Nvidia Shield - Direct Play - Not working according to Documentation

[ebr 14912]

22 hours ago, KRULL said:

The original 2015 release. 

I'm guessing your issues with subsequent playback of high bitrate content are related to memory.  Ensure that the "Buffer Size" setting in the app playback settings is set to "small".

[KRULL 8]

3 minutes ago, ebr said:

I'm guessing your issues with subsequent playback of high bitrate content are related to memory.  Ensure that the "Buffer Size" setting in the app playback settings is set to "small".

Thanks, but that is what it's set to already.

The OG 2015 Shield has the same amount of memory as the 2019 Pro. The Ram, Flash storage are the same, only the SoC was improved from a hardware side.

 

I was considering getting a Shiled Pro to get Dolby Vision, but this DFA issue with Android 11 is a problem, and pushing me to adopt Apple TV, which has a far worse experience for Emby player in almost every way with all of it's issue, meaning that Infuse would have to be used.

[ebr 14912]

2 minutes ago, KRULL said:

but this DFA issue with Android 11 is a problem, and pushing me to adopt Apple TV,

Why do you feel you must have the direct path access?  An Apple TV isn't going to do that.

[KRULL 8]

From my current issues, they all arise when DFA fails and it goes to HLS.

The 4K remux experience, logs and pics on prior page as per Thor Ragnarok occur frequently, and do not occur when it's DFA.

Apple TV with Infuse playing from Emby server is playing back direct, here's a shot from my highest bitrate file (Outsiders) playing back perfectly fine  via that, as did all of my problems files via Emby to Emby on the Shield.

 

Now, Outsiders plays perfectly fine via (visually) HLS too, I don't get any picture breakup, but 100% of the times I do get picture break up, HLS is in action, and when i can get the Shield/Emby player combo to play it direct via restarts, those same files play correctly. Plus of course HLS leads to degradation in the audio quality.

 

 

 

 

Edited June 27, 2022 by KRULL

[User132482 0]

Direct path access appears to be the only way to fix my issue as well.

[ebr 14912]

15 minutes ago, KRULL said:

Apple TV with Infuse playing from Emby server is playing back direct

Not with a direct path to your media.  That app is playing direct the exact same way that the Android app will without the direct path option.

It is quite possible that the original Shield simply cannot handle a 95Mb/s average bitrate item.

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

 

[KRULL 8]

9 minutes ago, ebr said:

Not with a direct path to your media.  That app is playing direct the exact same way that the Android app will without the direct path option.

 

Ok, sorry, I have conflated DFA and Direct Play.

 

10 minutes ago, ebr said:

It is quite possible that the original Shield simply cannot handle a 95Mb/s average bitrate item.

No, it handles it just fine, see screen shot below after restarting server and player.

As per pics on prior page with 54Mbps Thor, in Direct Play mode, 100% fine playback, in HLS it corrupts the picture. I get no corruption on Shield with VLC (Direct Playback) or Plex and none on any player that works on Apple TV, so the file is fine, it's Emby player on the Shield that is causing the issue.

As per Outsiders, Thor etc...I can get around it if I restart the player several times, until it magically doesn't error direct playback.

 

If DFA worked as it did prior to you locking it out for Android 11, would it be less likely to error out and fall back to HLS?

[ebr 14912]

1 minute ago, KRULL said:

If DFA worked as it did prior to you locking it out for Android 11, would it be less likely to error out and fall back to HLS?

No.  The data being processed by the player is identical.  The only difference is the protocol by which it is delivered and whether it comes from the Emby server or file system.

[ebr 14912]

3 minutes ago, KRULL said:

in HLS it corrupts the picture

Possibly due to the server not being powerful enough to transcode or, perhaps, just due to specific settings related to transcoding and HWA.  We'd have to look at a specific example of that as well as the app log I asked for.

Thanks.

[KRULL 8]

Sorry, I missed that line asking for more logs. I did provide them all yesterday, I will do another set.

