Emby can't play 4K HEVC video, but the system player and VLC works

[Juneix 0]

Hello, I am an Emby user from China. I deployed the Emby Server 4.9.0.15 beta version on Synology NAS (I also tried the 4.8.5.0 stable version), mainly using the client (version 3.3.79) including the following devices:

- Redmi TV, Android 11, MediaTek MTK9650
- JMGO Projector, Android 11, MediaTek MT9671
- Regular tablet, Android 7.1.2, Rockchip RK3399

I am sure that the hardware performance of these devices can fully play 4k hevc 60fps or even 4k av1 hdr 60fps encoded video. I can play it normally using the system default player, Cx File Explorer, and VLC player.

So I directly disabled the transcoding function on the server, that is, [Server - Users - Playback] unchecked [Allow video transcoding, if necessary, during me Dia playback], but when I use the Emby client, except that Redmi TV can play 4k hevc video, my projector and tablet will trigger client transcoding. In addition, when playing 4k av1 hdr and 4k vp9 videos (if supported by the hardware itself), Emby is also normal.Only the most common movie encoding format 4k hevc will make an error, which makes me very confused.

I have tried the latest 3.3.79 and previous versions, but the results were the same. I guess maybe Emby's underlying player ExoPlayer doesn't call the system decoder library correctly? Can you check and fix this bug as soon as possible? After all, the system's default player, CX File Explorer, and VLC are all working fine on the same device, but they can't use emby's beautiful interface and synchronize the playback progress.

Edited May 3, 2024 by Juneix

[Juneix 0]

I tried to use Emby for ATV 2.1.10g, but the projector and the tablet still have the same playback error. By the way, I also have an Android emby client that can play normally: Xiaomi phone, Android 14, Snapdragon 870, which supports all formats like redmi TV.

[Lessaj 220]

Did you check the reason for why it indicated the need to transcode? This is not shown in your screenshots and you did not provide any of the ffmpeg logs which would indicate the reason for the transcode.

[hjason7812 28]

On 5/3/2024 at 2:03 AM, Juneix said:

Hello, I am an Emby user from China. I deployed the Emby Server 4.9.0.15 beta version on Synology NAS (I also tried the 4.8.5.0 stable version), mainly using the client (version 3.3.79) including the following devices:

- Redmi TV, Android 11, MediaTek MTK9650
- JMGO Projector, Android 11, MediaTek MT9671
- Regular tablet, Android 7.1.2, Rockchip RK3399

I am sure that the hardware performance of these devices can fully play 4k hevc 60fps or even 4k av1 hdr 60fps encoded video. I can play it normally using the system default player, Cx File Explorer, and VLC player.

So I directly disabled the transcoding function on the server, that is, [Server - Users - Playback] unchecked [Allow video transcoding, if necessary, during me Dia playback], but when I use the Emby client, except that Redmi TV can play 4k hevc video, my projector and tablet will trigger client transcoding. In addition, when playing 4k av1 hdr and 4k vp9 videos (if supported by the hardware itself), Emby is also normal.Only the most common movie encoding format 4k hevc will make an error, which makes me very confused.

I have tried the latest 3.3.79 and previous versions, but the results were the same. I guess maybe Emby's underlying player ExoPlayer doesn't call the system decoder library correctly? Can you check and fix this bug as soon as possible? After all, the system's default player, CX File Explorer, and VLC are all working fine on the same device, but they can't use emby's beautiful interface and synchronize the playback progress.

Emby surely does play 4k video, what i do is rip a uhd and keep it 100% standard files from the disc and upload it to my server and then run the scan on my library i have a folder for 4k movies and a folder for regular 1080p bluray movies etc etc. i then set emby up on my app to play direct play no transcoding at all sound nor video. and then go test play my movie and 90% of the time it works without a problem. now some times there's an issue where there isn't sound or there is a commentary of the director somehow have become the normal default audio. then i go back and re rip the uhd movie again and make sure the commentary audio isn't selected to rip also make sure at the end of the rip that both sizes match up with each other or close to and then re upload to server and test and it always works after that.

Now as far as devices i use my hisense u8h tv but it doesn't like 4k movies larger than maybe 20gb if they're larger than that which most are it doesn't wanna play it from the emby app. so i have to move to the roku ultra which plays everything no problem which is weird it can play the same movie my 4ktv can't lol. anyways yes it is trial and error to see what works and what doesn't it becomes a real pain some times too. but everything has an easy fix to it as long as you know what you're doing and have the patients... So good luck to you and have fun

[Luke 38842]

@Juneix?

[pmac 140]

On 27/11/2024 at 23:36, hjason7812 said:

my hisense u8h tv but it doesn't like 4k movies larger than maybe 20gb if they're larger than that which most are it doesn't wanna play it from the emby app.

I also have a Hisense TV and have found that I can't play 4K content through the "Emby" app without it at some point or another starting to stutter very badly, eventually crashing the app and/or freezing the UI on my TV. I've found that the older "Emby for Android TV" app works fine, though.