Streaming issues in Web & Theatre app

[Carlo 4330]

Check out the convert feature built into Emby.

Try this.  From you home screen click the 3 dot menu on your DVR Recordings Library and select convert.

Try these options and see what you think.

[Carlo 4330]

1 hour ago, stuartsharp said:

That's a wee bit on the high side all right.

Can you test on any other devices you might have as well?  Would be good to know if it does this will all devices or just web for example. That should make fixing this a bit easier.

[stuartsharp 3]

8 hours ago, cayars said:

That's a wee bit on the high side all right.

Can you test on any other devices you might have as well?  Would be good to know if it does this will all devices or just web for example. That should make fixing this a bit easier.

Hi Cayars,

I'm only getting this issue on clients that need transcoding. My Android, iOS, & Shield devices can all stream the same channel using, 'Direct Play.' Same goes for Emby theater and the Kodi plugins. Even connecting from the WAN side using my phone wouldn't make it transcode, because the original bitrate is only 1Mbps.

The only clients I have that need to transcode these channels are web browsers (any browser, not just chromium) and my FireTV clients. I've found a workaround by setting the bitrate on the client end manually after playback starts, instead of leaving it on the 'auto' setting. If I do this then it plays fine, but when I leave the bitrate at auto, the server goes crazy and tries to go for the highest bitrate the connection can handle.

Once again, this is only an issue on a few specific SD channels where the original bitrate is very low. Most of our SD channels in the UK are 2-4Mbps MPEG2. Playing those in a browser or on a FireTV will work fine with the auto setting - they usually transcode at around 6Mbps.

Important: I only see this particular issue when I'm both transcoding and streaming the channel live. If I make a recording from one of these problem channels and then play it back in one of the clients that's giving me trouble, it automatically transcodes at a more sensible bitrate and plays perfectly. I'm sure that must be significant.

 

[Carlo 4330]

Very good info, thank you.

@ebr Can you take a look at this?

[stuartsharp 3]

Be Beautiful 2016-03-10 - Anchal Seda - Ariana Grande Classic Look.ts

In case it helps, I've attached a media sample from one of the channels that causes the issue with excessive bitrate when transcoding. Please remember that playing this back will not reproduce the issue - it only happens when streamed live from my HDHR.

Be Beautiful 2016-03-10 - Anchal Seda - Ariana Grande Classic Look.nfo

[Luke 37065]

Can you attach the ffmpeg log? thanks.

[stuartsharp 3]

On 8/1/2020 at 6:49 PM, Luke said:

Can you attach the ffmpeg log? thanks.

Sure, here's an example. I started live playback at 15:00 local time, 2 minutes before the end of the log.

ffmpeg-transcode-d4265007-cd51-49d4-8e92-e9e164f65f08_1.txt embyserver.txt

Edited August 5, 2020 by stuartsharp

[Luke 37065]

Ok thanks. You could always try the beta server and see how that compares.

[PeterHing 3]

Was there ever a resolution to this? I'm stuck being unable to watch any UK TV recordings in browser or the Android App. I've tried using conversions, but they fail. I only have success on my NVIDIA Shield as it plays directly. I'm stuck in the Terramaster NAS version of the server (but using the latest available to me).

ffmpeg-remux-2c1be011-d8b8-4336-847c-e43634b3dab7_1.txt

[stuartsharp 3]

1 hour ago, PeterHing said:

Was there ever a resolution to this? I'm stuck being unable to watch any UK TV recordings in browser or the Android App. I've tried using conversions, but they fail. I only have success on my NVIDIA Shield as it plays directly. I'm stuck in the Terramaster NAS version of the server (but using the latest available to me).

ffmpeg-remux-2c1be011-d8b8-4336-847c-e43634b3dab7_1.txt 133.44 kB · 0 downloads

Nothing was done to resolve the issues I originally posted, but the clients for phones and tablets were never part of the problem before.

Now, like you, I am finding that the Android mobile client is broken for UK TV playback. I'm having issues with both live media (from HDHR) and pre-recorded, including stuff that I recorded a while ago and have have already played in Android but can't any more. iOS clients continue to work without any issues at all.

For browsers, I would suggest using Firefox. It still works fine as long as you set your bitrate manually with the lowest quality streams such as ITVbe (1Mbps manual will work fine but Auto 1Mbps freezes - strange!). Just avoid anything Chromium based (Chrome, Edge, Opera etc), because none of them work for UK TV media (although they will when you're using Plex  ).

One other thing about the Android issues - remember to restart your server after it fails, otherwise the Emby server will hold onto the tuner forever and tie up your HDHR. It's the same with the Chromium browsers when they fail to start - killing the client doesn't release the tuner.