Blank screen during playback, using external video player sorta works

[gene0915 37]

Serer OS is Debian 11.3, Emby server is 4.6.7.0 and Android TV (Hisense U8G) app version is 2.0.70g

I was trying to play back some episodes of a TV show 'World's Strongest Man' and when the episode starts, I just get  a black screen.....forever. On the server, I see that it thinks the episode is streaming and it counts up to about 7 or seconds and then goes back to 0:00 and counts up to about 7 or seconds and back to 0:00, rinse/repeat.

 

I didn't see a transcoding log file being created because it doesn't look like it ever truly starts. If I use say....VLC as the external video player, it plays for about 2 seconds.....a second or 2 of blackness then a few seconds of video, a few seconds of blackness then it plays just fine. I'd like to avoid using external players though. (And the black screens at the beginning are annoying.)

Attaching server log file. (10:17am is roughly around the time I turned off the external player and tried playing back the episode.)

No problem when using my Shield but I get this weird problem when using my TV's built in Emby app. I know that typically, the built in TV apps aren't updated all that much and a standalone box is preferred but I'll see what the experts say.

Thanks

embyserver.txt

[ebr 14948]

Can you please play that item for a few seconds and then follow the instructions to send a log from the app?

 

[gene0915 37]

4 hours ago, ebr said:

Can you please play that item for a few seconds and then follow the instructions to send a log from the app?

When I click on the cog icon, the only options I see are:

Quality, Zoom, Speed, Repeat, Playback Correction and Stats for Nerds. Nothing about a log file.

When it was failing, In the 'stats for nerds', I saw the play method was 'Direct Streaming' and for Conversion Reason it said: Direct play error.

After clicking the 'playback correction' button twice (first time didn't yield any results, just a black screen), the play method was now: Transcode and it finally started to play......but was interlaced and looked crappy.

Uploading a new server log AND..... I finally got some transcoding logs. (The time was around 2:54pm)

embyserver.txtffmpeg-directstream-72262e99-ff2a-41a0-bd5d-e23ac75d2307_1.txtffmpeg-transcode-2d6c6332-3e8c-49a7-87b0-3d7b0c0722a3_1.txt

[ebr 14948]

1 hour ago, gene0915 said:

When I click on the cog icon, the only options I see are:

Quality, Zoom, Speed, Repeat, Playback Correction and Stats for Nerds. Nothing about a log file.

Hi.  Did you enable the option described in the instructions I provided?

[ebr 14948]

Your ffmpeg logs are filled with errors.  Can you try remuxing this item?

