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Direct Play not working with TS files on Shield TV, works with other devices and on Plex


spacecowboy2050

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spacecowboy2050

Hi

I am using a combination of Plex and Emby to record from my Homerun Duo onto my PC.  All the files record as TS files, which is what I want as the conversion to an MP4 of interlaced material is horrible.  TS files can retain both progressive streams and interlaced streams and a combination, so I want to stick with TS.

I've just invested in a Shield TV and was going to make a choice between Emby and Plex as I don't want to keep paying for both.  My issue is, all TS files layed on the Shield in Emby end up transcoding (Direct Play error).  This ends up slower, but also converts them and deinterlaces them which I don't want.  Old 90s shows which I record a lot of do not look good.  It doesn't affect newer progressive shows so much.  The same files on Plex alwats play directly and seek really quickly.

Just for comparison, I tried the Emby and Plex apps on my Samsung TV and they both use direct play for these files, it just seems that it's Emby on the Shield that doesn't.  After investing £150 on a Shield I want to be using it and the experience geneanrally is quicker than using the apps on my TV.

I know that there has been talk in the past about problems with seeking on TS files in Emby, but if Plex can do it and the Samsung TV Emby app can do it, why can't the Shield TV do it?

I'm leaning towards keeping Plex at the momnent which is a shame as there are many parts to Emby that I prefer.

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spacecowboy2050

On the shield yes it is ticked.  Strangely I just played another TS that had been edited a while ago (can't remember the program I used) but that seems to play directly. 

Edited by spacecowboy2050
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Hi.  No.  Please see the procedure for sending a log from the app in the document I linked.

Thanks.

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spacecowboy2050

Hi ebr.  I've gone into the settings on the app as you said but I can't see any debug options anywhere?  Do you mean turn on debugging in the Emby server settings?

Edited by spacecowboy2050
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  • 4 weeks later...
spacecowboy2050

I hadn't responded as the problem seemed to have gone, but it's back again, even using a different server.

I was trying out the server on a Raspberry Pi 4, using the Nvidia Shield as my playback device.  I am watching shows recorded by my Homerun Duo which records as TS files.  Yesterday I recorded 2 shows, one on Channel 5 HD (Neighbours) and one on BBC2 HD (Top of the Pops story).  Neighbours plays fine and plays as Direct Play with no transcoding going on (I'm assuming there Pi4 wouldn't be very good at that), Top of the Pops comes up with the Direct Play error (in stats for nerds) and tries to transcode (which is too much for the Pi I think, hence the freezing and stuttering).  I tried both files on the Emby app on my Samsung TV and they both Direct Play perfectly.  It seems that some files/shows/channels? somewhere don't play well with the Nvidia Shield app causing it to try and transcode when it doesn't need to.

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5 hours ago, spacecowboy2050 said:

Top of the Pops comes up with the Direct Play error (in stats for nerds)

 

On 1/10/2021 at 9:02 AM, ebr said:

If you can reproduce that please send a log from the app so we can see what it is.

Thanks.

 

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spacecowboy2050

Hi @ebr I've just sent a log from my Shield at 5.00 GMT.  The username logged in was S***** C**

I've attached 3 screenshots - 2 where I get the error and 1 where it plays fine.

IMG_0849.jpeg

IMG_0850.jpeg

IMG_0851.jpeg

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Hi.  Unfortunately, there was too much activity between playback and sending the log.  Please send the log immediately after backing out of playback and only play long enough for the error to occur.  One thing that can help here is to get the item on your home screen via continue watching so that you can play directly from there and back directly back to the home screen.

Thanks.

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Stupid Android logging still won't tell us what the error is:

02-05 18:22:11.679  6104  6104 I System.out: Playback error - Failed to load video
02-05 18:22:11.679  6104  6104 I System.out: Player error encountered - retrying

How about trying the beta version of the app since it has a new version of the player:

 

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spacecowboy2050

@ebr Just tried it and still the same.  Some other observations if it helps:

Shows recorded on Emby server - Most (not all) end up transcoding when played through the Emby Shield app.  Samsung TV app is fine

Shows recorded on Plex - All correctly use Direct Play on the Emby App on Shield but seeking is often broken (try to skip 10 seconds and it plays the same bit again or goes back to the beginning) - they play fine on the Samsung TV app.

I can provide you with the files if you want to see if you can see anything?

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spacecowboy2050

Just tried a couple of things - here's what I found:

I took a file that was previoulsy transcoding and resaved the file using VideoRedo - no edits or reencodimg, just resaved the whole thing - it worked fine then in the Emby Shield App

I took the other file that didn't work and resaved the whole file (no reencoding) using TS Doctor - this one also played in the Emby Shield App

I played the files that previously didn't play through an external player vis the Emby Shield App (used both Kodi and VLC) and both played in both apps without transcoding, although the seek function of VLC seems to not work correctly with the Shield remote.

So according to this, it seems that ExoPlayer (the default player I think?) is having a few issues with SOME Emby Recorded TS files.  Once these files are resaved (but not edited or reencoded) in a piece of software, it seems to play them fine through ExoPlayer.  This is obviously not something I want to have to keep doing!  Do you want some examples of the files sent for you to check out?

Thanks again for your help - I do love Emby despite this issue!

Edited by spacecowboy2050
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13 hours ago, spacecowboy2050 said:

Do you want some examples of the files sent for you to check out?

Yes, please.

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It is throwing an out of memory error so, yes, something about this file is throwing the player for a loop.  Unfortunately, I'm not sure how to figure out what.

@softworkz do you have any ideas?

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 5 weeks later...
On 2/5/2021 at 7:32 PM, spacecowboy2050 said:

Once these files are resaved (but not edited or reencoded) in a piece of software, it seems to play them fine

This leads me to believe there is an issue with the composition (headers) of the files but I cannot say exactly what that may be.

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