Error when transcoding movie - Conversion Failed

[BlackDub 44]

On 01/12/2024 at 17:23, ctaranto said:

Interesting.  I'm not familiar with the impact of those settings - does checking those boxes prevent subtitles from working?

Yeah, subtitules doesnt work with these options...

Transcode is broken on +4.8 with intel/nvidia and developers doesnt help
 

 

[BlackDub 44]

On 15/05/2024 at 21:04, ctaranto said:

For those who are having the same issue, here's what I did to fix this in my environment:

1. Install the Diagnostic Options plug-in
2. Scroll down to the Parameter Adjustment section
3. In Text to Replace:  -segment_write_temp 1
4. In Replacement Text: -segment_write_temp 1 -max_muxing_queue_size 100000
5. Save

After a week of testing, these settings "temporarily" fix the bug. The impact on RAM is not significant with multiple transcodes.

I choose values from 100,000 to 150,000

[himisk71 3]

I need this settings too, otherwise i have problems with all videos transcoding - will freezing after ~5 minutes every few seconds.

is there still a working process for it?

[BlackDub 44]

On 10/03/2025 at 09:08, himisk71 said:

I need this settings too, otherwise i have problems with all videos transcoding - will freezing after ~5 minutes every few seconds.

is there still a working process for it?

No, no updates...

[himisk71 3]

Is there a chance to script something for this 2 lines? is it in a file in a config dir?

sometimes are updates, emby or plugin. sometimes when a user stream something the overview still hang while the stream is closed from the user. so everytime a restart is necessary and everytime i need to write down this 2 lines, otherwise transcoding isnt possible.

[ctaranto 14]

I had spent a few hours reverse engineering the calls to ffmpeg, creating a script to append the string, and then call ffmpeg.  I have not been able to get it to work - Emby would never start the stream.

If you can figure it out, please share.  I ran out of patience.  I bookmarked this thread so whenever I update my server, I copy/paste the text into the diagnostic options.

Would be nice of the Emby team could solve this.

 

[Luke 39835]

Hi, we’ll take a look at this. Thanks for reporting.

[BuzStringer 32]

On 4/2/2025 at 11:31 PM, Luke said:

Hi, we’ll take a look at this. Thanks for reporting.

Any progress?

[himisk71 3]

Yes, I've switched to Plex!
Since I can't even access the diagnostic plugin's options page with the latest beta, Emby is unfortunately over.
Not that everything is great with Plex (and I really like Emby better), but ultimately, what matters is that the streams work. Even outside the home (it's 2025), and that's what Plex does.

[ctaranto 14]

3 hours ago, himisk71 said:

Yes, I've switched to Plex!
Since I can't even access the diagnostic plugin's options page with the latest beta, Emby is unfortunately over.
Not that everything is great with Plex (and I really like Emby better), but ultimately, what matters is that the streams work. Even outside the home (it's 2025), and that's what Plex does.

That's a regress, not progress.  I tried Plex in the past.  It lacked control of the stream, library, etc.  Emby is in another league.

I'm disappointed that this hasn't been looked at for months.  I did a lot of research and testing, and then provided the "solution".  All I'm asking is for that setting to be more sticky for those who need it (and that number is growing by looking at this thread).

 

[BuzStringer 32]

7 minutes ago, ctaranto said:

I'm disappointed that this hasn't been looked at for months.

Over a year.

1 year, 1 month and 2 days since it was first reported.

[Luke 39835]

9 hours ago, himisk71 said:

Yes, I've switched to Plex!
Since I can't even access the diagnostic plugin's options page with the latest beta, Emby is unfortunately over.
Not that everything is great with Plex (and I really like Emby better), but ultimately, what matters is that the streams work. Even outside the home (it's 2025), and that's what Plex does.

Hi, what do you mean exactly? The diagnostics plugin is loading just fine in my testing. And wouldn't you rather have a personal media server and not one that puts all of your information into the cloud for the world to access?

[BuzStringer 32]

3 minutes ago, Luke said:

Hi, what do you mean exactly? The diagnostics plugin is loading just fine in my testing. And wouldn't you rather have a personal media server and not one that puts all of your information into the cloud for the world to access?

We would rather have a personal media server that works to be honest.

This issue apparently is fixed in the latest beta. 

But it's been over a year, with minimal communication for a premium feature that we are paying for, which breaks our setups.

And your are wondering why people are jumping ship? It's not because Plex is better, it's because all the above.

I've been tinkering with Jellyfin, it's almost there for me now, once I'm happy I'll be jumping too, I've completely lost confidence now.

