How To Stop Transcoding?

[JAAlperin 3]

I can get most, but not all of my mkv files to DirectPlay.

 

Running Latest FreeNAS and latest Emby plugin.  Player is OPPO BDP-93.  Custom DLNA Profile is recognized.  Profile specifies 99999999 for max streaming bitrate.  Directplay for mkv is set for all video and all audio.  However, many of my .mkv files show as below in the log, and the mkv is transcoded:

2015-09-20 04:00:38.7875 Debug - UpnpContentDirectory: Profile: OPPO PLAYER, Path: /media/Movies/All Is Lost (2013).mkv, isEligibleForDirectPlay: False, isEligibleForDirectStream: True

That mkv has one video stream, two audio streams, and two subtitle streams.  Total stream bitrate is 30.3 Mbps.

 

Playback remote client bitrate is empty.  But, the user profile settings specify max streaming bitrate of 30 Mbps (the maximum).  Is that why transcoding is taking place?  Is there any way to stop it?

 

It seems like the majority of my mkv files created from Bluray discs are being transcoded.  I would swear I had everything directplaying in the past.

 

DirectStream is not supported by the BDP-93 over the network.

 

Any help or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

[Luke 37231]

look at the other profiles for examples. you need to add subtitle profiles so that the system knows the player can handle those subs directly

[JAAlperin 3]

Thank you, Luke.

 

I have subtitle profiles for srt, sub, vobsub, txt, smi, ssa,ass, PGS, and bdpg.  All are set to "embed with container" and "res element".

 

I checked the mkv file mentioned in the first post.  It has two subtitle streams, both PGS.

 

I'm fairly sure this is a bitrate issue.  In my original post I, unfortunately, left out a line from the log.  Here it is more completely:

2015-09-20 04:00:38.7875 Debug - UpnpContentDirectory: Bitrate exceeds DirectPlay limit2015-09-20 04:00:38.7875 Debug - UpnpContentDirectory: Profile: OPPO PLAYER, Path: /media/Movies/All Is Lost (2013).mkv, isEligibleForDirectPlay: False, isEligibleForDirectStream: True2015-09-20 04:00:38.8406 Debug - UpnpContentDirectory: Profile: OPPO PLAYER, Path: /media/Movies/Big Eyes (2014).mkv, isEligibleForDirectPlay: True, isEligibleForDirectStream: True2015-09-20 04:00:38.8445 Debug - UpnpContentDirectory: Bitrate exceeds DirectPlay limit2015-09-20 04:00:38.8445 Debug - UpnpContentDirectory: Profile: OPPO PLAYER, Path: /media/Movies/Blood Simple (1984).mkv, isEligibleForDirectPlay: False, isEligibleForDirectStream: True2015-09-20 04:00:38.8484 Debug - UpnpContentDirectory: Profile: OPPO PLAYER, Path: /media/Movies/Body Heat (1981).mpg, isEligibleForDirectPlay: True, isEligibleForDirectStream: True

The two mkv files that exceed the limit were made from Blurays and have total stream bitrates of 30.3 Mbps and 40.4 Mbps respectively.  The two that do not exceed were made from DVDs and have total stream bitrates of 6.5 Mbps and 6.3 respectively.  However, the second is an mpg file.

 

Further regarding subtitles, there are log entries like the following about which I am not concerned:

2015-09-20 04:00:38.9177 Debug - UpnpContentDirectory: Not eligible for DirectPlay due to unsupported subtitles2015-09-20 04:00:38.9177 Debug - UpnpContentDirectory: Not eligible for DirectStream due to unsupported subtitles2015-09-20 04:00:38.9177 Debug - UpnpContentDirectory: Profile: OPPO PLAYER, Path: /media/Movies/Jigoku (1960).mkv, isEligibleForDirectPlay: False, isEligibleForDirectStream: False

I will have to check further (see if there are any mkv files from Blurays that are acceptable for directplay), but it seems like the 30 Mbps maximum limit set in the user profile has become the gating factor.  If so, might there be a workaround?

 

In passing, the debug entries "Bitrate exceeds DirectPlay limit" might be more helpful if they included the actual bitrate and the limit in the message.

 

Thanks again for all the help you give, Luke.  I appreciate it very much.

[Luke 37231]

The setting in the web interface is only for playback through the web interface. the dlna profile has it's own bitrate settings for playback with that device.

 

as far as the subtitles go, check the name of the subtitle codec in the web interface media info. pgs might need to be pgssub. vob might need to be vobsub, etc.

[brienj 1]

look at the other profiles for examples. you need to add subtitle profiles so that the system knows the player can handle those subs directly

 

And exactly zero of the included profiles has anything that tells Emby that the player can handle MKV subtitles.  There are only two profiles that have any sort of Subtitle Profile, the Panasonic Viera and Samsung Smart TV.  And each of them deal with external subtitles.

 

Panasonic Viera -

  <SubtitleProfiles>
    <SubtitleProfile format="srt" method="External" />
  </SubtitleProfiles>

Samsung Smart TV -

  <SubtitleProfiles>
    <SubtitleProfile format="srt" method="External" didlMode="CaptionInfoEx" />
  </SubtitleProfiles>

Emby desperately needs a Wiki on the DLNA profiles and all the values that can be used in each section.  The only reason I finally got my profile to actually be used for my Sony was by being lucky enough to read a post on the forum that HTTP Headers must be included.

 

 

I can get most, but not all of my mkv files to DirectPlay.

