Roku 3 Not Outputting DD and DTS from Emby Channel

[PeteS457 0]

This may be a newbie question and if so, I'm sorry - please point me in the right direction. I have an Emby server (v5675) installed on a Windows 7 machine I built with media libraries for Movies, TV Shows, etc. Most all the movies are high quality mkvs, with a few wtv/wmv/avi. 98% of them contain DD5.1 or DTS in the containers. The HTPC is connected via HDMI to a relatively new Denon X-3000 and I bitstream the audio and DD and DTS is played correctly from my EMBY WMC plugin.

 

I just bought a new Roku 3 (2015/4230R) a couple days ago and I've set it up - seemed rather easy and straightforward, connected to the same Denon x-3000 as the HTPC. Under Roku Settings/Audio I have Audio set as "Auto (DD+,DTS)" and the HDMI setting as "Auto Detect". HBO GO, etc play DD5.1, no problem from the Roku. I've installed Emby on the Roku and the Preferences (2.09) doesn't have anything for Audio. I have set the Video Quality to 20Mbps, although I really don't know what I'm suppose to set it at. (Suggestions?) The Emby channel immediately saw the local Emby server, my Movie and TV Shows, etc libraries all display correctly and I can play the movies. However, the audio is being played on the Denon as 2 channel stereo instead of the 5.1 tracks in the container. So what am I doing wrong? Any help is always appreciated.

Edited July 21, 2015 by PeteS457

[speechles 1917]

The roku requires an AAC 2.0 codec be the first audio track. The 2nd can be surround AC3/DTS/5.1. If the 5.1 surround track is first, it cannot be direct-played. Emby has to transcode the audio to 2.0.

 

What audio streams are within the container for those that aren't playing 5.1? Are these showing as transcoding when playing and pressing OK on your roku remote?

 

As far as the suggestions for bitrate, on WiFi you may have problems, depending on conditions, and suffer stalls/issues, 20 might be too high. On LAN/Ethernet you won't, so shoot the moon, go as high as you can to 30. This setting controls at which point video bitrate will cause transcoding.

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

Edited July 21, 2015 by speechles

[mjktg99 34]

The roku requires an AAC 2.0 codec be the first audio track. The 2nd can be surround AC3/DTS/5.1. If the 5.1 surround track is first, it cannot be direct-played. Emby has to transcode the audio to 2.0.

 

 

I will check my settings when I get home but I don't think that is always the case.  Most of my movies are AC3 5.1 only and my Roku direct plays them.  I believe it works because my TV is able to decode the stream.  I have another TV that cannot decode and the same movies are transcoded.

 

As for the issue as a whole, I will verify it is still working for me because a server update could have broke it.

[PeteS457 0]

OK, I've done more research on this topic. And there is a bit of good news. I'm not sure why, what I must have changed - I'm usually good about noting my changes and their effect - but now it appears that all my high-quality MKVs are being direct played and DD5.1 is being played (when it's the only audio track or even the second or third audio track) and DTS, DTS-HD. DTS-HD Master are all being played as DTS. This is obviously good news.

 

However - and just a bit of background here - it has only been in the past 3-4 years that I have been storing MKVs in my media lbrary. I built my Windows Media Center back in 2008 to play to a large high-def TV and 7.1 sound system in my main room and had an Xbox 360 extender playing in another room with a large high definition TV and 5.1 surround system. (These systems are connected via wired ethernet throughout my home). Back then, I used Media Browser v2 for my video library and it worked wonderfully on both systems. However, I either ripped everything to WTV files or even converted MKVs to WTV because of Windows lack of good support for MKV and I could use ff/rew multi-speed controls, etc. (WTV just worked better then.) In addition, I had a few dozen WMV, AVI, and M2TS with 5.1 soundtracks that WMC/MB handled well. Around 2010-2011 (around the time MB2.5 was out), MB on the extender just would not play my media files anymore. Something changed, maybe I was ripping higher quality video with higher bandwidths and the Xbox 360 couldn't handle it, although video files that used to play before wouldn't play either. Anyway, I haven't been able to play my video library to my Xbox 360 extender for years now. I finally got fed up with the whole Xbox extender system (I hate the Xbox 360 for several reasons besides not playing my video library - no support for DTS, limited container support, low bandwith, shoddy IR control; in fact the only thing it's good for is playing LIve/Recorded TV from my cablecard WMC) - and was going to build another HTPC to solve the problem. But I decided to buy a new Roku 3 for less than $100 and see if it would meet my needs in the second room without going to the trouble (and expense) of building another HTPC. Quite frankly, I like it. I get ESPN3, Netflix, Amazon, - and Emby - in a nice format and seemingly high quality. So I'd really like this to work.

