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Videos that previously direct played/streamed now transcoding on Roku


Skopin

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Hi everyone,

 

I'm having some issues with my TCL Roku TV. I have my movies and TV shows encoded in HEVC, with the audio being the untouched, lossless files directly from the blurays. Prior to today, all of these played without issue, triggering the HDR mode and direct playing/streaming the video to my TV. Today when I tried to play a movie that previously worked fine, it did not trigger the HDR mode and started to buffer every 10-15 seconds. When I checked the dashboard, I saw it was transcoding. According to the dashboard, it was transcoding because the audio codec is not supported, but I don't understand why that would cause the video to be transcoded as well.

 

It shouldn't be an issue with the video codec at all, because I'm watching a TV show right now with the exact same encoding settings on the video, and it is direct playing.

 

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated because as of right now, I can't watch any of my 4K HDR movies. I've attached the transcode log below.

ffmpeg-transcode-63065197-e089-42d3-a32c-7fad08e13ba0_1.txt

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Hi.  There may have been an error trying to direct stream it.  Can you bring up the stats for nerds in the app and see what that says?

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The stats for nerds will tell you the reason it is transcoding. There must be some limitation or an error occured.

 

image.png

 

We DO support direct play of HDR material on supported Roku models.

 

You ffmpeg logs indicate that PGSSUBS are being used. Those subtitles burning into the video might be causing your issue. You would need to disable those subtitles prior to playback. Your ffmpeg log also shows True-HD 7.1 being selected. That cannot direct play on a Roku. That will need to be transcoded. So you have two types of transcoding happening: the subtitles are being burned into the video stream and audio is being converted. This is what is causing your issue. If you disable subtitles and have a different audio track to choose than the truehd 7.1 track you will have much better luck at getting direct play back.

Edited by speechles
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The stats for nerds will tell you the reason it is transcoding. There must be some limitation or an error occured.

 

image.png

 

We DO support direct play of HDR material on supported Roku models.

 

You ffmpeg logs indicate that PGSSUBS are being used. Those subtitles burning into the video might be causing your issue. You would need to disable those subtitles prior to playback. Your ffmpeg log also shows True-HD 7.1 being selected. That cannot direct play on a Roku. That will need to be transcoded. So you have two types of transcoding happening: the subtitles are being burned into the video stream and audio is being converted. This is what is causing your issue. If you disable subtitles and have a different audio track to choose than the truehd 7.1 track you will have much better luck at getting direct play back.

 

I already knew about the audio; as I said above, the audio codec was not supported, so I knew the audio would be transcoded. But I watched this exact same movie last week with no transcoding on the video. I didn't have the subtitles enabled, so it wouldn't need to transcode to burn them into the video. I am fine with the audio being converted. But the video should be direct playing/streaming like it did before. I'm not home right now, but will get the stats for nerds output when I have a chance.

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@@Luke @@softworkz Is the server not allowing remux/directstream of HEVC inside HLS anymore on the Roku from the server? I know we have an issue tracker about this. Or is it still respect our capabilities sent to the server from the Roku app? I know with MPEG2 it now disrespects capabilities and will transcode LiveTV. That change was for the good. But HEVC isn't that way too now is it?

Edited by speechles
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Happy2Play

But the stable server version has not changed.  If OP was on beta server then I would say there was a update.   So this topic contradicts all the other topics that are having issues with direct streaming hevc.

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But the stable server version has not changed.  If OP was on beta server then I would say there was a update.   So this topic contradicts all the other topics that are having issues with direct streaming hevc.

 

This makes the user an outlier. There is something unique about their system, their Roku, something. 

 

@@Skopin Can you take a picture of your TV screen while playing the problem file. Make sure the stats for nerds is showing. From that we can immediately determine what is going on. Ffmpeg logs will definitely help too from that same time. It has to be something. There is no reason why one day it plays direct and the next day it transcodes unless something changed. We all know this. We just need to find what changed. It wasn't us. That is what @@Happy2Play is saying too. Can you provide a picture(quality is irrelevant as long as the stats for nerds is readable) and new ffmpeg logs. Thanks. We do want to solve ALL problems. Not just the ones that are easy.

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It looks like your device is not reporting support for HEVC.  Either that or an error occurred trying to direct stream it (but I would expect the stats to show the error if that was it).

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It looks like your device is not reporting support for HEVC.  Either that or an error occurred trying to direct stream it (but I would expect the stats to show the error if that was it).

That is really strange. I played a TV show last night that was encoded exactly the same as the movie (albeit 1080p instead of 4K and no HDR), and it direct played with no issues.

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Happy2Play

It looks like your device is not reporting support for HEVC.  Either that or an error occurred trying to direct stream it (but I would expect the stats to show the error if that was it).

That is a grey area also as it is not reporting the codec is not supported either in &TranscodeReasons, even though it only shows support for h264 (&VideoCodec=h264).

 

Don't have 4k so am unable to test this, but there as another post about this in the Roku testing area that I like to this topic.

Edited by Happy2Play
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blade005

This makes the user an outlier. There is something unique about their system, their Roku, something. 

 

@@Skopin Can you take a picture of your TV screen while playing the problem file. Make sure the stats for nerds is showing. From that we can immediately determine what is going on. Ffmpeg logs will definitely help too from that same time. It has to be something. There is no reason why one day it plays direct and the next day it transcodes unless something changed. We all know this. We just need to find what changed. It wasn't us. That is what @@Happy2Play is saying too. Can you provide a picture(quality is irrelevant as long as the stats for nerds is readable) and new ffmpeg logs. Thanks. We do want to solve ALL problems. Not just the ones that are easy.

