Need advice on reading logs, possible hardware swap or re-encode media

[Hoochee 12]

Storage and server are on a Thecus  N5550 (1.86 GHz Dual Core Atom; w/ 2GB RAM)

Question related to the video media: For a few years I've only viewed media locally but I now need to regularly view remotely. The majority is in MP4 format, but a year or so ago I started using x265. When viewing remotely I have a Roku Express 4K+. From what I can find they support:

Video	MKV (H.264), MP4 (H.264), MOV (H.264), WMV (VC-1, firmware 3.1 only)
Music	AAC, MP3, WMA, FLAC (firmware 5.3 and later), WAV (firmware 5.3 and later)
Photo	JPG, PNG, GIF (non-animated)

I've never paid attention to transcoding and remuxing because I've never had any issues locally, but not I'm looking at the logs because I have playback issues with some media. the x265 I understand because it's not supported by the Roku device. However, some H264 with AAC 5.1 audio are getting transcoded and so causing playback issues (buffering/freezing). It's not a format support issue so I assume it's bitrate but I don't know how to read the transcode logs to figure that out. I've tried to self help with a search here, can someone point me to what I'm looking for in the log to know why the H264 files are transcoding?

Some are ~2900 bitrate, others are ~5900. emby is set to Auto.

 

The Subject of this post is because I assume my aged hardware is also contributing, although I know some users have old tech and have no issues because I've scanned several of the conversations over the years. or should I re-encode the x265 to H264, although that doesn't seem to be the right solution since H264 is transcoding for remote viewing.

Bandwidth is good both local and remote.   

  

Edited August 16, 2021 by Hoochee

[GrimReaper 4763]

It might be due to your media exceeding bitrate limit, do you have any Streaming limits set under Network settings or particular User settings? 

It can also be a bad encode, with player reporting bad file upon which server will automatically switch to transcoding. 

It might be incompatible subs, as well. 

Without your logs, hard to tell. Server log and ffmpeg log should give you an idea there. 

Edit: Read a bit, your N5550 has Atom D2550 of discontinued Cedarview architecture. No QS, so all transcoding is done in software. While it might still serve DirectPlays, with the Passmark of 405 it will struggle with transcoding pretty much everything - general rule of thumb (although that depends on number of factors, but you can use it as a generalized guide) is that you need a CPU with Passmark of 2,000 for a single 1080p transcode. I reckon, in today's media world, this would surely qualify as a time for an upgrade. 

Edited August 16, 2021 by GrimReaper76
Append

[Hoochee 12]

Bitrate - No limits set

Subs - none embedded, none external

Encode issue - it’s not transcoding locally

I’ll upload the logs later today  

 

thanks

 

[Luke 42086]

Hi, did you explore the stats feature in the video player to learn why it was transcoding?

[Hoochee 12]

@Luke, I haven't. I didn't know there was a stats feature. I'll have a look and see. 

 

@GrimReaper76So a bigger hindrance than I thought with the ole Thecus. I've got a laptop I could use but for some time I've been considering a Shield Pro and have started researching best set up in the forums. I've got 30+ upload where it would be located, 20 down at the Roku side. I'd also like a solution that would allow reliable streaming of live TV. I don't expect to ever need have more than 2 local and 2 remote streams simultaneously.  From what I've found so far I'd install the emby server on the Shield Pro, use the Thecus as the storage. Does that support my needs?

Not sure the logs are still needed but their attached.

ffmpeg-transcode-c8736816-db11-427b-954c-29775a8f4af2_1.txt

[GrimReaper 4763]

37 minutes ago, Hoochee said:

I didn't know there was a stats feature. I'll have a look and see. 

SFN (Stats for Nerds) will show you that, enable in OSD while playing, cog icon (or if Roku supports it, long press OK during playback). 

Btw, your log is for 10-bit HEVC transcode, so it doesnt really apply to original query. 

37 minutes ago, Hoochee said:

@GrimReaper76So a bigger hindrance than I thought with the ole Thecus. I've got a laptop I could use but for some time I've been considering a Shield Pro and have started researching best set up in the forums. I've got 30+ upload where it would be located, 20 down at the Roku side. I'd also like a solution that would allow reliable streaming of live TV. I don't expect to ever need have more than 2 local and 2 remote streams simultaneously.  From what I've found so far I'd install the emby server on the Shield Pro, use the Thecus as the storage. Does that support my needs?

Shield Pro is a great little machine, I'll give you some guidelines from own experience (I have a tertiary server running server/client combo on Shield 2017 with mounted storage) so you can decide whether it'll satisfy your needs:

First and foremost, it'll enable you to DirectPlay almost anything on it, no matter the format or container, it seldom meets something it has issues with. Second, Android Server does work, but you generally might encounter a glitch or two, but for the most part does it's job well. Few issues I had I blame it more on Nvidia and Shield firmware then Emby itself, mostly related to network connections and mounted storage behaviour. As with any machine way less powerfull than it, it will have no issues direct serving several clients. On the transcoding side, you might expect 2-3-4 1080p simultaneous transcodes (again, depending on number of factors), anything over will start taxing it, but 1-2 of them with few direct plays should be no issue. In general, I reckon it would meet your requirements. 

Edited August 17, 2021 by GrimReaper76

[GrimReaper 4763]

40 minutes ago, Hoochee said:

I've got a laptop I could use

You might as well try it first, I'm running secondary portable on it right now, for when my primary portable NUC server needs some maintenace, while I'm onboard (yeah, I'm full of servers), no issues serving 10ish clients, transcodes or not. Granted, it surely depends what kind of a laptop it is.