 

So back to Emby for Roku. It appears that Emby on the Roku plays all my movies, TV shows in all the formats - MKV/WTV/WMV/AVI/M2TS. However, it seems to only play MKVs as direct play with DD5.1 and all DTS audio formats. All the other non-MKV video formats are being transcoded - which means that the DD and DTS audio tracks are being transcoded to 2-channel AAC. And I unfortunately have a few hundred movies/TV series in these legacy non-MKV formats. (Oh, the irony that I spent hundred of hours to convert MKVs back in the day to alternative formats just to wish I had them back today.) So, is this something that can't be changed? I'm not technically savvy about the sophistication of the Emby server since it has evolved, but if Roku needs WTV/AVI/WMV/M2TS containers transcoded, does the audio have to be downgraded in the process? I mean it's obvious that Roku can pass 6 channel audio to my Denon X-3000 as it does with all my MKVs.

 

Any information/links/advices/suggestions are welcome. I'm almost to the point where I can play my media library in my alternative room for the first time in years.

 

As a side question, I think all my video is encoded with between a 8Mbps -15Mbps bitrate. (My movies now are around 8-13GB for a 2-3 hour movie including the 6 channel audio track.). I have the Emby for Roku setting at 20Mbps HD. Is that the appropriate setting? And I am happy to say that the Emby plugin to WMC plays everything great on my main system, including all formats and high-definition audio (e.g., DTS-HD Master.etc). Thanks.

[ssmith129 0]

OK, I've done more research on this topic. And there is a bit of good news. I'm not sure why, what I must have changed - I'm usually good about noting my changes and their effect - but now it appears that all my high-quality MKVs are being direct played and DD5.1 is being played (when it's the only audio track or even the second or third audio track) and DTS, DTS-HD. DTS-HD Master are all being played as DTS. This is obviously good news.

...

In addition, I had a few dozen WMV, AVI, and M2TS with 5.1 soundtracks that WMC/MB handled well.

...

So back to Emby for Roku. It appears that Emby on the Roku plays all my movies, TV shows in all the formats - MKV/WTV/WMV/AVI/M2TS. However, it seems to only play MKVs as direct play with DD5.1 and all DTS audio formats. All the other non-MKV video formats are being transcoded - which means that the DD and DTS audio tracks are being transcoded to 2-channel AAC. And I unfortunately have a few hundred movies/TV series in these legacy non-MKV formats. (Oh, the irony that I spent hundred of hours to convert MKVs back in the day to alternative formats just to wish I had them back today.) So, is this something that can't be changed? I'm not technically savvy about the sophistication of the Emby server since it has evolved, but if Roku needs WTV/AVI/WMV/M2TS containers transcoded, does the audio have to be downgraded in the process? I mean it's obvious that Roku can pass 6 channel audio to my Denon X-3000 as it does with all my MKVs.

 

Any information/links/advices/suggestions are welcome. I'm almost to the point where I can play my media library in my alternative room for the first time in years.

...

 

I'm in a similar situation w.r.t. wanting to play back AC3 audio from non-MKV containers.  In my case, I can use my (freebie) Roku 3 with Emby to do almost everything I would otherwise use my Win7 HTPC for except for playing back AVI files with AC3 audio channels.

 

I guess it's really an Emby server question -- is there a way to force Emby to transcode these AVI files into a format that the Roku 3 can use to playback the AC3 audio (e.g. transcode AVI to HLS or mp4)?

 

I realize it's more work for the server but I want my surround sound!

 

Thanks.

[Luke 37057]

No, but you can take a look at the folder sync and/or cloud sync features of Emby Server that can convert your media into streaming friendly formats ahead of time.

 

https://github.com/MediaBrowser/Wiki/wiki/Sync

[ssmith129 0]

No, but you can take a look at the folder sync and/or cloud sync features of Emby Server that can convert your media into streaming friendly formats ahead of time.

 

https://github.com/MediaBrowser/Wiki/wiki/Sync

Great, thanks, I'll take a look at that option.

