Playback issues on mostly anime

[crunchprank 2]

Hello,

I've noticed that with quite a few of the anime series I have on my server, the playback via my Chromecast (the newest model with Google TV) is all over the place. While hard to describe, the video may not play and stay on a black screen, while the audio stream plays just fine. The video may catch back up, but only play a single frame and get stuck there once again - all while the audio is still playing.

In looking at the logs, I really don't see any issues but I may not be looking everywhere. Also since it seems to be mostly anime encodes, I'm thinking maybe it's some sort of issue with the codec/bit-depth but I'm not sure. There's no mention of the playback in the ffmpeg-transcode* logs, so below is the only logs I have.

Logs from embyserver.txt: https://dev.crunchprank.net/files/embyserver-logs.txt
Mediainfo of file: https://dev.crunchprank.net/files/mediainfo.txt

If anyone has any input, it would be greatly appreciated. If any further logs are needed, let me know.

Thanks

[GrimReaper 4763]

Wild guess would be those are all H.264 Hi10p encodes. If so, depending on your hardware, you're likely to encounter issues there. You might throw an eye on below thread (do read it in full):

Cheers

Edit: And yeah, as per your MediaInfo:

Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : High 10@L4.1
Format settings                          : CABAC / 4 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames        : 4 frames
Codec ID                                 : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration                                 : 24 min 32 s
Bit rate                                 : 5 000 kb/s
Width                                    : 1 920 pixels
Height                                   : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 10 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.101
Stream size                              : 878 MiB (85%)
Title                                    : Video 1080p AVC High 10@L4.1

 

Edited August 5, 2021 by GrimReaper76
Append

[crunchprank 2]

Hey @GrimReaper76

I think you might be onto something about the Hi10 encodes. Specifically your comment here had me trying a few things.

First I tried lowering the bitrate in the application settings to something lower than the media file, and after doing that, the files seem to play just fine with the few that I tested (I don't know how to confirm if HW acceleration is on, but I do have Emby Premiere so I'm not sure if that means it's on by default).

I then checked the transcode logs and saw similar messages as the other user's GPU regarding the "High 10 Profile" as I'm seeing this:

>>>>>>  FindVideoDecoder - MediaType: h264, Mode: Automatic
Info    Checking: 'NVDEC GeForce GTX 760 - H.264 (AVC)'
NoMatch Codec does not support profile 'High 10 Profile'
Info    Decoder does not match
Info    Checking: 'DX11VA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 - H.264 (AVC)'
NoMatch Encoder is not compatible with 'D3d11va' decoders
Info    Checking: 'Automatic software decoder'
Info    Check successful - selecting 'Automatic software decoder'

I guess going forward I will either need to manually lower the playback bitrate to force transcoding, or just avoid Hi10 altogether. Either way, thank you for your help.

[Carlo 4561]

You could also just convert them to a format that won't cause you an an issue as well.

[pwhodges 2014]

Complicated ASS subtitles can also cause visual delays and stuttering in extreme cases.  This is highly client dependent.

I transcode most of my anime to h265 10-bit for economy of storage and bandwidth.  If this does not direct play, then it transcodes smoothly (it's the h264 10-bit which causes most trouble).

Paul

[Luke 42086]

Quote

(I don't know how to confirm if HW acceleration is on, but I do have Emby Premiere so I'm not sure if that means it's on by default).

Yes it is.