[Luke 39835]

We are working on backporting some of the recent fixes from the 4.9 beta channel to 4.8 stable. Thanks.

[himisk71 3]

21 hours ago, Luke said:

Hi, what do you mean exactly? The diagnostics plugin is loading just fine in my testing. And wouldn't you rather have a personal media server and not one that puts all of your information into the cloud for the world to access?

jep, with version .81 i can scroll down again.

Yes, no question - Emby is my preferred choice. Unfortunately, it's no use if the most important thing about such software doesn't work: playing media. And it hasn't worked properly for a long time (I mean transcoding, not direct playback). 99.9% of the time, playback works perfectly without(!) subtitles. There are constant problems with subtitles (it takes forever for the movie to play. It freezes after 2 seconds. Then it stops briefly every 20 seconds). Unfortunately, most of my movies also have internal subtitles, which causes even more problems.

Oddly enough, using the replacement text often worked better (fewer stutters every x seconds).

All in all: I can't and don't want to do without subtitles, and I don't want to do without transcoding either. And even though I'm certainly not a fanboy, especially not of this new social crap Plex is launching, unfortunately Plex plays everything. And now we're back to the point that absolutely has to work: playing media.

And as far as I'm concerned: Hire someone else, get the transcoding right, and then charge €5 a month for a premium feature or create a premium transcoding version. Absolutely fine.

Edited April 12 by himisk71

[ctaranto 14]

@himisk71This sounds like a configuration issue and/or lack of hardware for transcoding.

I have a very old (2014) hand built PC (running Linux).  It's running an i7 4790k (4th gen Intel).  Even that can do CPU transcoding, though jumping forward takes about 5-7 seconds since the CPU is old.  But it doesn't stutter once playing.  I imagine it would only be able to handle one stream at a time.

I added an nVidia 1660 Super GPU about 5 years ago.  I offload all transcoding to that, and it's been a huge benefit for Emby.  I can transcode multiple concurrent streams and it just hums along.  My Emby server hosts media for the local house and both my kids who now live elsewhere.  Zero complains or issues.

All my media is stored on another even older PC (hand-built circa 2008 or so),  That's running the OG Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 - one of the first quad core CPUs.  It has JBOD.  Everything goes through a managed TP-Link switch.  I flip subtitles on and off all the time, even when transcoding.  It has no effect on streaming quality or stuttering.

All I'm saying is a very old PC with a decent GPU is pretty much all that's needed for robust playback and multiple streams.

Edited April 12 by ctaranto

[himisk71 3]

Until last weekend, I had Emby running in Docker on a Synology 1019+ with an Intel iGPU. Since I read somewhere that a bit more power might help improve issues with integrated subtitles, I now have an Intel i5-14500T with a UHD 770. I don't think that should be the problem.

Configuration. I've tried so many different versions and options. VLC works. Okay, it always does Plex works. Hmm.

[ctaranto 14]

Can't help you with Docker.  I'm old school and strongly prefer native or a VM using KVM.

The only thing I can recommend is an nVidia GPU to use NVENC and NVDEC.

Are you sure Emby is using hardware encoding and decoding?  Have you tried CPU encoding/decoding?

[himisk71 3]

