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Transcoding most WMV files


syarbrou1

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syarbrou1

I am using Emby 2.4.0.1 and didn't have this problem before but started suddenly.  Tried wiping the install and starting over but no joy.  Basically with an XBox 360 I should be able to direct play any WMV file.  I've been doing so for years.  My files are usually WMV files with 8,000 bitrate and 6 channel WMA files in a WMV container.  I also have my XBox360 loading a profile so it can auto login to my network shares.  Is there a reason a WMV of lower size and only if matters 2 channel audio would work and show when paused the bar where the movie is with 0 to the full end length and so is direct playing.  VS a 8,000 bitrate encoded movie that is showing when paused 0 - 0 on the line and it's clearly trying to encode.  No idea why this started but open to thoughts.

 

Note i can even play like MP4 files and the like streaming so no reason my lager WMV files would not be unless somewhere I'm missing a max bitrate setting or somethign like that?  Don't even list mp4 in the MCE Classic interface as an extender format and it doesn't transcode so no clue on the WMV's.

 

Thanks.

 

Steve

Edited by syarbrou1
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syarbrou1

You bet.  See attached.  Restarted emby, cleared the logs, and ran the app.  There is also an embyserver.txt file and a hardwaredetection file but let me know if you want those.

 

Appreciate the help.

 

Steve

ffmpeg-directstream-a602ecfb-2f51-4c9c-8271-eedee6dece5a_1.txt

ffmpeg-transcode-87d6cb85-9a8f-4d44-b2f8-8dfee1a36762_1.txt

Edited by syarbrou1
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syarbrou1

If you read my 6 channel stuff disregard.  i removed.  Find two channel that did it now as well.

Thanks

 

Steve

Edited by syarbrou1
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The emby for wmc machine needs direct access to this file path in order to avoid transcoding:

\\\\homeserver\\e$\\ServerFolders\\Videos\\Movies\\2 Guns (2013)\\2 Guns (2013).wmv

 

Does it have that? It's possible that a windows update may have reset your network sharing on your server machine. We've seen many examples of that over the years.

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syarbrou1

The emby for wmc machine needs direct access to this file path in order to avoid transcoding:

\\\\homeserver\\e$\\ServerFolders\\Videos\\Movies\\2 Guns (2013)\\2 Guns (2013).wmv

 

Does it have that? It's possible that a windows update may have reset your network sharing on your server machine. We've seen many examples of that over the years.

No it definitely does have access and runs startup scripts off the Windows 7 computer to connect to the shares.  And one movie in the same Videos\\Movies\\ folder does play without encoding.  Most seem to be transcoding, but some don't.  Never was a problem before and I've played a lot of them over the years thru MediaBrowser/Emby.  As mentioned, all WMV files encoded with MS Expressions Studio which should be as compatible with the XBox 360 as they get.

 

Thanks.

 

Steve

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Can't the extenders only handle up to about 8 Mbps anyway? @@ebr can confirm but we might have a condition in the app to force transcoding on extenders for videos over a certain bitrate.

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syarbrou1

Was this added more recently?  I encode all my movies to 8k and always have.  Never been an issue before with MB/Emby.  Some of my content I really want to keep in good format I do 10k and it didn't transcode before.  Not sure if it's a term thing but is a XBox 360 really an "extender" in this case or just how you use the term?  I think of an extender as like part of WMC that it extends the TV functionality.  Sounds like with Emby, if it's working as it was, it's not really an extender, but directly reading a WMV off the hard drive like any other computer.  So more as MS would call it, a video player I think.

 

According to Microsoft, beyond other supported file types, for WMV it supports up to:

 

Q4: What exactly does Xbox 360 support for WMV (VC-1)?

  • File name extensions: .wmv
  • Container: asf
  • Video profiles: WMV7 (WMV1), WMV8 (WMV2), WMV9 (WMV3), VC-1 (WVC1 or WMVA) in simple, main, and advanced up to level 3
  • Video bitrate: 15 Mbps with resolutions of 1920 x 1080 at 30 fps
  • Audio profiles: WMA7/8, WMA 9 Pro (stereo and 5.1), WMA lossless
  • Audio max bitrate: No restrictions 

 

Thanks.

 

Steve

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No, it wasn't added recently, and I'm not even sure if we have it at all. But I do recall issues related to high bitrate videos so I'll need @@ebr to comment on whether or not we may have added a transcoding condition for this.

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syarbrou1

OK will wait for ebr.  What I can tell you, is even a movie that is:

 

1276x720

Video bitrate: 5k

Total Bitrate: 5640k

Frame rate: 23.98

Audio: 640kbps

Channels: 6

Audio sample 48 kHz

 

transcodes now.

 

One other thing I can say, the fact that it transcodes and then craps out a few seconds in is another issue that I never had to worry about since it never transcoded.  Though if I revert back to Emby 3.something it still transcodes now but does so without failing after a few seconds.  Unfortunately even after deleting every registry key I could think of and every folder I could find, Emby still seems to have settings that are left behind.  Noticed when I reinstalled some of the things I remember being set were unset because the last install I unset them so not sure how much problems still lingers behind after an uninstall.  Like questionable versions of ffmpeg or what have you. 

