M3u - How to make Emby pick highest quality stream?

[surprisejedi 0]

I have a very specific scenario here. I have a stream file (.strm) that points to a .m3u8 stream. I am able to play this stream but it doesn't pick the highest quality.

The .m3u8 file:

#EXTM3U
#EXT-X-VERSION:3
#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:BANDWIDTH=614000,AVERAGE-BANDWIDTH=564000,RESOLUTION=480x270,CODECS="avc1.77.30,mp4a.40.2"
270/prog_index.m3u8
#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:BANDWIDTH=1118000,AVERAGE-BANDWIDTH=1028000,RESOLUTION=640x360,CODECS="avc1.77.30,mp4a.40.2"
360/prog_index.m3u8
#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:BANDWIDTH=1998000,AVERAGE-BANDWIDTH=1828000,RESOLUTION=960x540,CODECS="avc1.77.30,mp4a.40.2"
540/prog_index.m3u8
#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:BANDWIDTH=3318000,AVERAGE-BANDWIDTH=3028000,RESOLUTION=1280x720,CODECS="avc1.77.30,mp4a.40.2"
720/prog_index.m3u8

Emby is not picking the 1280x720 stream. It is using the 480x270 stream. I have a excellent internet connection and am able to even stream 4k comfortably. Why would a 720p stream be difficult for Emby?

I have also set 4k as home network quality.

I get about 100mpbs download speeds.

[Luke 38491]

Hi, we're running it through ffmpeg so that's just what ffmpeg ends up picking. I'm guessing it probably picks the first one.

[nashi20002003 1]

I Have this same issue.  Can something be done.  Obviously Emby is doing sonmething wrong.  my m3u8 in any browser pick at leat the 720p which is OK for me.  In some apps, like in ProgTV I always get the 1080p one.

In live channels on my shield tv I always get the 1080p stream.  But Emby using the same HLS url is picking the lowest quality one.  Something is wrong in your ffmpeg command.   VLC also picks at least the 720p.  

I also use an Kodi plug in whcin uses ffmpeg to record and play m3u8 stream and it always pick at least the 720p.

 

Can you please look into this?  This is a showstopper.  I will have cancel my Emby premier due to this.  m3u8 is unusable.

 

Here's my m3u8 url: http://api.new.livestream.com/accounts/23202872/events/7200883/live.m3u8

 

and here's the streams inside it...while decoded:

 

#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:PROGRAM-ID=0,BANDWIDTH=428000,CODECS="avc1.4d401e,mp4a.40.2",RESOLUTION=432x240

#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:PROGRAM-ID=0,BANDWIDTH=678000,CODECS="avc1.4d401e,mp4a.40.2",RESOLUTION=640x360

#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:PROGRAM-ID=0,BANDWIDTH=1628000,CODECS="avc1.4d401f,mp4a.40.2",RESOLUTION=853x480

#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:PROGRAM-ID=0,BANDWIDTH=4628000,CODECS="avc1.4d4028,mp4a.40.2",RESOLUTION=1920x1080
 

Edited December 24, 2019 by nashi20002003

[nashi20002003 1]

Found this issue have been around in Emby for years.  So I don't know if somebody can really look into this. 

 

https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/44606-livetv-resolution-issue-m3u/

 

The workaround the OP used in 2017, is awful....The links in the m3u8 change every few hours.  One of the reason of moving to Emby from TVHeadend was for me to avoid updating the link.  TVHeadend compiled for Android does not handle pipe:// ffmpeg comand to handle HLS.  I had to use the link inside the m3u8 as a work around and got tired of doing so.  I was happy to see Emby android server handled HLS directly but then this issue with picking the lowest quality brings me back to the same thing.

 

Please help.

[Luke 38491]

@@surprisejedi we are looking into improving this. Thanks for the feedback.

[abufaisal 0]

any solution with m3u8 link inside strm file pick highest quality?

[Luke 38491]

Not yet, sorry, but hopefully soon.

[nashi20002003 1]

Any updates on this please?

[Luke 38491]

We're going to be looking at this in the near future. Thanks.

