Chromecast w/ GoogleTV suddenly transcoding AAC 7.1

[SamuelWinsor 12]

Title pretty much says it all, but since yesterday, Emby for Android on Chromecast won’t direct play anything AAC 7.1. It transcodes the entire file, which is not viable for 4K HDR content because it absolutely slaughters the picture. 5.1 and any form of Dolby plays fine. It’s not my hardware, have never had this issue before. My hardware is and always has been capable of playing all the codecs on my server.

If I change my settings to select the option of downmixing to Dolby for unsupported codecs, it direct streams, but the audio gradually becomes more and more out of sync as the file plays, effectively making that solution void. Same thing for downmixing to Stereo. For clarification, am using the app from the store on the device. I know there’s a term you guys use for it, but it escapes me right now.

The Chromecast was my solution to Emby Theater on XBox Series X being an unusable mess, so to now have very similar issues with this device after six months of it working a dream is concerning. Any insights on this? Not sure perhaps something in a recent update has impacted, but just need that AAC 7.1 to not transcode. 

Edited July 9, 2022 by SamuelWinsor

[SamuelWinsor 12]

Just a quick update to the above, I’ve managed to find a temporary solution by disabling video transcoding but still allowing audio transcode. This way, the video Direct Streams while the audio converts to stereo rather than Dolby. The stereo downmix appears to sync properly so far, whilst the Dolby remains out of sync on Direct Stream files. 

Will also point out that on files with Dolby AC or EAC audio, it all syncs perfectly on when Direct Playing; sync issue only appears to be with Dolby when Direct Streaming and converting from AAC 7.1. 

[ebr 14913]

6 hours ago, SamuelWinsor said:

since yesterday,

Hi.  What changed in your setup at that time?

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

 

[Luke 37065]

Please also attach the ffmpeg log from the server:

Thanks.

[SamuelWinsor 12]

@ebr Quite literally not a single thing has changed in my setup. Just fired it up Friday and it was transcoding anything with AAC 7.1 audio. Everything else in the server is still Direct Playing. We'd been watching a show with AC3 audio during the rest of the week, so not sure if the transcoding thing would've started earlier had we have gone to watch something with AAC 7.1. I have just sent a log from the app itself on the Chromecast. Not sure what other info you might need from me to view this, if any?

@Luke I have attached the logs generated during trying to play something with AAC 7.1 audio a moment ago. As mentioned above, I have disabled video transcoding so it's at least direct playing the 4K HDR HEVC video and only converting the audio from AAC to Stereo as Direct Stream overall. I can get you some logs with video transcoding turned back on just to give a fuller picture of where it transcodes the entire file, but it might be later today. These might still be useful in the meantime?

Having done some more research, I can see that some people have had issues with Chromecast playing any AAC audio above 2.0. It's bizarre that up until now, Emby for Android has always played AAC 5.1 and 7.1 directly, and continues to play AAC 5.1 without a hiccup. It could just be that the Chromecast is now looking at my AAC differently, and that I'll have to accept stereo downmix going forward, but I appreciate you guys looking into this regardless.

ffmpeg-remux-43e90ffe-292d-48f8-940b-a32d9ea51ead_1.txt ffmpeg-directstream-690fad0c-2dc3-458c-bca2-8b93c2605f89_1.txt ffmpeg-directstream-ea3c9491-671b-4e8c-b328-60c187589bd0_1.txt

[Trevor68 48]

Prob not what you want to hear, but I've recently found Kodi on a GCwGTV does a bang up job of playing HEVC 4K HDR files, straight from a SMB share. 

[SamuelWinsor 12]

@Trevor68 The sound is the only thing that's suddenly giving me grief, they otherwise play like a dream. I'll have to sus out Kodi maybe as a bandaid in the meantime!

[Trevor68 48]

It's been a good backup for me, plus the 900 odd free tv channels doesn't hurt either. 

[ebr 14913]

Is this only with a particular set of files?  The player doesn't like something about the audio as the device decoder is throwing an error so we are choosing to downmix it so it will play.

