Jump to content

Force transcode Xvid (and Divx) with good reason


fr0z3n
Go to solution Solved by fr0z3n,

Recommended Posts

fr0z3n

Hi

 

Im using a low powered android ARM device with Kodi Leia and Emby for Kodi addon.

 

The device (like most low powered android devices) has a decent x264 decoder and can natively play up to 4K x264 content with the in built hardware decoding.

 

But sadly when you try and play even SD XVID files, the video jitters/stutters.

 

This is because very few vendors have proper hardware acceleration of xvid on low powered android devices, and even if the device falls back to ffmpeg software decoding, the video still stutters. Low powered arm devices just struggle with xvid content, even with if it's SD.

 

But if you convert that same SD content to x264, then the video plays back fine!

 

Is there anyway to tell emby server to force transcode xvid (or divx) to x264 when playing xvid/divx content through kodi for Emby?

 

I can see lots of options to force transcode 10bit content to x264, can the same please be added for xvid and divx content? Or can someone please explain another way i can force transcode xvid/divx videos on the fly to x264?

 

I also don't want to lower the quality scale to some poor lower than sd quality just to trick the server to transcode. Really Need a dedicated setting to always force transcode xvid content.

 

For the reasons explained above.

 

Cheers

Edited by fr0z3n
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Angelblue05

Can you play the content and provide that Kodi log? I’ll add an option for it around the media info that will show in the log, Thank you

Link to comment
Share on other sites

fr0z3n

Hi

 

Pm'd with full log attached

 

I think the key identifier similar across all the affected videos have this codec :

 

u'Codec': u'mpeg4'

u'CodecTag': u'XVID'

 

Cheers

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

fr0z3n

Hi Angel

 

Can you also include a dedicated toggle to force transcode mpeg2 (DVD codec) as well?

 

I don't know what it is about these android boxes but they are just incapable of smoothly playing back old school codecs even in SD. Vendors obviously don't bother with full implementations of old codecs.

 

u'Codec': u'mpeg2video'

 

I'll PM you a log file of a DVD playing back

 

Cheers

Link to comment
Share on other sites

fr0z3n

Hi

 

My android box can actually hardware decode MPEG2, that is not really the issue (just like it can hardware decode XVID).

 

The problem is, its hardware decoding capabilities are not properly optimized for MPEG2 or MPEG4 XvID - and playback is a jerky/stuttery (not due to CPU being maxed, but due to poorly optimized hardware decoding capabilities)

 

Throw the same MPEG2 or MPEG4 xvid file at the device, just re-encoded as x264, and it plays flawlessly. Hence the request to allow user to force on the fly re-encoding of these 2 formats by the server

 

Cheers

Edited by fr0z3n
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Solution
fr0z3n

Hardware decoding active

Decoder amc-mpeg2(S), Surface

Deinterlace method hardware

Edited by fr0z3n
Link to comment
Share on other sites

fr0z3n

Yep i think it is absolutely still needed, sorry for the confusion.

 

As mentioned in my first post, my box can hardware decode mpeg2 dvd and mpeg4 xvid - but it still stutters and skips frames (even when it is hardware decoding).

 

So the box is capable of hardware decoding, BUT, it is not optimized in anyway and still a horrible playback experience.

 

If i turn off hardware decoding and put on software decoding, then the playback stutters because it is reaching CPU limits.

 

So both hardware and software decoding of mpeg2/mpeg4 are not ideal for low powered amlogic boxes.

 

But if i throw the same file at it just re-encoded as x264, it plays fine - because its hardware decoding abilities on x264 are much better and properly optimized (probably because these boxes are netflix and youtube approved, and the vendors would have spent all their effort ensuring the x264 hardware decoding is up to scratch, not really caring about xvid or mpeg2)

 

This would be the same for many other amlogic type boxes, and there are many threads about this on Kodi and other forums.

 

Hence the request for a dedicated switch in Emby settings to force transcode mpeg2 and mpeg4 xvid to x264 all the time!

 

Hope that made sense.

 

Cheers

Edited by fr0z3n
Link to comment
Share on other sites

fr0z3n

Sure, can provide a screenshot later today.

 

I have found there is a force transcode in the context menu within kodi, but:

 

1. Bit hard to tell non-tech users to use this when playing certain content (and also not practical to do this day to day with apps like Yatse or voice control like google home)

 

2. More importantly, i have found that the "Force Transcode" action on my Android box does not work properly.

Whenever i "Force Transcode" on any type of video, it will pause for about 5-10 secs, then the audio player media player pops up and it starts playing the audio of the video, without any picture, as if it was an audio file.

 

The Force transcode has never worked for me. But curiously, if i lower my quality settings to some low value in emby settings and play any content, it will play properly and transcode on the fly to some low bitrate x264 stream.

 

But if i ever use the "Force Transcode" feature in the context menu it will only ever play the audio of the file as if it was an audio file (so i just assumed the force transcode feature was just broken)

 

The issue i described with "Force transcode" is not really relevant for the feature request i made, so i didn't want to muddy the waters and talk too much about it on this post - as i was really after a dedicated switch to transcode xvid & mpeg2 in the settings, exactly like the toggle settings to always transcode the various flavors of 10bit video.

 

But if you are curious why force transcode doesn't work on my machine at all i can provide the logs and start another post or something like that.

 

Thank you again for hearing me out.

 

Cheers

Edited by fr0z3n
Link to comment
Share on other sites

fr0z3n

Great, thanks for understanding.

 

I hope it's not too difficult to do, as there is already a switch to force transcode x265, I imagined this feature could just be extended to other codecs like xvid and mpeg2

 

Please let me know if you need anything further info from me

 

Cheers

Edited by fr0z3n
Link to comment
Share on other sites

fr0z3n

Yeah you are right.

 

Divx wasn't terribly popular so it's not a priority, but xvid and mpeg2 was certainly mainstream for many years and this would be great if they had dedicated switches

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...