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Transcoding woes on stick


rechigo
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rechigo

First - every time I go to sign in and I select my server to go to the users list, it fails to pull up the users because the request "timed out"

 

The only way I can pull up the users is if I go and manually enter the server address, only then will I get the users list where I can select my user and sign in

 

Second - playing video that is being transcoded is extremely unreliable. Lots of my content hevc just completely fails to output any audio or video when it's transcoding (playback is in progress according to the now playing bar)

The only way I can get it to show is to manually force a transcode by going to a lower bitrate

 

Both the beta and stable have CONSTANT problems on Roku, it has been the most unreliable client, its shit compared to the other clients! Half the time I try and watch something I end up spending an hour trying to figure out what's wrong

 

I hate running Plex side-by-side for this reason. I want "your media, your way", not "your media, our way"

 

Attached the logs containing relevant info, let me know if anything else is doingffmpeg-transcode-ae038893-158d-4d1e-abd1-b172f2dd3f6c_1.txtembyserver.txtffmpeg-transcode-9af951b8-f67d-4c1c-b34f-6788c8f5aa40_1.txt

 

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

Edited by rechigo
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VideoCodec=h264,mpeg1video,mpeg2video

 

TranscodeReasons=VideoCodecNotSupported

 

@@softworkz ? This is clearly in your wheelhouse. ;)

Edited by speechles
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First - every time I go to sign in and I select my server to go to the users list, it fails to pull up the users because the request "timed out"

 

The only way I can pull up the users is if I go and manually enter the server address, only then will I get the users list where I can select my user and sign in

 

 

Does your server show the proper IP address on its dashboard page?  Is this remote or local access?

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Client="Roku SG", Device="Roku Streaming Stick"

Could it be the poor WiFi causing this? The streaming stick does not have an ethernet port. The streaming stick can use either 2.4G or 5G when choosing WiFi. Try using the other WiFi radio and see if the speed increases. 

Edited by speechles
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rechigo

Speechles - it was transcoding because the base Roku stick model doesn't support HEVC

 

The wifi is sufficient, I tried it with an h264 that had twice the bitrate and it played flawlessly

 

EBR - I should have looked at that, no, it appears the local IPv4 is incorrect (for whatever reason it's picking up the IP of my virtualbox ethernet adapter

 

I uninstalled virtualbox (I use VMWare anyways) and now my server displays the correct local address. I'm not sure if this was happening yesterday as well, but I'll check again today and see if the serber displays the users

 

The playback issue was that I was getting absolutely nothing displayed on the screen, nor was there any audio output. Bringing up the videoosd showed the runtime increasing, but nothing ever showed up

 

Feel free to change the title, this Roku incident just shot me over the edge the other day

 

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

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rechigo

EDIT: after making sure the local IP was correct (it wasnt, so I fixed it) my server is now discovered and the users load up and I can sign in like normal

 

Transcoding is still an issue. If I try to play back the same file, it sits at retrieving and does not do anything. The app freezes and the only way to back out of the loading screen is to exit the app

 

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

Edited by rechigo
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@@rechigo - You could install the Diagnostics plugin and try to disable WebVTT subtitles.

 

Also, what happens when you disable hw acceleration?

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rechigo

Disablibg webvtt: nothing

 

Disabling hw: nothing

 

Doing both at once: nothing

 

The "reteieving" bar locks up at around 3/8ths of the way through, if that's any use

 

I notice for most of the hevc (10 bit) (4k) files that I play, it either gets stuck at retrieving or the osd display a black background w/o audio or video.

 

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

Edited by rechigo
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rechigo

I noticed that the video plays back on the Roku embedded into the TV, but the Embedded Roku version is extremely old and can't handle much without bottlenecking

 

If I don't force a transcode on the stick by setting the bitrate to something below the source bitrate, it doesn't play back and will either lock up on the retrieving screen or go to the videoosd and output no video or audio (subtitles do display)

 

Please don't make me cancel and leave for months and have to go back to Plex again until the app can do what it's supposed to do.

 

What else can I give you guys to get this fixed ASAP?