14:47:54.035 [segment @ 0xae0680] Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:0; previous: 55821609, current: 55818000; changing to 55821610. This may result in incorrect timestamps in the output file.
14:47:54.035 [segment @ 0xae0680] Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:0; previous: 55821610, current: 55819800; changing to 55821611. This may result in incorrect timestamps in the output file.
14:47:54.035 [segment @ 0xae0680] Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:0; previous: 55850400, current: 55836000; changing to 55850401. This may result in incorrect timestamps in the output file.
14:47:54.035 [segment @ 0xae0680] Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:0; previous: 55850401, current: 55837800; changing to 55850402. This may result in incorrect timestamps in the output file.
14:47:54.035 [segment @ 0xae0680] Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:0; previous: 55850402, current: 55828800; changing to 55850403. This may result in incorrect timestamps in the output file.
14:47:54.035 [segment @ 0xae0680] Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:0; previous: 55850403, current: 55830600; changing to 55850404. This may result in incorrect timestamps in the output file.
14:47:54.035 [segment @ 0xae0680] Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:0; previous: 55850404, current: 55825200; changing to 55850405. This may result in incorrect timestamps in the output file.
14:47:54.036 [segment @ 0xae0680] Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:0; previous: 55850405, current: 55827000; changing to 55850406. This may result in incorrect timestamps in the output file.
14:47:54.036 [segment @ 0xae0680] Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:0; previous: 55850406, current: 55832400; changing to 55850407. This may result in incorrect timestamps in the output file.
14:47:54.036 [segment @ 0xae0680] Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:0; previous: 55850407, current: 55834200; changing to 55850408. This may result in incorrect timestamps in the output file.
14:47:54.036 [segment @ 0xae0680] Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:0; previous: 55850408, current: 55843200; changing to 55850409. This may result in incorrect timestamps in the output file.
14:47:54.036 [segment @ 0xae0680] Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:0; previous: 55850409, current: 55845000; changing to 55850410. This may result in incorrect timestamps in the output file.
14:47:54.036 [segment @ 0xae0680] Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:0; previous: 55850410, current: 55839600; changing to 55850411. This may result in incorrect timestamps in the output file.
14:47:54.036 [segment @ 0xae0680] Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:0; previous: 55850411, current: 55841400; changing to 55850412. This may result in incorrect timestamps in the output file.
14:47:54.036 [segment @ 0xae0680] Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:0; previous: 55850412, current: 55846800; changing to 55850413. This may result in incorrect timestamps in the output file.
14:47:54.036 [segment @ 0xae0680] Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:0; previous: 55850413, current: 55848600; changing to 55850414. This may result in incorrect timestamps in the output file.
14:47:54.036 [segment @ 0xae0680] Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:0; previous: 55879200, current: 55864800; changing to 55879201. This may result in incorrect timestamps in the output file.
14:47:54.036 [segment @ 0xae0680] Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:0; previous: 55879201, current: 55866600; changing to 55879202. This may result in incorrect timestamps in the output file.
14:47:54.036 [segment @ 0xae0680] Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:0; previous: 55879202, current: 55857600; changing to 55879203. This may result in incorrect timestamps in the output file.
14:47:54.036 [segment @ 0xae0680] Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:0; previous: 55879203, current: 55859400; changing to 55879204. This may result in incorrect timestamps in the output file.
14:47:54.036 [segment @ 0xae0680] Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:0; previous: 55879204, current: 55854000; changing to 55879205. This may result in incorrect timestamps in the output file.
14:47:54.036 [segment @ 0xae0680] Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:0; previous: 55879205, current: 55855800; changing to 55879206. This may result in incorrect timestamps in the output file.
14:47:54.036 [segment @ 0xae0680] Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:0; previous: 55879206, current: 55861200; changing to 55879207. This may result in incorrect timestamps in the output file.
14:47:54.036 [segment @ 0xae0680] Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:0; previous: 55879207, current: 55863000; changing to 55879208. This may result in incorrect timestamps in the output file.
14:47:54.036 [segment @ 0xae0680] Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:0; previous: 55879208, current: 55872000; changing to 55879209. This may result in incorrect timestamps in the output file.
14:47:54.036 [segment @ 0xae0680] Non-monotonous DTS in output stream 0:0; previous: 55879209, current: 55873800; changing to 55879210. This may result in incorrect timestamps in the output file.

 

[gene0915 37]

4 hours ago, ebr said:

Hi.  Did you enable the option described in the instructions I provided?

CRAP....I didn't see the spot about debug logging. Super sorry!! I just sent the info off.

Was attempting to playback: The World's Strongest Man, S2021E11 - Final
Log sent at roughly 9:13pm EST
Emby user 'gene'

Thanks!

PS I'll try remuxing the episode tonight/tomorrow.

[ebr 14948]

11 hours ago, gene0915 said:

PS I'll try remuxing the episode tonight/tomorrow.

Please let us know how that goes.  I suspect it may fix the problem.

[gene0915 37]

@ebr No luck on the remux. I submitted a new log via the app at 11:10AM (that's also the timestamp when I tried playing the file again). The video starts and I see the first frame of video and then it just freezes.

(I submitted a log file around 10:46AM but realized Emby didn't re-scan the folder yet and was looking for the MKV. After scanning, it detected the MP4 remux so I submitted the 11:10AM log.)

embyserver.txt

Edited March 31, 2022 by gene0915

[gene0915 37]

7 hours ago, ebr said:

Please let us know how that goes.  I suspect it may fix the problem.

I messed around with some more of those episodes and it looks like how they were encoded is causing Emby some heartburn. Plex seems to play them perfectly fine though.

[ebr 14948]

If you side load this app on the device, does it behave differently?

 

[Luke 37176]

Please try the version from our website: https://emby.media/emby-for-android.html

Thanks.

[gene0915 37]

3 hours ago, ebr said:

If you side load this app on the device, does it behave differently?

 

No change...video is still busted. Also, I didn't see any options to enable debug logging.

[gene0915 37]

41 minutes ago, Luke said:

Please try the version from our website: https://emby.media/emby-for-android.html

Thanks.

