App 1.0.37 forces h265 to h264 transcoding if audio not supported

[Painkiller8818 203]

Server: 4.7.11.0 WIN

Client 1.0.37
TV: OLED C2

 

Hi,

 

Today i updated to app version 1.0.37 and now i see every movie with an unsupported audio codec like DTS, DTS-HD or TRUEHD is also forcing the Video to transcode to h264 non HDR

 

I disabled subtitles to be sure it is not because of the subs.

 

 

ffmpeg-transcode-ac135299-fa18-482d-9219-f91dfd71979c_1.txtembyserver.txt

 

Edited December 26, 2022 by Painkiller8818

[DerFox 7]

Thats true, the new update is not a solution

[EmbyParty 14]

I have the same problem (on lg cx) with emby server on an asustor nas. Please fix this bug.

Edited December 26, 2022 by EmbyParty

[Nathanael 4]

I have noticed the same thing. However, Is this really a bad thing? For me this prevents a lot, if not all, audio/video sync issues.

[Painkiller8818 203]

yes i also can't watch 80% of my 4K movies right now till this is fixed

[Nathanael 4]

How so? From the screenshot is looks like you use hardware encoding with more then enough fps for a smooth playback.

 

[Painkiller8818 203]

18 minutes ago, Nathanael said:

How so? From the screenshot is looks like you use hardware encoding with more then enough fps for a smooth playback.

 

sure thats not the problem but if an audio codec is not supported, also the vido gets transcoded to h264 NON HDR so no way to get a direct play with HDR

 

[Painkiller8818 203]

my tv does not switch to HDR if the audio codec gets transcoded and as you can see in the screenshot the video gets transcoded to a non HDR instead of direct play

[Nathanael 4]

I see your point.

[JBou 0]

I also have an LG OLED C2, this issue now prevents me from enjoying HDR content when it has DTS or TrueHD audio, only content with Dolby Digital audio works right now in HDR.

But I have found a workaround using nginx (I am using swag as reverse proxy).
Replace the proxy_pass line

proxy_pass $upstream_proto://$upstream_app:$upstream_port;

with the following code below:

# Fixes force transcoding to h264 on LG WebOS by replacing "VideoCodec=h264&" with "VideoCodec=h264,h265,hevc&" if the User-Agent contains "(Web0S; Linux/SmartTV)"
# Remove this code block once the following issue has been fixed:
# https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/115018-app-1037-forces-h265-to-h264-transcoding-if-audio-not-supported/
# Start Workaround
set $newrequest_uri $request_uri;
if ($request_uri ~* ^(.*[?&])VideoCodec=h264&(.*)$) {
    set $replacedrequest_uri $1VideoCodec=h264,h265,hevc&$2;
}
if ($http_user_agent ~* "\(Web0S; Linux\/SmartTV\)") {
    set $newrequest_uri $replacedrequest_uri;
    rewrite ^$request_uri $newrequest_uri last;
}
proxy_pass $upstream_proto://$upstream_app:$upstream_port$newrequest_uri;
#End Workaround
		
# Uncomment when workaround above is removed
# proxy_pass $upstream_proto://$upstream_app:$upstream_port;

 

It works fine on my TV. The audio is not out of sync. Tested with a 4K HEVC HDR10 video and DTS-HD MA audio.

REMEMBER: This is a hacky workaround, don't forget to remove this code again from the reverse proxy when a fix is ready, otherwise it may lead to other problems.

Also, I can't promise that everything works. But it just tells the server that it supports h265 and hevc too, and that should always be the case for the LG TV (webOS).

[Painkiller8818 203]

4 hours ago, JBou said:

I also have an LG OLED C2, this issue now prevents me from enjoying HDR content when it has DTS or TrueHD audio, only content with Dolby Digital audio works right now in HDR.

But I have found a workaround using nginx (I am using swag as reverse proxy).
Replace the proxy_pass line

proxy_pass $upstream_proto://$upstream_app:$upstream_port;

with the following code below:

# Fixes force transcoding to h264 on LG WebOS by replacing "VideoCodec=h264&" with "VideoCodec=h264,h265,hevc&" if the User-Agent contains "(Web0S; Linux/SmartTV)"
# Remove this code block once the following issue has been fixed:
# https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/115018-app-1037-forces-h265-to-h264-transcoding-if-audio-not-supported/
# Start Workaround
set $newrequest_uri $request_uri;
if ($request_uri ~* ^(.*[?&])VideoCodec=h264&(.*)$) {
    set $replacedrequest_uri $1VideoCodec=h264,h265,hevc&$2;
}
if ($http_user_agent ~* "\(Web0S; Linux\/SmartTV\)") {
    set $newrequest_uri $replacedrequest_uri;
    rewrite ^$request_uri $newrequest_uri last;
}
proxy_pass $upstream_proto://$upstream_app:$upstream_port$newrequest_uri;
#End Workaround
		
# Uncomment when workaround above is removed
# proxy_pass $upstream_proto://$upstream_app:$upstream_port;

 

It works fine on my TV. The audio is not out of sync. Tested with a 4K HEVC HDR10 video and DTS-HD MA audio.