 

 

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

Edited by rechigo
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rechigo

Yes I did that yesterday and it made no difference

 

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

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What happens if you lower the bitrate setting in the app to something less than 20Mb/s?

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rechigo

What happens if you lower the bitrate setting in the app to something less than 20Mb/s?

I did that as well, that was the only way to get it to play back without freezing up. If I let it transcode because the codec isn't supported, it doesn't work. I set the bitrate to 10mbps (in settings menu) 1080p to force a lower bitrate it will start playback

 

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

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Happy2Play

I did that as well, that was the only way to get it to play back without freezing up. If I let it transcode because the codec isn't supported, it doesn't work. I set the bitrate to 10mbps (in settings menu) 1080p to force a lower bitrate it will start playback

 

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

So this would be a device bitrate issue as Emby doubles the h265 bitrate when converting to h264 transcode.  So your 15+Mbps h265 becomes a 30+Mbps h264 encode, and would appear the device is choking on high bitrate if lowering bitrate works.

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rechigo

Ok then why are some of my H264 files with HIGHER bitrates (30+) able to play without issue? How come the same HEVC files that wont play correctly on Emby Roku play perfectly fine on Plex Roku?

 

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Happy2Play

I really get tired of it works on the other guy.  Clearly two different product doing to different things, they will likely never produces exactly the same results.  I would assume different players, but all I can do is guess as I have never used the other guy.  

 

But someone will have to look at the way the item is transcoded as there has to be a difference if high bitrate h264 item will play fine but is there transcoding involved in the h264 items?

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rechigo

I really get tired of it works on the other guy.  Clearly two different product doing to different things, they will likely never produces exactly the same results.  I would assume different players, but all I can do is guess as I have never used the other guy.  

 

But someone will have to look at the way the item is transcoded as there has to be a difference if high bitrate h264 item will play fine but is there transcoding involved in the h264 items?

 

There is no transcoding involved with the high bitrate h264 files. 

 

Would taking of one of my high bitrate HEVC files (65mbps+) and reencoding it to h264 w/ double bitrate (120mbps) and seeing if it plays w/o buffering help? I could do that relatively quickly with nvenc/dec so it's not a problem

Edited by rechigo
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Happy2Play

There is no transcoding involved with the high bitrate h264 files. 

 

Would taking of one of my high bitrate HEVC files (65mbps+) and reencoding it to h264 w/ double bitrate (120mbps) and seeing if it plays w/o buffering help? I could do that relatively quickly with nvenc/dec so it's not a problem

I guess that could make is easy to show an issue in the server transcoding process.  But at the same time if a item is direct playing would it not point to Streaming issue itself?

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rechigo

I'm guessing this is a streaming issue w/ Rouk as these files transcode and stream just fine with or without hardware transcoding on any client (other than Roku) that I've tried (android, web app, theater)

 

Am I able to access logs for the Roku app? Could help if I could send those along

Edited by rechigo
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Happy2Play

I'm guessing this is a streaming issue w/ Rouk as these files transcode and stream just fine with or without hardware transcoding on any client (other than Roku) that I've tried (android, web app, theater)

 

Am I able to access logs for the Roku app? Could help if I could send those along

That is sort of a grey area statement also, unless you can get the same results across their product line.  I would bet there are different result comparing Stick to Ultra (wired vs wireless).

 

As for the device debug log I don't believe you can access them.

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  • Solution

Keep in mind you are using one of the lowest spec devices offered by Roku... I know it is "4K capable" but it is a stick...

 

The published specs for Roku say it only supports "up to" 25Mb/s in HEVC and (surprisingly) only 10Mb/s for H264 (although, we know it can do better than that).

 

I said try around 20 because that is likely the top end of anything Roku bothered testing on their devices because that is what high-quality streaming media is.

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rechigo

Ok that makes sense

 

If that's the case, maybe Plex has hardcoded limits that don't allow it to go higher than those limits

 

Can't believe I spent 50 dollars on this piece of crap (got it at a discount or price matched it probably, dont remember), after having it for months I've decided I don't even really like Roku that much. Firestick starts at the same price and offers a wider range of codecs 

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