5.1 flac file Playback Issues on NVIDIA Shield

[ThomasPatrick 0]

Hello,

 

I am experiencing a strange issue while trying to playback a series of 5.1 surround audio flac files via an Nvidia Shield running Android TV 7.0 with the latest non-beta Emby app. After selecting "play all" on the album, Emby queues the files and skips each file individually without playing any audio; each file is skipped after approximately one second. It proceeds to the end of the album and stops. Selecting individual files produces the same result, skips after 0 seconds of playback. The album plays as expected on other platforms (Emby HTML web interface via Safari in OS X, Emby iOS app, etc.).

 

All other stereo flac files direct play correctly. I haven't tried other 5.1 flac files because I don't have access to any (these came from an SACD rip). They work on other platforms though so I don't see why the Shield refuses to play them. I tried repackaging the files into mka containers, which Emby then plays but transcodes to 128mbps stereo files.

 

Info:

Emby Server version is 3.3.1.0 via FreeNAS plugin, running on a custom Xeon server.

 

I have tried the Emby Android TV beta version, I reinstalled the Emby app, restarted the Emby server plugin—same results. I have seen other errors in the logs, but never got to the bottom of those (server app doesn't seem to be able to check for updates). Everything else works as expected.

Log.txt

Edited April 20, 2018 by ThomasPatrick

[ebr 14951]

Hi.  What is the sample rate of these files?

[ThomasPatrick 0]

Hi.  What is the sample rate of these files?

 

 

Hi there, the files are 24-bit 96 kHz. 5.1 channels, 3F 2R LFE. Bitrate averages around ~8500 kbps.

[ebr 14951]

Okay, I believe this is an issue with high-sample-rate flac that we need to look at.

 

Thanks.

[ebr 14951]

Can you please try this with the latest beta version (1.5.76) of the app?

[ThomasPatrick 0]

Can you please try this with the latest beta version (1.5.76) of the app?

 

I just gave it a try on 1.5.82g. The behavior is different, but the files still don't play. Instead of skipping without playing, the files now sit "playing" at 0:00 indefinitely without audio. Log attached. It was lengthy due to working on it a lot today, so I copy and pasted the portion containing my test. Let me know if you want the full log instead.

 

Thanks for looking into it!

Parsed Log server-63660384000.txt

[ebr 14951]

Yeah, neither player is able to play these at this point but there is hope as I see commits related to FLAC in the dev line of Exo.  So we'll need to circle back to these when we're able to take in those updates.

[dgm1960 0]

I’ve experienced the exact same problem in both Emby and Plex when trying to play 5.1 flax files. In Plex the file will eventually play but only after a a minute or two, literally. No action at all on Emby so I assume this is a shield tv and hi res, multichannel flac issue. In any event I also want to just say how wonderful Emby is and finally able to bid plex goodbye.

[corykim 0]

Hi, I'm having this problem as well. One additional piece of information, in case it helps, is that the same files play perfectly in Plex for Kodi. The client direct plays the file, and converts it to multichannel PCM for output.

[pünktchen 1259]

It will not work natively on the Shield: https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/1019954/shield-flac-surround-audio-crippled-buyer-beware-/#first_comment

Edited June 26, 2018 by pünktchen

[corykim 0]

It works on Plex for Kodi on a Shield. In any event, the Shield would play it if the server transcodes to multichannel WAV, according to this. http://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4410/~/how-do-i-play-high-resolution-audio-on-my-shield-tv%3F

[corykim 0]

Ok, I used XLD to convert my multichannel FLAC to WAV, and it works fine.