 

Thanks.

Steve

Edited by syarbrou1
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syarbrou1

Can you attach the emby for wmc log? thanks.

You bet.  I assume those are on the WMC computer?  Any help with the path would be appreciated. :)  Only logs I can find are the installer logs.

 

Also if I wanted to start looking, even though more inconvenient, another solution using Emby, which would be the best choice?  Basically would be, I have thousands of these WMV files, will start using a more modern format and DTS audio if I switch to another device, but do not want to transcode if at all possible.  My system can handle it, just not an ideal experience.  Glad to post this separately if you think it makes more sense than effecting this thread.

 

Thanks.

 

Steve

Edited by syarbrou1
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syarbrou1

Not that I'm seeing.  Need me to upload the text files without the zip?  I also know since removing everything and installing again, music won't play either.  Got a generic email.  But wasn't super worried about that right now.  I know since my issue is with WMV I searched the logs for that and found this which is just a debug message but not sure relevant.  2019-08-11 15:56:17.6535,Debug,,Could not find resource 'codec_wmv_hd' in theme Chocolate,1,Application.  Seemed more related to the theme.

 

I know the xbox is running my login scripts and showing success (success below is mapping my share for movies, tv shows, and music):

 

Mcx7-MEDIACENTER Script starting on Sun 08/11/2019 15:52:12.89 
The command completed successfully.
 
The command completed successfully.
 
The command completed successfully.
 
Mcx7-MEDIACENTER logged on at Sun 08/11/2019 15:52:13.47 
 
Thanks.
 
Steve
Edited by syarbrou1
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Ok i wonder if that attempt just isn't' logged. Have you configured any playback settings in the app?

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syarbrou1

I miss the days when I was using MB 2 and was initially trying to figure out how to get the XBox working.  The logs would show that it couldn't access the files at \\blablabla directly and say it was transcoding.  Don't see anything like that in the logs at all right now.

 

As for Emby Media Center configuration, not much there to change.  It already had WMV in the extender formats and since have added MP4, ASF, and WMA for good measure even though I have MP4 files that are playing direct without those entries.

 

Thanks.

 

Steve

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syarbrou1

Is there a message about not being about to access the file?

This message got lost in my reply just noticed.  If you are referring to my comment about the music it says "AUDIO ERROR An error occurred while trying to play your selection".

 

Steve

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dansblackcat

If your server is on W10 it's probably a network issue after a recent update.

Yet again my network sharing settings have been restored to their default settings after a windows update.

The usual culprit is that password protected sharing gets turned back ON.

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syarbrou1

Thanks for the thought dansblackcat.  Right now here is my setup:

 

WMC computer runs the WMC add on for Emby.  It is running Windows 7 SP1

My files are all on a Windows 2016 server and that is where the Windows server component of Emby is located.

 

I have tried turning off the firewall on the 2016 box but didn't help.

 

Now here's a note.  I am determining if something is playing the file direct vs transcoding if the bar showing how far into the video i am that it shows 0 to 0 and the bullet or whatever where the video is at is always all the way to the right side of the bar.  When it's playing direct will show from 0 to 1:50 or whatever as an example and the button starts on the left and works it's way across.  I say this as either way it shows Buffering for a few seconds on the start of a video which in some of the screens indicates its transcoding which it isn't or wasn't.  I say this because certain WMV's in the share show like 0 ---- 1:50 and others show 0----0.  Hope that makes sense.

 

Should also note on the password protected sharing, the script the XBox runs to connect to the UNC path's contains a network username and password.  I'll have to check thought to see if anything was changed.

 

Thanks.

 

Steve

Edited by syarbrou1
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syarbrou1

Also, be nice and sure there is just don't know it yet, a way to tell what the XBox is doing.  Is it connecting to the share, is it just connecting to the Windows 7 box?

 

Thanks.

 

Steve

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syarbrou1

OK some more troubleshooting info.  May lead to conceptually what dansblackcat was saying.  I took one of the movies that were of issue and copied them to the media center computer that the XBox connects to normally.  Set that folder as shared in Emby.  It was able to play it or start playing it and showed the full 0 - whatever end of movie.  There is some oddity now that when I start a movie it makes a beep noise which it always did, but then two seconds into the movie you hear another one.  So based on this is the theory that even with firewalls down something is being blocked on the Server 2016 machine?

 

Thanks.

 

Steve

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No I don't think it's firewall related, it's related to network sharing. The Emby for WMC app can't access the network path directly and that's why it ends up streaming the contents through emby server. That's why no amount of rolling back to previous releases is going to help with this. The first thing i would try is taking the network path configured in emby server and punching it into windows explorer from the emby for wmc machine and making sure you can browse to it.

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