Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max Black Screen

[BMNBMN 4]

Is there an option in the settings to always transcode until we have a fix for this?

[Luke 42077]

5 hours ago, BMNBMN said:

Is there an option in the settings to always transcode until we have a fix for this?

HI, you would have to use the quality setting, although that would cause other things to transcode as well. We are looking into it. Thanks.

[Runouri 2]

Same issue here with Fire stick 4K

[ALD76 26]

This issue is also present on the new Google Streamer. Not surprising as it uses the same chip.

[Oomek 3]

I've just upgraded my Chromecast with Google TV 4K to a newer model from 2024 Google TV Streamer 4K

And guess what, all DV HDR+ compatible videos that worked previously are now black, just the audio is playing, no UI is even showing.

What a marvellous upgrade.

Can this be fixed, or this is a hardware issue and I need to send this device back?

 

Edited November 7, 2024 by Oomek

[Luke 42077]

21 minutes ago, Oomek said:

I've just upgraded my Chromecast with Google TV 4K to a newer model from 2024 Google TV Streamer 4K

And guess what, all DV HDR+ compatible videos that worked previously are now black, just the audio is playing, no UI is even showing.

What a marvellous upgrade.

Can this be fixed, or this is a hardware issue and I need to send this device back?

 

Hi, what version of the Emby app are you running?

[Oomek 3]

Both Android apps are unable to play these type of files on Google TV Streamer 4K
3.4.20 and 2.1.21g

[rbjtech 5284]

12 hours ago, Oomek said:

I've just upgraded my Chromecast with Google TV 4K to a newer model from 2024 Google TV Streamer 4K

And guess what, all DV HDR+ compatible videos that worked previously are now black, just the audio is playing, no UI is even showing.

What a marvellous upgrade.

Can this be fixed, or this is a hardware issue and I need to send this device back?

 

It's a known and long outstanding issue with that SoC (hence this thread) - happens with FireTV 4K Max as well (same SoC).

Amazon/Google are unlikely to fix it (it's in hardware), but it has been fixed in software (Kodi) by dynamically removing the HDR10+ data ..

Edited November 8, 2024 by rbjtech

[Luke 42077]

On 11/8/2024 at 5:57 AM, rbjtech said:

It's a known and long outstanding issue with that SoC (hence this thread) - happens with FireTV 4K Max as well (same SoC).

Amazon/Google are unlikely to fix it (it's in hardware), but it has been fixed in software (Kodi) by dynamically removing the HDR10+ data ..

Yes that is something we can look into. Thanks.

[Oomek 3]

I eventually bought Apple TV. Had enough with all these experiments, and guess what, all the issues I was complaining about are gone. So it's not you but the platforms of the developers that have no attention to detail.

[Napsterbater 26]

I'll just throw my name into the ring as a user having issues with this.

If it's a known issue, the app should be hard-coded to check for either the platform/device it's on (I'm assuming it can) or something and decide to forcibly transcode this content or as otherwise suggested somehow strip the data from the stream.

My uneducated assumption would be that forcing a transcode would be easier, though of course those with limited CPU on their servers would have an issue, but without that they're not playing the video anyway so.

[BalthazarBux 16]

Yes, I think it must be possible to do something with this issue. Since the base HDR metadata is in there with the Dolby Vision. And also HDR10+ for the DV/HDR10+ files. 

It should be able to select and play one that does not output black screen without user interface.

Since I (and my users) have a wide set of screens with different HDR support, It should be enough to have one file with different HDR standards. The solution cant be to have one DV and one HDR10+. 

Is there not maybe possible to create option preset which metadata you want to use? 

 

[Crackers991 5]

For those who haven't seen the TOPIC I'm writing it here too

Same black screen issue with DV HDR10+ Fire TV Stick 4K Max 1st gen, works by removing HDR10+ metadata (as rbjtech wrote, thanks )

I used Dolby_Vision_Tool (drag file to DDVT_REMOVER, press S) very fast, 30 seconds.

Is it possible to add a setting to disable HDR10+ to emby??

