Direct Play Issue with Live TV using HD Homerun (Emby Issue Only)

[mirdragon 15]

2 hours ago, ebr said:

Hi.  Please see the instructions for sending a log from the app to find out how to get the options.  In addition to what is mentioned there, there will be a "Send Logs" option under the cog menu during playback.

Thanks.

I've sent 3 logs from trying to watch 3 different channels all by the user 'Shared'

Times are approx

GMT = 18:02 -> UTC 17:02 -> EST 12:02

Channel 102 - BBC 2 HD - Richard Osman's House of Games

GMT = 18:05 -> UTC 17:05 -> EST 12:05

Channel 103 - ITV HD - ITV News Granada Reports

GMT = 18:15 -> UTC 17:15 -> EST 12:15

Channel 101 - BBC One HD - BBC News at Six

It couldn't even play this channel, just kept stuttering and pausing

Switched to Channels DVR and no problems

As both Plex and Channels DVR work without issues I may just stick with them for the TV side or just set Emby to deinterlace all SD/HD content and transcode everything. Emby also seems to not be releasing the tuner correctly when close the app and if reopen the app or switch back to live tv it opens another tuner, also noticed it doesn't support tuner sharing, so if multiple devices are viewing the same channel only one tuner is used

Edited June 1, 2021 by mirdragon

[ebr 14913]

1 hour ago, mirdragon said:

also noticed it doesn't support tuner sharing, so if multiple devices are viewing the same channel only one tuner is used

Hi.  We do support that as long as a transcode isn't needed. 

[ebr 14913]

There are a lot of these errors preceding the pausing and buffering:

06-01 18:14:04.125  7682  8308 D AudioTrack: correcting timestamp time for pause, currentTimeNanos: 77046276142847 < limitNs: 77046956069618 < mStartNs: 77046998069618
06-01 18:14:04.136  7682  8308 D AudioTrack: correcting timestamp time for pause, currentTimeNanos: 77046281427691 < limitNs: 77046956069618 < mStartNs: 77046998069618
06-01 18:14:04.146  7682  8308 D AudioTrack: correcting timestamp time for pause, currentTimeNanos: 77046281427691 < limitNs: 77046956069618 < mStartNs: 77046998069618
06-01 18:14:04.276  7682  7682 I System.out: *******

If you have one of the HDHRs that do its own transcoding, try turning that off.

[mirdragon 15]

1 hour ago, ebr said:

There are a lot of these errors preceding the pausing and buffering:

06-01 18:14:04.125  7682  8308 D AudioTrack: correcting timestamp time for pause, currentTimeNanos: 77046276142847 < limitNs: 77046956069618 < mStartNs: 77046998069618
06-01 18:14:04.136  7682  8308 D AudioTrack: correcting timestamp time for pause, currentTimeNanos: 77046281427691 < limitNs: 77046956069618 < mStartNs: 77046998069618
06-01 18:14:04.146  7682  8308 D AudioTrack: correcting timestamp time for pause, currentTimeNanos: 77046281427691 < limitNs: 77046956069618 < mStartNs: 77046998069618
06-01 18:14:04.276  7682  7682 I System.out: *******

If you have one of the HDHRs that do its own transcoding, try turning that off.

I have a single HDHomeRun Quatro - that was the BBC One HD Channel that was stuttering and is the channel that Emby has left open when exiting the app

that channel runs fine using plex, channels dvr or hdhomerun

GMT 20:44 Update

So just performed so further tests

101 shows trans on the info when press down, but doesn't play anything

102 shows direct but doesn't do anything

103 showed trans and done transcoding

104 and 105 both showed direct and played direct

The LiveTV is inconsistent within the app for what it is doing, if I get a chance i'll see if get same issues on Apple TV 4K (as soon as can test) and if does, then will stick with something else for the LiveTV and then decide if to continue with Emby (i've cancelled the monthly auto-renewal atm) for my other media playback which it seems fine with or stick with Plex.

It's ended up locking 3 of the tuners, even though the app has been exited and the shield has been powered off

Tuner 0 Channel    101 BBC ONE HD
Tuner 1 Channel    102 BBC TWO HD
Tuner 2 Channel    100 Freeview
Tuner 3 Channel    not in use

Edited June 1, 2021 by mirdragon

[mirdragon 15]

currently testing a work-around and disabled direct play, set de-interlace on for SD/HD and disabled ipv6 on the server and so far especially after disabling ipv6 Emby is performing better for the TV side but still early days and all the channels previously not playing are now playing first time, but it does mean some channels are remuxed but will still do direct stream.

Info from playing channel 5 HD (101) on Nvidia Shield 2019

Quote

The media is compatible with the device regarding resolution and media type (H.264, AC3, etc.), but is in an incompatible file container (.mkv, .avi, .wmv, etc.). The video will be re-packaged on the fly before streaming it to the device.
Direct Streaming a file uses very little processing power without any loss in video quality.

 

[ebr 14913]

18 hours ago, mirdragon said:

Info from playing channel 5 HD (101) on Nvidia Shield 2019

That would be because you disabled direct play.  I would reverse all the changes you tried except the IPv6 part and see if it all works.

[mirdragon 15]

3 hours ago, ebr said:

That would be because you disabled direct play.  I would reverse all the changes you tried except the IPv6 part and see if it all works.

only have allow stream copy enabled and that works, all interlace options unticked, as soon as you enable direct play it fails and that with ipv6 disabled, it doesn't even attempt to fall back to direct stream

surprised if this is not a similar issue to another thread regarding playback of ts files recorded from freeview where it won't play them?

