Transcoding When It Shouldn't

[hank_marvin 0]

Hi there,

 

I run latest release of MBS and Media Browser Theatre on a HP N40L W8.1, latest android apps on a few devices.

 

N40 is my TV media player via a 5450 into an amp, I play media with VLC, all fine, no transcoding, can't remember if it does when I use MBT player......but I like to stick to VLC so I can use hardware decoding via the 5450.

 

To start I had my MBS media location setup with local computer paths, which I put down to why MBS was transcoding for android devices, then I tried setting up the path substitutions, made no difference, so then I re-made my media locations using share paths ("everyone" has read/write access), some via \\ip\shares and some \\media-server\shares for testing.

 

But MBS still transcodes for android devices even though they can access the shares directly as tested with ES File Explorer on the android devices using an anonymous connection. And this is when even using "external players" on the android devices, VLC again, server transcodes.

 

Reason I don't want it to transcode is because the server can't handle it and I'd prefer players to just play the files direct.

 

 

Any help on getting the android devices to just be passed the straight file would be great. Currently just using ES File Explorer to do it.

 

 

Thanks a lot

Hank

[wolfbuddy 16]

I'm pretty sure that the video decoder in MBT will use hardware decoding on your 5450. It uses MadVR too which I find gives the best image quality.

 

But MBS still transcodes for android devices even though they can access the shares directly as tested with ES File Explorer on the android devices using an anonymous connection.

 

Will the Android app access the file server as an anonymous user though?

 

I think there also could be a scenario where the server decides that the device cannot play the raw file and therefore it must be transcoded. You're best off asking in the Android app section I think.

[hank_marvin 0]

I'll try the built in player, would be cleaner if I used it, can you set the audio to spdif output as default?

 

 

I'm not sure how the app works, it doesn't ask for user credentials, if it did then it would solve all problems as it could get straight to the files.

 

What defines what device can decode on its own? Phones are htc M8, Note 4, high end phones, decode 1080 rips fine in vlc via ES File Explorer.

 

 

I'll have a look at the android area, thank you.