2025-04-12 19:18:36.635 Info App: Starting transcoding because currentTranscodingIndex=null
2025-04-12 19:18:36.636 Debug EncodingManager: Transcoding onto drive /. TotalSize: 42949672960 TotalFreeSpace: 34015170560, AvailableFreeSpace: 33752895488
2025-04-12 19:18:36.647 Debug App: CodecValidation: FindVideoEncoder - MediaType: h264, UseHardwareCodecs: True, HWA-Mode: Advanced
2025-04-12 19:18:36.648 Debug App: CodecValidation: Checking: 'QuickSync AlderLake-S GT1 - H.264 (AVC)'
2025-04-12 19:18:36.648 Debug App: CodecValidation: Check successful - selecting 'QuickSync AlderLake-S GT1 - H.264 (AVC)'
2025-04-12 19:18:36.648 Debug App: CodecValidation: FindVideoDecoder - MediaType: hevc, UseHardwareCodecs: True, HWA-Mode: Advanced
2025-04-12 19:18:36.648 Debug App: CodecValidation: Checking: 'QuickSync AlderLake-S GT1 - H.265 (HEVC)'
2025-04-12 19:18:36.648 Debug App: CodecValidation: Check successful - selecting 'QuickSync AlderLake-S GT1 - H.265 (HEVC)'
2025-04-12 19:18:36.648 Debug App: CodecValidation: Tone Mapping would be desired, but hardware tone mapping is disabled
2025-04-12 19:18:36.648 Debug App: CodecValidation: Processing Plan
2025-04-12 19:18:36.648 Debug App: CodecValidation: Name                                        CanDoInHW  WillDoInHW  Reason                                                 
2025-04-12 19:18:36.648 Debug App: CodecValidation: QuickSync AlderLake-S GT1 - H.265 (HEVC) >> True       True        Hardware Codec                                          
2025-04-12 19:18:36.648 Debug App: CodecValidation: VideoInput                               >> True       True        Same adapter (/dev/dri/renderD128), same hardware co... 
2025-04-12 19:18:36.648 Debug App: CodecValidation: Scaling                                  >> True       True                                                                
2025-04-12 19:18:36.648 Debug App: CodecValidation: ToneMapping (when possible)              >> True       True                                                                
2025-04-12 19:18:36.648 Debug App: CodecValidation: VideoOutput                              >> True       True        Hardware encoder                                        
2025-04-12 19:18:36.648 Debug App: CodecValidation: QuickSync AlderLake-S GT1 - H.264 (AVC)  >> True       True        Hardware Codec                                          
2025-04-12 19:18:36.648 Debug App: CodecValidation: Video Processing Steps for [0:0]: H.265 (HEVC)
2025-04-12 19:18:36.648 Debug App: CodecValidation: Step                    HW-Context   Format       SW-Format           Size   Next
2025-04-12 19:18:36.648 Debug App: CodecValidation: HEVC_QSV             >> QSV          qsv          p010           3840x1600 >> vpp_qsv
2025-04-12 19:18:36.648 Debug App: CodecValidation: vpp_qsv              >> QSV          qsv          p010            1280x532 >> vpp_qsv
2025-04-12 19:18:36.648 Debug App: CodecValidation: vpp_qsv              >> QSV          qsv          nv12            1280x532 >> 

ya, iam sure. but i cant find anything in the logs what shows this problems with late starting, pause of few seconds every 15, 20 seconds, ...

only thing in the last log was 

2025-04-12 19:19:11.147 Info App: ProcessRun 'StreamTranscode 5d9abb' Process exited with code 1 - Failed

but.. ok, code 1 failed..  und im ffmpeg log

19:18:36.829 [hevc_qsv @ 0x117e240] error parsing SEI type: 4  Numbits 440 error: -1094995529

I only played it briefly with 1 or 2 files, and both had problems. The first movie paused after 2 seconds for 10 seconds. Then it continued normally. The second movie paused for long seconds after 2 seconds, then a short pause every few seconds...

 

embyserver.txt ffmpeg-transcode-5d9abba8-2ea4-4f87-a33a-1da13bf22778_1.txt

[Neminem 816]

@himisk71Try setting decoders to vaapi, just for the fun of it.

 

[himisk71 3]

No change in behavior. Long start-up, long stop after 2 seconds, and then usually every 15-20 seconds, a stop for about 10 seconds. Only something new in the log (Or i missed it): 

19:51:24.532 subtitle_kickoff: resend - pts: 403862
19:51:24.532 subtitle_kickoff: call subtitle_resend_current 403872 frame->format: 3

 

embyserver-63880084355.txt ffmpeg-transcode-01b688f4-a53f-45ce-b8ff-6bcb6a703b79_1.txt

[ctaranto 14]

The first thing I would try is to turn off all hardware acceleration.  Your i5-14500T CPU should be able to easily handle a transcode.  You need to eliminate the variables to know where to focus.

 

[himisk71 3]

10 hours ago, ctaranto said:

The first thing I would try is to turn off all hardware acceleration.  Your i5-14500T CPU should be able to easily handle a transcode.  You need to eliminate the variables to know where to focus.

 

No difference, same behavior. That's not the problem.

[ctaranto 14]

On March 10 you mentioned that without the diagnostic setting, your videos would pause every so often.  That means with the setting, things worked.

What changed between then and now?

[smokey7722 15]

I have this same issue and the diagnostics options workaround posted aboved seems to be resolving it for me...

• Install the Diagnostic Options plug-in
• Scroll down to the Parameter Adjustment section
• In Text to Replace:  -segment_write_temp 1
• In Replacement Text: -segment_write_temp 1 -max_muxing_queue_size 100000
• Save

The stream fail / end user freeze or pausing happens on all 4K/transcoding streams to those external of my network but so far with the above max_muxing_queue_size setting in place, the issue has stopped.