Regular PAL DVDs with 720x576 being transcoded as max 480p

[NukeFromOrbit 0]

Hi,

I'm pretty new with Emby but I've been looking into this issue a bit now and thought it would be good to ask for some input. Maybe this is a known issue. I have been searching for previous discussions around this topic but still haven't found good reasons or workarounds. 

I've just recently moved over from Plex to Emby, and I'm happy about that and I'm a Premium subscriber to support Emby (monthly).

Anyway, I was watching Stargate SG-1 and I noticed it was really bad quality. At first I thought that I maybe have just gotten used to Bluray lately, but I had to verify with the source material and there was a significant difference. 

I rip all my DVDs directly to MKV (pass-through, no conversion) to get all audio tracks and subtitles into one file. So the quality is original DVD.

Just as an example of what I'm talking about I'm attaching two images. First one is Emby through Chrome and second is VLC directly on the MKV file.
Both images taken from SG-1 S02 E22 at around 19 seconds into the video and I've brighten them up using levels to make the details a bit easier to see.

Then I noticed that Emby shows 480p 4mbit as max. The video is 720x576.

Stream #0:0: Video: mpeg2video (Main), yuv420p(tv, top first), 720x576 [SAR 64:45 DAR 16:9], Level 8, 25 fps, 25 tbr, 1k tbn (default)

This resolution is very common for PAL DVDs 

I understand that Chrome does not support mpeg2, so the video has to be transcoded to x264. I tried to use Emby Theatre, which is great, especially for a home theatre setup or similar, but I really prefer using a browser when I'm at my computer.  This means that all my DVDs that are of this solution will be bad quality streaming through Chrome.

So the question is. Why is this happening? is it possible to fix the transcoding to not lose that much detail and resolution?

Attatching the transcode log if  it can help.

ffmpeg-transcode-0527404b-8496-4511-9f30-6cfb6ac8ce72_1.txt

[Happy2Play 9403]

But you have the same going in as you have coming out.

19:24:19.529   Stream #0:0: Video: mpeg2video (Main), yuv420p(tv, top first), 720x576 [SAR 64:45 DAR 16:9], Level 8, 25 fps, 25 tbr, 1k tbn (default)

19:24:19.561   Stream #0:0: Video: h264, yuv420p(tv, progressive), 720x576 [SAR 64:45 DAR 16:9], q=2-31, 25 fps, 90k tbn

But I guess it could something with this Interlaced media.

Not sure but adjusting these transcode setting could make a difference also.

[NukeFromOrbit 0]

Hm. Interesting and thank you for replying.

Then there might be two different issues. One is that web client is showing 480p 4Mbps as maximum quality, and the other is that auto detect for encoding preset/crf is maybe not working as it should? 

Why would it show 480p as quality for a 720x576 video? it doesn't really make sense to do that even with interlaced videos.
And is there something I can do to improve the auto settings? or do I just need to override the transcoding settings?  They might require different settings for different source material, right (like SD vs HD vs 4K)?

I'm just thinking that this could be a pretty common issue. If transcoding for browsers with common resolutions of original DVD video turns out this bad by default, then it might cause issues for many people. The server is very capable, so it's not that.

 

Edited August 18, 2022 by NukeFromOrbit

[NukeFromOrbit 0]

I did try to change the CRF from 23 (default) to 18 and that did make it look better. But this settings is supposed to be different for different source material. I think 23 is ok-ish for bluray and 18 is ok-ish for DVD.  Maybe it should be possible to autodetect within a range or some fixed settings for different scenarios? 

And there is still the illusion of Emby downgrading the material to 480p since that is what is shown in the web player. Maybe that is just a plain old bug?

[Happy2Play 9403]

Will look for other topic but this is known as it is more about the bitrate then the resolution shown so that quality scale during playback is skewed.  There are no 576 options as it is not 480, 720, 1080, or 4K, but as the log shows resolution was maintained.  See this with items with odd resolutions also.

 

[NukeFromOrbit 0]

Would it be worth it to suggest some changes to this in the feature request section? or maybe bug report for the 480p thing?

First would be to maybe use the actual resolution or just the actual bitrate (or both). Showing the user the wrong resolution will cause regular support cases, so it would probably be best to show the real information.