Of interest, I stopped Outsiders playing at least 5 minutes ago, closed the app and Emby Server still shows it playing, with the timer progressing. It was on HLS as I had stopped playback and started again, about 10-15 seconds after stopping playback it switched to showing Direct Play

 

I will restart the server and start up one of the movies that shows corruption.

Attached logs are to do with this bizarre Outsiders thing, but i don't really care about it.

embyserver.txt ffmpeg-transcode-7f1cf3dd-6336-4865-bf6f-dc12ebb8f5df_1.txt

[KRULL 8]

Restarted Server (Synology DS916+ in Docker, on DSM 7.1) and Shield.2015.

Avengers End Game, played Direct Play, no issue. NAS CPU and RAM both below 5% usage.

Stopped, played Avengers End Game again, this time became HLS, corruption as per usual at 2min mark (Marvel Intro) NAS CPU peaking to high 20% range, RAM normal and low.

Played Thor Ragnarok, stopped because i am idiot, started it again and it went straight to HLS, let to  earlier than usual, and NAS CPU went to  99%

 

All logs attached

embyserver (1).txt embyserver.txt ffmpeg-remux-2e0b5f94-ebd3-4cea-b743-f56780338b33_1.txt ffmpeg-remux-68f0bb58-4355-42dd-81db-51ee25be8061_1.txt ffmpeg-remux-1057848c-9b66-4fe1-a222-ee7c9ce6291b_1.txt ffmpeg-transcode-1fa9287c-237a-45d4-8351-278e3737ae05_1.txt ffmpeg-transcode-7f1cf3dd-6336-4865-bf6f-dc12ebb8f5df_1.txt hardware_detection-63791938978.txt

[ebr 14912]

2 hours ago, KRULL said:

played Avengers End Game again, this time became HLS, corruption as per usual at 2min mark

 

3 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?

 

[ebr 14912]

The "corruption" you are seeing is a product of attempting to stream copy certain HEVC content.  I assume this is HDR?

What I want to find out from the log is why the direct play is failing.

[KRULL 8]

Yes, HDR content, although it has also reverted to HLS for 1080P non HDR remuxes too. 
 

Log from app after 10 seconds of playing has now been sent. 

[ebr 14912]

12 hours ago, KRULL said:

it has also reverted to HLS for 1080P non HDR remuxes too.

Do those display the same artifacts?

[ebr 14912]

12 hours ago, KRULL said:

Log from app after 10 seconds of playing has now been sent. 

Can you please provide the requested information?

Quote

Then add the following information to your report in the forum:

 

• Exactly what you were doing and what happened.  Include the name of whatever you played if it is a playback problem
• The time you sent the log (in Eastern Time please - UTC -5)
• The name of the Emby user on the local server that was logged in at the time

 

[KRULL 8]

Log resent from App

 

Avengers End Game played for 10 seconds, Emby App on Shield was freshly started. Started as Direct with black screen, turned into HLS

Log Sent 11:24am Eastern

Emby User - Krull

[KRULL 8]

2 hours ago, ebr said:

Do those display the same artifacts?

Some, but not all movies, 4K HDR, 4k SDR or 1080P SDR show the artefacts. I would say it's more prevalent on 4K HDR, but that is also what I play more of.

[ebr 14912]

The playback failures are due to the audio track.

06-29 01:22:49.154 24032 24032 E EventLogger:   Caused by: com.google.android.exoplayer2.audio.AudioSink$InitializationException: AudioTrack init failed 0 Config(48000, 6396, 765625)

Exactly what equipment is involved and how is it all connected together?

In the Shield audio settings, did you manually select the audio formats or is is set to Auto detect them?

