1080P won't direct play on any of my Android phones unless I use an external player

[cramerjd@gmail.com 0]

I'm back to Emby after a few years abroad.  I remember years ago having this issue with the native player and there was a option in the advanced settings of the client to tick-"off" to get it to work but it looks like that option was removed.  If I tell Emby android app to use an external player and use VLC or "Pl*x" as the player, it plays perfectly and the server still reports its a direct play with no transcoding.  Even using Chrome on the Android phone works fine playing the same 1080P files.

 

My server is a QNAP NAS running 4.0.0.1 (beta), Android app version is 3.8.34.  

 

 

 

Some extra history of things I did/changed during troubleshooting.  I thought it was the phone I was using (Blackberry Keyone) so I bought a brand new Note 9 (which has more then enough horsepower) and tried with a new Ubiquiti AC wifi AP that can direct play 4k files with Kodi over the network without any issues.  Then I discovered if I used the external player and Chrome worked fine.  The issue is only with Emby's player for android.

 

 

[Luke 37022]

Hi there, can we look at an example? Please attach the information requested in how to report a media playback issue. thanks !

[rick1221 0]

The default player of any of the Android device is not supportable to the 1080p resolution videos or blu ray videos. You have to use an external player to play the videos in HD resolution.

[Luke 37022]

The default player of any of the Android device is not supportable to the 1080p resolution videos or blu ray videos. You have to use an external player to play the videos in HD resolution.

 

Well that's not true. Can we look at an example? Please attach the information requested in how to report a media playback issue. thanks !

[cramerjd@gmail.com 0]

Well that's not true. Can we look at an example? Please attach the information requested in how to report a media playback issue. thanks !

Sorry I'm working 6 days in a row this week.  Haven't had a chance to test/log/post. 

 

I changed my server version to release version 4.0.0.2 to save any Beta issues from complicating things.

 

Rebooted server to get a clean log, turned on debug, started Emby on my Android device (in this case its a Note 9)

Started the movie "Acts of Violence" and it started playing "Direct" and stuttered horribly after a few seconds then stopped playing and stuck on the screen.

 

Turned quality to 1080P 4/mb so it would transcode and it played smoothly.

 

 

 

 

Edited January 20, 2019 by cramerjd@gmail.com

[Luke 37022]

Thanks !

[cramerjd@gmail.com 0]

Thanks !

Got an example.  Log attached above.  I'm going to do another test where it plays with external player and attach logs soon.

[cramerjd@gmail.com 0]

Thanks !

 

So this is the same movie, played with the emby player then stopped (because it ran horribly) then backed out in client to enable the external players option (Chose VLC) then replayed with VLC perfectly.

 

I see a clue to something going on this time.  When looking at the dashboard, although both methods say "Direct" the internal player has extra details that show HVEC-HVEC 264 when playing that I don't see when I do the VLC as the player. 

 

I seem to remember I had some weird issue several years ago where audio tracks or subtitles or both would cause extra issues on playback.  Do you think that's it?  My subtittles are all burned into my backups so I don't want Emby doing anything extra with them if that's what's going on.

[Luke 37022]

Did you forget to attach the log file?

[cramerjd@gmail.com 0]

I didn't forget. I guess I did it wrong. I'll try again tomorrow morning when I get home. Sorry...

[Luke 37022]

Thanks !

[cramerjd@gmail.com 0]

Tested with internal then VLC external player

1-20-19-Emby-Log-w-vlc.txt

[cramerjd@gmail.com 0]

Played with internal player on "auto" quality (so it played direct) then turned down to 1080P at 4mb/s to get it to transcode (which played perfectly)

1-20-19-Emby-Log.txt

[Luke 37022]

Thanks for the info.

[cramerjd@gmail.com 0]

Any thoughts yet? I have a other issue I'm finding with Samsung TVs and TV shows not showing under their seasons folders now to I have to research.

[Luke 37022]

Unfortunately I'm not sure as everything looks normal here. Can you provide a sample video for testing? 

[cramerjd@gmail.com 0]

Is there a standard support 1080p clip I can try that is not copywrited and if it has the same issue it will be an easier/legal thing to troubleshoot?

[Luke 37022]

Perhaps these: http://bbb3d.renderfarming.net/download.html

[cramerjd@gmail.com 0]

So Buck Bunny (thank you for the suggestion, I forgot about that video) works perfectly direct, so not as helpful as I hoped.  BB and the one that doesn't work direct are both 1080P, H264, at 60FPS.  The only difference I see is the audio tracks.  In the Emby client on Android Buck Bunny shows "Und Doby Digital 5.1 Default" and mine are all "Eng AAC 5.1 Default".  I can select DD5.1 or Stereo on BB, and both work fine.  My files are only available in AAC.

 

Do you think that could be it?

 

If not, how can I get you a sample of one of my movie backups (as currently encoded) the most "legal" way possible.

 

I know absolutely nothing about audio encoding, the only reason I had originally opted for AAC was to fix issues I had with the first gen Raspberry Pi and Rasbmc.  I hope that wasn't the wrong path to take.

[cramerjd@gmail.com 0]

Some stats for Nerds screenshots.

[Luke 37022]

what device and version of android is this?

[cramerjd@gmail.com 0]

Note 9, Android 8.1.0

[Luke 37022]

Are you in or out of your home network when doing this? Are you using a reverse proxy?

[cramerjd@gmail.com 0]

In my home (on my wireless LAN).  I do have a different external port then internal, so I guess it would be possible that the app doesn't handle that well and is trying to route out then in but I don't think so because when I opened the EMBY app it does NOT ask for a password.  When I leave the house it requests the password for the login I created.

[Luke 37022]

Are you using a reverse proxy?