One2Go 98 Posted March 27, 2021 Share Posted March 27, 2021 6 hours ago, SamES said: My suspicion is that this is related to network issues. If it is DirectPlaying from Emby server then there is nothing being done to the file, the TV is taking it exactly as stored on disk. And it may just be that the network module in this model TV is having issues. Are you using a wireless or wired network connection to the TV? I know you will say the Netflix works fine, but it is actually quite a low bitrate compared to many ripped files, and is an a format optimised for streaming so it can better handle network issues Thanks for jumping in here and we are heavily relying on your knowledge on how to rectify this problem. The reason why I have not posted anything earlier is because of the difficulty to narrow this down. On my setup everything is wired, I had dropouts on Direct Play but no dropouts on Direct Stream when just changing the audio format from Auto (DTS, DD+) for the elementary audio stream of Dolby Digital to just stereo being passed over the HDMI cable. My next try will be a DTS elementary stream because IIRC the DTS audio format did not have the audio dropout, just the Dolby Digital. Also the AAC format in a MP4 container did not cause audio dropouts. So I really sympathize with everyone because this is a bear of a problem and once more data as to what audio formats, containers, bitrate or files caused dropouts, hopefully we can narrow this thing down. Again thanks very much for your input. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbjtech 4222 Posted March 28, 2021 Share Posted March 28, 2021 With these type of events, the key to narrowing it down is to firstly be able to reproduce the problem on demand. If you can't do that, then it will be all but impossible to track this down as there as too many variables. If you can reproduce - then you need to look at elements you can control and then change them one at a time and keep a note of what you change. For example - Time - a much overlooked variable - I believe you said it happens every 20 mins - so if you pause the playback at the start for 5 minutes - does it still happen 20 minutes later , or does it now happen 25 minutes later. This tells us if it's the media that is the problem (if 25 minutes), or the playback environment that's the problem (if 20 minutes). If you are certain the issue is just with DirectPlay AC3 - then extract the AC3 - and playback just the audio (as a sound file) and come back to it at the time you expect it to drop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
One2Go 98 Posted March 28, 2021 Share Posted March 28, 2021 I have done some of what you suggested. For me the occurrences of dropouts is random, when I rewind and play past the point it is not occurring again. However the few constant denominators are at this point, for me Dolby Digital only with all channel combinations. I converted the AC3 file to WAV and than reencoded it plus remuxed it to a new mkv container, again random dropouts. The second constant is, every time the dropout occurs the audio input signal format as displayed on the front panel of my Denon receiver goes blank as if there is no audio signal at all coming from the Emby server, this has never happened before. Final common denominator to best of my knowledge it started happening around upgrading to server version 4.5.2.0. Again I totally agree with your assessment that this is a very difficult problem to trace. If it would NOT be random in time it would be easier, but after we collected enough information when it happens and when it does not happen we will be able to narrow it down somewhat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
One2Go 98 Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 Just did a test on the Blu-ray ripped movie Early Man (2018). When playing it back from the Roku it showed as Direct Play in the Dashboard. This is the media specific data: Video: MPEG4 Video (H264) 1920x1040 23.976fps Audio: DTS 48000Hz 6ch 1536kbps File size: 9.62 GiB Duration: 1h 28mn Overall bit rate: 15.5 Mbps Played the almost 90 minutes flawless with no audio dropout on the DTS audio as I previously stated and suspected. With an audio bit rate of 1536kbps and an Overall bit rate of 15.5 Mbps I believe that playback setup should not be a reason for audio dropouts. Next when time allows a test with DD 5.1 and see if the dropout is there on Direct Play and if so than start messing with the audio tract and different formats of it and see if it is DD+ or just plain DD is the culprit or if converting the DD audio track to different formats and see if the error occurs again. Not easy but very time consuming but it is so annoying when you get a sudden silence in the audio. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbjtech 4222 Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 So in summary - a DirectPlay (ie no FFMPEG involved) AC3/DD 5.1 has Audio dropouts when passing Audio from the Roku to a Denon AVR using ARC correct ? If the Track is AAC or DTS Direct, no dropouts. If the AC3 Track is passed via ffmpeg (ie downmixed to DD 2.0 for example - aka Direct Stream ) then no dropouts. Have you identified any drop outs of an EAC3 file (ie DD+) vs a plain AC3 (DD) track ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
