Transcoding into Opus

[doffactory 3]

I just imported my whole Music collection into Emby. It works, sort-of.

 

I read in the forum that Opus transcoding should work between NAS>>Emby App (Android). How can I check it? All I see on the dashboard that it is being transcoded. Would it be possible to introduce for music a selectable transcoding option (mp3, opus) in the Settings (similar to the options of kbps selection)?

[Luke 36992]

Hi, if transcoding is needed we generally use more basic formats such as mp3. Streaming progressive opus hasn't always worked well when we've tested it.

 

If you are using our mobile Android app it will direct play most music without transcoding anyway.

 

Please let us know if this helps. Thanks.

[doffactory 3]

Hi Luke, thanks for your quick reply. Actually, my problem is that the android client does stop the playback during transcoding when changing from one song to another. I always have to turn the screen on to load the next song. I disabled app optimisation but the issue remains.

 

On top of it, I deliberately want to use transcoding, as my monthly mobile data plan (not WiFi) does not allow me to download my music which is stored in FLAC from a different country (latency and connection stability issues, as well as data cap issue). Therefore, my natural selection would be opus instead of MP3 and/or directory.

 

It would be great to have the option to select it, as I already read here somewhere that both the server and the client support opus.

[Luke 36992]

Ok, that is a separate issue unrelated to the audio format. We are actively working on that and will have a fix soon. Thanks.

[Luke 36992]

Regarding opus for streaming transcoding, the problem is that even though the device supports opus, streaming an in-progress transcoded file is not the same as playing a static file. In the past we've seen problems when trying to do this with opus, although we can certainly re-evaluate it again.

[doffactory 3]

Thanks Luke for the update. My impression was that Opus is optimised for streaming, did not know that you have such issues with it. Thanks anyway, it would be an excellent development IMHO, as I believe I am not alone with my use-case.

[Luke 36992]

Thanks for the feedback.

[KarlDag 25]

Regarding opus for streaming transcoding, the problem is that even though the device supports opus, streaming an in-progress transcoded file is not the same as playing a static file. In the past we've seen problems when trying to do this with opus, although we can certainly re-evaluate it again.

FYI Opus is what Plex uses when transcoding with their new audio player. I don't know if it's better or how they do it, just saying it can be done.

[Luke 36992]

Thanks for the info.

[doffactory 3]

Hi @@Luke, just trying to follow up on this. Did you consider to introduce Opus transcoding between the server and Android app? The scenario is that in my location we have capped the mobile data transfer to 4GB, and if one uses Opus 64kbps transcoding, it is sufficient for the street and also for this amount of monthly data. However, if one uses an equivalent quality mp3, the data quickly runs out. Would really appreciate an option to transcode, since emby uses ffmpeg anyway.

 

For reference: http://opus-codec.org/comparison/

[Luke 36992]

I haven't had a chance to look at this yet, but it's definitely something that can be done. Thanks.