Emby server can't correctly stream/control MKV files on Chromecast HD

[wordlover 102]

I downloaded the first mkv file at that mkv files site, https://filesamples.com/samples/video/mkv/sample_1280x720_surfing_with_audio.mkv, but I can't get Emby to recognize it.  I put in in TV folder, in own folder, and Emby sees folder but not the file. I put it in a brand new "mixed content" folder and library, scanned it, and still Emby doesn't recognize it. What should I do @cayars ?

Edited December 14, 2022 by wordlover

[Happy2Play 8273]

@wordlover A server log showing that would help.

But I would just put it in Home Video library.

[wordlover 102]

Here is log - I have tried setting it up as several different library types, in several different locations. For some reason Emby never sees the file, although it's plainly visible in Explorer.

embyserver.txt

[visproduction 122]

W,

There is no .mkv, nor 'sample' mentioned in your .txt download.  Did you put the file in an active library directory that has been setup as a library folder?

[wordlover 102]

6 minutes ago, visproduction said:

W,

There is no .mkv, nor 'sample' mentioned in your .txt download.  Did you put the file in an active library directory that has been setup as a library folder?

This is the link, which downloaded an MKV file
https://filesamples.com/samples/video/mkv/sample_1280x720_surfing_with_audio.mkv
which I put in 3 different libraries, my existing TV & Movie libraries, and "Home videos & photos" - it doesn't show up in any of them, even after full library rescans. I can see it fine in Windows Explorer, but Emby won't recognize it.

[wordlover 102]

16 hours ago, Happy2Play said:

@wordlover A server log showing that would help.

But I would just put it in Home Video library.

And here are visual demonstrations that Emby isn't properly importing a sample .mkv file as @cayars asked: 

[wordlover 102]

This is a distraction and waste of time - I am uploading one of the uncontrollable files now to Dropbox and will let @cayarsknow when it's ready.

[Happy2Play 8273]

3 hours ago, wordlover said:

And here are visual demonstrations that Emby isn't properly importing a sample .mkv file as @cayars asked: 

Totally normal as there are Restistions against "Sample".  How large is the sample file?

<SampleIgnoreSize>314572800</SampleIgnoreSize>

But should never use "Sample" to name anything.

[wordlover 102]

I was just following @cayars'  instructions.

[Carlo 4330]

11 hours ago, wordlover said:

This is the link, which downloaded an MKV file
https://filesamples.com/samples/video/mkv/sample_1280x720_surfing_with_audio.mkv
which I put in 3 different libraries, my existing TV & Movie libraries, and "Home videos & photos" - it doesn't show up in any of them, even after full library rescans. I can see it fine in Windows Explorer, but Emby won't recognize it.

7 hours ago, Happy2Play said:

Totally normal as there are Restistions against "Sample".  How large is the sample file?

<SampleIgnoreSize>314572800</SampleIgnoreSize>

But should never use "Sample" to name anything.

Yep, my bad, as Happy2Play is absolutely correct.

You can rename it to something else, rescan the lib and it should show up.  You should be able to remove the "sample_" from the front of the file name.

I can definitely take a look at the dropbox file, but it would be helpful for others to have a version in the public domain they can download and test with as well (after renaming it) assuming the issue can be reproduced using one of them.

Edited December 15, 2022 by cayars

[wordlover 102]

Please test the Dropbox file first, which is confirmed to show the problem. 

[bassie112 3]

On 12/14/2022 at 2:24 AM, cayars said:

I went back and tested with AC3 direct playing, forcing transcodes using software and hardware (quicksync).  I can play a movie, rw, ff, stop.  Switch to another movie do the same.  Go back to the first movie and continue where I left off and be able to rw, ff, jump to chapters, etc.

At this point I would like to see if you can reproduce this issue using a sample file from:
https://sample-videos.com/
https://filesamples.com/formats/mkv

If you can reproduce the issue using a file from either of those sites anyone wanting to test this could download the same file.
If the problem can't be reproduced using one of those files, we can setup a remote support session to have a look and check a few things besides taking a look at the logs.

If need be, I can cut a 3 to 5 minute sample from a file. We can then add that file and make sure its still reproduceable.

Having a file that can be used to reproduce this will help narrow things down a lot.
IE Chromecast specific model with the issue? 4K version ok but HD version not?

Carlo

 

-Bunny mp4 any resolution and size works fine with resume/skip.

-Bunny mkv/flv/3gp up to and including 360p at any size works fine with resume/skip.

-Bunny mkv/flv 480p and 720p at 5mb works fine with resume/skip and from 10mb and upwards sound plays but video freezes and when the file is done the video frames catch up in extreme speed...