[brienj 1]

Are the movies TrueHD?  The Roku app will play all my MP4 or MKV movies without transcoding the audio if it is DD, DTS, or DTS-HD, but for some reason it will transcode Dolby TrueHD.  However using Plex or Serviio, it will not transcode the audio.  If the audio isn't TrueHD, then go into your settings and increase the video quality to the max and make sure you turn off subtitles, or just use Plex or Serviio for those movies, or hope the Emby team decides to add that the Roku can handle TrueHD passthrough.

[speechles 1917]

 

@@brienj, are you sure they arent transcoding? Because we can test this. I have no truehd equipment so this test gives me no sound..but what about you? If you are correct try the emby app at the link below.

 

Http://my.roku.com/account/add?channel=EmbyBlueNeon

 

Install this to your roku. Now in preferences enable the test like I have in the screenshot above. This forces truehd to direct play with up to 7.1 channels. Now play a dolby truehd video. Does it have audio? If yes, you found a hidden talent. If no, yeah, it was a test. Now we know.

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

Edited September 26, 2015 by speechles

[brienj 1]

 

@@brienj, are you sure they arent transcoding? Because we can test this. I have no truehd equipment so this test gives me no sound..but what about you? If you are correct try the emby app at the link below.

 

Http://my.roku.com/account/add?channel=EmbyBlueNeon

 

Install this to your roku. Now in preferences enable the test like I have in the screenshot above. This forces truehd to direct play with up to 7.1 channels. Now play a dolby truehd video. Does it have audio? If yes, you found a hidden talent. If no, yeah, it was a test. Now we know.

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

Yes, I know it was transcoding from the logs, although I did not try the movie out with the EmbyBlueNeon app.  I've converted the movie to DTS-HD anyway, since my Sony Blu-ray player only supports Dolby TrueHD on an actual Blu-ray Disc, so I couldn't even get the TrueHD playing from DLNA on that.  I also went ahead and burned the movie to a Blu-ray disc to play on the Sony, since I have a bunch laying around.  It's pretty funny though that the Blu-ray player will play mkv files with DTS-HD MA, but not an mkv with Dolby TrueHD on a DLNA server, it makes no sense.

 

I do still have the mkv with TrueHD and I can test it for you tomorrow on the EmbyBlueNeon app if you want.

[speechles 1917]

@@brienj

 

I meant, are you sure that both plex and serviio aren't also transcoding the audio? In effect, merely direct-streaming? You made it seem like plex and serviio were superior to emby in this regard. Like emby was expected to perform the same. So to end the rumor once and for all, you can run a test yourself to see if truehd can pass-through on a roku or not.

 

@everyone-else

 

You can use the app I posted above, enable the truehd test and start testing your equipment that supports 7.1 pass through. If this worked we can certainly get this into the official app. You can tell it is direct-playing in truehd by pressing the "ok" (status) button while the video is playing. If sound is working, and truehd is showing then please, you should of course let us know. Conversely, it's nice to also let us know if this doesnt work with your equipment. This will help dispell the myth. Fact or Fiction? Stay tuned for tomorrow's episode: "Is the roku really all that?" But seriously, is this just something overlooked? Who knows? You know, and knowing is half the battle. gee-eye jooooe.

Edited September 27, 2015 by speechles

[brienj 1]

@@brienj

 

I meant, are you sure that both plex and serviio aren't also transcoding the audio? In effect, merely direct-streaming? You made it seem like plex and serviio were superior to emby in this regard. Like emby was expected to perform the same. So to end the rumor once and for all, you can run a test yourself to see if truehd can pass-through on a roku or not.

 

 

I'm not trying to say any of the three are better, they all three each have some things good about them, but then at the same time there are some things about each of them that drive me crazy, but yes, they most certainly each played the TrueHD with no problem on the Roku.  Although Plex has a setting in the app that will allow you to turn off transcoding, and I am pretty sure I had the transcoding checkmark unchecked, so I am not so sure that the transcoding profile for the Roku was necessarily better, but I know I did have transcoding turned on for Serviio in the Serviio console, but it direct played the movie, since it didn't produce a temporary transcoding file as it served it.