Second, the default CRF for sub HD content should be automatically set to something better than 23. This default setting is greatly impacting everyone that is trying to watch a regular DVD through Emby. That is not particularly good for the average user and should be fairly easy to improve I think.

Again, thank you very much for responding Happy2Play. Greatly appreciated   And btw, that hardware you have (in your tag) looks seriously awesome!

Edited August 18, 2022 by NukeFromOrbit

[Happy2Play 9403]

Here is the most recent topic on the during playback quality setting and looks like Luke has found the issue.  But at the same time this resolution media technically does not have a category per the quality list.  But it currently does not downscale your media either.

 

[NukeFromOrbit 0]

Thank you for that link.

720x576 is a very common resolution, so it would make sense to have it shown correctly I think. At least not show 480p instead, that is bound to cause people to start asking questions (like I did). Maybe that is not currently possible, and that bitrate is all that is available to the web player?  then it would probably be best just to show the bitrate and a guessed resolution, but that is just my opinion and I completely understands that is not up to me

I understand that it didn't really downscale the resolution, so that is all good. But I still think that the default CRF of 23 is something that should be improved for SD content. Especially in combination with the guessed resolution using bitrate. 

[Luke 39864]

@NukeFromOrbit can you provide a sample video for testing? Thanks !

[Kurt13 6]

Hi,

I've noticed now the same thing after ripping from the dvd to mkv, using makemkv (so, no conversion used, or something else).

Attached goes screenshots of:

• the mkv file being played on Pot Player (Windows 11) [on VLC is the same]
• from MediaInfo (Windows 11)
• playing Emby on Chrome v131.0.6.778.70 (Windows 11)
• Emby library (web version)
• (another) Emby library (Web version)
• playing on Emby Theater (Windows 11)
• the library on Emby for Android (smartphone)
• playing using Emby for Android (smartphone)

Windows pc connected with ethernet, and smartphone with wifi.

Tried also playing directly the dvd with Pot Player and VLC, and the result was the same as the mkv file. 

With Jellyfin (W11 and Android 14) it doesn't seem to happen.

 

I've been ripping my DVDs not only to have all in one place (Emby) but also as a backup in case they get scratched or something, but I don't want them to be with (supposedly) worst quality because that wouldn't be a proper backup.

 

Thanks 

[Kurt13 6]

Strangely, with Emby for Android TV it's working fine. 

[Neminem 822]

Emby for Android TV is so much better than the Universal android app they want us to change to.

Just read this mega post 

 

[Kurt13 6]

7 minutes ago, Neminem said:

Emby for Android TV is so much better than the Universal android app they want us to change to.

Just read this mega post 

 

I'm still waiting to see if @Lukeor someone that works for Emby to reply to my post. 

[Luke 39864]

hi @Kurt13please attach the ffmpeg log file. thanks.

[Kurt13 6]

Hi, @Luke

Here are the logs (from Emby for Android)

Also, when I go to the stats, it's showing: "Recovery from playback error" but never had any error. 

I also attached a screenshot of the stats while playing on smartphone. Has you can see, it doesn't show as "direct stream" even being connected to my home network. 

 

Thanks

 logs.txt

[Luke 39864]

Quote

"Recovery from playback error" but never had any error. 

This is automatic recovery that you don't get informed about, meaning, app tries to direct play your file, video player has some difficulty with it, and so the app switches to some form of server transcoding to try and correct whatever it was.

[Luke 39864]

But what exactly is the problem with that screenshot? 

Quote

Has you can see, it doesn't show as "direct stream" even being connected to my home network. 

It says direct play, no?

[Kurt13 6]

1 hour ago, Luke said:

But what exactly is the problem with that screenshot? 

It says direct play, no?

Here are screenshots taken now from Emby for Android (on a smartphone) and from Emby for Android TV.

 

Why on Emby for Android it shows "Auto" (and 480p) instead of "Auto-Direct"? And going to stats, it shouldn't show "Direct Play" like it happens with Emby Theater (post from Wednesday) and like with Emby for Android TV? 

Regarding "Recovery from playback error" it happens always with that mkv file and (at least) 2 more, and it only shows on Emby for Android.

 

Thanks 

[Luke 39864]

@Kurt13it doesn't say auto-direct because it switched to transcoding as part of the error recovery process. In other words, it tried to direct play, then encountered an error with the file and switched to transcoding to ensure successful playback.