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Disable Direct Streaming to Firestick?


Dizzy49

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Dizzy49

I have been ripping some newer movies to 4K, and so far the results for playback are not great.

 

My machine machine is using Powerline adapter (temporarily) that is supposed to run at 1000mb.  However, it is one of the few outlets in the house using the OLD wiring, so I don't think I'm getting anywhere near that speed.

 

When I try to play a 4K rip on this machine it buffers so much it's unwatchable.

 

 

 

I just got a new Fire Stick so I can play with it.  I tried to play the 4K rip on the Fire Stick and I get "too many errors".

 

On the server it shows that it is Direct Streaming.  I know that the Fire Stick can't handle that, and I expected it to transcode.  It's connected to one of my older 1080p TVs with Stereo, so I'd like to make sure it transcodes, and then it should play correctly.

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Dizzy49

Odd, I'm watching something else, and it is transcoding that:

 

From the nfo:

 <fileinfo>
    <streamdetails>
      <video>
        <codec>xvid</codec>
        <micodec>xvid</micodec>
        <bitrate>1468248</bitrate>
        <width>720</width>
        <height>304</height>
        <aspect>2.35:1</aspect>
        <aspectratio>2.35:1</aspectratio>
        <framerate>23.97604</framerate>
        <scantype>progressive</scantype>
        <default>False</default>
        <forced>False</forced>
        <duration>99</duration>
        <durationinseconds>5919</durationinseconds>
      </video>
      <audio>
        <codec>mp3</codec>
        <micodec>mp3</micodec>
        <bitrate>120432</bitrate>
        <scantype>progressive</scantype>
        <channels>2</channels>
        <samplingrate>48000</samplingrate>
        <default>False</default>
        <forced>False</forced>
      </audio>
    </streamdetails>
  </fileinfo>
 
 
Server says:
"Transcoding - 3.1 Mbps ts h 264 mp3"
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Dizzy49

It has locked up again.  It locked up at ~3:58 into the movie.  On the server it showed it still playing for another 30 seconds.  When the screen went grey on the Fire Stick, the user and device disappeared from the server.

The only button on the remote that does anything at that point is the Home button, however, trying to launch Emby again just gets me a gray screen.

I went to App Management and did a Force Stop and then relaunched the app from the same place.  It came up, but seems to not load entirely and booted me out.  I did another Force Stop and relaunch which worked, and I sent the logs about 5 seconds before the time of this post.

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Dizzy49

Try reducing the bitrate setting in the app.

 

It was transcoding at 3.1MB.  That should have been fine.  I have a pretty beefy server, and a home network.  The server had no other utilization, and the network was pretty empty at that time too.  The fact that I could reproduce it down to the second speaks to something else.

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Dizzy49
Dizzy49

Here is the log while trying to play a 4K video.  It is not transcoding, it is trying to direct play, and I get "too many errors".

I also submitted the log file from ATV.

 

server-63632908800.txt

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maegibbons

@ebr  Whilst reducing the in app bitrate does have the effect of forcing a transcode, is it not possible just to have a setting to force transcoding anyway? 

 

Or the option at least for just .ts files?  As explained elsewhere my use case is playback of recorded .ts which means variable results for seeking when direct playing.  I would prefer the small remux overhead so that i can seek properly.

 

Krs

 

Mark

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@ebr  Whilst reducing the in app bitrate does have the effect of forcing a transcode, is it not possible just to have a setting to force transcoding anyway? 

 

Or the option at least for just .ts files?  As explained elsewhere my use case is playback of recorded .ts which means variable results for seeking when direct playing.  I would prefer the small remux overhead so that i can seek properly.

 

Krs

 

Mark

 

I think for something that affects all .ts files that is something that the app should make a decision on for the best out of box behavior, along with a setting to possibly change it.

 

And yes, I think in-video menus in all apps should have a button to force transcoding on a case by case basis to deal with the occasional problem file.

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maegibbons

I think for something that affects all .ts files that is something that the app should make a decision on for the best out of box behavior, along with a setting to possibly change it.

