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Understanding Android TV (Shield) Issues


bradford
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bradford

Hey, 

 

I have read several threads, but I'm still trying to understand why I have the issues I do with streaming h264 video with HD audio in an mkv container. 

 

My server: A6-based lxc container with lots of BR Rips (mux to mkv, so they're >30GB), but I have issues with typical 10GB h264/mkv files as well.

 

My issue is streaming to the Shield TV and I think it's caused by the audio format. What is puzzling is that either my system is so slow that just transcoding the audio brings it to its knees (avg 17 fps, so it's unwatchable), or emby is transcoding the entire video stream when it only needs to transcode the audio.

 

Transcode Log to Shield TV Emby App (Beta)

 

I even tried VLC on the shield through DLNA, and it did the same thing, pegged the CPU at 100% and was unwatchable. According to the VLC DLNA parameters it should announce that it can play anything, but that's obviously not what happened. The transcode log from this doesn't seem to announce the player's capabilities like the Emby App did:

 

Transcode Log to VLC DLNA

 

I get that bitstreaming doesn't work correctly, but it should be a relatively light load to transcode these audio streams. I am struggling to decode these logs, but it appears that it's transcoding the entire video stream vice just audio. 

 

Thanks

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It's transcoding video because the app is requesting a max bitrate of 18mpbs and the source video is much higher than that. That means you either customized the in-app quality, or the in-app network bandwidth measurement produced a result around 18mpbs. If you customized the in-app bitrate setting, try setting it back to Auto. If it's already on Auto, try setting it to a high value that you know your network and devices can handle.

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bradford

It's transcoding video because the app is requesting a max bitrate of 18mpbs and the source video is much higher than that. That means you either customized the in-app quality, or the in-app network bandwidth measurement produced a result around 18mpbs. If you customized the in-app bitrate setting, try setting it back to Auto. If it's already on Auto, try setting it to a high value that you know your network and devices can handle.

 

Thanks! That was simple! A follow-up question, how does the app determine the bitrate? I'm on gigabit cat6.

 

Also, the subtitles aren't labeled within the Emby Android TV app, it just labels the number of channels (Stereo), and the default audio stream isn't the default language played - is that a known issue, or should I create a separate thread? Here's the remux log

Edited by bradford
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The app tests retrieving a large data block from the server and times it.  If, at the time that test is run, your server happens to be very busy with some other task, it is possible it could read lower than it needs to.

 

The subtitles aren't labeled where?  We use the description and language tags in the subs themselves to display the menu options.  They should be the same as the "Title" field that shows in the media info on the web client.

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bradford

The app tests retrieving a large data block from the server and times it.  If, at the time that test is run, your server happens to be very busy with some other task, it is possible it could read lower than it needs to.

 

The subtitles aren't labeled where?  We use the description and language tags in the subs themselves to display the menu options.  They should be the same as the "Title" field that shows in the media info on the web client.

 

Thanks for the clarification. 

 

I'm sorry, when I said subtitles I meant audio streams. When selecting a new audio stream for a video in the Android TV app, the available audio streams are just using the "Title" (or "DisplayTitle") attribute from the mkv.  As you can see in the log I posted, they're all "Stereo", which explains it. I assumed you would incorporate the Language tag as well... that's why it's not helpful to just see a huge list of "Stereo" when trying to select a different audio track. It could be my source file not meeting some standard, but at least the Languages are correct and present in the metadata.

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yea we switched to embedded titles because that's what users wanted, although i imagine in some cases they might not be useful.

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Yeah, you will need to adjust your titles.  When that tag is present we just use that because we have no way of knowing what it will contain and, since it is a custom entry, we assume it is exactly what the user will want to see.

 

Usually, they are blank or say something like "Director's Commentary".

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bradford

I have a related issue, and perhaps this deserves its own thread as well, but it's related to this one. 

 

Streaming works intermittently now that it's playing directly (no transcoding, just remuxing). Even when the entire file is remuxed and cached in the temp directory, the video stops playing after between 1 second and 15 minutes, but usually on the low end of 5 seconds. 

 

I have attached the log, which has a log of socket errors/exceptions that might be the cause. If there's anything else I can provide, let me know. The server load is low, the connection is gigabit wired. Sometimes I can get the stream working again (for a little while at least) by togging a pause/resume. 

 

 

 

Log.txt.zip

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The socket errors are just what happens from the server's perspective when a client that was requesting content disappears.

 

Please do open a new thread and follow the instructions to send a log from the app here: How to Report a Problem

 

Thanks.

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