[fr0z3n 20]

+1 for this request too!

[Luke 38491]

This is currently being worked on as part of a larger project. Thanks for the feedback.

[2herbie 0]

+1 for  me as well,  just in case it helps with prioritising. I use the Australian Freeview channels from this URL:  http://i.mjh.nz/au/Sydney/raw-tv.m3u8

Lately more and more of my channels are picking the worst quality for recording and playing live TV. I've also recently lost the ability to play Channel 7, 7TWO, SBS Viceland, and SBS World Movies, which I think is due to  the same issue as they all play with other apps.

Thanks.

[fr0z3n 20]

Yeah it's really limiting, almost defeats the purpose of live TV in emby for a majority of streams (which are all now multi quality steams in the one m3u)

Hopefully Luke and the team come to fix this soon! It's obviously been affecting emby for many years so fingers crossed it's starting to get some attention  

[ssamjh 1]

+1 for this feature. I am also having issues with IPTV feeds picking the lowest quality (often 240p).

[Carlo 4451]

As Luke just recently said above, this is part of an ongoing development of a Live TV update project.

If you need this right now you might want to check out xTeve.  It has a bit of a learning curve but you can select streams to pass to Emby as well as eliminate streams, filter based on language, category and country and renumber your streams as well as assign custom channel numbers.

With xTeve you could manually choose to use UHD channels and eliminate HD or SD channels.  There is not a lot of good documentation on it so try YouTube as a video or two can help.

Another approach for now, if you're provider isn't constantly changing channels or stream locations.  You could download the M3U file, edit it to only include channels and streams you want to use and feed that local file to Emby.

[ssamjh 1]

1 minute ago, cayars said:

As Luke just recently said above, this is part of an ongoing development of a Live TV update project.

If you need this right now you might want to check out xTeve.  It has a bit of a learning curve but you can select streams to pass to Emby as well as eliminate streams, filter based on language, category and country and renumber your streams as well as assign custom channel numbers.

With xTeve you could manually choose to use UHD channels and eliminate HD or SD channels.  There is not a lot of good documentation on it so try YouTube as a video or two can help.

Another approach for now, if you're provider isn't constantly changing channels or stream locations.  You could download the M3U file, edit it to only include channels and streams you want to use and feed that local file to Emby.

Thanks for your response, I've been playing around with xTeve for the last couple hours and using the VLC engine I am able to get a 720p video stream running on Emby (it still says 480p but nerd stats show otherwise).

 

Would be awesome to have this behavior directly in Emby however xTeve is a great workaround for now

[fr0z3n 20]

Yeah thanks for the update! 

Will check out xteeve haven't heard of it before but sounds like it will fill the gap until the functionality is in emby native.. So thanks for the suggestion will start exploring

[Carlo 4451]

https://xteve.de/

https://github.com/xteve-project/xTeVe-Documentation/blob/master/en/configuration.md

 

Check out other youtube videos as well as that can be a great way to find features or ways of doing things not really covered in the documentation.

Learn how to use filters as they can be very powerful but takes a bit for them to "click" how to use properly.  They are the best way to knock down large IPTV lists to just the channels you want in the language you want.  No sense feeding Emby channels you don't need/want.

Edited July 13, 2020 by cayars

[fr0z3n 20]

Cheers thanks for the resources

Can see this being my next little project

[fruityten 0]

Glad to read this is being worked on, it's always nice when searching for an issue to find a large thread already in existance acknowledging the issue. This is a bit of a show stopped with M3U.

Thanks to the others for pointing out xTeve.

[gcorgnet 1]

Hey guys, any update on this? Thanks

[Luke 38491]

We are looking into this. Thanks.

[Carlo 4451]

I'll comment slightly more than Luke.

I think you will be happy with stream selection mechanisms in the upcoming release of our Live TV implementation currently in development and testing.
 

 

[gcorgnet 1]

Great to hear, thanks a lot.

[fr0z3n 20]

We all eagerly await for this feature! Sounds promising. Keen to check it out when available.