Direct Streaming vs Direct Playing

[legallink 187]

Just curious what the difference is.  In the dashboard it lists both for different devices.

[Guest asrequested]

Direct streaming is remuxing. Usually because of unsupported audio. The video is untranscoded but the audio is transcoded. Direct play is just that, no change and doesn't go through the server.

[Vidman 590]

No. Direct streaming does not mean audio is transcoded

[Guest asrequested]

No. Direct streaming does not mean audio is transcoded

Notice I say "usually" as in most commonly but not always.

[Vicpa 607]

Notice I say "usually" as in most commonly but not always.

 

Nope, Direct streaming is not ever remixing, despite what the dashboard may. Some platforms do not allow applications to directly access file systems mostly for security reasons. For those platforms the server exposes the file as a stream.

 

If the content is being altered in any way even just a container change "transcoding" is taking place. Having a "copy" of video or audio is very low overhead so it is pretty efficient. but can produce anomalies that would never be present in a direct stream.

[Guest asrequested]

So why then if I use the UWP app with direct access to the files, do some files direct stream?

[mellomade 141]

Ugg....to be honest I really dislike the way Emby is trying to placate Plex users in the name of 'user friendliness' or whatever the reason.  The terminology is confusing to begin with - and if you are interested in such things I don't understand why you cannot just use the actual terminology widely accepted in the encoding community.

 

IMHO - if you're going to show the details on the dashboard then show the details.  For example if my audio is the only thing that needs to be transcoded then say 'Transcoding Audio' to whatever.  People should learn the correct terminology to begin with - not be catered to because 'that's the way Plex does it'.

[Vicpa 607]

So why then if I use the UWP app with direct access to the files, do some files direct stream?

 

UWP apps are an example of a platform that does not allow direct file access, To Mellomade point above I don't know how emby is "reporting" what is happening. As I understand it you should never see "Direct Play" if you are being accurate in the description They are either being "Direct Streamed" or transcoded. Functionally to the app "Direct Play" and "Direct Stream" are the same it is just the mechanism to get the file.

 

Some people just call both Direct Play which is kinda alright. But to call anything that is remuxing or going the ffmpeg at all Direct Stream is inaccurate. 

[Guest asrequested]

So you're saying the UWP app will never direct play, because it won't allow direct access?

[Vicpa 607]

Yes, technically

 

But is the accuracy of terms. Direct Stream really is equivalent to direct play, native files un modified, not altered. There is no difference in playback

 

 

That is why calling anything direct streaming that remuxs. or changes containers is not accurate and confusing, because those things can impact playback .

Edited January 12, 2017 by Vicpa

[Happy2Play 9441]

Depend on where you look and the definition you will get.

 

to stream

refers to the process of delivering or obtaining media in this manner; the term refers to the delivery method of the medium, rather than the medium itself

[Guest asrequested]

Depend on where you look and the definition you will get.

 

to stream

 

refers to the process of delivering or obtaining media in this manner; the term refers to the delivery method of the medium, rather than the medium itself

That's very ambiguous

[Guest asrequested]

So you're saying the UWP app will never direct play, because it won't allow direct access?

 

 

Yes, technically

 

It would seem to have direct access.

 

 

But the whole direct streaming thing, just isn't adding up. There must be concise parameters that would call for it...right?

[FrostByte 5257]

I always viewed it as pulling or pushing.  If Direct Playing then the client has access to the files and is pulling or playing them directly from where they are located and thus the client is doing the leg work.  If the client doesn't have direct access to the media then the client is requesting that the server push or stream the files I requested to my client and the server is doing all the work to include transcoding.  So to me both Plex and Emby are really Direct Streaming and not Playing

[Guest asrequested]

I always viewed it as pulling or pushing.  If Direct Playing then the client has access to the files and is pulling or playing them directly from where they are located and thus the client is doing the leg work.  If the client doesn't have direct access to the media then the client is requesting that the server push or stream the files I requested to my client and the server is doing all the work to include transcoding.  So to me both Plex and Emby are really Direct Streaming and not Playing

 

But I've had files direct stream when there has been direct access. There in lies the confusion. If it's only about access, then it shouldn't happen, but does. I think there's more to it.

[FrostByte 5257]

Not just access, but is the client pulling/playing the files or is the server pushing/streaming them to the client.  I wouldn't go by what is being displayed as being gosple either   Just like when it says it isn't transcoding when it transcodes DTS to AC3

 

Edit: at least it should say "Transcoding audio only" or something like that

Edited January 13, 2017 by FrostByte

[Guest asrequested]

Why would the same client with the same access, direct stream one file but direct play another? A glitch?

Edited January 13, 2017 by Doofus

[Vidman 590]

I'm pretty sure one of the Devs has mentioned they changed from being technically accurate to following plexs terminology because they believe users were getting the false idea that Plex was more efficient than emby due to how they reported playback

Devs: please correct me if I'm wrong

Edited January 13, 2017 by Vidman

[Happy2Play 9441]

You would have to look at the log of something Emby is showing Direct Stream to see what is being changed.

 

Plex's definition

Direct Stream

The media is almost compatible with the native client. For example, the audio and video codecs are compatible but the container is not. In this case, the audio/video codecs are direct streamed to the client, and Plex transcodes the container to a format the native player can use.

Direct Stream requires very little CPU usage on the Plex Media Server.

[Luke 40077]

Yes people thought we were inferior because ours said Transcoding and their said Direct Stream. Or ours said Direct Stream and theirs said Direct Play.

 

In our case nowadays Direct Stream means a container swap is happening.

[speechles 2010]

If you mean the server dashboard, and it says direct, you are getting the unmodified file. Thats all thats really important, the fact is has "direct" shown, the rest is irrelevant.

 

When using pure "direct play" emby server is not involved. The client gets direct access to the files network path on its own, think kodi. You lose your emby stuff, the resume ability, watched status, other emby things. So in an effort to make it easier for users to understand, "direct play" is used on the dashboard when emby is playing the unmodified file. This makes it on-par with what plex does. Plex has to wrap all requests through an http request same way emby does.

 

What we call "remux" though, plex is calling direct streaming. Emby doesnt follow plex in this case. Plex calls this "direct stream" while emby honestly still calls this "transcoding". If ffmpeg is invoked its still a transcode, even if just the container has changed. This is the major difference in terminology. Emby is telling it like it is. Plex is telling a white lie.

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[Guest asrequested]

So here's an example. Direct access of file. Doesn't support the audio, log is called remuxing, audio is transcoded, dashboard says direct stream, video unchanged.

 

Am I right in saying that the container is changed, but direct streamed because the video has not been transcoded?

 

 

Oops! My bad. The audio wasn't being transcoded. But why direct stream not direct play?

Edited January 13, 2017 by Doofus

[speechles 2010]

@ Yes. I guess @@Luke recently changed terminology to match plex, otherwise it looks like emby is inferior. See my post above.

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[Happy2Play 9441]

Stream mapping:
  Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (copy)
  Stream #0:2 -> #0:1 (ac3 (native) -> ac3 (native))

Well @ your example the audio is getting converted from 640000 to 384000.

[Guest asrequested]

@ Yes. I guess @@Luke recently changed terminology to match plex, otherwise it looks like emby is inferior. See my post above.

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

Yes, I saw, thanks. But why did this file direct stream and not direct play? Most of the other files direct play. I don't mean to be a pain, I'm just trying to understand what would make the difference