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1080i mpeg2 videos never start playing


EstebanUno

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bizarro252

@@Luke,

All the issues we have been discussing have been taking place on my TCL Roku TV.  Your last post reminded me I have another Roku, its a 4200X separate client instead of being built into the TV.  

I just tested a problem file on both the released and the 4.3.0.11 beta and BOTH played the file that refuses to play on the Roku TV.

So I agree, it appears to be my client, the RokuTV in this case.  

I would still be interested in submitting those logs if it may provide insight into why.

 

@@Paint

Are you also using a RokuTV or a standalone?

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@@Luke,

All the issues we have been discussing have been taking place on my TCL Roku TV. Your last post reminded me I have another Roku, its a 4200X separate client instead of being built into the TV.

I just tested a problem file on both the released and the 4.3.0.11 beta and BOTH played the file that refuses to play on the Roku TV.

So I agree, it appears to be my client, the RokuTV in this case.

I would still be interested in submitting those logs if it may provide insight into why.

 

@@Paint

Are you also using a RokuTV or a standalone?

Roku Premier+  and Roku 3
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Thanks, log just sent.

10:28PM MST

Emby User logged in is "Matt"

 

Hi.  There is no playback in that log.

 

If the app/Roku freezes when this occurs, however, there will be no way to get a log of it.

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bizarro252

Thanks. Dangit. The server indicates it's playing (time progress counter moves forward until it gets to one minute then stops) but yes it freezes before playback starts. It seems random as to what files can and can't play. I have some 1080i recordings that play fine and some that don't. Same for 720p.

 

@@Paint

Can you try to get a log? Does yours freeze up too?

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Thanks. Dangit. The server indicates it's playing (time progress counter moves forward until it gets to one minute then stops) but yes it freezes before playback starts. It seems random as to what files can and can't play. I have some 1080i recordings that play fine and some that don't. Same for 720p.

 

@@Paint

Can you try to get a log? Does yours freeze up too?

 

I can try and get some Roku logs. I provided server side FFMPEG and emby server logs previously. I am experiencing the exact same thing you are - I either see "Loading" or the Roku freezes. 

 

I believe we need to enable transcoding on all files sent to a roku. I'd like if the devs could add this as an option to be enabled at the server level - as I know some people may not have a powerful enough server to transcode for every roku user (I do, but probably best to make it optional). 

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I deleted the bif files from the directory and tried again without doing anything else and same results, should I need to rescan the library or anything to do the test you are asking for?

Log attached in case it helps.

 

Can you provide a sample video for testing? thanks.

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Can you provide a sample video for testing? thanks.

 

That would be extremely helpful.  Thanks.

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bizarro252

Yes - the file is huge so I am looking for something to split it.  I have found programs that allow me to split off a 30 sec clip but they want to convert it as well... do you have a suggestion on how to take a sample of this 25GB file?

 

Edit:
Hrm, I found this which allows me to split off a 30 sec clip and not convert, but the 30 sec clip plays! lol, I will keep looking

 

https://www.videohelp.com/software/tsMuxeR

 

Trying other software and generating clips but they all play fine while the original file doesnt.  It will take weeks for me to upload the whole file... :(  

Edited by bizarro252
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Does the problem reproduce from a recording from Emby of one of your channels?

 

If so, you could just record a few minutes and use that.

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bizarro252

Good plan! Will work on that.

 

edit: Tried some short clips on channels that have had problem recordings, with and without thumbnail extraction and they all work.. of course.  I will try this tomorrow with NFL because those are the ones I have noticed the issue on so maybe they broadcast differently.

 

@@Paint, see if you can generate a sample too lol

Edited by bizarro252
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edit: Tried some short clips on channels that have had problem recordings, with and without thumbnail extraction and they all work.. of course.  

 

You may have hit the nail on the head. Bad BIF files will certainly cause a file to hang. 0KB BIF always will. If you are positive this isn't the case, red herring here.. but just thought to add it here as it might be the issue.

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bizarro252

Hi speechles,

I do not see any of the problem files having a 0kb .bif file.  Here is an image of the files for the problem recording.

 

 

5d98bbc7abd3f_image2.png

Edited by bizarro252
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bizarro252

Hi ebr,

Daily at 2am, sometimes I will manually trigger the job after a recording completes.

In case it got lost above, something I thought was strange was a problem file, if I try to watch while its recording it will play, but once it completes then the issues start.  I have tested this both before and after thumbnail extraction.

Only about 25% of recordings, all football, have this issue, others play fine before and after thumbnail extraction.  It seemed to be contained to only 1080i but last week one of the 720p recordings also had the same issue.

Problem files always play fine after running the conversion job on them.

 

edit: The reason you see a large time gap in the timestamps above was I deleted and re-created the bif file as part of troubleshooting with this file :)

 

Thanks!

 

 

5d98c9529eb5e_thumb.png

Edited by bizarro252
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EstebanUno

I think Bizarro252 hit the nail on the head with the observation that the server was attempting to direct play the files that fail. I looked at both 1080i and 720p files that play or won't play on my rokus and they all share the same common theme. Direct play = fail. Transcode = success. The other commonality is length of file. The recordings over 4 hours long are the ones that attempt to direct play. Perhaps the 1080i files being bigger have a lower threshold for length.

 

Apparently the roku fails at direct play. What causes it to attempt to do so through the Emby roku app appears to be a function of file size.

 

 

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bizarro252

Thanks EstebanUno, you made me go back and review playing a file that works vs doesn't and there is indeed a fail on directplay and not on directstream.  I think I was wrong in my original post where I corrected myself...  Here is the real results.

 

Same problem file I have been using for testing (recorded by Emby), fails to play, on the server is shows this:

 

5d98e08d365cc_fail.png

 

 

Here is another recording (recorded by Emby) that plays just fine:

 

5d98e0a692ccc_play.png

 

Both are very close to 4 hours, the one that fails in this case is 720p and the one that plays is 1080i.

 

@@Luke, @@ebr, what would cause the failing file to try and directplay instead of directstream?  Perhaps that is the core of the issue?

Edited by bizarro252
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bizarro252

I just tried to force transcode by selecting a different quality within the roku app than the problem file has but it still tries to direct play.

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I just tried to force transcode by selecting a different quality within the roku app than the problem file has but it still tries to direct play.

 

Yeah those are dependent on capabilities being sent and ATM that part was removed. @@Luke here is an example why that was there. 

Edited by speechles
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Yeah those are dependent on capabilities being sent and ATM that part was removed. @@Luke here is an example why that was there. 

 

No, that's not correct.  The app is still sending the device profile.

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If one of you guys can find a way to get me a sample file here it will really help.  Thanks.

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