Nvidia Shield - Direct Play - Not working according to Documentation

[User132482 0]

Server is Windows 10 (emby version 4.7.2.0)

Client is Shield 2019 (emby version AndroidTv 2.0.70g)

 

I attempted to follow the guide here:

https://support.emby.media/support/solutions/articles/44002058112-shield-tv-direct-file-access

According to the last two steps on the page

• You will now want to enable Pass Direct Path option (should be checked).
• Once you've performed these steps you should be able to see Emby access your files directly in Stats for Nerds.

 

I am unable to check Pass Direct Path, as it's grayed out.  If I check use external player, I can check the box... but the next step is using the internal player??!?

I tried tricking it, by checking both boxes, then unchecking the one I wanted, but that didn't work for me.  (My player still says HTTP instead of File when I try to do that so I don't think it took)

 

Thank you for your attention

[FrostByte 5041]

3 hours ago, User132482 said:

Server is Windows 10 (emby version 4.7.2.0)

Client is Shield 2019 (emby version AndroidTv 2.0.70g)

 

I attempted to follow the guide here:

https://support.emby.media/support/solutions/articles/44002058112-shield-tv-direct-file-access

According to the last two steps on the page

• You will now want to enable Pass Direct Path option (should be checked).
• Once you've performed these steps you should be able to see Emby access your files directly in Stats for Nerds.

 

I am unable to check Pass Direct Path, as it's grayed out.  If I check use external player, I can check the box... but the next step is using the internal player??!?

I tried tricking it, by checking both boxes, then unchecking the one I wanted, but that didn't work for me.  (My player still says HTTP instead of File when I try to do that so I don't think it took)

 

Thank you for your attention

It was disabled for Android 11+ which required it to have a higher level of permissions to gain direct file access and for which Google wanted to slap a warning onto it in the store which would probably scare people away.  If you need DFA you would have to fallback to SE8.  Otherwise DFA only works if using an external player now.

@cayarswould you be able to add a comment to the kb indicating this will only work for Android 9/SE8?

Edited June 12, 2022 by FrostByte

[ebr 14898]

3 hours ago, FrostByte said:

would you be able to add a comment to the kb indicating this will only work for Android 9/SE8?

I added a note to the KB article.  Thanks.

[User132482 0]

@FrostByte Oof... That's a long way to fall back...  This particular installation is for my parents, so I can easily see it lasting a month before someone hits the upgrade button... 

Is there a particular external player that is known to work well?  If so, I'll give that a try and see if it will be seamless enough for them. 

Thanks,

[FrostByte 5041]

Are they having problems with the internal Exoplayer streaming http? 

VLC and MXplayer work okay, but you may lose things like resume, etc.

Falling back on Android version isn't for the faint of heart either.  Did it once and was praying the whole time I wouldn't brick my Shield

[User132482 0]

Thank you for the quick response!  

I actually really would prefer to use the exoplayer, but my admittedly complex doesn't look like it works anymore.   (I've been using emby for years, and I know I had this working in the past, but I assume it must have been on Android 8!) 

I'm playing around with settings right now using VLC and MXPlayer... hopefully I'll have better luck!    If there was any way to get that Direct Play enabled, I'd certainly jump through some hoops to do it.  I'm fairly technically minded, so please let me know if you have any ideas for a workaround. 

 

As for they "Why'...

I have a bit of an unusual setup, which I'm guessing isn't 100% supported, but has worked well for me in the past:  I live in one state, we'll say "New York" for our example, and my parents live in "California"

• Emby Server lives in New York
• New York has a NAS mapped to IP 192.168.1.50 which houses all the Media files
• California has a NAS mapped to IP 192.168.1.50 that serves as my offsite backup (File structure is the same, auto syncs all the files)
• Both locations have an nVidia Shield, a 2015pro and a 2017pro. (I would have no problem swapping to different hardware if we think that's a solution)

 

When they play files from CA, I'd like it to play from their drive, so that it doesn't have to rely on trying to stream large media files over the internet. 

For the most part internet streaming works for 720 and 1080 content, but 4k content buffers every 10 seconds, and is more or less unwatchable, especially if you consider HDR.

 

[FrostByte 5041]

Take a look at this link if you're interested in reverting back to SE8.  @Audiomixer , @rbjtech and myself all have done it at least once.  Audiomixer probably more times.

Downgrade NVIDIA Shield TV (Pro) 2019 to v8.2.3 (full) (florisse.nl)

 

[User132482 0]

Thank you, though that doesn't look like it will be a today project

I'll report back once I know more!

