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Need Transcoding help


sharrisct25@hotmail.com

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sharrisct25@hotmail.com

Speedtest has download at 212mbps and upload at 235mbps

I will do the play test you requested in a bit and respond

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With 235Mb of upload you can easily stream pretty much what ever you want without transcoding taking place based caused by bitrates (on your side).  So then as long as the client side (outside your lan) has the client adjusted for the proper bitrate and has adequate bandwidth on their DOWNLOAD side it shouldn't need to transcode.

I'm expecting to see the ffmpeg files generated for your own in lan clients being a remux only and not a transcode unless you have really old Rokus.

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sharrisct25@hotmail.com

Ok so I just ran a test.  I used the Roku 4 device on our main TV which is hard wired to the same 1GB LAN switch that the Emby VM is.  I ran a channel for just over 2 minutes.  During that time it had to stop and cache twice.  I have checked and the ffmpeg file is named with a "transcode" in it.  

I am not familiar with how to read these files so I attached it here.

ffmpeg-transcode-ccae9399-72df-4f92-8107-acdf201c4087_1.txt

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Thank you.  Can you try the same same with a 720p channel such as your local ABC and post that ffmpeg log file as well?

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sharrisct25@hotmail.com

Ok so this was an interesting test.  I tried 2 local stations back to back on the same Roku again with nothing else being accessed by the server.  I ran both stations for 2 minutes and each of them cached once.  However one log says directstream the other says transcode.  I will attach both here. 

Any idea why a channel that direct streams would have to cache still.  I have tested both channels in the Homerun app and they seem to work fine.

Thank again.

ffmpeg-directstream-684556dd-bd82-455d-a235-5345a3fa82fc_1.txt ffmpeg-transcode-8800b681-baba-4dd4-9636-4805696247c0_1.txt

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This is why I asked you to play back ABC.  There are two basic broadcast standards which are 1080i and 720p.

So what appears to be happening is anything 720p just needs a remux while the 1080i is having the server deinterlace it which requires a transcode.

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9 minutes ago, sharrisct25@hotmail.com said:

Interesting.  Any idea when ABC had to cache also?

What do you mean?

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Just now, cayars said:

What do you mean?

I think when he says "cache" he means that the player is pausing to buffer in content.  IOW - something isn't keeping up.

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Happy2Play

Only common thing should be the transcode-temp folder as the remux is written there also.

C:\Users\BANE\AppData\Roaming\MediaBrowser-Server\transcoding-temp

 As for the transcode it would appear software encoding is not keeping up with playback.  As the GPU does not have any encoding capabilities only decoding.

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And that's the thing that the 1030 doesn't support nvenc ENCODING so anything transcoded is all CPU and via a VM as well

There are a few options to overcome this.

1) Use a tuner that can "transcode" on the fly and deliver H.264 video that's deinterlaced which your extends should be able to do.
2) Depending on your current setup change the VM to give Emby up to 100% of CPU when needed to it can handle transcoding better in CPU
3) Change the video card to a more modern card that can do ENcoding on.

It's been a long time since I've played with an HDHR Extend with Emby so I'm not sure exactly how this would work these days.

If you would want to do a remote session with me I could take a look at your setup and see if I could figure out something for you.

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sharrisct25@hotmail.com

Sorry I should have been more clear.  I mean buffering.  During 2 minutes of playback even the 720p channel that says it is direct play is buffering.   However if I watch that same channel via the homerun app on the same Roku is plays steadily.

 

The transcode temp directory is on a SSD disk with lots of space.  

 

Interestingly I tried this same channels on a Roku stick I bought recently.  Both the 720 channel and the 1080 channel have log files saying they direct stream.  I did see them buffer once but otherwise they were very stable for 10 minutes.

The TVs that get the most use are obviously the oldest Rokus I have.  1 is a Roku 3 the other a Roku 4.  Should I try upgrading them?  Would a newer one do better like this Roku stick seems to be?

 

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If you could upgrade I'd go oldest first.  So replace the roku3 or device on the TV used most for live tv and would upgrade to a MiBox S instead of another Roku.
You should try Android ATV vs Roku and this device will playback the Live TV with no issues.  It should be in the same price range or maybe cheaper than some of the higher end Rokus.