I just replied to ebr.... no change with his version or the one you posted. Video loads a single frame and just sits there. No ffmpeg logs. Attaching server log.

embyserver.txt

[gene0915 37]

Quick update..... I double checked video play back on my Shield and it too is having the same problems on the same episodes. On the Shield, the first few episodes play back perfectly fine and the last two have problems. On the TV, none of the episodes play back correctly (sorry about the mix up)

I'm attaching another server log file and a video that shows the glitching as they're playing back on the Shield. (I was running up and down the stairs and life sidetracked me on something so I got a little confused on things.....not sure if the attached show the successful play back of episode 1 on the Shield or the glitchy mess)

embyserver.txtffmpeg-transcode-0b58caa9-805e-4c82-8a35-70f95a338313_1.txtffmpeg-transcode-4309592c-d902-42ed-95e1-1f52e8dd9cbc_1.txtffmpeg-transcode-da73878f-7b94-446a-92d8-39cdcf3becbb_1.txt

 

 

 

 

 

[FrostByte 5055]

55 minutes ago, gene0915 said:

No change...video is still busted. Also, I didn't see any options to enable debug logging.

There is no in app logging option in the standard Android app like there is with ATV app.   The only logs are the ones in the folder from the link below.   I use X-plore on my Shield to get them if needed.

 

Edited April 1, 2022 by FrostByte

[Luke 37176]

On 4/1/2022 at 12:28 PM, gene0915 said:

No change...video is still busted. Also, I didn't see any options to enable debug logging.

Using the internal player in the app, or were you trying to use an external player?

[gene0915 37]

4 hours ago, Luke said:

Using the internal player in the app, or were you trying to use an external player?

Using the new app and the internal player, still doesn't work.

Using the new app and an external player, same as when I posted this.... which is, the video starts fine and I get at least 2 black screens for a second or two, a few seconds of solid video, few seconds of black screens then it's fine. But, I'm positive my wife will hate that if she ever runs into a video and has to deal with it.

Speaking of external players.... using the new app, when I went to select an external video player, I was given the choice of Plex, Xplore, Kodi and then I couldn't scroll any more. I have at least 2 more video players installed (MX and VLC) but the player list wouldn't let me scroll down to see them. Also, after selecting Kodi, I couldn't scroll over to select 'just once' or 'always'. I kept mashing OK and eventually the video started....... random black screens and all.

I can upload the video or a chunk of it if you'd like to re-create the problem?

Edited April 4, 2022 by gene0915

[Toxicedge 0]

I am also having this issue the same file plays fine from my fire stick but will not play on emby for Android TV just sits at the black screen. If I use an external player (VLC) it works fine 

[Toxicedge 0]

I believe this has something to do with the audio as if I set the downmix to stereo then the video plays fine. but the same video using the Amazon FireStick plays fine without selecting that option. 

[micleeso 0]

3 hours ago, Toxicedge said:

I believe this has something to do with the audio as if I set the downmix to stereo then the video plays fine. but the same video using the Amazon FireStick plays fine without selecting that option. 

Confirmed this action corrects play back on effected files. Setting the audio to down mix in to stereo on a Hisense U8G with firmware M0210 works. Emby App is the latest provided on emby.media

Edited April 6, 2022 by micleeso

[ebr 14948]

15 hours ago, Toxicedge said:

I believe this has something to do with the audio as if I set the downmix to stereo then the video plays fine. but the same video using the Amazon FireStick plays fine without selecting that option. 

 

11 hours ago, micleeso said:

Confirmed this action corrects play back on effected files. Setting the audio to down mix in to stereo on a Hisense U8G with firmware M0210 works. Emby App is the latest provided on emby.media

Hi.  If you are just playing through TV speakers, then that setting is the proper solution.  Thanks.

[Toxicedge 0]

19 minutes ago, ebr said:

 

Hi.  If you are just playing through TV speakers, then that setting is the proper solution.  Thanks.

I am outputting to a sound-bar threw HDMI Arc

[gene0915 37]

18 hours ago, Toxicedge said:

I believe this has something to do with the audio as if I set the downmix to stereo then the video plays fine. but the same video using the Amazon FireStick plays fine without selecting that option. 

On my Shield, using the "old" app version, setting the downmix to stereo did not fix the problem. On my Hisense, using the updated app, I don't see an option to set that?

[ebr 14948]

3 minutes ago, gene0915 said:

On my Hisense, using the updated app, I don't see an option to set that?

Where are you looking?

[gene0915 37]

1 hour ago, ebr said:

Where are you looking?

I go into App Settings:

Then playback:

then audio:

I have been known to be blind from time to time but didn't see it there or anywhere else.