[Audiomixer 328]

From my experience with direct path is i could never get it to work correctly. I recently downgraded both my shields just to try that again and again could not make it work. Went back to 9.0.1. Just day before yesterday out of boredom i downgraded one shield back to 8.2.3. Again, i could not get direct path to work so downgrading is no guarantee that direct path will work again.

If i were to use an external player, i’d use kodi. Emby should see that when you try to use its internal player function.

[KRULL 8]

On 6/13/2022 at 6:54 AM, Audiomixer said:

If i were to use an external player, i’d use kodi. Emby should see that when you try to use its internal player function.

After having all sorts of playback issues with some 4K remuxes (Plex is playing them fine), I tried setting up for an external player yesterday, but Emby told me that there wasn't an external player available while Kodi was installed.

[Luke 36992]

25 minutes ago, KRULL said:

After having all sorts of playback issues with some 4K remuxes (Plex is playing them fine), I tried setting up for an external player yesterday, but Emby told me that there wasn't an external player available while Kodi was installed.

Is Kodi able to receive android intents? That's what determines that. Try installing Vlc because we know that can.

[User132482 0]

I've struggled to get emby to with with VLC...

I get a message "The location file:///storage/192.168.1.3/Media/Movies/[Folder]/file.mkv cannot be played"

As for Kodi... "Emby for Kodi" works and plays the files directly, but then I'm giving up on using the Emby interface, which I find a lot easier to work with. 

I'm currently doing a bit of research on Plex and Jellyfin a little bit, but overall I've found Emby to be the superior product.  (If one of them happens to better support my unique need, I'll swtich, but I'm already invested in Emby, and Emby feels like the superior product.) 

Does anyone know if infuse play direct files?  I could buy a couple ATVs

I still haven't tried the downgrade that FrostByte recommended... that is going to be a bit of a project in and of itself. 

[KRULL 8]

26 minutes ago, Luke said:

Try installing Vlc because we know that can.

I just did this, Emby asked to allow VLC to play etc... I confirmed everything, and it failed.

Now, I hadn't opened the VLC app by itself after installing, so I did that, went through it's setup allow all access to mounted NAS folders. VLC played back 4K Remux 100% fine (without the big green blocks and then constant digital blocking that Emby has been doing).

 

Went back to Emby, turned on external player again, and it did two errors "The location file:///etcc...Media/Movies/[Folder]/file.mkv cannot be played" and NO 3RD party Player installed.

Disabled external, restarted, reenabled and still get the No 3rd party player installed issue.

[KRULL 8]

14 minutes ago, User132482 said:

I've struggled to get emby to with with VLC...

I get a message "The location file:///storage/192.168.1.3/Media/Movies/[Folder]/file.mkv cannot be played"

As for Kodi... "Emby for Kodi" works and plays the files directly, but then I'm giving up on using the Emby interface, which I find a lot easier to work with. 

 

I used to use Kodi as my player for years until Emby for Kodi got broken with Kodi 19 (as did many Kodi add ons) and have used Emby player since then. It has had the odd hiccup now and then as all do, but with me running so may 4K remuxes now, it's having constant issues.

 

I can't get Kodi to work with the new gen Emby add on, it will just not play at all. I feel like I might do a full reset of the Shield and set everything up new again to ensure it's all clean.

17 minutes ago, User132482 said:

Does anyone know if infuse play direct files?  I could buy a couple ATVs

 

Every time I have tested my ATV, I stop after about 30mins and go back to Shield, but I will have to crack it out again and test Infuse 7 again and by a short term full access license.

[User132482 0]

58 minutes ago, KRULL said:

I just did this, Emby asked to allow VLC to play etc... I confirmed everything, and it failed.

Now, I hadn't opened the VLC app by itself after installing, so I did that, went through it's setup allow all access to mounted NAS folders. VLC played back 4K Remux 100% fine (without the big green blocks and then constant digital blocking that Emby has been doing).

Same behavior here! 

[rbjtech 4218]

On 12/06/2022 at 21:25, FrostByte said:

Take a look at this link if you're interested in reverting back to SE8.  @Audiomixer , @rbjtech and myself all have done it at least once.  Audiomixer probably more times.

Downgrade NVIDIA Shield TV (Pro) 2019 to v8.2.3 (full) (florisse.nl)

 

I'm been on SE8 since the original build was release and was briefly on SE9 but due to the constant issues with it in the early release cycle and removal of Direct File Access (DFA) by Emby, I rolled back to SE8 and have not had an issue since on file playback or any form of DTS navigation (as it was previously on SE8).  DFA has always been faultless for me.  If network access.mounts work for other Apps (VLC, Xplore etc) then they will work for Emby.