 

Out of the three, I love the presentation of Emby the best, at least in the web interface, I'm sorry to say the Roku app presentation for Plex is slightly better though.  Serviio only has a flash-plugin video player in their web interface, no HTML 5, and they aren't even trying to change that, and it won't allow you to PlayTo other devices, nor does it have a native app for the Roku, so it sucks in that regard.  On their support forums you can tell they are VERY against any player other than flash.  Out of the three, it's easy to see that Emby has the most potential for being the best, but the DLNA profiles that have little nuances, like the fact you MUST use the HTTP Header field for the profile to actually be used, and you can't just assign a profile to a device, like you can in Serviio.  You also can not turn off transcoding for the Roku, like you can in Plex, or just completely turn it off, like you can in Serviio.  Also, Emby seems like it transcodes every live stream or online content, no matter what you set in the profile.  You can never direct stream anything, even though I know the devices can do it just fine using Serviio.  I've tried changing pretty much everything in the profiles, and I'm just tired of having to run up and down the stairs to test on the Xbox One or Sony Blu-ray player.  Heck, if Emby would somehow implement those DLNA features, it would easily become the server I only used.  As it is now, I use all three, because of the many different devices around the house.  I have a Roku in each bedroom, the living room, and the basement for the projector, but I also have an Xbox One, and a Sony Blu-ray player which I mainly use on the projector.  And then we also have one desktop PC, two laptops, five android tablets, and two android phones.  I also have a Vizio TV that can play things through DLNA, but since I got the projector and Blu-ray player, I don't use it as much for watching 3D movies, so don't really even need the DLNA on it anymore, although Serviio is the only one that has ever played anything correctly to it, and since you pretty much have to turn off DLNA to use different user profiles on Plex, it wouldn't matter if it worked on the Vizio.  That's another thing, I also have kids, so there are some movies that they can watch, and other movies that they can't, and Plex and Emby are both great in that regard for restricting content to them.  Serviio is only DLNA, so they never use it, since I removed the Roku Media Player on their Rokus and they have no way of even using DLNA in their bedrooms.

 

Sorry for the rant, but I just want everybody to realize that I love all three servers and I've paid money on each one.  At the moment, each one has a use for me, and I also don't hate any of the three either.  I am hoping that Emby turns out to be the single one I can use and won't even need the other ones, but it just hasn't happened yet.  I need to just get off my lazy ass and start contributing to the source code for Emby, but I pretty much retired from programming a year or two ago and really hate the thought of getting back into it.  

[speechles 1917]

@@brienj

 

But the truehd test in the app linked above. If plex, and servioo are indeed direct playing truehd so will emby when the test is enabled. Did you not try this? I see no mention.

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

Edited September 27, 2015 by speechles

[brienj 1]

@@brienj

 

But the truehd test in the app linked above. If plex, and servioo are indeed direct playing truehd so will emby when the test is enabled. Did you not try this? I see no mention.

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

I said I'd try it today.  I have to put the movie with TrueHD back on the server and have time to test it out.  I'll post the results when I can do that.

[Happy2Play 8281]

In my test of truehd I got direct play with no audio with Emby Neon Blue.

 

From Plex Forum

 

All we can say for now is that HD audio (DTS-MA and DD TrueHD) are not supported on any Roku models.

 

True HD will be transcoded to Dolby Digital Plus on the Roku 3

Edited September 27, 2015 by Happy2Play

[speechles 1917]

@@Happy2Play, those are plex's assumptions. Ive read the same thread. You need 7.1 equipment. You can play the truehd video on your pc to your tv and get 7.1? Doesnt matter which player is used. This means your truehd is correctly setup. Then test embyblueneon and see if there is sound. If not, no big deal we just confirmed the assumption. If it does work, the recent roku firmware changes might have something to do with it. Either way it dispells the rumor into actual fact.

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

Edited September 28, 2015 by speechles

[Luke 37057]

I think you are missing the point about having a setting to turn off transcoding. The app is smart enough to know what the device can and can't play. It will direct play everything the device is capable of playing. Therefore there isn't really any need for such a setting because the only thing it will do is cause you to see error messages that the device can't play your content.

 

On the other hand, if the reason you want to turn off transcoding is to prevent users you can't control from hitting your cpu, then the server interface already has administrative control for those kinds of things.

[brienj 1]

I said I'd try it today.  I have to put the movie with TrueHD back on the server and have time to test it out.  I'll post the results when I can do that.

 

Well, I realized that since I converted the mkv Audio to DTS-HD and I created and burned an iso to Blu-ray, I had deleted the TrueHD version of the movie.  I thought I had kept it, but I didn't.  I haven't had time to convert the Blu-ray back to an mkv to test it yet.  No idea when I will be able to, but if I do, or ever get another TrueHD movie, I will let you know.

