Direct play (4k) on Samsung Tizen not working

[ProXy 11]

Hello community,

 

I just wanted to watch a 4k movie on my Samsung Tizen. The movie pauses every few seconds then continues playing. I first thought it might be a transcoding issue, but Emby shows that it isn‘t transcoding at all.

 

The devices are connected with cables in a 1GBit network (not sure if the LAN port on the TV is 1GBit but 100MBit should be fine too.

 

What could be causing the stuttering? Is the Samsung device to weak to play movies with higher bitrates?

 

Edited October 13, 2019 by ProXy

[FrostByte 5044]

What model TV?

 

What version of the app?

 

https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/29517-how-to-report-a-problem/

 

 

It sounds like it may be Direct Streaming (maybe because of your DTS audio).  Could you click on Stats for Nerds while playing your 4K and see what it says.  Is it Direct Streaming?  What is the audio in and audio out, etc?

 

btw: I Direct Play 4K all the time with no issues so you might have something else going on

[ProXy 11]

Hello FrostByte,

 

Thank you for the answer. The TV is the Samsung NU7179 from 2018, software version shows T-KTM2LDEUC-1270.6.

 

Emby Theater is version 1.0.68

 

Stats for nerds shows this:

Playback Info

Play method: DirectStream

Direct Stream Info

Video Codec: HEVC (direct)

Audio Codec: AC3

 

I tried changing quality to 4k with 40MBit limit to force transcoding. Transcoding is fast enough but the playback still pauses every few seconds.

Edited October 13, 2019 by ProXy

[FrostByte 5044]

Ok, problem is sort of like you suspect, but it's because it's converting your DTS to AC3 and the tv can't keep up because of the high bitrate of everything combined while streaming. 

 

Since 2018 Samsung TVs no longer support DTS, even the lossey type so that's what the app is converting to AC3.  Once you get to higher bitrate movies like 4K or even high bitrate 1080p the TV can't keep up with all the streams.  It doesn't seem to matter if your server is fast or slow, the TV/app just can't keep up.

 

What I do is make sure there is a AC3 or EAC3 track in all my high bitrate movies and let it Direct Play and it's not trying to do so during playback.  If it doesn't have one already then I convert one of the DTS-HD or TRUE-HD tracks to EAC3 and remux it

[ProXy 11]

Thanks for the detailed answer. Sadly there are only DTS tracks available so I will have to remux another track.

 

I convert every non 4k movie using handbrake with AC3 track but decided to use the raw file when a movie is 4k because handbrake only uses 8bit. I will google around for a small tool that can add an additional track to the container without touching the video data.

[FrostByte 5044]

What I use:

 

 

gmkvextractgui if you want to extract the HD audio to an external file before converting

 

Xmedia Recode can convert any HD audio to EAC3 or AC3.  Lets you convert audio within mkv or extracted file

 

mkvtoolnix will remux your mkv files without touching the video.  Lets you add/remove files within mkv container

[Luke 37012]

Thanks for the detailed answer. Sadly there are only DTS tracks available so I will have to remux another track.

 

I convert every non 4k movie using handbrake with AC3 track but decided to use the raw file when a movie is 4k because handbrake only uses 8bit. I will google around for a small tool that can add an additional track to the container without touching the video data.

 

 

I would suggest checking out Emby Server's convert media feature:

https://emby.media/community/index.php?/blog/1/entry-423-emby-server-34-released/

[FrostByte 5044]

Though that could work it will not remux the original 4K HEVC untouched and convert HD audio to EAC3.  If you want the best quality video and audio you will need to use external tools

[ProXy 11]

Thank you for your suggestions. I will try to add another AC3 track to the existing file using external tools and check if this will work on the device.

[ProXy 11]

Hey again,

 

I used PopCorn MKV Audioconverter to convert DTS to AC3 and added that track to the file. Now the movie is playing without any issues.

 

Thank you for your support