Image tearing and artifacts

[deme74 2]

Hi

Got a problem on my 2016 Samsung KS 7000 series. It is not appearing on all media files, just on some which are playing fine on other devices.
Client is the latest one, just upgraded. servers runs on DSM 7 and it's also the latest version.

I attached a small video with the symptoms, it's direct play as it can be seen in stats for nerds.

Please help.

[lejared 29]

Is your Tv connected via cable or wifi?

My guess is, that your wifi connection to your TV might not be fast enough to transfer movies with such a high bitrate.

[deme74 2]

Tried both. Connection is not a problem, it can play others with higher bitrates without a problem, including 4K Bluray.

 

[Luke 42077]

Hi there, please attach the emby server log from when you were playing. thanks.

 

[deme74 2]

@Luke I just played again now, so you should have it at the end of the log file.

embyserver.txt

[deme74 2]

@Luke Hi, were you able to find anything helpful in the log?

[Luke 42077]

@deme74, the TV is direct playing these videos in their original formats, which means there's not a lot we can do to correct this other than force transcoding via Emby Server.

Our Samsung app does not have a dedicated option to do this, but you can accomplish that by lowering the in-app quality setting to a value that is lower then the bitrate of what you're trying to play. Please note this option gets saved and may cause transcoding in situations where the TV could otherwise direct play.

I think lejared's initial comment could be right.

[deme74 2]

@LukeThis problem appears only in Emby. Playing the file with PLEX (also direct play) shows no issues. I will test also with DLNA or with the file on a USB stick. II was thinking maybe a container or codec problem, I'm nos sure if PLEX is using Samsungs player or their own. I can send you on of the files to check if there is something strange with it.

Connection is not a problem, Emby is using direct play for 4K BluRay remux with no problems whatsoever.

[deme74 2]

@Luke I made some tests. Same thing appears via DLNA or if played from USB.
I also repackaged the file to mp4 (stream copy) using XMedia Recode and the problem disappeared so I'm guessing it could be a container problem. I remember I saw in Tautulli reports from Plex that it was not Direct Play but Direct Stream changing the container to MP4 on the fly and copy the streams. I don't mind that since it's not stressing the processor like a transcode. I also checked reports for some friends who are using my Plex and i discovered more Direct Streaming lately than it used to be for files that should be played by the TV.

Is there a known problem with Samsung and MKV? Did something changed with the container specifications and Samsung did not update?
Also, is it possible for Emby to switch to Direct Stream changing the container like Plex does?

[Luke 42077]

Quote

Also, is it possible for Emby to switch to Direct Stream changing the container like Plex does?

An option for this is certainly possible, but we can't just do this for all mkv or users will complain. It could be related to high bitrate files, in which case you can try lowering the quality setting in the app to see if that helps.

[deme74 2]

9 hours ago, Luke said:

An option for this is certainly possible, but we can't just do this for all mkv or users will complain. It could be related to high bitrate files, in which case you can try lowering the quality setting in the app to see if that helps.

Of course not for all mkv, this would make no sense. It is not happening for all mkv, just for the ones that have problems. It is like the local client is reporting it cannot direct play and it needs direct stream because of the container. Lowering quality will trigger a video transcode and it's not something I want to do. I recently moved to a Synology precisely because video transcoding was only seldom necessary, most of the few transcodings I have are audio caused by DTS and these are not really stressing the processor.

Would it help if I send you one of the files so you can see if there is something strange with it that would require a container change?

[Luke 42077]

Quote

Would it help if I send you one of the files so you can see if there is something strange with it that would require a container change?

Sure but we've looked at these many times before. Sometimes the Samsung player has trouble with certain files and there's just no way for us to automatically detect it.

The Samsung player will raise errors in some cases, and we do catch those and automatically switch to transcoding. But in many other cases it doesn't and it will act like it's playing normally even though it's unwatchable. 

There's currently no way to resolve that other than making the user click a button to switch to server transcoding. But from the perspective of the server admin, keeping your video files using as simple of formats as possible and encoded with reputable software is one way that you can reduce your chances of seeing this.

[deme74 2]

8 hours ago, Luke said:

Sure but we've looked at these many times before. Sometimes the Samsung player has trouble with certain files and there's just no way for us to automatically detect it.

The Samsung player will raise errors in some cases, and we do catch those and automatically switch to transcoding. But in many other cases it doesn't and it will act like it's playing normally even though it's unwatchable. 

There's currently no way to resolve that other than making the user click a button to switch to server transcoding. But from the perspective of the server admin, keeping your video files using as simple of formats as possible and encoded with reputable software is one way that you can reduce your chances of seeing this.

I see. OK, I remuxed that series to MP4 anyway so I'll keep doing that if other files have problems. Out of curiosity I'll make a test on a newer Samsung with Tizen 3.0 (mine are on 2.4) to see if it's any better.

Thx for the help.

[Luke 42077]

Let us know how you get on. Thanks.