Failure to handle Subtitles

[Scott D 62]

I have begun to have issue with playing files that contain subtitles.

Emby 4.8.1.0
Windows 11 Home 22H2
12th Gen Intel i5-12400
Hardware Encoding - OFF

Roku Express 4K+ SG 4.1.10

Process used for test:

1.  Log file rotated.
2.  Start video with no subtitles.  Video plays with no issue.
3.  Exit playing video and turn on subtitles.  Play video from the beginning.  Video will play for a few seconds and then go to buffer wheel.
4.  Video will buffer every few seconds.
5.  Exit currently playing video.
6.  Return to Emby Home screen.
7.  Exit Emby app.

Emby dashboard will show that user session is still active.  It will continue creating ffmpeg log files at the rate of about 17 files per minute.  Only way to clear the activity is no shut down/restart the server.

Attached are log files from server during test.  The ffmpeg log file is the last file in the list of over 89 files in just of 2 minutes.

This problem does NOT occur when using a browser, or an Android app.  No other available devices for testing.

Thanks for your assistance and taking the time to look into this problem.

embyserver-63844026708.txt ffmpeg-transcode-0ae87323-fd01-4809-a10e-b44a262f68bf_1.txt

[ebr 14925]

Hi.  Force an update on your Roku to get version 4.1.12 and see if this improves.

[Scott D 62]

No change.

Attached new log files created during session.

This session created 145 ffmpeg log files in the 2 minutes the session was running.

Also attached is the dashboard after user stopped playing and exited Emby normally (not using the HOME button).  Time was continuing to advance.

embyserver.txt ffmpeg-transcode-85f2b442-4ed6-473a-9d68-38aa2ea8f035_1.txt

[Luke 37099]

Hi, have you tinkered with any options in the diagnostics plugin?

[Scott D 62]

13 hours ago, Luke said:

Hi, have you tinkered with any options in the diagnostics plugin?

No.  Suggestions?

[pwhodges 1532]

From my experience, in this area at least what Luke means by that is: "Have you been fiddling with diagnostic options? Don't do that, you naughty person"!

Paul

[Scott D 62]

16 minutes ago, pwhodges said:

From my experience, in this area at least what Luke means by that is: "Have you been fiddling with diagnostic options? Don't do that, you naughty person"!

Paul

No.  I have not made any changes to settings.  Only recent change is the update to new server version.

[ebr 14925]

Can you try uninstalling the Diagnostics plugin and see if it makes a difference?

[Scott D 62]

Removed Diagnostics plugin and same issue.

Test run:

Start Emby for clean log file.
Open remote app on Roku device
Begin playing video file (Subtitles off).  Plays with no issue.
At about 2:30 into the video, turned on Subtitles using cc option in OSD.
Video paused (on the server, created 39 ffmpeg log files in a matter of a few seconds).
Error on Roku indicating "No Compatible Streams"
Exited Emby app on Roku using normal exit procedure.

Attached - 
Emby Server Log from start to finish of test
1 - ffmpeg log created with no subtitles
2 - ffmpeg log created after Subtitles were turned on .  This is the last of the 40 log files created.  

 

embyserver-63844109684.txt 1 - ffmpeg-transcode-c11e015f-0882-41ef-bda0-595ae826ec1e_1.txt 2 - ffmpeg-transcode-3db2452f-2205-405e-8bec-8210d8de3f6e_1.txt

[pwhodges 1532]

When I did experiment with subtitle settings using the diagnostics plugin (in the 4.7 beta), I found that removing the plugin didn't restore persistent settings which had been made with a previous version of it.  I rebuilt from scratch, and the subtitles behaved better again, even after I reinstalled (but didn't use) the diagnostic plugin.

Paul

Edited February 21 by pwhodges

[Scott D 62]

I have installed, but I have never made any adjustments/changes within the diagnostics plugin.  The most significant change I have made to the server (from the out of the box default installation) is to turn off Hardware encoding.   There were issues in the prior version that made it necessary.  I have not turned it back on, as "it ain't broke", ain't gonna fix it.