 

And yes, I think in-video menus in all apps should have a button to force transcoding on a case by case basis to deal with the occasional problem file.

 

Well the "playback error" option is what I use currently to switch to transcoding when seeking plays up direct playing.  I would just like it to be an option to always transcode so i dont have to go through that step.

 

Krs

 

Mark

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Dizzy49

So where are we at here?

 

We've established that the Fire Stick will never be able to handle a 4K stream, but the server Direct Streams it.  As a matter of fact, I don't own a device that can handle 4K at all right now, so any 4K needs to be transcoded.

 

I've sent logs that cover both the 4K direct stream, as well as the issue where the video just stops.

 

Any update?  At the very least I'd like to get the 4K transcoding, which according to your response to my other post, it SHOULD be doing on it's own.

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Sorry, I thought I had provided everything.  I sent the logs from the Firestick, not the server.

 

I will try to attach.

 

What item is the problem one?  All of those ffmpeg logs are from transcodes and none appear to be 4k.  

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Dizzy49

What item is the problem one?  All of those ffmpeg logs are from transcodes and none appear to be 4k.  

 

That's just it, it SHOULD have transcoded the 4K, but it didn't.  It tried to direct stream instead, which of course will never work.

 

The 4K file was Hunger Games.

The one that transcoded but got stuck is Outcast.

You should be able to search the logs using those to make it a bit easier.

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Based on your server log, it is trying to transcode that item but is failing.  The first thing I would try is disabling hardware acceleration for the transcode.

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Dizzy49

Ok, I disabled Hardware Acceleration.

The 4K file still will not play, and it is still trying to Direct Stream.

The other file transcoded successfully.

 

Now we just need to figure out why Emby keep trying to Direct Stream 4K content to the Fire Stick.

 

Attached latest server log. 

server-63633340799.txt

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Dizzy49

FYI, I set the Max Bitstream in the App Settings on the Fire Stick to 3 Mb, and the Audio to Downmix to Stereo, and it's transcoding "3.0 Mbps ts h264 aac".

 

So it WILL transcode successfully, but it should know to do this automatically.

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I think this is related to the change we made to the auto bitrate logic on the local network.  I think the issue here is the bitrate of the item is too high for the device to handle.

 

Are you positive no ffmpeg log is created on that playback?  There should be as it is streaming it via HLS...

2017-06-18 19:36:55.3365 Info HttpServer: HTTP GET http://192.168.86.250:8096/emby/videos/dc0392344fe8ce1e9b62213d04f8b3ac/master.m3u8?DeviceId=c3d1d08bce0e1a92&MediaSourceId=dc0392344fe8ce1e9b62213d04f8b3ac&VideoCodec=h264,mpeg2video,hevc,h265&AudioCodec=aac,mp3&AudioStreamIndex=1&VideoBitrate=109872000&AudioBitrate=128000&MaxAudioChannels=2&MaxFramerate=60&Level=51&Profile=high&PlaySessionId=cd4f6f630f5349559c92f932a9235bc1&CopyTimestamps=true&EnableSubtitlesInManifest=false&Tag=2521810fbfac8db44ef61834e8a82579&RequireAvc=false&RequireNonAnamorphic=false&DeInterlace=true&SegmentContainer=ts&MinSegments=2&BreakOnNonKeyFrames=True. User-Agent=Emby/1.4.17a (Linux;Android 5.1.1) ExoPlayerLib/2.2.0, Host=192.168.86.250:8096, Connection=Keep-Alive, Accept-Encoding=gzip

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Thanks.  There are the ffmpeg logs I was expecting to see.  Looks like one issue in addition to the bitrate is that the app doesn't appear to be including the video size parameter.  I'll look into that.

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Dizzy49

I'm headed to my father's today.  He has a long list of files that he's been having issues with.  I will disable hardware acceration on his and run through his list to see if any issues remain.

 

Should I open a new post for his, or just add to this one?

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