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sharrisct25@hotmail.com

Thanks for the help.  I will look around but last I checked the Mibox stuff did not hardware right?  I like having that tv hardwired.

 

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8 hours ago, sharrisct25@hotmail.com said:

Thanks for the help.  I will look around but last I checked the Mibox stuff did not hardware right?  I like having that tv hardwired.

 

It can use a cheap USB dongle for Ethernet

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bcm00re

@sharrisct25@hotmail.com

You can try turning off the Extend's hardware encoding (both in the Extend settings and in the Emby Tuner settings) and see if that helps.  I recently did that and I think things work a bit smoother and the picture quality is better!  I am thinking maybe it's just easier to transcode from the native mpeg2 (than from a mpeg4)?

I have had issues like you see too although mine usually aren't so bad.  I have 6 Rokus myself; with them being so stable and with the  family already use to the UI I'd rather not switch. Typically mine takes a bit to start playing and afterwards only buffers one more time -- then things are usually good.  For Emby Server I have a HP PC with a i7-6700 processor (with Intel HD Graphics 530) and also a Nvidia GeForce GT 730 (with 2gb of ram) and the system has 16gb of ram.  It appears Emby is using the Intel for the hardware acceleration but not sure how this is being decided?

Edited by bcm00re
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bcm00re

Make sure you have downloaded a fairly recent driver from Nvidia too.

I did find if you selected 'Advanced' instead of 'Yes' or 'No' for enabling hardware acceleration then  you see the options to rank encoders/decoders.  But I don't know if Emby can or will use multiple GPUs -- like if my Nvidia us already busy (doing something for Emby) will Emby move down the list and use Quick sync for the next encoding/decoding task?

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Quote

But I don't know if Emby can or will use multiple GPUs

Right now you have to pick which one you want to use. Load balancing between multiple GPU's is something we're interested in looking at in the future. Thanks.

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1 hour ago, bcm00re said:

Make sure you have downloaded a fairly recent driver from Nvidia too.

I did find if you selected 'Advanced' instead of 'Yes' or 'No' for enabling hardware acceleration then  you see the options to rank encoders/decoders.  But I don't know if Emby can or will use multiple GPUs -- like if my Nvidia us already busy (doing something for Emby) will Emby move down the list and use Quick sync for the next encoding/decoding task?

If you are using a commercial CONSUMER GPU you are likely limited to either 2 or 3 transcodes.  Nvidia limits this via software drivers but there has been patches available to open up a consumer video card for a while now.  As an example without a patch I can do 3 transcode with my 1650 GPU but with the patch I've had 21 transcodes going which is far more than I'd ever need.

The hardware of many GPUs is quite capable of doing far more but is limited artificially by device drivers. If you're not adverse to trying a patched driver you can also get many more transcodes going on most GPUs.

If you like send me a PM with your GPU model and I'll send you info.  Worst case if you bork something just install the original drivers again.  It's hard to mess up patching the drivers for more than a couple of transcodes.

So depending on the GPU you currently have you may not need more than one GPU being used (when it has full access to the hardware).

 

Edited by cayars
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bcm00re

@cayars

I don't have anything fancy or new, just a GeForce GT 730 with 2gb of onboard ram.  From what I read it must be a Kepler one or it wouldn't even do hardware acceleration.  My PC has a i7-6700 processor (with Intel HD Graphics 530) and I have two 8gb sticks of DDR4 ram.  Let me know what you think my stuff can really do.  BTW my PC is dedicated to being an Emby Server (other than also being a central repository for all my data).

 

Edited by bcm00re
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bcm00re
3 hours ago, Luke said:

Right now you have to pick which one you want to use. Load balancing between multiple GPU's is something we're interested in looking at in the future. Thanks.

Glad that is on your radar!  Thanks for the info.

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9 hours ago, bcm00re said:

I don't have anything fancy or new, just a GeForce GT 730 with 2gb of onboard ram.  From what I read it must be a Kepler one or it wouldn't even do hardware acceleration.  My PC has a i7-6700 processor (with Intel HD Graphics 530) and I have two 8gb sticks of DDR4 ram.  Let me know what you think my stuff can really do.  

I'd suggest trying both to see which transcoders the best for Emby but I believe the 530 will rule the day and be the better choice.

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