-Coastal mkv works fine up to and including 1080p and starts failing from 1440p with sound playing but video freezes.

-All other smaller nature videos work fine.

 

Hardware: 4k chromecast with google tv (android 12 latest update) hooked up on 1080p tv with cinema set (supports only older ac3/dd/dts surround sound formats), so files above 1080p or containing modern audio format means emby (latest with no software bitrate caps during testing) will transcode.

 

Seems weird, but al least the above you could maybe try on your 4k unit (be sure to have it updated like mine) and replicate.

Edited December 15, 2022 by bassie112

[Carlo 4330]

19 hours ago, wordlover said:

Please test the Dropbox file first, which is confirmed to show the problem. 

Direct play or forced transcoding I get no issues casting this from my notebook to the Chromecast.

Can you give me step by step directions how you are reproducing this so I can do exactly what you are doing?
Please upload any log files that match the time you do this test as well please.

Carlo

[Carlo 4330]

4 hours ago, bassie112 said:

-Bunny mp4 any resolution and size works fine with resume/skip.

-Bunny mkv/flv/3gp up to and including 360p at any size works fine with resume/skip.

-Bunny mkv/flv 480p and 720p at 5mb works fine with resume/skip and from 10mb and upwards sound plays but video freezes and when the file is done the video frames catch up in extreme speed...

-Coastal mkv works fine up to and including 1080p and starts failing from 1440p with sound playing but video freezes.

-All other smaller nature videos work fine.

 

Hardware: 4k chromecast with google tv (android 12 latest update) hooked up on 1080p tv with cinema set (supports only older ac3/dd/dts surround sound formats), so files above 1080p or containing modern audio format means emby (latest with no software bitrate caps during testing) will transcode.

 

Seems weird, but al least the above you could maybe try on your 4k unit (be sure to have it updated like mine) and replicate.

Did you take notice if these were direct playing or transcoding?

[wordlover 102]

10 minutes ago, cayars said:

Did you take notice if these were direct playing or transcoding?

I don't know how to check that - can that be figured out from the logs posted above?

 

And here is an example with full logs:

https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/113602-emby-server-cant-correctly-streamcontrol-mkv-files-on-chromecast-hd/&do=findComment&comment=1203998

 

Edited December 16, 2022 by wordlover

[Carlo 4330]

On the Emby Server Dashboard you will see something like this:

The Audio, Video & Stream all show Direct Play.

On this one you can see the Video is being Transcoded.  Looking at the stream it tells you why "Reducing bitrate due to quality setting".

Hope that helps,

Let us know what it tells you on screen.

 

[bassie112 3]

5 hours ago, cayars said:

Did you take notice if these were direct playing or transcoding?

Bunny one are all transcoded for audio and video. Coastal only 1440p due to resolution (as i dont.have 4k tv).

 

PS My library did pick up the files with the word sample in it, but I removed it based on above advice. The ones with the filesize in the name are the bunny files.

Edited December 16, 2022 by bassie112

[Carlo 4330]

Have you noticed this happening on codecs other than MPEG4?

Could we schedule a remote support session to run a few tests together and take a look at logs?
If so, reply back here or send me a PM and we can arrange it.

Carlo

[wordlover 102]

Yet another example, @cayars @Luke, of failed control on playback, on entirely different mkv file. Movie played all the way through FINE on Chromecast HD w/ GTV. BUT when I tried to rewind to 1:10:00 or so it seizes up again. Playback indicator shows real time playback as advancing from 00:00:01, instead of the 1:10:00 I moved the timeline to; and

the screen shows STILL image of 1:10:00; and

no actual playback is possible at all. The timeline is advancing, yet the video IS NOT ADVANCING/PLAYING on the TV screen, which is still connected fine to Chromecast device.

Dashboard info below and all logs attached:

 

ffmpeg-remux-3d6b596e-60c0-4e08-9fea-aa20e121dd60_1.txt ffmpeg-remux-b22df92a-1253-4b93-9804-18b39c12d73a_1.txt ffmpeg-remux-eadc6664-6e06-4d68-9252-70a1b8646847_1.txt ffmpeg-remux-4463f7f7-3415-4390-a526-743c660d2644_1.txt ffmpeg-remux-b0be96b2-1d30-4634-bf80-a06762507331_1.txt embyserver.txt

[Carlo 4330]

I responded to you PM.

[wordlover 102]

On 12/21/2022 at 10:41 AM, cayars said:

I responded to you PM.

Details for Team Viewer session in PM to you now.

[Luke 37049]

Were you able to find anything?

[wordlover 102]

No. Please please please confer with cayar. He experienced the same problems. Given info above from bassie112 and visproductions, and in the files of mine we tested, strongest suspicion so far is transcoding problems with some audio formats that CCHDwGTV doesn't support.  

