RobinVGX 2 Posted August 28, 2020 Share Posted August 28, 2020 Background I've set up my Emby server the last months and I'm slowly adding all my BluRay rips to my server. At first I just kept the highest lossless audio track (mostly DTS-HD MA and DD TrueHD) and removed all the others as I thought that was the only one I really needed as Emby should transcode that audio track if the lossless format is not directly supported. But now I'm discovering that a lot of newer high-end tv's don't support DTS tracks anymore and I'm starting to worry. I know that Emby would still transcode the audio track if the server recognizes that the tv doesn't support the DTS track, but what if, for example, a Nvidia Shield is used as a client? Does it still recognizes that the tv doesn't support DTS and will it transcode the only track available or will it just passtrough the DTS track and no sound will come out of the tv? Question If I have a tv that doesn't support DTS, but a client that does (for example Nvidia Shield), will Emby recognize this and transcode the track? Or is that not possible and should I start manually adding a fallback second track (DTS -> AC3) to every video to have audio? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vdatanet 1549 Posted August 28, 2020 Share Posted August 28, 2020 (edited) 31 minutes ago, RobinVGX said: Background I've set up my Emby server the last months and I'm slowly adding all my BluRay rips to my server. At first I just kept the highest lossless audio track (mostly DTS-HD MA and DD TrueHD) and removed all the others as I thought that was the only one I really needed as Emby should transcode that audio track if the lossless format is not directly supported. But now I'm discovering that a lot of newer high-end tv's don't support DTS tracks anymore and I'm starting to worry. I know that Emby would still transcode the audio track if the server recognizes that the tv doesn't support the DTS track, but what if, for example, a Nvidia Shield is used as a client? Does it still recognizes that the tv doesn't support DTS and will it transcode the only track available or will it just passtrough the DTS track and no sound will come out of the tv? Question If I have a tv that doesn't support DTS, but a client that does (for example Nvidia Shield), will Emby recognize this and transcode the track? Or is that not possible and should I start manually adding a fallback second track (DTS -> AC3) to every video to have audio? Yes, If Nvidia Shield is connected to a TV that does not support DTS, DTS audio is transcoded to AC3 at server side. This process consumes very few resources. But if the video is not supported by the HLS protocol (example VC-1) then full transcoding will be required (audio + video) Problems have also been reported in HEVC streaming. If the audio needs to be remuxed, sometimes green artifacts appear. Edited August 28, 2020 by vdatanet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrostByte 5049 Posted August 28, 2020 Share Posted August 28, 2020 The Shield probes the audio device it's connected to for audio codec support and turns on/off codecs depending on what it sees. The ATV app then requests a transcode depending on what the Shield found. It's not what the Shield supports, it's what sound system the Shield is connected to supports. For instance my setup Shield/Xbox >>> HDMI >>> Soundbar >>> ARC >>> TV The Shield probed my soundbar and found out what codecs it supported and turned them on. If I had connected my Shield directly to my TV then I would have gotten a lot less supported audio codecs. You can also manually override any of those settings. if you wish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrostByte 5049 Posted August 28, 2020 Share Posted August 28, 2020 Bah, too slow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinVGX 2 Posted August 28, 2020 Author Share Posted August 28, 2020 (edited) @vdatanet @FrostByte Thanks guys for the clear answers. Exactly the things I wanted to know. So I don't have to bother with an extra AC3 track now. @vdatanet I do convert my BluRay rips to HEVC. Is the green artifact problem a bug that can be fixed in the future or is it something inherited from the codec itself which cannot be fixed? I just want to make sure that if I buy a Nvidia Shield my HEVC BluRay rips play well. Edited August 28, 2020 by RobinVGX Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vdatanet 1549 Posted August 28, 2020 Share Posted August 28, 2020 49 minutes ago, RobinVGX said: I do convert my BluRay rips to HEVC. Is the green artifact problem a bug that can be fixed in the future or is it something inherited from the codec itself which cannot be fixed? I just want to make sure that if I buy a Nvidia Shield my HEVC BluRay rips play well. There are no issues direct playing HEVC files, but If