The problem that I am experiencing at the moment began with the most recent update to the server.  Prior sessions had been working as desired.

[speechles 1920]

ffmpeg_log1:
TranscodeReasons=ContainerBitrateExceedsLimit

-filter_complex "[0:0]scale@f1=width=1280:height=720[f1_out0]" -map [f1_out0]

10:49:24.352 [mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2 @ 00000286e520c980] stream 0, timescale not set

10:49:24.370 Stream mapping:
10:49:24.370   Stream #0:0 (h264) -> scale:default (graph 0)
10:49:24.370   scale:default (graph 0) -> Stream #0:0 (libx264)
10:49:24.370   Stream #0:1 -> #0:1 (ac3 (native) -> aac (native))

( File successfully plays from here .. only shown is log bits that seemed relevant )

----

ffmpeg_log2:
TranscodeReasons=SubtitleCodecNotSupported,DirectPlayError

-filter_complex "[0:0]scale@f1=width=1280:height=720[f1_out0];[0:2]scale@f2=width=1280:height=720[f2_out0];[f1_out0][f2_out0]overlay@f3=x=(W-w)/2:y=(H-h):repeatlast=0[f3_out0]" -map [f3_out0]

10:52:36.203 [mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2 @ 00000297d696d100] stream 0, timescale not set

10:52:36.223 Stream mapping:
10:52:36.223   Stream #0:0 (h264) -> scale:default (graph 0)
10:52:36.223   Stream #0:2 (dvdsub) -> scale:default (graph 0)
10:52:36.223   overlay:default (graph 0) -> Stream #0:0 (libx264)
10:52:36.223   Stream #0:1 -> #0:1 (ac3 (native) -> aac (native))

10:52:36.247 subtitle input filter: decoding size 0x0
10:52:36.247 Auto-inserting subfeed filter
10:52:36.247 Auto-inserting graphicsub2video filter
10:52:36.262 [swscaler @ 00000297de671f40] 570x66 -> 0x0 is invalid scaling dimension
10:52:36.262 Cannot initialize the conversion context. dstW=0 dstH=0
10:52:36.262 Error while filtering: Invalid argument
10:52:36.263 [subfeed @ 00000297dd8af180] EOF timestamp not reliable
10:52:36.263 Error marking filters as finished
10:52:36.265 [aac @ 00000297d8339680] Qavg: nan
10:52:36.274 Conversion failed!
10:52:36.274 EXIT

( File fails to play .. only shown is log bits that seemed relevant )

---

It looks like some parameter in the filter complex isn't being correctly filled in. It becomes 0 for height/width instead of the actual values the subtitles should be resized into. This causes the entire encode to fail. The Roku may not understand what is going on. Possible it might hang and just stick on the spinning wheel until it realizes it cannot continue. The unfortunate part is the fallback recovery doesn't understand this either. It will keep trying to play it. But it shouldn't try more than 3 times. On the fourth time it should give you the "No Compatible streams" message because it cannot understand why this will not play.

It has something to do with how the subtitles are being resized, specfically this part: "f3=x=(W-w)/2:y=(H-h)". It isn't exactly a Roku issue. More a server problem.

@Luke

Edited February 21 by speechles

[ebr 14925]

16 hours ago, speechles said:

But it shouldn't try more than 3 times. On the fourth time it should give you the "No Compatible streams" message because it cannot understand why this will not play.

The reason it is doing more than that is that the server also has some fallbacks to retry itself.

[Scott D 62]

Is there anything I can do on my end to correct, or test a possible solution?

[ebr 14925]

11 hours ago, Scott D said:

Is there anything I can do on my end to correct, or test a possible solution?

If you could spin up a portable fresh install to test if that has the same issue, that would probably help.