REMEMBER: This is a hacky workaround, don't forget to remove this code again from the reverse proxy when a fix is ready, otherwise it may lead to other problems.

Also, I can't promise that everything works. But it just tells the server that it supports h265 and hevc too, and that should always be the case for the LG TV (webOS).

thanks for the workaround, but i am using emby internally and i don't wanna set up nginx to workaround something the emby team should fix

Edited December 27, 2022 by Painkiller8818

[caaptusss 16]

I have the same problem since the update !

The Emby-team have a solution ?

[caaptusss 16]

@Luke It's a very big problem with this last update.

All content with HEVC/H265 (HDR or not) is transcoded if the audio codec is not supported by the LG hardware.

And, on LG, the DTS, DTSMA, DTS-HD and others DTS codecs are not played by LG. Before your update, the content was played with only the audio in transcoding mode. The video was directly play by the LG Hardware.

Now, all content, Video+audio are transcoded by the Emby Server. And, as i didn't have any GPU on the server for the moment, the decoding is made by the CPU. The capacity of this CPU is not enougt to permit a good playing (~15 FPS max).

So, with the new update, about 50% of my 4K movies are not playable on LG TV. And for me, it's a very big problem because it's my standard since i'm using Emby, i bought a LG TV for that !

Please, can you propose a urgent update on the server side to force the video to be play directly by the LG hardware ? I know than LG did not validate any update before a long time.

Thanks,

Edited December 28, 2022 by caaptusss
faute

[DerFox 7]

I solved this Problem by:

Updating to the latest beta server version of Synology (i think 4.0.8.21).

Then go to your User Settings (On Android,Web,Windows)

Go to your User that you want to play on your LG Tv. 

Look for the Playback Settings and unmark Video Transcoding.

Now it will transcode the DTS, DTS-HD, TrueHD etc. And subtitles. But the Video is untouched (direct Play,) WITH HDR.

This only works for your Home Network (lan)

Otherwise it says no compatible streams etc. If you want to play over (WAN,Internet) you need to check the video transcoding again.

Or you create an User only for the LG App

 

Cheers

Edited January 4, 2023 by DerFox

[dachsonaut 0]

Thank you very much DerFox for this hint!! - I can confirm this working with QNAP Server Version 4.7.11.0 and actual LG Client Version (1.0.37, via LAN/local) too!

BR

Edited January 6, 2023 by dachsonaut

[EmbyParty 14]

Yep, works, cool. Thanks!

 

(first I got the wrong emoji, apologize)

Edited January 6, 2023 by EmbyParty

[adminExitium 173]

@LukeCan we please have an update on this? This seems like a pretty major regression in the behaviour.

[Luke 37046]

Hi, we are looking into it. Thanks.

[Utini 13]

Uhm is this the reason why 4K HDR content suddenly gets some minor freezings/stuttering when playing?

 

Stats for nerds says directplay though.

[Luke 37046]

2 hours ago, Utini said:

Uhm is this the reason why 4K HDR content suddenly gets some minor freezings/stuttering when playing?

 

Stats for nerds says directplay though.

@Utini 

 

Hi there, let's look at an example. Please attach the information requested in how to report a media playback issue. Thanks!

 

[tobimai 0]

Just wanted to chime in, I have the same problem. I am 100% sure it worked fine before, but I can't really say when. When disabling video transcoding HEVC works fine but AV1 HDR fails with "no compatible stream"

Edited January 9, 2023 by tobimai

[Utini 13]

On 1/9/2023 at 12:34 AM, Luke said:

@Utini 

 

Hi there, let's look at an example. Please attach the information requested in how to report a media playback issue. Thanks!

 

Hi there,

I just played the file exactly until a freeze happened. Once the freeze was over I stopped and opened the log file.

log file + mediainfo of the video file are attached.

mediainfo.txt embyserver.txt

[caaptusss 16]

Any news about this problem please ?

[Luke 37046]

On 1/11/2023 at 5:13 PM, caaptusss said:

Any news about this problem please ?

Hi, we are looking into it. Thanks.

[KodiTV72 2]

Is this a client issue or server side issue?

A few things changed for me in December around the time I was making some changes. Synology update, LG app update (LG C9).

Now a lot of 4K with high audio codecs cause transcoding that my Synology cannot cope with. Content that previously worked no longer does. It also seems to be causing issues with my Chromecast with Google TV 4k. (but I only just installed Emby on this, I have never previously had the Chromecast working).