Pixelated and Stuttered Playback

[prakritjay 0]

When playing back some files on my Samsung TV, I notice that it pixelates sometimes, and also stutters. When I stop playback and try again, it does these two things at the exact same points. This leads me to believe that it is a playback issue where the TV is unable to play the file back properly for some reason.

 

When I play back the files on my Mac (using the Beta app), it works fine, and is smooth. I only notice this on my TV.

 

Logs: https://pastebin.com/4FbYBpvD

 

Picture of pixelated playback is attached.

 

 

[Luke 40069]

Hi there, was there an ffmpeg log as well?

[prakritjay 0]

Nope, because it was direct playing, not transcoding.

[Luke 40069]

Hi, what model Samsung and what version of our Samsung app?

[prakritjay 0]

Model UA43NU7090, Emby version 1.0.77

 

Thanks

[SamES 1004]

Can you please post the media info for this file?  Thanks

[prakritjay 0]

Is this enough info?

[Luke 40069]

OK so it's direct playing? That's a difficult call then, because it suggests that we can't do very much about it as the issue is likely in the Samsung video player.

 

Do you have a lower bitrate video that you can test and compare with?

[prakritjay 0]

I actually had this file in 4K initially, and it had the same issues. So I converted it to 1080p but it seems like it didn't work.

 

I have pretty good internet and there is definitely no problem with the connection, so I don't think it is the bitrate. I also have played files that are a lot bigger. It seems that it is only this kind of encode on this particular video file that has caused the issue. But if there's any solution on either your end or mine, please suggest it.

[SamES 1004]

Are you playing this remotely or is the server on the same local network as the tv?

[prakritjay 0]

It’s playing remotely, but I’m certain it’s not network bandwidth issues. I play files sometimes 3-4x this size and its never been an issue. As I said, I have also tried the file on my laptop and it worked fine.

[SamES 1004]

It’s playing remotely, but I’m certain it’s not network bandwidth issues. I play files sometimes 3-4x this size and its never been an issue. As I said, I have also tried the file on my laptop and it worked fine.

Just remember that the video probably has a variable bitrate, so there could be regions of high bitrate (higher than your network connection).  How the client handles this will depend on how much the client reads ahead and buffers.  In the Samsung app, this is not much, but I'd expect it to pause and buffer, rather than breakup.

 

It's more likely that as Luke suggested, the internal player has some issues with displaying this file correctly.