HDHomeRun EXTEND Does not change recording resolution

[UnderMiner 11]

Hello,

I installed an HDHomeRun EXTEND two months ago and we use Emby for TV recording daily. I moved to this model to reduce the size of recordings and to conserve space.

 

I have tried several options on the HDHomeRun EXTEND configuration page to reduce the recording size but no matter what the setting, the recordings are all 1920x1080 at more than 10kbps (heavy).

I know that this post may belong in the SiliconDust forums but I thought I would check for advice here first.

 

I have rebooted the device and updated the firmware but the results with Emby recording are always the same. Any advice is appreciated.

The device is an HDHomeRun EXTEND, Model: HDTC-2US, with Firmware: 20180327. I currently have it set to internet540 as shown in the screen capture and I have Emby set to "Allow hardware transcoding" (I have toggled this setting with no change in the results). I included sample playback information from Emby Theater below.

I placed the log file at this link https://1drv.ms/f/s!AnfmLnbQksWOhytOE0vZjYY-aJvZ

 

Let me know if I missed a setting to force a resolution change. Thanks,

 

 

Edited August 4, 2018 by UnderMiner

[Luke 37008]

It's because we have it use the highest quality option.

[Carlo 4330]

You can try to setup NextPVR to see if that respects your settings correctly.

If that works, then try the NextPVR plugin.

 

Either that or try Plex as it will use the settings you set correctly.

[Luke 37008]

We can always add an option, but up until now that's how we've had it behave.

[UnderMiner 11]

Hello,

My intention is to keep things as simple and reliable as possible and I chose Emby for the long term.

Thanks cayars for the advice but in our case, we will remain with Emby and not move to Plex.

I supported MCEBuddy a few years ago and I know there are discussions in an Emby forum for using MCEBuddy.

The big advantage to MCEBuddy is to remove commercials and to manage the file size.

 

My approach is to remain with Emby and simply use the remote to skip the commercials.

 

Luke, the quality of the capture is excellent for our use. If you could allow the capture at a different bit rate and resolution in the future development that would be appreciated.

 

At the moment our issue is that Emby Theater in Windows 10 and Xbox One S hesitates or freezes when skipping through recorded TV commercials. It struggles much more with recorded TV than with programs at the same resolution but encoded differently. If we could fix this issue or understand what I may do differently during recording to improve the playback experience, I would simply continue to use Emby.

 

I updated the log files at the link below with a sample of playback of recorded TV and another file. I don't know if the logs will give some clues as to help with the skipping during playback of recorded TV.

I thought that if I reduced the recorded resolution from the HDHomerun, we would have less hesitation and freezing while skipping ahead. Note that we use a wired gigabit LAN connection and I do not notice any issues with bandwidth or with CPU usage while Emby Theater is hesitating/freezing.

 

Thanks,

 

https://1drv.ms/f/s!AnfmLnbQksWOhytOE0vZjYY-aJvZ

[Carlo 4330]

At the moment our issue is that Emby Theater in Windows 10 and Xbox One S hesitates or freezes when skipping through recorded TV commercials. It struggles much more with recorded TV than with programs at the same resolution but encoded differently. If we could fix this issue or understand what I may do differently during recording to improve the playback experience, I would simply continue to use Emby.

 

The issue for you most likely is that you aren't using MCEBuddy anymore so your files aren't getting converted to MP4 files (with an index) and they are staying as TS (transport files) which do not have an index.  It therefore doesn't direct play but has to transcode on the fly and build the index as it goes which makes it sluggish for the FFing you do to skip the commercials.

[Luke 37008]

Would you guys prefer to configure the quality in Emby, or just have Emby always use your HDHR settings?

 

It would seem that a setting in Emby might make the most sense.

[UnderMiner 11]

Cayars,
Thanks for the explanation regarding .ts and the index system. Because we watch several of the shows the same day or within 24 hours, MCEBuddy is not an option. I used MCEBuddy many years ago with MediaCenter and MediaBrowser with an ATI TV Tuner. I have not used it since moving to HDHR and Emby because Emby managed all of the transcoding prior to v3.4 (I don't write software but I completely sympathize with the developers and any difficulties they may with with the previous method).

We often use Emby as a PVR and will watch and pause a live program.
Overall, we have committed to use Emby going forward and it works very well.

Luke,
If the Emby system communicates with the HDHR, the setting should probably be in Emby because that is where the user goes for all other system settings. I don't know how the rest of the Emby community would prefer this option and maybe they don't experience the same issues.