The Guide that Frosybyte has posted above looks VERY comprehensive, good job by the author - yes there is a slim chance something could go wrong, but just prep everything first (read though the entire guide before starting and ensure you get all the apps/images etc before hand), then take your time and go through each step. 

They also include the steps necessary to disable any future upgrade nagging.

 

[ebr 14898]

10 hours ago, KRULL said:

The location file:///etcc...Media/Movies/[Folder]/file.mkv cannot be played"

Does it work if you de-select the option to send the direct path to the external player?

[KRULL 8]

13 hours ago, ebr said:

Does it work if you de-select the option to send the direct path to the external player?

Yes, VLC will play, it now also lists all options for playing such as Kodi. 

Kodi still locks up for whatever reason and VLC doesn’t have frame rate matching so that’s not really viable. 

 

Do you think I have a direct path issue?

[ebr 14898]

9 hours ago, KRULL said:

Do you think I have a direct path issue?

Yes.  Basically that means the path being sent is not reachable or recognizable.  You would have to set your "Optional Network Path" in the library to whatever is necessary for your Android device to see the locations properly.

[KRULL 8]

I changed the (Optional) Shared network folder to "/storage/DISKSTATION/Movies/Movies" and now that issue is gone.

Emby player direct played a 81 mbps 4K Remux, then I tested lower mbps files, and it said Direct play error. Went back to 81 mbps movie, and it shows error now too, so goes to HLS.

The movies that become green blocky messes only in Emby (not Plex, VLC or Kodi) still do the same.

 

 

AndroidTv 2.0.70g

Shield Lounge

172.17.0.1

Stream

MKV (81 mbps)

HLS (110 mbps 86 fps)

Direct play error

Direct play error

Video

4K HEVC HDR10

Direct Play (81 mbps)

Audio

English TRUEHD 7.1 (Default)

Transcode (AAC 384 kbps)

[KRULL 8]

Some more to this, updated Emby again, restarted everything, and I get Direct Play working on first play, then on secondary and following plays 4K Remux in MKV error and play via HLS.

Thor Ragnarok Direct Play

https://i.imgur.com/dypRixV.png

https://i.imgur.com/fMqYNyk.jpg

 

Then I played Avengers End game, and it errors and went to HLS.

Play Thor Ragnarok again and it errors to HLS, which is one thing, the break up in picture that I get on many 4K remuxes when this occurs is what is ruining everything,
 

https://i.imgur.com/P9IEoap.png

https://i.imgur.com/SgTW5QE.jpg

 

Unpacked my Apple TV, fired up Emby, that was pointless as it won't do HDR apparently, switched to Infuse, paid the Pro license and it played perfectly well via Direct Play using Emby Server.

 

embyserver.txt ffmpeg-remux-e2759dfb-a002-425e-a69c-c29d9b27c414_1.txt ffmpeg-remux-ca311857-8477-47d9-a459-04a384816b02_1.txt ffmpeg-transcode-ee97f348-06c5-433f-829c-d07d803b0e8f_1.txt ffmpeg-remux-4efaf2b7-c16d-4f20-99a0-a52cd5316642_1.txt

[ebr 14898]

@KRULL exactly which Shield model do you have?

[KRULL 8]

The original 2015 release. 

[KRULL 8]

On 6/12/2022 at 8:54 PM, FrostByte said:

It was disabled for Android 11+ which required it to have a higher level of permissions to gain direct file access and for which Google wanted to slap a warning onto it in the store which would probably scare people away.  If you need DFA you would have to fallback to SE8.  Otherwise DFA only works if using an external player now.

Why are there no issues with the external players such as VLC and MXplayer having DFA, but there is for Emby?

I can't see any warnings on the store for either of those players, nor Kodi.

 

What is the likelihood of this being fixed in the near future?

[FrostByte 5041]

5 hours ago, KRULL said:

Why are there no issues with the external players such as VLC and MXplayer having DFA, but there is for Emby?

I can't see any warnings on the store for either of those players, nor Kodi.

 

What is the likelihood of this being fixed in the near future?

ebr would need to answer that.  All he mentioned was that after SE9 he had to give the app more permissions in order for DFA to work and Google wanted to slap a warning on the app in the store because of it.  You're right though, none of the other apps like VLC, Xplore, MXplayer have a warning in the store.