Playback Issues with Harry Potter TrueMAX Editions

[Cjkeenan 6]

Has anyone else experienced playback issues with the TrueMAX editions of Harry Potter 1-4 and Fantastic Beasts trilogy by Klexos (icebox616)? I understand they are large files by most definitions, but when using an external player such as VLC, Nova Player, or JustPlayer, they stream fine, no hitches, DTS HD MA passthrough works as expected, HDR10 also works as expected, but when  using the internal player, DTS HD MA passthrough works as expected, but HDR does not seem to engage and there is constant hitching in video ONLY. Additionally, the renderer listed under stats for nerds is FFMPEG versus the usual MediaCodec of other files. All files are being reported as Direct Plays. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Setup
Server: Unraid server with Emby 4.8.10.0 wired to Orbi

Files: https://pastebin.com/i28CfKJP

Client: Nvidia Shield Pro 2019, Sony X90K, Yamaha RX-A2060, wired to Orbi

Network: Netgear Orbi RBR50 (500 down, 25 up as tested from the client)

 

P.S. Boy would it be nice if there was a quick way to watch with an external player, something in the long hold or triple dot menu would be nice. Having to go in and out of the playback settings is quite a pain.

Edited February 26 by Cjkeenan
change of reddit link, added tags

[Luke 40121]

 

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

 

[Cjkeenan 6]

Cannot for the life of me figure out how to get the logs off my shield. I turned on debugging, rebooted app, replicated the issue, then went to the log and i see info in there, but when I hit share, I can try to save as a file using FX, but the button does nothing. I also tried to send it out to my phone using Send Files To TV, it also does nothing, but here are the server logs: https://paste2.org/PEYAceee

Edited February 26 by Cjkeenan

[Cjkeenan 6]

I also tried to navigate directly to the txt log on my shield using FX, thinking it was /data/user/0/someEmbyFolder but permission was denied.

[Luke 40121]

On 2/25/2025 at 11:58 PM, Cjkeenan said:

Cannot for the life of me figure out how to get the logs off my shield. I turned on debugging, rebooted app, replicated the issue, then went to the log and i see info in there, but when I hit share, I can try to save as a file using FX, but the button does nothing. I also tried to send it out to my phone using Send Files To TV, it also does nothing, but here are the server logs: https://paste2.org/PEYAceee

@Cjkeenancan you please attach the server log to this forum posting? I had that paste link open for only a few seconds before being bombarded with ads.

Also please attach the complete server log file rather than just a snippet. Thanks !

[Cjkeenan 6]

embyserver-63876124800.txtPlayback starts around 025-02-25 20:54

[Cjkeenan 6]

I managed to find a way to get the client logs off of the shield. I will do a test run later tonight and upload them here.

Edited March 31 by Cjkeenan

[Cjkeenan 6]

It broke again saying "No recommended people to share with" which did not pop up last night, what popped up last night was a list of apps to open with. I managed to brute force my way through by randomly selecting an "app" that I could not see and got it after the 10th attempt haha. I hope it is helpful.

emby_android_1743469932350.txt

[Luke 40121]

Quote

No recommended people to share with

? Can you show a screenshot. That text doesn't even exist anywhere in any of our applications.

[Cjkeenan 6]

I believe it's an android thing, very strange.

[Luke 40121]

You don’t have an email app installed to send it to yourself?

[Cjkeenan 6]

No I do not, but I attached the file above, I managed to get it off.

[Cjkeenan 6]

Any luck in finding a root cause?

[Luke 40121]

Can you provide a sample video for testing? Thanks.

[seanbuff 1150]

27 minutes ago, Luke said:

Can you provide a sample video for testing? Thanks.

@CjkeenanFYI - 

 

[Cjkeenan 6]

Files can be found here: https://pastebin.com/i28CfKJP which is on the reddit thread about this, this points to https://gofile.io/d/r28bso  and most files have the issue, but Harry.Potter.and.The.Chamber.of.Secrets.(Extended).2160p.TMAX.DTS-HD.MA.7.1.H.265.HDR-TrueMAX.mkv is an easy example. If needed I can send a cut down clip if you wish, but I did not want to use the wrong settings by accident which may mask the issue.

Edited April 24 by Cjkeenan

[Cjkeenan 6]

Clipped the first 60s of the file which I confirmed also has the same issue as the full file.

https://gofile.io/d/SRFbLJ

[Luke 40121]

By the way, what's the most recent app version number that you've tried on?

[Cjkeenan 6]

Emby for Android 3.4.57

Emby Server 4.8.11.0

Edited April 24 by Cjkeenan

[rbjtech 5000]

I'll look into this a bit more - as it's an interesting encode ...

Edited April 24 by rbjtech

[Cjkeenan 6]

Any insights on what might be going on, it is indeed a very interesting encode, lots of effort put in it seems to get as close as possible to a definitive extended edition.

[Luke 40121]

On 5/2/2025 at 4:59 PM, Cjkeenan said:

Any insights on what might be going on, it is indeed a very interesting encode, lots of effort put in it seems to get as close as possible to a definitive extended edition.

HI, we're not sure yet. Did you find anything?

[Cjkeenan 6]

14 minutes ago, Luke said:

HI, we're not sure yet. Did you find anything?

Nope, it's very strange because external players play the files fine, it's the emby internal player that has the issue. Any idea why it is determining that the correct renderer to use if ffmpeg instead of mediacodec?

 

I'm guessing it is too big of a file to transcode in real time for the shield so that's what is causing the stuttering, but why it's not directly playing or just transcoding on the server is beyond me.

[Luke 40121]

On 5/22/2025 at 1:21 AM, Cjkeenan said:

Nope, it's very strange because external players play the files fine, it's the emby internal player that has the issue. Any idea why it is determining that the correct renderer to use if ffmpeg instead of mediacodec?

 

I'm guessing it is too big of a file to transcode in real time for the shield so that's what is causing the stuttering, but why it's not directly playing or just transcoding on the server is beyond me.

It would only be able to use mediacodec if the device can decode it natively in hardware. Are you sure that it can?

[Cjkeenan 6]

It plays fine with VLC, Nova Player, or Just Player when set to external player in the settings so presumably they hardware supports decoding it natively right? If you have any other ideas on tests I can do, I am willing.

 

These are the only files I've had issues with on my Nvidia Shield TV PRO 2019. I can try to see if they work fine with Plex, but I'm not sure how helpful of a datapoint that would be for Emby. I can try Jellyfin as well, but Jellyfin struggles with DTS HD MA, which is why I transitioned over to Emby since it worked without issues, up until these specific files.