Adjust bitrate for transcoded audio such as Dolby AC-3

[Luke 38839]

4 minutes ago, cwills75 said:

Any update on allowing a custom/higher bitrate for transcoded audio.  I wasn't even aware this was an issue until recently, but I have a few clients on Apple TV with receivers that are stuck playing AC3 384kb/s with any DTS files.  I was aware the Apple TV doesn't bitstream DTS/DTS-HD MA/DTS-X, but was never aware of the low bitrate until seeing this post and looking in the log files.  Even the streaming info when the file is being played doesn't show audio transcoding going on.  It says direct streaming, which isn't really accurate.

adam1.txt 44 kB · 0 downloads

HI, I think this will be improved in the upcoming 4.7 release, but yes, more options are possible for future updates. Thanks.

[Maldark 1]

On 8/25/2021 at 10:51 AM, MakiXx said:

I've made a GitHub repo with instructions and Windows/Linux builds of my wrapper through GitHub actions so that it's verifiably legit. Let me know if you need help.

https://github.com/makitsune/emby-custom-ac3-bitrate

It seems like the builds have expired, and I have limited expereince building stuff myself (Running Windows). Would someone be able to explain this to me like I'm 5? It's been upsetting me since I started using Emby that the Audio bit-rate when transcoding is so low, and now I've found this thread I feel so close to a solution, I just can't work out how to build my own file for use.

Any help would be amazing.

EDIT: Small progress. Managed to download Go and compile my own version. I found ffmpeg.exe in "AppData/Roaming/Emby-Server/System" renamed to "_ffmpeg.exe" and dropped in the complied version of ffmpeg.go, Little lost as to what to do next.

Edited May 28, 2022 by Maldark

[Maldark 1]

OK it took me a while to sort this out so I thought I'd share my idiots guide to getting this working for anyone else that stumbles across this thread and really wants better audio in transcoding.

This is for Windows only, I'm running on Windows 10, but I assume it'll be the same for 11.

1. Download and install Go (https://go.dev/dl/), you'll need this to compile the new wrapper file. 
2. Restart your computer for the changes to come into effect.
3. Copy the text from the ffmpeg.go file found in MakiXx's github (https://github.com/makitsune/emby-custom-ac3-bitrate) into a notepad document and save the file as "ffmpeg.go" I recommend saving this file to C:/Users/[USERNAME]/
4. Open Command Prompt by typing "CMD" into the start bar and pressing enter.
5. Compile the ffmpeg.go file by typing "go build -ldflags="-s -w" ffmpeg.go" and pressing enter.
6. Find the "ffmpeg.exe" file in your emby-server folder "C:\Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Roaming\Emby-Server\system" and rename it to "_ffmpeg.exe"
7. Paste the "ffmpeg.exe" file you compiled in Step 5 into the same folder as the newly renamed "_ffmpeg.exe"
8. Right-click the start button and select "system", scroll down the "About" page and click "Advanced System Settings", then click on "Environmental Variables".
9. Create a new System Variable. It's name is "EMBY_CUSTOM_FFMPEG_PATH" and its value is "C:\Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Roaming\Emby-Server\system\_ffmpeg.exe
10. Click OK and restart, it should now work, you can confirm by opening a file and forcing it to transcode.

Edited May 28, 2022 by Maldark

[staticmotion 2]

This is brilliant Maldark, thanks so much! I only had problems with step 5. I needed to change the directory in CMD to where a file called "go.mod" was located (having put the ffmpeg.go file in that same folder in step 3). For me it was

CD C:\Program Files\Go\test\bench\go1

once in CMD

Edited May 30, 2022 by staticmotion

[staticmotion 2]

Having said that... it's not working

[OM2K21 17]

@LukeDo you have any plans to support setting the bit rate officially?

[Luke 38839]

On 4/24/2023 at 1:00 AM, OM2K21 said:

@LukeDo you have any plans to support setting the bit rate officially?

Well considering all of the new transcoding settings you'll be getting in 4.8, I would say anything is possible.

[robbom 5]

On 26/04/2023 at 05:25, Luke said:

Well considering all of the new transcoding settings you'll be getting in 4.8, I would say anything is possible.

When is this release due for general users?

[Luke 38839]

9 minutes ago, robbom said:

When is this release due for general users?

Hi, no ETA but we're working hard on it. Thanks.

[MikFlix 2]

On 5/3/2023 at 1:42 AM, Luke said:

Hi, no ETA but we're working hard on it. Thanks.

Still not changeable in 4.7.13. This is just ridiculous...

[Ac3sRwild 1]

Just test

On 4/25/2023 at 2:25 PM, Luke said:

Well considering all of the new transcoding settings you'll be getting in 4.8, I would say anything is possible.

Just tested 4.8.0.41 beta and still not seeing any sign of an option to adjust bitrate and/or codec for transcoded audio. Can we get any sort of confirmation as to whether or not you guys plan to implement this feature? In the meantime I also tested the docker build from MakiXx and it is working great. Hard to understand why this feature keeps getting passed over by the devs.

[Luke 38839]

On 8/14/2023 at 12:33 PM, Ac3sRwild said:

Just test

Just tested 4.8.0.41 beta and still not seeing any sign of an option to adjust bitrate and/or codec for transcoded audio. Can we get any sort of confirmation as to whether or not you guys plan to implement this feature? In the meantime I also tested the docker build from MakiXx and it is working great. Hard to understand why this feature keeps getting passed over by the devs.

Who or what is MakiXx? I would expect more transcoding tinkering options to continue to come, but I don't have an ETA on this particular thing.

