 1 h 46 min
Bit rate                                 : 7 917 kb/s
Width                                    : 1 920 pixels
Height                                   : 1 040 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 1.85:1
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.165
Stream size                              : 5.89 GiB (71%)
Writing library                          : x264 core 160 r3011 cde9a93
Encoding settings                        : cabac=1 / ref=16 / deblock=1:-1:-1 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=umh / subme=10 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.15 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=24 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-3 / threads=12 / lookahead_threads=2 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=8 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=240 / keyint_min=24 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=60 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=18.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : No
Color range                              : Limited
Color primaries                          : BT.709
Transfer characteristics                 : BT.709
Matrix coefficients                      : BT.709

Audio #1
ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : FLAC
Format/Info                              : Free Lossless Audio Codec
Codec ID                                 : A_FLAC
Duration                                 : 1 h 46 min
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Bit rate                                 : 1 681 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 6 channels
Channel layout                           : L R C LFE Ls Rs
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                               : 10.417 FPS (4608 SPF)
Bit depth                                : 16 bits
Compression mode                         : Lossless
Stream size                              : 1.25 GiB (15%)
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : No

Audio #2
ID                                       : 3
Format                                   : DTS
Format/Info                              : Digital Theater Systems
Codec ID                                 : A_DTS
Duration                                 : 1 h 46 min
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 1 510 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 6 channels
Channel layout                           : C L R Ls Rs LFE
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                               : 93.750 FPS (512 SPF)
Bit depth                                : 24 bits
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 1.12 GiB (14%)
Language                                 : Czech
Default                                  : No
Forced                                   : No

 

Edited February 19, 2022 by gabbercon
Typos corrected. Added info.

[Luke 37249]

Can you try sideloading our standard android app onto the Shield and let us know how it compares with that?

https://emby.media/emby-for-android.html

Thanks.

[Guest]

Sure I can. Sideloaded and it plays fine - in direct play mode (as it should).

[Luke 37249]

1 hour ago, gabbercon said:

Sure I can. Sideloaded and it plays fine - in direct play mode (as it should).

That's great info, and that's also good news for our tv app because ultimately it will get updated with the same changes. Thanks.

[Guest]

Just now, Luke said:

That's great info, and that's also good news for our tv app because ultimately it will get updated with the same changes. Thanks.

Great! All I need to do now is just wait for next release of Android TV app right? As long as this "repackaging" thing does not cause any harm to video quality I'm fine (I know it doesn't).

I must say it feels great to contribute, I mean to provide a feedback, either positive or negative in order to improve the product in general. In other words, thanks.

[Luke 37249]

Quote

Great! All I need to do now is just wait for next release of Android TV app right?

Yes that is correct. Thanks for the feedback.

[Guest]

This "repackaging" in reality means that FLAC audio is being transcoded to Dolby Digital whenever I'm watching a movie with FLAC audio track.

I only found out by accident, as I have had off the option to show what decoder my AVR uses. Now it shows the codec being used and I was not pleased to see Dolby Digital on my AVR at all.

Not that DD is bad, but transcoding is always bad, in my book at least.

Edited February 26, 2022 by gabbercon
added info and typos

[ebr 14959]

12 hours ago, gabbercon said:

I only found out by accident,

Hi.  So, that means you couldn't tell the difference with your ear?

12 hours ago, gabbercon said:

but transcoding is always bad, in my book at least.

Why?  Virtually everything you play is being encoded/decoded at multiple levels in that playback process.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, ebr said:

Hi.  So, that means you couldn't tell the difference with your ear?

Why?  Virtually everything you play is being encoded/decoded at multiple levels in that playback process.

No I couldn't because I have been using (testing) Emby this month only, movies I finished watching didn't have FLAC audio. And I didn't finish movies where Emby started "repackaging". It does not repackage anything it randomly starts transcoding from lossless to lossy. And when it does the spinning circle appears and the movie pauses for a moment. Let's call it a distruption you would notice right away. As you do, you start troubleshooting what's going on and pay little attention whether you can hear it.

Edited February 26, 2022 by gabbercon