How can I improve my Emby Shield performance?

[Qxoulf 2]

@@ebr I'm using Emby Server on a DS918+ and the Emby player on an Nvidia Shield. I've tested out 5 versions of the same movie on a 1080p TV.

-1x 4K Remux
-1x UHD 1080p HDR Encode
-2x 1080p Encodes

-1x 1080p Remux

1.) The 4K doesn't really play properly and I guess Emby doesn't tone map HDR to SDR? Colors look a little washed out. Not bothered by that though.
2.) Same issues as above with the 1080p UHD HDR file. Playback is meh, but that's likely due to the HDR.
3.) The 1080p's play better, but when seeking, often times it'll take any where from 2-4 seconds before the video/audio plays or sometimes the audio will play but the video will take 2-4 seconds to play. I really was not expecting that to be the case.

I've played the same files in Kodi from my NAS/Shield and the playback for ALL files is excellent even when skipping around a lot, it is seamless. So, what am I doing wrong with Emby? I would like to purchase Emby Premium, but I'm a bit reluctant to do so if I can't even get the local playback working flawlessly.

So, if anyone has any tips for me, I'd like to hear 'em.

Edited August 4, 2019 by Qxoulf

[Luke 36999]

Hi there, can you please go over a specific example? Thanks.

[Qxoulf 2]

Hi there, can you please go over a specific example? Thanks.

I'm not really sure what kinda information you're asking for. 

 

Edit: I should also say in addition to testing these 5 movies in Kodi, I've also tested them in Plex and the playback is also excellent, but I give a very slight edge to Kodi. So, I guess I'll need to try and figure out why Emby is struggling with local playback. 

Edited August 4, 2019 by Qxoulf

[Luke 36999]

Hi there, let's look at an example. Please see how to report a media playback issue. thanks !

[Qxoulf 2]

Hi there, let's look at an example. Please see how to report a media playback issue. thanks !

For some reason the playback issues I was experiencing went away. Not sure why as I didn't reboot my NAS, the Shield or make any changes. Just woke up in the morning and started using Emby and the playback issues self-resolved. *shrugs* Does this sort of thing sometimes happen when using servers like this? Also, when I was going to sleep I noticed my NAS activity -- 80% CPU usage and I only had Plex / Emby "running" but I wasn't playing any video/audio at the time. Is this just the servers doing something on their own? Because when I clicked "Stop", the CPU usage dropped to almost nothing.

 

I have 5 movies added and I noticed inside the folders there are .bif files which were not there before. From reading online: "BIF is a file extension for a boot information" Any idea why they would be there? Granted, I have no idea if they came from my NAS, Plex, Emby or Kodi. 

 

I also noticed that chapter artwork was scraped when it wasn't there before. Kinda strange how it just populated on its own even though I've been using Emby for the past 3 or so days...

 

 

 

 

[Luke 36999]

 

 

I have 5 movies added and I noticed inside the folders there are .bif files which were not there before. From reading online: "BIF is a file extension for a boot information" Any idea why they would be there? Granted, I have no idea if they came from my NAS, Plex, Emby or Kodi. 

 

Thanks for the feedback. These .bif files are there because you enabled thumbnail image extraction, and because you chose to store the thumbnails in media folders. The thumbnails are all rolled up into a single .bif file per video.

[Qxoulf 2]

Thanks for the feedback. These .bif files are there because you enabled thumbnail image extraction, and because you chose to store the thumbnails in media folders. The thumbnails are all rolled up into a single .bif file per video.

Ok some other things. 

 

1.) This option: "Save thumbnail images into media folders" I have it enabled, BUT if I disable it, obviously thumbnail images won't be saved to my media folders, so where would they be saved? I assume I could still see thumbnail images with this option disabled? 

 

2.) This option: "Save artwork into media folders", if It's disabled, artwork won't be saved to my movie folders, so where would it save and I assume I'll still see artwork with this option disabled?

 

3.) Is there a way to know whether "Subtitle Downloads" even fetched any subtitles? I don't think I'll be needing them as I'm good on subtitles. 

