Align Download/Sync function with Streaming settings

[red_ 12]

Hi all,

 

I've posted a similar topic before. Then user ebr asked me to place my topic in the appropriate forum. Since I'm convinced this is a feature request I'll try to formulate my question more in that fashion.

 

 

Introduction

I've purchased Emby Premiere because I wanted to make use of the Download/Sync functionality. Sadly I don't use it, because of the way it's implemented.

 

 

Feature Requests

It would be really nice to have the Users "Download & Sync" settings and behavior to be aligned with the Users "Media Playback" settings and behavior.

 

Explanation part 1

So what does this mean? It means that in the Emby settings (Server -> Users -> User) the following configuration is possible for "Media Playback":

 

 

 

It would be really convenient to have the exact same options in the "Download & Sync" section of the same page, which now only contains the following:

 

 

 

Why? I only wan't some really efficient/cheap transcoding on my server like subtitles, audio and media container (mkv/mp4). No video encoding/transcoding! Because it's too expensive + I'm really sure all my devices can decode H264 and all my movies are H264. Not sure why Emby something things it need to re-encode H264 to H264, but it does.

 

 

Explanation part 2

The second part of this feature request is about the behavior. It would be really nice to have the exact (or at least the setting to enable this) behavior when you click "Play" (Streaming a movie/Media Playback) and when you Click Download (or Sync). This means that in both scenarios the mobile Emby app (iOS, Android, Browser, etc) will accept the options you filled in on the movie/serie page.

 

For example, when I have this options enabled on my Android phone (notice Subtitles and Version):

 

 

 

So I've selected a version called "Mobile" which is 720p H264 including AAC stereo audio and English .srt subtitles. I'm 100% sure all my (portable) devices can playback this.

 

Clicking the Play button will: Play the "Mobile" 720p H264 version with the English .srt subtitles. As expected. On each (portable) device without any problem.

 

Clicking the Download button will, depending on the device I'm on:

1. Download the "Mobile" 720p H264 version with the English .srt subtitles. As expected;
2. Download the "Mobile" 720p H264 version without English .srt subtitles.
3. Download another version (sometimes even a 8GB one) with or without English .srt subtitles
4. Takes the "Mobile" or a random other version and starts transcoding the video and/or the audio and afterwards downloads the transcoded version with or without English .srt subtitles. 

It wouldn't be a surprise that pressing the Download button is a surprise every time, but the nice thing is that it doesn't have to!

 

 

Please let me know what you think of this idea. It doesn't have to replace the existing implementation, but in my opinion it would be a very nice addition to at least make the option available to treat "Downloads" the same as "Streams". 

 

Have a nice Holiday Season (Fijne kerstadagen in Dutch)!

[Luke 37008]

Hi, thanks for the feedback. And yes we can expand on the download transcoding options.

[red_ 12]

That would be great.

Do you have enough information for now?

[Luke 37008]

Yes we do. Thanks.

[red_ 12]

Hi Luke,

 

Can I monitor the progress of this feature request somewhere?

[Luke 37008]

Hi, this is where we monitor community support. You can monitor the testing area to follow our in progress development. Thanks !

[red_ 12]

So in the testing area I can find when this feature request will be planned to be implemented?

 

Where do I find the testing area?

[Luke 37008]

We don't yet know when this will be implemented. We're actively monitoring it for community support compared to other requests.

[neik 835]

My thoughts on this...

 

Part 1: One crucial point on mobile devices still is storage, especially on those without expansion slot.

That's why I think converting to different qualities needs to stay.

 

It might be worth a thought introducing a global conversion bitrate for downloads, that the Admin sets and all clients needs to use that. Alternative would be an upper limit set by the Admin.

 

Part 2: How is this solved in Android mobile, @@Luke?

I thought it's already doing what red_ is asking.

 

Anyway, this makes perfect sense!

[Luke 37008]

How is what solved? When you download a video in android you pick the quality right then and there.