 

@@speechles,

 

I must be another outlier.

 

I am having the exact same issue as the OP describes in post #1. 4K HDR HEVC videos with 7.1 audio were playing as expected until the last few days on a TCL Roku TV that supports HDR and Dolby Vision. Previously if I had a 4K HDR video with 7.1 audio the video content would DIRECT STREAM and the 7.1 audio would be remuxed for a 5.1 audio system. No issues with having audio remuxed while video was left alone. Now, any content with 7.1 audio track is attempting to transcode both the video and audio and HDR video is not recognized. All of my content has SRT subtitles, so that should not be an issue. If I select 4K HDR HEVC content with a 5.1 audio track I get a DIRECT PLAY stream with HDR intact. Something has changed with how 7.1 audio is being detected and treated.

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&VideoCodec=h264&

 

When that appears the ONLY time that can be sent is if the app sets ForceTranscode=true internally. You can make it do this by using "Playback Correction" or it will happen when the video player receives an error. It should always add on "Direct Play Error" to the transcode reasons whenever the errorcount is over 0. It should add that "Direct Play Error" as many times as errorCount shows. So if errorCount = 2 it says "Direct Play Error" twice as a transcode reason.

 

Since it doesn't show "Direct Play Error" maybe our logic somewhere resets the errorCount to 0? I can't see where that could be. It is odd. The reason the transcoding profile shows only h264 as acceptable clearly means we passed ForcedTranscode=true through to the capabilities. But that should only be caused by an error. An error should always raise the errorCount. The errorCount is only reset on new items playing.

 

This might also be certain ffmpeg builds are not allowing HEVC to be inside HLS m3u8/TS containers. Direct play or transcode only. You lose remux/directstream. We have an issue on our Roku tracker about HEVC in HLS. This might be part of that or might not be.  @@ebr what do you think? We changed nothing in the app regarding this. It must be server/ffmpeg related.

 

 
hevcConditions.push({
Condition: "VideoRange"
Property: "NotEquals"
Value: "SDR"
IsRequired: true
})
 
That is "LITERALLY" the only change we made in the app to HEVC support. That disallows SDR content from direct playing/streaming in HEVC which the Roku cannot decode and will render as an entirely black screen.
Edited by speechles
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@@speechles,

 

I must be another outlier.

 

I am having the exact same issue as the OP describes in post #1. 4K HDR HEVC videos with 7.1 audio were playing as expected until the last few days on a TCL Roku TV that supports HDR and Dolby Vision. Previously if I had a 4K HDR video with 7.1 audio the video content would DIRECT STREAM and the 7.1 audio would be remuxed for a 5.1 audio system. No issues with having audio remuxed while video was left alone. Now, any content with 7.1 audio track is attempting to transcode both the video and audio and HDR video is not recognized. All of my content has SRT subtitles, so that should not be an issue. If I select 4K HDR HEVC content with a 5.1 audio track I get a DIRECT PLAY stream with HDR intact. Something has changed with how 7.1 audio is being detected and treated.

Good find here. I just tested a 5.1 movie, and can confirm that it does direct play without issue, HDR and all. So definitely something with 7.1 audio tracks.

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Happy2Play

Are you using the beta Roku app?

OP is on beta app, on stable server.

2019-11-07 16:45:01.227
Emby Server version: 4.2.1.0

App: Roku SG 3.0.191
Living Room TV
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Happy2Play

I guess one way to validate this would be does the same happen on the Roku stable release app.

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I guess one way to validate this would be does the same happen on the Roku stable release app.

How do I get off the beta release and back to the stable release? I didn't even realize I was on the beta.

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blade005

I guess one way to validate this would be does the same happen on the Roku stable release app.

 

What is considered the Stable release version of Roku Emby? I have tried both the released version of Roku Emby and the Roku Emby BETA with the same result. But, they both show a build number of 191.

Edited by blade005
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blade005

How do I get off the beta release and back to the stable release? I didn't even realize I was on the beta.

 

You may not be on the BETA release.

 

I am seeing the same build number 191 on the Stable and BETA versions of Roku Emby. You can't install the BETA app from the official Roku channels and it normally has a BETA indicator in its icon on the Roku home screen.

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Happy2Play

I honest don't know what the current stable release version is right now, but I know the beta channel is on 3.0.191.

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There is no beta of the Roku app right now.

 

@@speechles this is starting to look like there is a regression in the new version.  Please test.

 

@@ebr There are two *Hot Fix* on the tracker that need implementing.

 

#652 - fixes the problem with crashing on Roku express models when the video mode isn't recognized (this is a bug crash fix)

#658 - revert our HEVC change for SDR. This is likely causing this issue with HDR not remux/directstream.

 

Those 2 should be merged ASAP. thanks. :)

 

To everyone else:

Apologies for the interruption. This was my fault. I jumped the gun a bit. We are addressing this issue and resolving it. Thanks again.

Edited by speechles
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@@ebr There are two *Hot Fix* on the tracker that need implementing.

 

#652 - fixes the problem with crashing on Roku express models when the video mode isn't recognized (this is a bug crash fix)

#658 - revert our HEVC change for SDR. This is likely causing this issue with HDR not remux/directstream.

 

Those 2 should be merged ASAP. thanks. :)

 

To everyone else:

Apologies for the interruption. This was my fault. I jumped the gun a bit. We are addressing this issue and resolving it. Thanks again.

No need to apologize. I work in software development, so I know all about unexpected issues popping up after a release. I appreciate the quick response! 

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#658 - revert our HEVC change for SDR. This is likely causing this issue with HDR not remux/directstream.

 

That is not the problem here.  You need to do more investigation.

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