[Scott D 62]

As much as I would like to assist further, this is a rather substantial investment of time on my part.  To be honest, if I am going to go through the process of installing a fresh version, it will be to a prior version.  There are several problems I (as well as others) are experiencing with the latest update that did not exist in the prior.

Thanks for looking into this matter and your suggestion, but I must respectfully decline.  If you wish to close this discussion, I would understand.

Thank you

[Luke 37099]

On 2/21/2024 at 1:14 PM, Scott D said:

Removed Diagnostics plugin and same issue.

Test run:

Start Emby for clean log file.
Open remote app on Roku device
Begin playing video file (Subtitles off).  Plays with no issue.
At about 2:30 into the video, turned on Subtitles using cc option in OSD.
Video paused (on the server, created 39 ffmpeg log files in a matter of a few seconds).
Error on Roku indicating "No Compatible Streams"
Exited Emby app on Roku using normal exit procedure.

Attached - 
Emby Server Log from start to finish of test
1 - ffmpeg log created with no subtitles
2 - ffmpeg log created after Subtitles were turned on .  This is the last of the 40 log files created.  

 

embyserver-63844109684.txt 603.89 kB · 1 download 1 - ffmpeg-transcode-c11e015f-0882-41ef-bda0-595ae826ec1e_1.txt 160.75 kB · 2 downloads 2 - ffmpeg-transcode-3db2452f-2205-405e-8bec-8210d8de3f6e_1.txt 15.39 kB · 1 download

@Scott DThanks. Do you have an ffmpeg log of this same video transcoding with the subtitles enabled in 4.7?

[Scott D 62]

5 hours ago, Luke said:

@Scott DThanks. Do you have an ffmpeg log of this same video transcoding with the subtitles enabled in 4.7?

I do not.  All logs and history from prior to the 4.8 update are no longer on my system.

[visproduction 123]

On 2/21/2024 at 1:49 PM, speechles said:

It has something to do with how the subtitles are being resized, specfically this part: "f3=x=(W-w)/2:y=(H-h)". It isn't exactly a Roku issue. More a server problem.

Just a guess, check where these variables are coming from and if it's possible to get 0 or negative solutions to W-w or H-h.  Also if any of these variables can come up as undefined in running the code for all situations.  There may be an error resolution added to the code to stop runaway looping or other code nasty stuff.  You may not notice this in a normal playback.  Code going wrong often results in this loop never stop symptom.  -- Just an idea to check.  Hope that helps.

[Scott D 62]

On 2/27/2024 at 11:20 AM, visproduction said:

Just a guess, check where these variables are coming from and if it's possible to get 0 or negative solutions to W-w or H-h.  Also if any of these variables can come up as undefined in running the code for all situations.  There may be an error resolution added to the code to stop runaway looping or other code nasty stuff.  You may not notice this in a normal playback.  Code going wrong often results in this loop never stop symptom.  -- Just an idea to check.  Hope that helps.

Thanks for the information.  However, I am just a basic of basic users.  I have learned enough to make me fairly dangerous.  I can flip switches, try again, flip more switches try again troubleshooting method.  But I have not yet reached the level where what you are saying gets past the "what the, what the, say what?" part in my understanding.  Since I have no access to the code, this is well beyond anything I could possibly address.

But THANK YOU!!! for at least taking a look.

[Luke 37099]

On 2/27/2024 at 8:18 AM, Scott D said:

I do not.  All logs and history from prior to the 4.8 update are no longer on my system.

HI, maybe you can make them now?

[Luke 37099]

@Scott D?

 

[Scott D 62]

When I first rolled back to 4.7, the family member indicated that things were working with no issue.  I did not capture the log files at that time.  They are currently on vacation and will be returning soon.  I will reach out to them and ask to rerun the same video again so I can capture logs.  

Most other problems experienced with 4.8 have gone away with the roll back.  Green box on live tv, short recordings, etc.