In a perfect world, the recording setting would be based on the content and the purpose. For example, news and talk shows may be at 720 but other series may be at 1080. This is complexity beyond this discussion and may be better suited to the "Recording Post Processing" feature that already exists in Emby.

I'm thinking about only a couple of series that we may want to record and view in the future. I have not used the "Recording Post Processing" feature in Emby but if would process the files and move them to another directory, that would help my situation to reduce file size. This will take some effort on my part, perhaps during the upcoming winter...

I will spend some time reviewing other posts in the forums and there may be some solutions.
Other users have similar questions such as: https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/61428-recording-file-type/?hl=%2Brecording+%2Bpost+%2Bprocessing&do=findComment&comment=605240

I know that there is a new transcode feature since 3.4 but I have to spend time with the options, I don't recall if it deletes the original after transcoding or if it moves the transcoded file to another series folder (in may case, I record to an SSD but would move the file to another drive for storage).

Keep up the good work Luke!

[Carlo 4330]

I've got a weird setup in my post processing setup but it works well for me.  I have both Primes and Quatro HDHomeRuns for 10 tuners plus several IPTV streams, soon to be 7 tuners (removing a Prime).  I've got Comcast/Xfinity which uses compression and MP4 video codec on many channels including CNN/Fox News as well as many stations I typically record from including Hallmark, Smithsonian, Discovery.

 

I've got about 500 series setup to record although a great many of them are just to pickup the missing episode here or there.  I record a lot of shows on CNN/Fox News to keep up with daily political news (I'm a political junkie).

 

I record several late night shows as well as things like 60 minutes, Dateline NBC, etc.  All of my news, latenight and 60 minute type shows go into their own library and I only keep 5 of each of these on hand.  I don't archive or keep them.

 

I use the Quatro for my ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, PBS as well as their sub channels.  These always record in MPEG2 streams.  Much of my cable recording due to the channels used are H.264 codecs in TS streams.  The audio channels are "random" like in that they can be AC3, Dolby 5.1, English and Spanish tracks.

 

I also record a LOT of sports from hockey to baseball to football to Olympics and similar nationals to many types of racing (Formula 1, Indy, NASCAR, etc).  I record both college and pro sports.  I typically watch and then delete these except NFL games which I archive and have every game back to 2012 and nearly every SB.

 

I've recently starting using MVC a lot.  So what I now do is this:

Any newscast, late night or sports show (except NFL) gets "quick processed".  All other content gets "long processed".

 

I run all shows through MCEBuddy to just cut commercials and nothing else.  Things goes pretty quick.

For "quick processed" shows I run them through a set of scripts I have that removes Spanish languages, keep other tracks and creates an AAC stereo track.

I then convert these files to MP4 with H.264 video.  Many channels already have H.264 video so these are mostly a remux which goes very fast.  I do this through my scripts vs using MCEBuddy to do them because MCB will transcode the video which I don't want.

For video that requires Mpeg2 to H.264 (usually sports or late night) I'll use nVidia HW processing which makes the conversion much faster but with bigger files which I don't care about since I only keep 5 episodes at most and usually delete upon watching.

 

For "long processing" I do everything above but instead of converting the Mpeg2 video to H.264 I convert straight to H.265 which I've now standardized on.  I DO NOT use HW transcoding on these files but use good old ffmpeg CPU processing.  It takes longer but provides excellent video files that take up about 1/3 to 1/2 the space which has put new life back into my storage system.

 

Of course no matter which method is used above I de-interlace as needed. For sporting I use yadif send_field and for everything else I use send_frame.  This gives me great temporal resolution for sporting events.

 

It's a constant work in progress but gives me the best files based on my use and allows them to be played back on any device in the house with ease.

 

There are a couple of News shows I typically watch live or time shifted as I'll start watching about 20 minutes in so I can skip commercials as well as many sports that I also watch live.  I typically use a Shield TV for playback of these events/shows so it can playback any codec naively without transcoding.

 

Carlo

[UnderMiner 11]

Carlo,

Thanks for the detail and sharing your experience. I may put some effort into my setup and reinstall MCEBuddy in the winter.

 

For the moment, If we could somehow combine Emby's transcode features with the Auto Organize plugin, most of what I need would be accomplished.

The remaining big feature would be commercial removal.

[Carlo 4330]

Commercial Cutting would be pretty cool to have built in.  Plex has this built in now.  It just runs after the recording is finished.

 

NextPVR has an "addin" that can do commercial cutting while the show is being recorded which is very cool.

 

You can already add commercial cutting to Emby via the "Recording Post Processing" script option built in already.  With that said having this as a built in option AND using the technique of NextPVR would be fantastic.