 

-The reason I ask these questions about artwork/metadata is because I have a media library over 27 TB and if artwork/metadata for all of my content is being saved to my Movie / TV shows folders etc., (scraped from 3 different clients), the file sizes may add up, so if the artwork/metadata is stored else where, probably for the best if I don't actually need it in my folders. 

 

4.) From re-reading over the "Emby Settings" --> "Enable thumbnail image creation" --> "The process can be slow, cpu-intensive" may explain why my NAS CPU was at 80% late at night when I was not using it. But I find that odd since I've had the same 5 movies in Emby for the past 3 or so days. Says It's a "nightly scheduled task" but never noticed it before. 

 

5.) Why is it that PGS subs are such a pain in the ass? They take forever to load and playback suffers. Granted, Plex is terrible at PGS and I couldn't even get them to work in Plex. They work flawlessly in Kodi though. Emby does recognize non-PGS subs which is nice. 

 

Anyway, I will try a monthly subscription to see what I think and try out Emby remotely. I would prefer not to go the Plex route because they bloat the fuck out of their client and are overly obnoxious with data farming and seem to be taking their platform in disagreeable directions. I did notice (when skipping playback) in Emby that audio sometimes played while the video waited about 3-6 seconds to play with one movie file. I'll keep testing and see. If it remains consistently problematic I will fill out a proper log report and give detailed information. 

Edited August 5, 2019 by Qxoulf

[Luke 36999]

1, 2 in the server's internal metadata folder.

 

There isn't a subtitle download history but that's probably a good idea. I guess for now you'd have to just review the server log.

[Luke 36999]

4 - it's a nightly task that only runs for a few hours. For most people it will probably take many nights to extract images for all of their videos.

 

As far as why it didn't run, hard to say. Maybe the server machine was off, sleeping, or emby server wasn't running.

[Luke 36999]

I haven't tried their pgs support, but it's important that you understand how it works.

 

If pgs isn't supported on the device you're playing from, then you're going to see video transcoding to burn them into the video and this will a very taxing process for even a very powerful server.

 

That will be true no matter what media server you're using. You cannot compare Kodi to a web app as it's not a fair fight. Web browsers do not support pgs subtitles, so it's important to understand the cost and be aware of what your server machine is capable of.

 

The best comparison to Kodi would be our emby theater desktop app that can direct play pgs subtitles.

[Qxoulf 2]

1, 2 in the server's internal metadata folder.

 

There isn't a subtitle download history but that's probably a good idea. I guess for now you'd have to just review the server log.

When you say the "server's internal metadata folder" are you referring to some where on my NAS? I know that via the defaults for Plex/Kodi and the currently enabled Emby options, I see in each of my movie folders: .bif (which you established with an Emby thing), fanart.jpg / landscape.jpg / log.png / poster.jpg. 

 

4 - it's a nightly task that only runs for a few hours. For most people it will probably take many nights to extract images for all of their videos.

 

As far as why it didn't run, hard to say. Maybe the server machine was off, sleeping, or emby server wasn't running.

You're saying your server machine was potentially off/sleeping or Emby server on my NAS may have not been running? 

 

I haven't tried their pgs support, but it's important that you understand how it works.

 

If pgs isn't supported on the device you're playing from, then you're going to see video transcoding to burn them into the video and this will a very taxing process for even a very powerful server.

 

That will be true no matter what media server you're using. You cannot compare Kodi to a web app as it's not a fair fight. Web browsers do not support pgs subtitles, so it's important to understand the cost and be aware of what your server machine is capable of.

 

The best comparison to Kodi would be our emby theater desktop app that can direct play pgs subtitles.

I run the Kodi, Plex and Emby clients on an Nvidia Shield. My NAS runs the Emby & Plex servers. Kodi plays PGS perfectly fine so I don't see why Emby and Plex wouldn't or why they'd struggle. Plex and Emby on the Shield are not "Web apps" ?

 

I think I'm perhaps confused as to how this server/client/web app thing works or maybe I should just think about this when I've had more than an hour of sleep. :-)