[MakiXx 1]

12 hours ago, Luke said:

Who or what is MakiXx? I would expect more transcoding tinkering options to continue to come, but I don't have an ETA on this particular thing.

Check thread?

[zaozabot 1]

Sound is crackling like crazy during playback, beacuse my low end tabled can't handle high bitrate. Having an option to choose audio codec and bitrate would be nice  

[yocker 87]

44 minutes ago, zaozabot said:

Sound is crackling like crazy during playback, beacuse my low end tabled can't handle high bitrate. Having an option to choose audio codec and bitrate would be nice  

Can you set it to downmix to stereo? Might help.

[Neminem 694]

You Tdarr to create a second AAC 2.0 audio track.

[zaozabot 1]

1 hour ago, yocker said:

Can you set it to downmix to stereo? Might help.

There's no such option in Audio setting in the app (Android). 

1 hour ago, Neminem said:

You Tdarr to create a second AAC 2.0 audio track.

I'm looking for a simple solution   tinkering with Tdarr seems like a lot of effort 

[yocker 87]

26 minutes ago, zaozabot said:

There's no such option in Audio setting in the app (Android).

Ah yeah, that's in Emby for Android TV only. Sorry couldn't remember which of the apps have that option.

Have you tried downloading the file to the tablet it self and playing it with another player like VLC? Just to see if it really is the tablet that's at fault.

Other wise something like Tdarr might be the easiest solution. Unmanic is much more user friendly than Tdarr if you go that route. Will take some time for a whole movie collection to be fixed but once set up it's automatic set and forget.
Also a fun project IMO.

[visproduction 202]

23 hours ago, zaozabot said:

I'm looking for a simple solution   tinkering with Tdarr seems like a lot of effort 

AVIDemux offers mix to stereo that is pretty easy, once you find it in the left side Audio filters. 
Audacity also can do it the stereo mix down with more control.  But in order to add the track back in with the video, you will still need a program like AVIDemux.  Saving to high bitrate .mp3 works best.

I think that expecting the media server to work perfectly on your hardware for all users with video plus audio transcoding, is not a best approach.  Setting up any web-service should make sure that all audio / video combinations with your server hardware, works for all users at any location.  If some combination has an issue, then you convert the media available in the library to a version that works and keep testing until you get your desired combination to work for everyone.  When you walk into any store, does the salesman shows you a product that only sometimes works.  If there is some advanced version, then they would sell you the entire package, all hardware and high enough power to handle it.


 

[zaozabot 1]

49 minutes ago, visproduction said:

AVIDemux offers mix to stereo that is pretty easy, once you find it in the left side Audio filters. 
Audacity also can do it the stereo mix down with more control.  But in order to add the track back in with the video, you will still need a program like AVIDemux.  Saving to high bitrate .mp3 works best.

I think that expecting the media server to work perfectly on your hardware for all users with video plus audio transcoding, is not a best approach.  Setting up any web-service should make sure that all audio / video combinations with your server hardware, works for all users at any location.  If some combination has an issue, then you convert the media available in the library to a version that works and keep testing until you get your desired combination to work for everyone.  When you walk into any store, does the salesman shows you a product that only sometimes works.  If there is some advanced version, then they would sell you the entire package, all hardware and high enough power to handle it.


 

Thank you. This may work as a temporary solution. But I believe Emby is fully capable of downmixing to stereo and transcoding audio to a lower bitrate, because it does happen when an app asks for it (pardon my terminology, I'm not a programmer). Server is already transcoding video for a low tech device so transcoding or converting audio shouldn't be an issue for server powerwise. 

[visproduction 202]

Zao,

Good point.  I would guess that being able to sense that the original media video, audio bitrate and codecs can work for users who show up sometimes with connectivity that has some speed problem, traffic, or some codec request that fails to show up fast enough, sometimes there are 30 subtitles that slow down the process.  When this combination hits, the user get some transcoding solution and it does not work right for audio.  So why?  It could be a combination of many factors.  Your example has Audio OPUS 5.1.  How quickly is that recognized.  What process in transcoding works for this?  Are there compatability issues for some audio transcoding?  Are there metadata issues with this codec?  Are all OPUS 5.1 surround the same?  Do some have a higher bitrate?  Do only some browser support this audio.  Does some TV playback reject OPUS?  What I am saying is that all of the above questions can cause an issue with transcoding.  

Go ahead and keep testing, but really don't count on it suddenly working for everyone.  The correct step is to offer an alternative audio until OPUS surround is supported 100%.  Is this ever really going to happen?  It is an unusually audio codec.  I think I have seen compatability problems with all sorts of issues with browsers and with ffmpeg.  I haven't paid that close attention because I have never even seen this audio.  If you want it fixed, fine.  But in the meantime I think your interim solution is to offer alternate stereo encoded playback in AAC.

OPUS would not get onto a commercial website for media until everything is sorted out for all users.  My previous contracts on these unusual type of issues with codecs, I just get the management telling me, it's not supported and may not get funding to fix at all.  Hopefully, that is not the case, but I get a feeling this is the issue.

Hope that helps.

[cavecanem234 1]

This would still be a big help for some of the bluray rips I have...

Right now I have to either include multiple audio tracks so I can manually select the native 640kbps AC3 backup audio on anything that doesn't support TrueHD/Atmos, or have a still capable 5.1 setup get killed by terrible audio quality over a wired lan where I really don't need to conserve bitrate.

Like, I'd get it if it was something Emby did when set to one of the more bitrate-limited transcoding modes, but both the server and the TV and on 2.5gig lan. Let me have more than 384kbps audio whenever it has to transcode...