[BobbyDing 56]

Hi Folks,

I'm new to EMBY and I am liking it a lot so far. However I'm struggling with what I need to do to have all my Videos play to the Roku 3. I've been scanning the forums, but haven't found the info that clicks for me. The Roku is attached to a fairly new Denon amp which handles most of the recent audio formats with the Roku set to pass though. The local network is GB and I don't have any issues playing large files anywhere across the network (thus far). Many of my videos play on the Roku (incl surround) with direct play from EMBY. On some of them the video stutters or pulses, while the audio plays fine (full surround). If I switch the EMBY Roku channel bitrate down to where the video is transcoded, the video looks fine, but the audio is 2 ch stereo. The stuttering and pulsing may be due to something in the encodes, and I'm looking into that (these videos play fine on other devices). But I also want the transcoding to always work, and this is where I'm getting lost. What do I need to do to keep the surround audio when the video gets transcoded? 

 

Thanks very much!

[speechles 1917]

@@BobbyDing

 

Good Question... Why can't emby transcode to the best available codec? Why doesn't it understand ordering preference when transcoding? Because the transcoding part doesn't work this way...

Function getTranscodingProfiles()    profiles = []        profiles.push({        Type: "Audio"        Container: "mp3"        AudioCodec: "mp3"        Context: "Streaming"        Protocol: "Http"    })    profiles.push({        Type: "Video"        Container: "ts"        AudioCodec: "aac"        VideoCodec: "h264"        Context: "Streaming"        Protocol: "Hls"    })    return profilesEnd Function

The original code for transcoding offers one codec for audio only. shucks...

 

But what if we change the code to like it is below...

Function getTranscodingProfiles()    surroundSound = SupportsSurroundSound(false, false)    audioOutput51 = getGlobalVar("audioOutput51")    surroundSoundDCA = surroundSound AND audioOutput51 'AND (RegRead("fivepointoneDCA", "preferences", "1") = "1")    surroundSound = surroundSound AND audioOutput51 'AND (RegRead("fivepointone", "preferences", "1") = "1")    profiles = []        profiles.push({        Type: "Audio"        Container: "mp3"        AudioCodec: "mp3"        Context: "Streaming"        Protocol: "Http"    })    if surroundSound then        t = m.Codecs        if t <> invalid then            r = CreateObject("roRegex","ac3","i")            if r.isMatch(t) then                    transAudio = "ac3"            else            transAudio = "aac"            end if        else        transAudio = "aac"        end if    else        transaudio = "aac"        end if        profiles.push({        Type: "Video"        Container: "ts"        AudioCodec: transAudio        VideoCodec: "h264"        Context: "Streaming"        Protocol: "Hls"    })    return profilesEnd Function

This uses a small cheat, in the way of global space to remember the codecs and then a regular expression can tell if ac3 is there. If so use that, if not, then use the normal aac. The above code isn't the entire changes. There is the part which sets m.Codecs as well. But the benefit here is that this seems to allow transcoding to retain 5.1 surround quite nicely.

 

 

The new emby blue neon night theme at ( https://my.roku.com/account/add?channel=EmbyBlueNeon ) has this ability. It will transcode and keep surround when possible. I will submit pulls to github so the official client can adopt this too if wanted.

Edited October 28, 2015 by speechles

[Luke 37057]

the transcoding profiles should allow you to specify multiple audio codecs, comma-delimeted. try that. the first one is the one that will be used if the audio has to be re-encoded.

[BobbyDing 56]

SPEECHLES... Thanks for this channel!!! I've been playing with it. So far, so good.

 

 

LUKE...Thank you for the suggestion. I've been searching the forums and my server folders (\AppData\Roaming\Emby-Server) and have not found the location profiles (XML?). Where would I find these profiles?

 

Thanks!

[Luke 37057]

that info was for speechles actually.

[Happy2Play 8281]

LUKE...Thank you for the suggestion. I've been searching the forums and my server folders (\AppData\Roaming\Emby-Server) and have not found the location profiles (XML?). Where would I find these profiles?

 

Thanks!

The only way you can modify the profiles is if you sideload the channel.  You will see a capabilities.brs in the source folder in the channel zip. extract the file, modify it, recompress it, then sideload it.

 

Sideload instructions

[BobbyDing 56]

Thank You...