[KRULL 8]

2015 NVIDIA SHIELD into Simplecom CM412 HDMI 2.0 1x2 Splitter. 

Simplecom CM412 HDMI 2.0 1x2 Splitter - HDMI 1 (4K 60Hz HDR10 HDCP 2.2) into LG G1, HDMI 2 (1080P) into Marantz SR6006 AVR (HDMI 1.4a)

The reason for splitter is AVR will not handle 4K, and LG TV will not passthrough DTS, so video goes to TV, Audio goes to AVR.

 

Shield Emby App settings - Audio Output = Auto

Dolby TrueHD, DTS and DTS-HD set to Passthrough.

 

Shield Advanced Sound Settings - Select formats - Manual: Select which format to use.

Aaaaaaaand there's the issue, and I would love to know why an update at some point changed this, as i know I had it set to Auto. I have changed it back to "Auto: Use the formats your device reports supporting (recommended)" and played back several videos that had an issue one way or another, and 100% of them now play fine.

 

Thanks for digging into this, your help has been greatly appreciated.

I will keep an eye on it, but this looks to be solved with Direct Play now coming up 100% of the time, no more HLS, thus no more corruption.

Edited June 28, 2022 by KRULL
spelling

[ebr 14912]

8 minutes ago, KRULL said:

Aaaaaaaand there's the issue, and I would love to know why an update at some point changed this, as i know I had it set to Auto. I have changed it back to "Auto: Use the formats your device reports supporting (recommended)" and played back several videos that had an issue one way or another, and 100% of them now play fine.

Excellent.  Glad you got it nabbed.

[KRULL 8]

Continuing on from this, I just got a 2019 Shield Pro and found that if I have the Shields Audio set to Auto, then Emby will output everything at 2 channel PCM.

 

Emby App, so on this device it has to be set to "Shield Advanced Sound Settings - Select formats - Manual: Select which format to use."

 

I removed the HDMI splitter I was using form the equation, and set to test to AC3 audio to keep it simple.

Shield into LG G1 via HDMI, TV to Marantz AVR via HDMI ARC.

Shield Advanced Audio ser to Auto - Emby outputting 2ch PCM. Shield Advanced Audio set to Manual, and Emby will output AC3 

 

Emby App log sent

10 Cloverfield Lane played for a few seconds

Log Sent 9:26pm Eastern

User Krull

[ebr 14912]

12 hours ago, KRULL said:

hen Emby will output everything at 2 channel PCM.

It appears your TV is actually doing that.  The app is sending the AC3 bitstream:

07-04 11:25:48.246 19737 19737 D EventLogger:   MediaCodecAudioRenderer [
07-04 11:25:48.246 19737 19737 D EventLogger:     Group:0, adaptive_supported=N/A [
07-04 11:25:48.246 19737 19737 D EventLogger:       [X] Track:0, id=2, mimeType=audio/ac3, channels=6, sample_rate=48000, language=en, supported=YES
07-04 11:25:48.246 19737 19737 D EventLogger:     ]
07-04 11:25:48.246 19737 19737 D EventLogger:   ]

I would connect the Shield to the AVR and then the AVR to the TV but I think you said you cannot do that so the way you have it set now should be fine.

[KRULL 8]

Thanks, any idea why this would happen? If Emby is sending AC3 in both cases, Auto and Manual sound, why would the TV suddenly decide to alter it to 2ch PCM?

 

4 minutes ago, ebr said:

I would connect the Shield to the AVR and then the AVR to the TV but I think you said you cannot do that so the way you have it set now should be fine.

Yes, old HDMI 1.4 AVR, can only handle 1080P. I did use a splitter to send the Audio straight to AVR , will play around with that a little more before I throw in the towel and just buy a new AVR.

[ebr 14912]

4 minutes ago, KRULL said:

If Emby is sending AC3 in both cases, Auto and Manual sound, why would the TV suddenly decide to alter it to 2ch PCM?

Sounds like the TV cannot get the proper info from your AVR (perhaps due to the HDMI version) so it is assuming it can only handle stereo.  Then you tell it otherwise to force it with its setting.