[wordlover 102]

@Luke @cayars Here is a pristine report of the continuing playback problems, with a top-quality media file of a brand new show, with the same problems. I very carefully tested three scenarios, one right after the other: 1. play via old Chromecast, 2. play directly on Android tablet, 3. play via new Chromecast HD. It works perfectly in first two scenarios, but when playing in scenario 3 the exact same problem recurs: playback starts fine and continues fine if user touches nothing at all, but as soon as I press the 30-second advance button, the still image jumps correctly to 20 seconds ahead and then freezes on the TV screen, while the playback timer goes back to 0:00:00 and advances again from there, and nothing plays or is controllable on the app or screen. This is an Emby problem, because I then tested and the new CCHD works completely fine with Hoopla, Kanopy, Vimeo, YouTube, Google Play, and Amazon Video.

All file info and logs below and attached:

There HAS to be developer info available online for the new Chromecast HD w/ Google TV, and the latest version of Android that it runs, that will allow you to fix Emby so it properly controls casting to these devices.

embyserver.txt ffmpeg-remux-2224fee6-e010-407d-bf56-4d2397cb869b_1.txt ffmpeg-remux-39f14330-310a-4567-9213-8a8e27f6e831_1.txt ffmpeg-remux-8a6fbf08-dd3b-418e-b142-01f8a770878d_1.txt ffmpeg-remux-f96bc47d-d426-4816-a078-652b4a0c8547_1.txt ffmpeg-remux-0f0c4c37-97e5-4ed2-a2c5-8eb9601270cf_1.txt ffmpeg-remux-a3ee0638-4512-4f22-8600-d328e80b04be_1.txt hardware_detection-63807824046.txt

[Carlo 4330]

2 hours ago, wordlover said:

This is an Emby problem, because I then tested and the new CCHD works completely fine with Hoopla, Kanopy, Vimeo, YouTube, Google Play, and Amazon Video.

Not really a fair comparison as those system take the media file and normally produce 4 to 12 different versions that they can hand off to you. When they hand these off to the Chromecast the manifest will contain multiple streams for different bitrates to allow the client to vary between the streams depending on need. ie variable bandwidth, can't keep buffer filled, etc

Emby on the other hand doesn't have this luxury and has to convert the file on the fly as you're watching it. The conversion taking place in real-time is called transcoding.
So, while you mentioned "pristine" and "top-quality", you need to consider the fact they can't be played as is on all your devices as they aren't using formats and codecs your equipment supports. If they were directly playable there would not be a need to transcode.

Emby does a lot of "magic" behind the scenes transcoding streams on the fly but sometimes can't do the typical magic it would like to do.  An example is a file with bad timing errors or use of bad key frames or other anomalies. In cases like this they file can often be played back ok if the transcoder starts and the beginning of the file and transcodes straight through allowing it to fix any timing issues.  But if you try and jump while playing it can appear the player is hung but it could wait 5, 10, 15 minutes before it can start playing again as it's at the mercy of the transcoder catching up to where it's at waiting.  The transcoder can't jump and start transcoding from a new spot as it normally would because the timing would be lost so it has to transcode straight through which itself is still some "magic" because otherwise it's unwatchable.

I bring that up because it could be the case here or a very similar issue. If direct played it likely won't show itself as a problem.  You can sometimes test this by playing the media back on a device that handled the direct play fine and clicking on the cog icon in the display choosing a lower resolution forcing it to transcode.  That allows you to observe any differences.  Of course, nothing might show if you test on a different platform as the built-in player might have code that handles the situation. An issue can show up on Apple or Roku that doesn't in Android, web or Theater (and vice versa).

I'm not seeing anything in the ffmpeg logs this go around but see multiple attempts at transcoding for each playback so it's obvious there is an issue.  The problem is the logs are cut off in the middle of lines being written to the logs which is a problem when trying to analyze them.

I'm going to ask @softworkz to jump in looking at the logs in the post above this one to see if he sees any problem or has any special tests to try.
Softworkz I've teamviewed in with him going over this and did a couple tests.  One set of tests was playing back from his server remotely from my location on a new Chromecast which does not have the issue.  Then reversing this and casting to his chromecast something from my system which plays back fine for me but again, not for him.

One thought I had was that he has both old (original CC) and the new CC he's flipping back and forth using.  Could this be causing an issue confusing Google's casting by somehow getting the capabilities wrong or mixed up when the Origin=https://mediabrowser.github.io? I ask because it seemed like the dashboard was getting mixed up on which device was playing.

Any help or guidance would be appreciated!

Carlo