One2Go 98 Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 @rbjtech You summarized that correctly. I have yet to identify if there is a difference between EAC3 or plain AC3. in addition the Denon receiver just has several inbuts like BD, SVD, SAT and so on don't know if they are ARC or not as the Denon output goes straight to PJ. Again as I mentioned before that I will stay with this but it will take time to further narrow this down. Where is the splitting being done of the elementary streams and does Emby look/check/process the container? Please accept my thanks for being interested in correcting this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbjtech 4222 Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 Which Model Denon AVR ? Which HDMI input channel is the Roku plugged into. Which HDMI output is the Projector plugged into (if it has more than one). Is there anything else plugged into the AVR ? ps - my interest is because I too have a Denon AVR - I have zero issues with the 2019 Shield Pro, but keen to understand more about the Denon. It would be good to play the identical file from another client plugged into the same HDMI input. At the end of the day, on DirectPlay, all clients are just passing the bitstream directly to the Denon for processing - so if a different client does produce a different behaviour with no dropouts, I'm inclined to think the issue may be an incompatibility issue between the Roku/Denon and AC3 - probably needing firmware updates to fix ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
One2Go 98 Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 (edited) Again thanks for your reply and interest here are my specifics. Denon Receiver AVR-4311 CI and I do check regular for any firmware updates and am on the latest. Outputs: Two but only one is used to connect to the projector Output 1 (ARC) I use 4 of the 6 inputs: BD connected to an Intel NUC which has another Emby server but version 4.0.1.0 because it works well with the EMC client including full BD with menu playback using external players and it has no audio issues for years now and would not be a valid comparison. DVD connected to the Roku Ultra. This is where the issues are occurring. SAT/CBL connected to a backup HTPC running MB 2.6.2 DVR connected to an old Dune HD Smart B1 for physical BD disc playback but hasn't been used in over a year. The two inputs that are being used regularly are the BD and DVD inputs. From the BD input I used it's HDMI cable connected to the Intel NUC , which is high spec, and connected it to the Roku but still audio dropouts occurred. Finally, what makes me believe it is an Emby issue is this. First the latest Emby server is installed an a QNAP TS-253Be which has a 64 bit structure and an Intel Celeron J3455 quad-core 1.5 GHz, burst up to 2.3 GHz processor, so should be no problem. I played back several Expanse Season 5 episodes that were ripped from Amazon and had the dropouts when played back using Emby in Direct Play mode. Than played the same episodes from the Amazon Prime app on the Roku Ultra with no audio dropouts. I discounted the incompatibility issue as I ran this setup for years but the audio dropouts occurred sometime between server version 4.5.0.0 and 4.5.4.0. Finally it could be also a problem in the common code used for the Emby Apps, but that is beyond my pay grade. Eventually this will be sorted as I have eyed the shield Pro myself and possibly will replace the Dune HD box with the next version of the Shield Pro. I will pursuit this further in my own time and since I have the latest Chromecast with Google TV will try this also as an option but all of this will take away from my time to watch decent programs Edited March 29, 2021 by One2Go Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbjtech 4222 Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 Thanks for taking to the time to list this level of detail. I know it will be a pain - but have you tried physically disconnecting all the HDMI inputs apart from the DVD/Roku and Output ? You are not actually using ARC at all - so I'm now thinking that 'something' is tripping up your AVR - it could be any of the other devices, it could be any device doing a DLNA 'broadcast' (emby included). I'm sure you have probably tried this, but I would have as minimal equipment as possible attached and running (disable DLNA in Emby as well) and see if it then has the issue. If not, slowly add back the equipment until it starts again, then at least you know what is causing the issues. Best of luck - keep us informed ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
One2Go 98 Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 (edited) This DLNA thingy caught my attention before and I uninstalled that plugin but that didn't do the trick. It will be one of several things more time consuming testing, putting up for the time being with the annoying split second of silence or getting the next generation of the shield device and run Emby from there. It is just so convenient with the storage and the server on the one QNAP NAS. Well it is not life threatening. The tripping up the Receiver is very difficult to understand. The Dune HD is powered off, the backup HTPC is powered off, the Intel NUC is powered off only the Roku is powered up and running, can't see why any of these other devices could cause that. I did eliminate the HDMI cable by trying the BD Input for the Roku but again no joy. Why I lean so strongly to Emby is two reasons it started after updating the server, and the Amazon ripped Expanse episodes play fine directly from Amazon but the ripped version has audio dropouts. The audio path in that chain is identical only the source is different Emby server and Emby Roku app versus just Roku Amazon app. Edited March 29, 2021 by One2Go Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whiskeyjack1972 