mkv x264 files pixelate, stutter or don't play at all

[Clinically_Sane 0]

Hi

I have Battlestar Gallactica in mkv. 

I've tried playing it through my ms8 android tv player and chrome on my laptop (dedicated graphics, i7, 16GB RAM) and the playing is very pixelated, stutters a lot and usually crashes/closes within seconds of playing.

 

Restarting it usually helps and it will play but the experience is awful. Other shows/movies tend to not work at all.

 

Generally x264 and x265 files give me hassles.

 

I've attached the embyserver log. 

 

I got the ms8 android tv player to improve the playback of the movies/series as the server hosting the library isn't very strong. Am I completely wrong with this thought process?

 

Would appreciate insight into this so that I can continue enjoying the system as everything I'm adding to the library these days is x264 and x265 and impossible to play. Playing other file formats work.

embyserver.txt

[ebr 15337]

Sounds like maybe your server cannot transcode fast enough.

 

There should have been an ffmpeg log with that playback.  Can you please attach it?

 

Thanks.

[Clinically_Sane 0]

Hi

 

The files are attached.

ffmpeg-remux-9cbaedc4-5601-49e2-9cbd-c65934a18cb7_1.txt

ffmpeg-remux-16f46b8f-0b5a-4e14-808d-d85f3b0d31a2_1.txt

ffmpeg-remux-e10035da-45e8-45c9-89ed-296d85f035aa_1.txt

ffmpeg-transcode-db862bb5-1cd8-4ae9-bd62-4a12ce523387_1.txt

ffmpeg-transcode-de7313e6-14c2-4078-aada-b99f3f1970bb_1.txt

[Luke 38493]

Would you mind performing a test. Can you turn off the throttle feature under server transcoding settings and see if that helps? Thanks !

[Clinically_Sane 0]

Will do Luke and report back.

[Luke 38493]

Thanks.

[Clinically_Sane 0]

Hi Luke

 

So in general everything is working better. There is still pixellation in the Battlestar Gallactica series but not as bad as before.

 

Would it be correct to say that the server is reaching its limit in transcoding which is why the pixelation is occurring?

 

A media player doesn't help? Can emby server run on an android tv box like the MX8?

[Luke 38493]

It's hard to say about the pixelation but at least it is playing better.

 

Yes Emby Server can be installed on android, but that wouldn't necessarily change anything.

 

@@softworkz, please see above.

[softworkz 3948]

Hmm, those logs aren't showing anything critical at all: No hw acceleration, just software codecs; no subtitle burn-in, no unusual parameters.

 

Except a single one maybe: @Luke: Can we suppress the client sending break_non_keyframes ?

[Luke 38493]

Hmm, those logs aren't showing anything critical at all: No hw acceleration, just software codecs; no subtitle burn-in, no unusual parameters.

 

Except a single one maybe: @Luke: Can we suppress the client sending break_non_keyframes ?

There's no way for him to try that, but he does have log examples above where it is not used.

[softworkz 3948]

That's correct. It wasn't used when transcoding, only when muxing.

But he didn't also state in which cases he saw the visual problems and in which not (or in all cases?)

 

@@Clinically_Sane - the latest beta versions includes some better logging output regarding segmentation. It might be helpful if you would be able to try this..!

 

Some more questions:

 

- Does the same problem occur when you're accessing Emby from a (desktop) browser?

- Does that problem occur with all videos or just with specific ones?

[Clinically_Sane 0]

Apologies for not responding sooner, been on leave.

 

@@softworkz : In answer to your questions:

 

1. The same things happen when accessing from desktop browser
2. I've been experiencing issues primarily with x264 and x265 coded movies and series

I'll load the latest beta this weekend and post the log files.

[Clinically_Sane 0]

Hi

Installed the latest beta, played BG. Attached are the log files.

embyserver.txt

ffmpeg-remux-847e9a97-7f6b-4933-88fe-8e04f6ef6c00_1.txt

ffmpeg-remux-3af70b25-a9cf-4695-9463-e6d6757c33dd_1.txt

hardware_detection-63689022800.txt

[softworkz 3948]

@@Luke - I'm seeing subtitle discontinuities here. Starting from subtitle segement 353, it's repeating segments with the same start and end time and there's suddenly a negative start_pts for these.

If would be good if he could retry without vtt subs and without break_non_keyframes.

[Clinically_Sane 0]

@@Luke @@softworkz Is there more information I can add that will help you?

[Luke 38493]

Can you provide a sample video for testing? thanks.

[Clinically_Sane 0]

Hi

 

Here you go: https://we.tl/t-GqnfBRdVna

[Luke 38493]

I'm not having any problems playing this file. Is there a specific time within the file I should test? You said it was within the first few seconds, right?

 

@@CBers, @, are you able to play this file without stuttering on android tv or chrome?

[Guest asrequested]

I played the first 2 minutes in chrome and on the shield, with subs on. No transcoding on shield, played perfectly. In chrome, it direct streamed (converted the audio to mp3) direct played the video, played perfectly.

[Luke 38493]

Thanks, that is exactly what i saw.

[Clinically_Sane 0]

Hi

 

So what aspects of the player and the server define the quality of the file being viewed? I play the file on media player classic on my emby server and any of my other devices (except the android player) and it plays perfectly.

 

Consistently h264 and h265 files battle to play when streaming from emby (whether I play them via chrome on the media server or not).

 

I'm assuming the server is doing what it's supposed to as you have reviewed the logs so then maybe it is a performance issue. Some guidance in relation to my question will help establish what I need to do.

 

@@Luke, you indicated that moving the emby server to the android tv player may not help so I'm at a loss to understand what affects performance.

[ebr 15337]

Hi.  There are a ton of factors that come into play here.

 

Start by reading here: Transcoding

[Luke 38493]

Have you tried lowering the in-app quality setting?

[Clinically_Sane 0]

Hi @@Luke

 

I did some more testing:

• Playing the file on a laptop that has a dedicated Nvidia card, old laptop, about four years, the file plays perfectly through Emby.
• I then played the file directly on the android player and it played perfectly.
• Playing the file locally on the emby server through Chrome stutters and pixelates
• Playing the file through the emby app on the android player stutters and pixelates.
• Playing the file with lower quality the pixelation goes away but no matter how low I make the quality the file stutters.

Your thoughts?

[ebr 15337]

Hi.  We would have to look at specifics for the ones where you had issues.

 

Thanks.

 

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