those files need remux (a DTS to AC3 conversion) you can run into problems. It is not a general problem, it has only happened to me in few movies. I've only seen the problem with 4K HDR content. I think the root of the problem is that HLS HEVC requires fMP4 container instead of the MPEGTS container, but it is pure speculation. My advice is that at the time of ripping, add an AC3 track to avoid problems. Examples: 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebr 14910 Posted August 28, 2020 Share Posted August 28, 2020 1 hour ago, RobinVGX said: So I don't have to bother with an extra AC3 track now. If the items you are ripping already have them, it would be a good idea to leave them in place. Most devices don't support the HD audio. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlo 4330 Posted August 28, 2020 Share Posted August 28, 2020 I've always added in a 2 channel AAC audio track and mark it as the default on every video I have in my library. I've found this gives the best chance of direct playing on any device. I prefer AAC over AC3 for the default audio channel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinVGX 2 Posted August 28, 2020 Author Share Posted August 28, 2020 1 hour ago, ebr said: If the items you are ripping already have them, it would be a good idea to leave them in place. Most devices don't support the HD audio. 41 minutes ago, cayars said: I've always added in a 2 channel AAC audio track and mark it as the default on every video I have in my library. I've found this gives the best chance of direct playing on any device. I prefer AAC over AC3 for the default audio channel. The thing is I already ripped them with only the lossless format only. As I plan to convert every rip to HEVC, I now have to choose to only keep the lossless format or convert the lossless format to AC3 (or AAC) and merge them, so I have 2 audio tracks (1 lossless, 1 AC3) when I converted the video. So you would recommend converting the lossless format into AC3 and then set that AC3 track to default? So I always would use AC3 unless I specifically select lossless track? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrostByte 5049 Posted August 28, 2020 Share Posted August 28, 2020 I would make the default whatever my main playback client can support, and then the others can change audio tracks at playback time. If you have a Shield and it can play HD audio and it is your main system you use for almost all playback then make the HD audio your default. Whatever is going to cause less media selection at playback time for everyone. However, if you have no main client and a mixture of everything is widely used then AC3 is a good choice I suppose. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlo 4330 Posted August 28, 2020 Share Posted August 28, 2020 The reason I use AAC is that more clients support it (at least at the time I started doing this). By making the 2 channel AAC the default it would direct play on anything. I then select on the client the better audio track if needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vdatanet 1549 Posted August 28, 2020 Share Posted August 28, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, RobinVGX said: The thing is I already ripped them with only the lossless format only. As I plan to convert every rip to HEVC, I now have to choose to only keep the lossless format or convert the lossless format to AC3 (or AAC) and merge them, so I have 2 audio tracks (1 lossless, 1 AC3) when I converted the video. So you would recommend converting the lossless format into AC3 and then set that AC3 track to default? So I always would use AC3 unless I specifically select lossless track? If you want to guarantee direct playback on devices that don't support lossless formats, then you need both tracks. AAC is good as long as it is not multichannel, AAC 5.1 is supported on very few devices. So If you decide to use AAC a universal track, you will have to convert to AAC stereo. Edited August 28, 2020 by vdatanet 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinVGX 2 Posted August 28, 2020 Author Share Posted August 28, 2020 Thanks guys for all the replies. As my main video client is used as much as my phone and my laptop, I'll add an ac3 track to al the files and set that as the default. If I want to watch a movie on my main client I'll just change it to the lossless audio track. Off-Topic This was my first question here on the forum and I'm very thankful. Impressed by the Emby community. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlo 4330 Posted August 28, 2020 Share Posted August 28, 2020 (edited) Keep in mind AC3 isn't supported on all devices and 2 channel AAC will almost always be supported. AAC is about as universal a codec as you'll get (2 channel) so if you ever share with a friend you won't be stuck again because they have a device not supporting AC3 and yet cause transcoding. Edited August 28, 2020 by cayars 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrostByte 5049 Posted August 28, 2020 Share Posted August 28, 2020 Me watching movies in AAC stereo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlo 4330 Posted August 28, 2020 Share Posted August 28, 2020 It's always a trade off of what you want as the default. I've long wanted the audio selection to be device specific so it would always use the "best" available vs the default track without the user having to switch the audio each and every time they play something. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vdatanet 1549 Posted August 28, 2020 Share Posted August 28, 2020 (edited) 10 minutes ago, cayars said: It's always a trade off of what you want as the default. I've long wanted the audio selection to be device specific so it would always use the "best" available vs the default track without the user having to switch the audio each and every time they play something. Long ago I requested that, I have a lot of movies with DTS (default) and AC3 tracks. If DTS is not supported, instead of picking AC3, DTS is converted to AC3. Than seems odd. The answer was that perhaps the AC3 version may be director's comments or something similar. Edited August 28, 2020 by vdatanet 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinVGX 2 Posted August 28, 2020 Author Share Posted August 28, 2020 (edited) Wrong question Edited August 28, 2020 by RobinVGX Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrostByte 5049 Posted August 28, 2020 Share Posted August 28, 2020 (edited) 6 minutes ago, vdatanet said: Long ago I requested that, I have a lot of movies with DTS (default) and AC3 tracks. If DTS is not supported, instead of picking AC3, DTS is converted to AC3. Than seems odd. The answer was that perhaps the AC3 version may be director's comments or something similar. That could very well be. I have several movies with default HD audio tracks and AC3 commentary tracks. Edited August 28, 2020 by FrostByte Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinVGX 2 Posted August 28, 2020 Author Share Posted August 28, 2020 6 minutes ago, vdatanet said: Long ago I requested that, I have a lot of movies with DTS (default) and AC3 tracks. If DTS is not supported, instead of picking AC3, DTS is converted to AC3. Than seems odd. The answer was that perhaps the AC3 version may be director's comments or something similar. But a "Select the first audio track that the client can Direct Play" would solve that problem indeed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrostByte 5049 Posted August 28, 2020 Share Posted August 28, 2020 Unless the second track was AC3 commentary like vdatanet mentioned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinVGX 2 Posted August 28, 2020 Author Share Posted August 28, 2020 (edited) If I had to choose for AAC Stereo 512kbps or AC3 Stereo 640kbps what would be the best choice for the second audio track (supported devices/quality)? I'll of course always keep the lossless track. Edited August 28, 2020 by RobinVGX Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vdatanet 1549 Posted August 28, 2020 Share Posted August 28, 2020 38 minutes ago, RobinVGX said: If I had to choose for AAC Stereo 512kbps or AC3 Stereo 640kbps what would be the best choice for the second audio track (supported devices/quality)? I'll of course always keep the lossless track. AAC is a more universal format. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlo 4330 Posted August 28, 2020 Share Posted August 28, 2020 That will be the exception far more than the norm. At least it would select the best and if you heard commentary (quite obvious) you could change the track. Of course if the track is tagged correctly with commentary, director's or similar it could be skipped. Any way you cut it, it's still better than what many people have to do which is manually select the track every time to get the best one to use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrostByte 5049 Posted August 28, 2020 Share Posted August 28, 2020 42 minutes ago, RobinVGX said: If I had to choose for AAC Stereo 512kbps or AC3 Stereo 640kbps what would be the best choice for the second audio track (supported devices/quality)? I'll of course always keep the lossless track. If you have that much space use all 3. Track 1 would be the HD audio for your Shield, track 2 would be AC3 5.1 640 kbps for playback on things like your TV, and track 3 would be AAC 2.0 for all those other clients like phones, etc. Then you could almost guarantee no transcoding because of audio and get the best experience on your clients 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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