Can't play standard H264/AAC stereo videos since update

[ebr 14926]

I'm afraid you've exhausted my AV knowledge. What does 1 ref frame mean? Where can I check this?

 

The video I sent you plays in desktop and iOS emby apps, and it used to play fine on the Fire stick before the recent update. It never needed transcoding, and I'm pretty sure it direct-played, though maybe it direct-streamed. So if there's anything "non-standard" about this video, it seems like past version of emby for Fire Stick was robust enough to handle it, while the new version isn't. Or am I mistaken?

 

Pretty sure the previous version was transcoding it.

[elenev 0]

Ref frames: I didn't do a completely rigorous test that would perfectly isolate the problem to the 1 ref frame. However, it's very likely. Other episodes of this series also have 1 ref frame and also won't play. Episodes of another series encoded roughly the same way (also H264/avc1 for video, 2-channel AAC for audio, mp4 container, differences are audio bitrate (44K vs 48K), video level (21 vs 31), video framerate (24 vs. 23.98...), resolution and aspect ratios) but with 5 ref frames instead of 1 play fine. A video with 9 ref frames (now that I read up on this, this seems like too many) also plays fine.

Transcoding: Don't mean to argue, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't transcoding before. The reason for my confidence is that I used to have problems playing this series (all encoded the same way) about three months ago. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what was going on (it ended up being the bitstreaming settings on the emby Fire TV app). But in the course of trying to figure it out, I looked at logs and tracked any changes to the transcoding-tmp folder. There were no calls to ffmpeg and no temporary files created. For other videos (e.g. some old ones I have that are Xvid in avi containers), evidence of transcoding was clear.

[ebr 14926]

Did you find any items with only 1 ref frame that did play properly?

[elenev 0]

I haven't, but I haven't tested that many, and they were all episodes of the same series, encoded identically. Is there to search for all 1 ref frame videos? Perhaps a way to export the database, including codec info, to a CSV?

[CBers 6771]

Not sure if this is related, but I thought I'd ask rather than starting a new thread.

 

I have 2 MP4 videos with Ref Frames = 1, which play audio, but not video.

 

Media Info for both are:

 

Video 1:

 

VideoCodecMPEG4
Codec tagmp4v
ProfileSimple Profile
Level1
Resolution720x400
Aspect ratio16:9
AnamorphicNo
InterlacedNo
Framerate25
Bitrate1499 kbps
Pixel formatyuv420p
Ref frames1

AudioLanguageund
CodecAAC
Codec tagmp4a
ProfileLC
Layoutstereo
Channels2 ch
Bitrate165 kbps
Sample rate48000 Hz
DefaultYes
TitleUnd AAC stereo Default

Containermp4

 

Video 2:

 

VideoCodecMPEG4
Codec tagmp4v
ProfileSimple Profile
Level1
Resolution720x400
Aspect ratio16:9
AnamorphicNo
InterlacedNo
Framerate25
Bitrate1499 kbps
Pixel formatyuv420p
Ref frames1

AudioLanguageund
CodecAAC
Codec tagmp4a
ProfileLC
Layoutstereo
Channels2 ch
Bitrate165 kbps
Sample rate48000 Hz
DefaultYes
TitleUnd AAC stereo Default

Containermp4

 

They could be something other than the Ref Frames, but the OSD says Direct/V.

[ebr 14926]

Both of you can re-try these with .70 when it hits beta in a bit.

[CBers 6771]

OK, thanks Eric.

[elenev 0]

Works in 0.70 beta! It's being transcoded, so it took like 5-7 sec to start playing, but that's ok. Video quality of the transcoded stream doesn't seem worse than before (or than direct-playing on my PC) and it doesn't stutter, at least not in the first 20 seconds which I just watched.

Here's an excerpt from the transcode log. Input and output seem almost the same, so I'm still not sure why it needs to transcode... 

[mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2 @ 0000000002543880] multiple edit list entries, a/v desync might occur, patch welcome
Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'file:PATH\TO\ORIGINAL\file.mp4':
  Metadata:
    major_brand     : mp42
    minor_version   : 0
    compatible_brands: mp42isom
    creation_time   : 2012-05-11 02:01:04
    encoder         : mp4creator 1.6.1d
  Duration: 01:31:54.00, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 1103 kb/s
    Stream #0:0(eng): Video: h264 (High) (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuv420p, 720x480 [SAR 1:1 DAR 3:2], 975 kb/s, 24 fps, 24 tbr, 90k tbn, 48 tbc (default)
    Metadata:
      creation_time   : 2012-05-11 02:01:04
      encoder         : VC Coding
    Stream #0:1(eng): Audio: aac (LC) (mp4a / 0x6134706D), 44100 Hz, stereo, fltp, 125 kb/s (default)
    Metadata:
      creation_time   : 2012-05-11 02:01:07
Output #0, matroska, to '%APPDATA%\Emby-Server\transcoding-temp\064db3f48938c678966b7dd32332f5e2.mkv':
  Metadata:
    encoder         : Lavf57.32.100
    Stream #0:0: Video: h264 (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuv420p, 720x480 [SAR 1:1 DAR 3:2], q=2-31, 975 kb/s, 24 fps, 24 tbr, 1k tbn, 90k tbc (default)
    Stream #0:1: Audio: aac (LC) ([255][0][0][0] / 0x00FF), 44100 Hz, stereo, 125 kb/s (default)
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (copy)
  Stream #0:1 -> #0:1 (copy)

 

[ebr 14926]

It is just doing a container swap which appears to correct whatever the issue is with a single ref frame.

[CBers 6771]

Both of you can re-try these with .70 when it hits beta in a bit.

Not seeing .70 here at the moment, on either of my Shield TV's.

 

Will check again later.

[elenev 0]

Not seeing .70 here at the moment, on either of my Shield TV's.

 

Will check again later.

 

Didn't work for me at first either. On my Fire stick, I deleted it from the device and then used "Send to device" from Amazon's web interface. Perhaps my experience is somehow applicable even though your device is different.

[ebr 14926]

Amazon is always tricky on updates and CBers is "across the pond" so it sometimes takes Google a while to get over there too.

[asnguy01 0]

How do I sign up for the beta for the FireTV?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Luke 37102]

How do I sign up for the beta for the FireTV?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/24350-android-open-beta-testing/

[CBers 6771]

Amazon is always tricky on updates and CBers is "across the pond" so it sometimes takes Google a while to get over there too.

Still the same issue on my Shield TV's.

 

Audio, but no video.

 

OSD says Direct/V.

[ebr 14926]

Still the same issue on my Shield TV's.

 

Audio, but no video.

 

OSD says Direct/V.

 

Did these items ever play properly?

 

Do you have any others that are the same video codec that do?

[CBers 6771]

No, they are new additions.

 

I'll have to check in the web client.

[speechles 1920]

No, they are new additions.

 

I'll have to check in the web client.

Curious.. Can you also test these on your roku if you have a chance.

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[CBers 6771]

No, they are new additions.

 

I'll have to check in the web client.

They play fine in the web client, albeit transcoded.

 

Speechles - don't have my Now TV box set up currently, but will have time at the weekend.

[ebr 14926]

They play fine in the web client, albeit transcoded.

 

Speechles - don't have my Now TV box set up currently, but will have time at the weekend.

 

i'm sure the issue is that they need to be transcoded to play on this app too - but we have to determine what it is about them that makes that the case.

 

Can you provide me a sample file?

[ebr 14926]

@@elenev please confirm that these still play for you with .72.  Thanks.

[CBers 6771]

Can you provide me a sample file?

PM sent.

[speechles 1920]

PM sent.

Its the weekend, mate. Wink wink nudge nudge.. heh

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[asnguy01 0]

Can't play any video at all with the beta version. Sent you a PM with all the logs.

[CBers 6771]

Its the weekend, mate. Wink wink nudge nudge.. heh

What??