07-10 09:42:01.374 14877 14877 E EventLogger: playerFailed [eventTime=1.02, mediaPos=0.00, window=0, period=0, errorCode=ERROR_CODE_IO_UNSPECIFIED
...
07-10 09:42:01.531 14877 14877 I System.out: *** Forcing transcode to AAC stereo as last resort

 

[SamuelWinsor 12]

@ebrOnly ever does it with stuff that’s playing AAC 7.1. Doesn’t seem to mind resolution or what container it’s in. Everything else will direct play without any hiccups. Only wants to transcode or downmix since the last update to the app; prior to this it direct played AAC 7.1 without hesitation. 

[jellis413 3]

Just thought I would chime in here, the same thing as OP happens on my Shield Pro.  I dont use it that often, but I did notice there was an update to the Shield that got installed, so not sure if that has any bearing on it.  Just like OP, I let audio transcode and it doesnt hit the CPU on the server too hard.  AAC 5.1 and EAC3 seem to work fine and not transcode.  

The last time i used it (with "Allow audio playback that requires transcoding" turned off), it just passed it through as PCM to my receiver.  With this turned off, it will try to play and error out with the "Too many errors" message.

[SamuelWinsor 12]

Any thoughts or other progress on this? I’ve continued to troubleshoot with my setup and by process of elimination, the only thing in the whole set up that underwent any change at the time AAC 7.1 stopped direct playing is the app update. I’m at your mercy here. 

[ebr 14913]

If you sideload the latest beta of the standard app on the device, how does that compare?

[SamuelWinsor 12]

@ebrGoing to ask a dumb question; how do I sideload the beta onto a Chromecast?

[Trevor68 48]

I use SendToTV and File Manager myself. 

Once you have the apk on the chromecast just use filemanager to install it. 

[SamuelWinsor 12]

@Trevor68 Fantastic, thank you! Will give it a crack after work. 

[SamuelWinsor 12]

@ebr My next thick question is where do I find the apk for the beta so I can sideload it? Feel like I’m going in circles.

[ebr 14913]

I believe our website is kept up to date with the beta:

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

Thanks.

 

[SamuelWinsor 12]

@ebr Right, so. The beta is no different. However, I sideloaded the previous .70 version of the app, and it direct plays the audio just fine. So that definitely eliminates the issue being anything other than the most recent update to the app. I’ll just continue using the previous version of the app as long as it remains stable enough for me to do so, and hopefully the next update to rollout doesn’t have these issues with direct playing AAC audio. 

[Luke 37065]

2 hours ago, SamuelWinsor said:

@ebr Right, so. The beta is no different. However, I sideloaded the previous .70 version of the app, and it direct plays the audio just fine. So that definitely eliminates the issue being anything other than the most recent update to the app. I’ll just continue using the previous version of the app as long as it remains stable enough for me to do so, and hopefully the next update to rollout doesn’t have these issues with direct playing AAC audio. 

Hi, can you please try sideloading our standard android app and let us know how that compares?

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

Thanks !

[Trevor68 48]

Do you have the .70 version anywhere, I might give it a go too. 

[ebr 14913]

10 hours ago, Trevor68 said:

Do you have the .70 version anywhere, I might give it a go too. 

Please try this instead:

11 hours ago, Luke said:

Hi, can you please try sideloading our standard android app and let us know how that compares?

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

Thanks !

 

[SamuelWinsor 12]

@ebrWill try this one tonight.

@Trevor68 In the event the suggested app from ebr doesn't work, I found the apk for the 2.0.70 update here: https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/emby-media/emby-for-android-tv/emby-for-android-tv-2-0-70g-release/#downloads

[SamuelWinsor 12]

@ebrSo, not only did the standard Android app not resolve, but it’s borderline unusable just from timeouts and crashes on the Chromecast. No luck, I’m afraid. 
 

The previous version of the Android TV app continues to direct play perfectly without the need for remuxing or transcoding, which is great, but obviously the store recognises it and wants to update, so that’ll be a nuisance in the mean time. Regardless, it’s a Band-Aid for me. 
 

If there’s other ideas to try, hit me up. All I can tell you is that the most recent and beta versions of your Android apps do not want to direct play 7.1 audio anymore. 

[Trevor68 48]

2 minutes ago, SamuelWinsor said:

@ebrSo, not only did the standard Android app not resolve, but it’s borderline unusable just from timeouts and crashes on the Chromecast. No luck, I’m afraid. 

 

That has been my exact experience also