Edited June 5, 2021 by mirdragon

[ebr 14913]

2 minutes ago, mirdragon said:

surprised if this is not a similar issue to another thread regarding playback of ts files recorded from freeview where it won't play them?

It may be.  Exo is very picky about the format of media streams.  Anything that deviates from spec can sometimes cause a problem.

[shdwkeeper 15]

Has this been resolved, I get audio drops and slight pausing when I have enable live seeking checked I also get direct play error with that option checked.  When I direct play no audio drops but I can pause TV and rewind.  Any ideas?

[Luke 37064]

We are continuing to work on improving it. Thanks for the feedback.

[mirdragon 15]

On 28/07/2021 at 20:57, shdwkeeper said:

Has this been resolved, I get audio drops and slight pausing when I have enable live seeking checked I also get direct play error with that option checked.  When I direct play no audio drops but I can pause TV and rewind.  Any ideas?

I've switched to another app for watching tv if I use the Shield, just costs more money to be able to use recording features, or the other option is to use Emby on Apple TV which works fine for Live TV, so you would think if could work on a lower spec device like that, it would work on the shield properly

[shdwkeeper 15]

On 8/7/2021 at 3:13 AM, mirdragon said:

I've switched to another app for watching tv if I use the Shield, just costs more money to be able to use recording features, or the other option is to use Emby on Apple TV which works fine for Live TV, so you would think if could work on a lower spec device like that, it would work on the shield properly

What other app are you using?  Just trying to understand why my Live TV is always transcoding and it says Direct Stream on the Shield.

[Carlo 4330]

Direct Stream is not transcoding and doesn't affect the quality of video.

Live TV works just fine on the Shield TV and is one of the most popular Emby devices used for this.

[mirdragon 15]

3 hours ago, shdwkeeper said:

What other app are you using?  Just trying to understand why my Live TV is always transcoding and it says Direct Stream on the Shield.

I use a mixture of the SD app and Channels DVR (depending on device using) as find both Emby and Plex have some issues, but Emby does play a lot better than Plex. Emby does work a lot better if you disable direct play for tv. But if I'm in Emby already I will use that

[shdwkeeper 15]

4 hours ago, cayars said:

Direct Stream is not transcoding and doesn't affect the quality of video.

Live TV works just fine on the Shield TV and is one of the most popular Emby devices used for this.

Than why does it say it's transcoding in the Stats?

[mirdragon 15]

it the same on an android tablet, some it will do direct stream while other channels it wants to transcode

It's also slower to start and tune to the require channels compared to the SD app and Channels DVR which both are more or less instant

 

[Carlo 4330]

7 hours ago, shdwkeeper said:

Than why does it say it's transcoding in the Stats?

Can you show a pic of this?

[Carlo 4330]

Just now, cayars said:

Can you show a pic of this?

You can also tell by the name of the ffmpeg log file generated during playback as well.

[shdwkeeper 15]

6 hours ago, cayars said:

You can also tell by the name of the ffmpeg log file generated during playback as well.

Here is a video of it switching from Direct Play to Direct Streaming and than transcoding.  It happens on every Live TV channel I've looked at.  It also cause pauses, and mutes audio while watching these channels as well.  Really annoying.  This is on a Shield Pro.

[Carlo 4330]

That was showing Direct Stream method of playback.

[shdwkeeper 15]

It starts off using Direct Play than errors out and goes over to Direct Stream and starts transcoding.

[Carlo 4330]

I didn't see any transcoding in that video.  Look at the top for playback method.

But it's best to look at the log file generated and see if it has in the name transcoding or remux (direct stream).

[shdwkeeper 15]

look at 31secs in, it says Transcode speed and reason.  I attached screenshot, and also a log from the same error recording a local channel over an HD Homerun, is the Direct Stream not transcoding?  Than why does it have a transcode speed and reason for it?  Also, 10secs in it switches from Direct Play to Direct Stream, why?

 

ffmpeg-directstream-75f1ff45-2ad6-4bc4-acb7-3ddf9b2aba79_1.txt

Edited September 6, 2021 by shdwkeeper

[shdwkeeper 15]

Also, these examples are with Direct Play mode unchecked because I want to timeshift (pause, rewind, etc..) if I have Direct Play TV checked I get Unsupported container.  As shown with this photo. Does Emby support HLS?

[mirdragon 15]

You can also see on the information it will say trans then switch to remux, the stats for nerds starts with direct play, then gives the direct play error, then says direct stream.

As I've mentioned there are only two apps that seem to work perfectly on both the Pro 2015 and Pro 2019 models and that is the HD Homerun app itself and ChannelsDVR, on Plex you get constant buffering, on Emby its slow to switch and tune to channels, then may pause for a second then play, but you then get audio out of sync on some of the channels.

Emby is fine playing my BD files with Dolby Atmos, it's just Live TV it has the problem with and this isn't just on the Shield TV's either, its also on Samsung Tablet and Mobiles it has a problem streaming LiveTV.

Give HD Homerun or Channels DVR a test to see if you have same problems, if you wish to record you will have to pay for the guide on either (HDHR is paid yearly, Channels is monthly or yearly). This way you can determine if it is Emby or devices with the problem