 

Carlo

[Spaceboy 2493]

We had commercial cutting fully automated in wmc 10 years ago. This isn’t new tech

[maegibbons 1267]

Its new tech for Emby!!

 

OR should I say "Future" Tech!

 

AS in "It is planned in a future update"

 

Krs

 

Mark

Edited August 22, 2018 by maegibbons

[maegibbons 1267]

Deleted

Edited August 22, 2018 by maegibbons

[UnderMiner 11]

Hello,

I am posting in this discussion because of the slow speed to skip through commercials on the Xbox One S version of Emby Theater.

My configuration has not changed (same as post #1) and Cayars explains in post #8 that the issue I am experiencing with slow times to skip is because the file format native to the HDHomerun and recorded in Emby is a .ts container which requires processing to skip.

I have not had time to spend on this issue but I did download the Emby app on my iPhone 6s and learned that it performs perfectly on the iPhone. The skip is instant and on the Xbox One S it can take from 6 to 10 seconds when skipping and sometimes does not recover (playback freezes). The skip in reverse is not usable. In situations where it locks up, I exit playback on the One S and use a computer or the iPhone to get the video to the correct position and then go back to the Xbox and "resume".

I attached a log file with testing on the Xbox and then on the iPhone. The iPhone is 6 to 10 times faster for skipping and I can use the slider on the bottom to got to the exact position in the video. This cannot be done on the Xbox. Is there any chance of placing a priority on fixing the Xbox playback (if it is at all possible)? I don't want to buy an Apple TV or complicate the situation with post processing simply to create a format that skips commercials.

Thanks for any advice or recommendations you may provide.

 

Refer to the log file at the following location https://1drv.ms/f/s!AnfmLnbQksWOhytOE0vZjYY-aJvZ
 

[Carlo 4330]

We had commercial cutting fully automated in wmc 10 years ago. This isn’t new tech

Yea, we had this in SageTV, Beyond TV more than 10 years ago as well.  Definitely not new in general.

 

My comment was more about how NextPVR can make use of Comskip.  It can start running Comskip while the file is still being recorded which is different from other implementations and I think what would be cool for us to try and implement for Emby.  This way you can have the comskip cut points very shortly after the recording is done shortening the post processing process timeline.

[Luke 37008]

We're looking into improvements for the xbox video player, thanks.

[Luke 37008]

@@cayars, do you still want to be able to pick your own stream? Please note that there are downsides to that. For example, the mobile apps might end up getting the one you pick and the server ends up having to transcode that on top of the HDHR transcode. When it's left automatic the server tries to avoid that when possible.

[Carlo 4330]

@@cayars, do you still want to be able to pick your own stream? Please note that there are downsides to that. For example, the mobile apps might end up getting the one you pick and the server ends up having to transcode that on top of the HDHR transcode. When it's left automatic the server tries to avoid that when possible.

I'm not sure I know what you're asking here Luke?

What stream in relation to doing what with it?

[Luke 37008]

It's about the original topic of this thread.

[Carlo 4330]

Oh, got ya. Doh!

 

What I was suggesting is not to use the hardware default but allow Emby to have this setting and to apply it for each channel/show it uses based on the Emby setting.  This will help on the Emby side as it's logged (reading logs) plus could allow additional functionality down the road such as use it on one channel or show but not another.

 

As an example down the road you could re-introduce real-time conversion of the video to H.264/H.265 and this could even be based on show or channel. Instead of using server resources the device hardware could be used if it was an extend.  Or for the extend this could be turned off and the server could do the conversion (regardless of hardware default) depending on the setup and what works best for the user and Emby itself. Keeping it under Emby control just allows for more possibilities and better logging.

 

Carlo

Edited September 27, 2018 by cayars

[Luke 37008]

Emby does have it's own, it's just internal to Emby and not currently configurable.

[UnderMiner 11]

Hello,

 

The recent software update seems to help with skipping forward 30 seconds on Xbox One S.

Version 1.1.231.70 (Oct. 12, 2018).

I have not performed a lot of testing and I'm not sure if this was part of the design but it does seem to be moving in the right direction.

It helps with watching programs recorded and watched the same day.

 

Removing commercials and converting to a different container would still be a great addition for the future.

 

Thanks for your continued development !

[Luke 37008]

 

 

The recent software update seems to help with skipping forward 30 seconds on Xbox One S

 

Hi, since we're using the stock Xbox video player, any improvements in this area are more likely due to Xbox system updates rather than our app updating. Thanks.