0 Posted March 30, 2021 Share Posted March 30, 2021 Hi, sorry for the radio silence. I have replaced the router I was using to connect my LG TV to the home network with a network switch as the router was configured to use a VPN service. Since switching I have watched a couple of episodes with no drop outs but its too early to call this fixed I think. I'll report back once I have more testing completed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbjtech 4222 Posted March 30, 2021 Share Posted March 30, 2021 12 hours ago, One2Go said: Why I lean so strongly to Emby is two reasons it started after updating the server, and the Amazon ripped Expanse episodes play fine directly from Amazon but the ripped version has audio dropouts. The audio path in that chain is identical only the source is different Emby server and Emby Roku app versus just Roku Amazon app. Have you eliminated the NAS from the equation by perhaps creating a temporary share on the backup-PC, create a test library in emby and copy the NAS Expanse file to that share ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
One2Go 98 Posted March 30, 2021 Share Posted March 30, 2021 (edited) 7 hours ago, rbjtech said: Have you eliminated the NAS from the equation by perhaps creating a temporary share on the backup-PC, create a test library in emby and copy the NAS Expanse file to that share ? To create a test environment is a very time consuming effort. The Backup HTPC is almost 15 years old with a dual core processor and it would throw in too many variables. Since these dropouts are very random and can't be determined time wise the only way for me to get closer to the reason why, is there a way to log the playback in Emby? Since a large majority of audio formats are covered and only DD 5.1 are effected at this time it effects a small number of my existing media content if push comes to shove I use the Intel NUC with Emby server 4.0.1.0 that doesn't show the problems. Edited March 30, 2021 by One2Go Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kovibalko Posted March 30, 2021 Share Posted March 30, 2021 56 minutes ago, One2Go said: To create a test environment is a very time consuming effort. The Backup HTPC is almost 15 years old with a dual core processor and it would throw in too many variables. Since these dropouts are very random and can't be determined time wise the only way for me to get closer to the reason why, is there a way to log the playback in Emby? Since a large majority of audio formats are covered and only DD 5.1 are effected at this time it effects a small number of my existing media content if push comes to shove I use the Intel NUC with Emby server 4.0.1.0 that doesn't show the problems. Hi! I see you tested, you try, it's all good. They just forgot the point, there was a bug in my rudimentary system that I outlined at the beginning, and everyone added ... - neither roku nor amazon nor NAS anything. An LG tv, a Denon amplifier, and a Lenovo notebook server .... on every wired network. If you solved this simple system, it would be easier to grope further than to find the fault in a 20-component system ... but that's just an opinion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
One2Go 98 Posted April 1, 2021 Share Posted April 1, 2021 On 3/29/2021 at 5:48 AM, rbjtech said: Have you identified any drop outs of an EAC3 file (ie DD+) vs a plain AC3 (DD) track ? Just did I knew that EAC3 with 6 channels had dropouts just played a plain vanilla AC3 file 3 channel from a TV recording and it also had audio dropouts. Audio: Dolby AC3 48000Hz stereo 192kbps was the property had within the first 20 minutes 3 dropouts totally random with no way tide to any position in the file. Change the Roku to put out PCM format not a single audio dropout for the remaining 70 minutes. So conclusion only related to Dolby Digital format. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbjtech 4222 Posted April 1, 2021 Share Posted April 1, 2021 .. and we know that the exact same AC3 signal path (Roku > Denon) from a different source does not have issues. I would setup a 2nd portable emby server on whatever other hardware you have - the 2 core PC will be more than capable of running emby for a test. Setup a test library pointing to a test area on your NAS. Use the Roku to play as you did before (obviously pointing to the new emby server). If the dropouts stop - then you can eliminate the Roku from the equation and point the finger at the remaining item - which is Emby itself running on the NAS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
One2Go 98 Posted November 15, 2021 Share Posted November 15, 2021 Just in case anyone is still hunting for the Dolby Digital audio dropouts on a Roku it seems to be solved by the Roku update to version 10. For over a month I now have not noticed any dropouts from TV shows that exhibited dropouts before. My Roku Ultra software version is 10.5.0 Build 4201-46. Glad this is finally of the to do chase list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke 37008 Posted December 16, 2021 Share Posted December 16, 2021 Emby for LG TV's 1.0.31 has been released. Stay tuned to the blog for the release announcement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke 37008 Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 Hi, for those running a projector please try searching the LG store. According to LG we're in the store for projectors running WebOS 4+. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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