[red_ 12]

@neik: I already have a mobile version that's around 600mb to 900mb for all my movies, next to a high quality version from around 4000mb to 11000mb. So I'd like the small one to always be downloaded by mobile devices. Or at least have the option to select which version you want to download.

 

The download function now ignores which version you've selected in the GUI and chooses which version to download based on some algorithm. If that version has a higher bitrate then what you've selected in your download preferences it will start converting that version instead of downloading the "already converted" version.

 

Also, if you don't use versions for specific qualities but for 3D versions or Unrated/Extended Edition version, you'll not have the possibility to choose whichever you want to download.

[neik 835]

How is what solved? When you download a video in android you pick the quality right then and there.

 

When I download something does it respect the user's audio/subtitle settings?

[Luke 37008]

Yes.

[red_ 12]

Luke, how can it respect the users audio and subtitle decisions of it just "randomly" chooses a movie version?

 

That's technically impossible!

 

Let's say you have one version with French aac 5.1 audio and Spanish subtitles and one version with English stereo audio and English subtitles.

 

Then I select the version with both English subtitles and audio, but Emby decides to choose the other version to be downloaded. How can it ever respect my decision of containing English audio and subtitles?

[Luke 37008]

The same way it does with regular playback. It takes all of those things into account.

[red_ 12]

It doesn't work like regular playback. That's the whole reason of this topic.

 

If you have version "A" and version "B":

A = 1080p h264 video with English audio and subtitles

B = 720p HEVC video French audio and Spanish subtitles

 

Again, please explain to me what happens when I select version "A" which contains English audio and subtitles. So I also have both of these tracks selected in the GUI.

 

I then press the play button. This always respect my options from the GUI.

 

I then press download. The Emby algorithm decides which version is best for the device I download the movie on, "A" or "B". This algorithm of Emby doesn't respect the version I selected, you agreed on that in earlier posts. So let's say Emby decides to download the "B" version. Please explain to me how it then will respect the requested audio and subtitle tracks in the GUI as "the same way it does with regular playback".

[Luke 37008]

 

 

So let's say Emby decides to download the "B" version. Please explain to me how it then will respect the requested audio and subtitle tracks in the GUI as "the same way it does with regular playback".

 

The same way. Once a version is picked, then the audio and subtitle preferences are applied to determine the output.

[red_ 12]

But you do agree with me that if the picked version (picked by Emby, because download instead of play) doesn't contain the same audio and subtitle tracks compared to the selected version in the GUI (selected by user) it's technically impossible to respect these? You can't respect subtitle and audio selection which aren't there.

 

And I can confirm: I've two versions for a movie, one with English subtitels and one without. If selected the version with English subtitles in the GUI and press download but Emby decides to download the other version, I'm stuck with a version without subtitles on my phone.

[ebr 14903]

Yes, the piece of the puzzle that is missing at this point is for the download function to respect the version that is selected at the time you hit that button.  And doing that is not really a no-brainer because, for some, it may not produce the best result.

 

The basic issue here is that our multi-version feature is designed for different qualities of the same content as opposed to different content.  So that's how the algorithms are designed right now (to look at all the versions and pick the one that best matches in terms of quality).

[red_ 12]

Hi ebr, thank you for you response.

 

If I may suggest something?

 

In the user settings at the download functionality part you now have the option to allow or don't allow users to transcode. If you don't allow users to transcode video it will also not help anything to pick the best quality right? So you can implement something that if video transcoding is disabled Emby just picks the version you selected in the GUI.

 

Then you could give a warning (pop-up) if the content you're trying to download will not be able to play on the device you're trying to download on. Not really thought about this part yet but from there you could give the user the option to choose a version which is compatible with their device or maybe the option to transcode audio only to make it compatible (if allowed in settings).

 

Again, not really thought about it that we'll yet. If you need help or more use cases please let me know!