 

Running Latest FreeNAS and latest Emby plugin.  Player is OPPO BDP-93.  Custom DLNA Profile is recognized.  Profile specifies 99999999 for max streaming bitrate.  Directplay for mkv is set for all video and all audio.  However, many of my .mkv files show as below in the log, and the mkv is transcoded:

2015-09-20 04:00:38.7875 Debug - UpnpContentDirectory: Profile: OPPO PLAYER, Path: /media/Movies/All Is Lost (2013).mkv, isEligibleForDirectPlay: False, isEligibleForDirectStream: True

That mkv has one video stream, two audio streams, and two subtitle streams.  Total stream bitrate is 30.3 Mbps.

 

Playback remote client bitrate is empty.  But, the user profile settings specify max streaming bitrate of 30 Mbps (the maximum).  Is that why transcoding is taking place?  Is there any way to stop it?

 

It seems like the majority of my mkv files created from Bluray discs are being transcoded.  I would swear I had everything directplaying in the past.

 

DirectStream is not supported by the BDP-93 over the network.

 

Any help or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

 

The only way I got around this problem was by turning off subtitles in my User Profile.  Maybe you'll get lucky and a user has figured out a Subtitle Profile that will make it so MKV subtitles won't be transcoded and you can find the post on the forum somewhere.

Edited September 20, 2015 by brienj

[Luke 37231]

You're right, we do need a wiki about all of this, I just haven't been able to make time for that and haven't found a volunteer to help. As far as the xml profiles - yea the engine supports everything you need to do but I think we just don't have enough knowledge of what each device supports and that's why many of them use the server to burn in subs.

[brienj 1]

You're right, we do need a wiki about all of this, I just haven't been able to make time for that and haven't found a volunteer to help. As far as the xml profiles - yea the engine supports everything you need to do but I think we just don't have enough knowledge of what each device supports and that's why many of them use the server to burn in subs.

 

All I need is a list of valid values for everything, then I think I could figure it out from that.  I need to dig into the source code, but I haven't had time for that.  I am tweaking a 2015 model Sony Blu-ray player profile and will post it when I finish it.

[Luke 37231]

you'll have to be more specific about what valid values, but generally just look in the web interface at the names of the containers and codecs of your content, and those are what should be specified in profiles.

[brienj 1]

you'll have to be more specific about what valid values, but generally just look in the web interface at the names of the containers and codecs of your content, and those are what should be specified in profiles.

 

For a specific example, it can't play Divx encoded AVI files, but it's a mpeg4 codec, so how do I specify that you have to transcode FourCC codes of div3,div4,div5,divx,dm4v, and dx50.  It tells me in the logs that FourCC and VideoFourCC are not valid property values for the Codec Profile I was trying to create for the mpeg4 codec.

[JAAlperin 3]

Hi Luke.  Reposting.  You completed with brienj, but this was not his thread.

 

Please see my prior response.  Some mkvs are transcoding due to subtitles.  I am not concerned about them and will resolve them (and report back).

 

I am concerned about the files that exceeded the max bitrate.  I don't get that as I have it set to 99999999 (99 Mbps) and the files that are failing are in the 30 to 40 Mbps range (per MediaInfo).

 

What should I be looking at other than DLNA > profiles > OPPO Player > Info > Playback Settings > Max Streaming Bitrate?

 

Thanks again.

Edited September 20, 2015 by JAAlperin

[Luke 37231]

we have to look at the media info in the web interface and see what can be used to differentiate. if there isn't anything, then i'll have to add that new data to the library.

[JAAlperin 3]

Hi Luke.

 

I'm repeating a prior post.

 

Please see my response posted at 5:17.  Some mkvs are transcoding due to subtitles.  I am not concerned about them and will resolve them (and report back).

 

I am concerned about the files that exceeded the max bitrate.  I don't get that as I have it set to 99999999 (99 Mbps) and the files that are failing are in the 30 to 40 Mbps range (per MediaInfo).

 

What should I be looking at other than DLNA > profiles > OPPO Player > Info > Playback Settings > Max Streaming Bitrate?

 

Thanks again.

[Happy2Play 8351]

How about actual transcode logs and media info?  Looks like there are specific limits specific codecs also.

 

http://wiki.oppodigital.com/index.php?title=BDP-93_Media_Files_FAQ#What_kind_of_user_created_media_is_supported.3F

[Luke 37231]

^ he's right. you have to post the logs or it's just a guessing game.

[JAAlperin 3]

Thanks.  I will post the logs as requested.

 

And, thanks for the pointer to the OPPO information.  I am familiar with it.

 

But, if I set a profile claiming that all MKV video, and audio are supported and I set the bitrate limit very high, then why would there be any attempt at all to transcode?  Previously, I have seen the device report an error when it cannot handle a file directlyplayed with an unsupported format.  I apologize if this is a naive question.

[JAAlperin 3]

The MKVs that were transcoding are no longer doing so.  I have no explanation, although I must have changed something.  If I can recreate the problem I will post the logs, but I am complete for now.

 

Thanks again, Luke and Happy2Play.

[sneakers282 5]

You're right, we do need a wiki about all of this, I just haven't been able to make time for that and haven't found a volunteer to help. As far as the xml profiles - yea the engine supports everything you need to do but I think we just don't have enough knowledge of what each device supports and that's why many of them use the server to burn in subs.

 

If it's of any use the Serviio Wiki has all of it's device profiles on it showing what formats are supported.

[lesmikesell 2]

Is there a simple way to make the default for DLNA to unrecognized devices not transcode at all?   That is, assume the content will play direct unless the device matches a profile? 

[lesmikesell 2]

Is there a simple way to make the default for DLNA to unrecognized devices not transcode at all?   That is, assume the content will play direct unless the device matches a profile? 

 

Does anyone have a suggestion for this?   My content is encoded to play directly on most, if not all of my devices.  I'd much rather attempt a direct play and have it fail on a device that can't handle it than to transcode when unnecessary and not be able to fast forward or rewind.    Is there some way to make the default profile look like it can handle anything you throw at it?