[teonigil 10]

On 12/14/2024 at 2:20 PM, Crackers991 said:

For those who haven't seen the TOPIC I'm writing it here too

Same black screen issue with DV HDR10+ Fire TV Stick 4K Max 1st gen, works by removing HDR10+ metadata (as rbjtech wrote, thanks )

I used Dolby_Vision_Tool (drag file to DDVT_REMOVER, press S) very fast, 30 seconds.

Is it possible to add a setting to disable HDR10+ to emby??

Other apps (Plex, Kodi..) have no problem on the AFS. 
This has been going on for years and no fix from Emby… nada.. crickets  
This is by far Emby’s #1 problem and as much as I don’t like Plex, I am already invested in the AFS on several TVs (like so many others). I understand this is an Amazon/Google hardware problem but it has already been proven to be resolvable and shouldn’t be used as an excuse at this point. 
With the market going DV hybrid on many new titles Emby will be left behind by not implementing a simple workaround for the issue. 
Go to work Emby!!
 

[bad_vista 7]

The problem is not only with HDR10+ but also with DV 7 profile. Black screen with Emby on FireTV is unavoidable. I understand that in both cases there is no support from hardware. But Plex, for example, switches to HDR and plays video normally.

[teonigil 10]

2 hours ago, bad_vista said:

The problem is not only with HDR10+ but also with DV 7 profile. Black screen with Emby on FireTV is unavoidable. I understand that in both cases there is no support from hardware. But Plex, for example, switches to HDR and plays video normally.

Bingo!

[envy10 0]

On 12/25/2024 at 3:42 PM, teonigil said:

Other apps (Plex, Kodi..) have no problem on the AFS. 
This has been going on for years and no fix from Emby… nada.. crickets  
This is by far Emby’s #1 problem and as much as I don’t like Plex, I am already invested in the AFS on several TVs (like so many others). I understand this is an Amazon/Google hardware problem but it has already been proven to be resolvable and shouldn’t be used as an excuse at this point. 
With the market going DV hybrid on many new titles Emby will be left behind by not implementing a simple workaround for the issue. 
Go to work Emby!!
 

100% agree! Developers of emby doesnt work!! 

[RanmaCanada 494]

Everyone here stating "but Plex can do it" forget that Plex has well over 100 PAID employees, and has tens of millions of dollars in cash. Emby does not. Emby is a handful of developers and what they can work on is limited. As this is a literal hardware problem I can see what they would deem it a non priority as you can just not buy this product or manually process the files you pirated yourself by either downloading the right one, or using the scene tools that the scene uses as they are freely available. No one wants to take responsibility for their actions.

 

[teonigil 10]

48 minutes ago, RanmaCanada said:

Everyone here stating "but Plex can do it" forget that Plex has well over 100 PAID employees, and has tens of millions of dollars in cash. Emby does not. Emby is a handful of developers and what they can work on is limited. As this is a literal hardware problem I can see what they would deem it a non priority as you can just not buy this product or manually process the files you pirated yourself by either downloading the right one, or using the scene tools that the scene uses as they are freely available. No one wants to take responsibility for their actions.

 

Interesting you’re automatically assuming pirating and downloading... probably because that’s your kind of game. Sorry!! Nothing like that here. I rip my own BRs for the convenience of watching in every room of the house and backing up the delicate physical media. 
To my humble opinion, regardless of employee number, Emby needs to fix this to keep up with the competition. I prefer Emby over Plex but will keep using Plex until this is fixed by either Amazon or Emby… and it doesn’t look like Amazon cares much. 
 

Edited December 28, 2024 by teonigil

[BalthazarBux 16]

Yeah, I don't find it a solution to keep double editions of all my media just to stay with Emby when I can have one file on my server with another software. 

My Samsung TVs need HDR10+ and my LG a Dolby Vision for optimal viewing. 

The LG TV doesnt natively support Dolby Vision MKV even, so maybe I should keep a mp4 of my media too for all my LGTVs that doesnt have a external media player.

The HDR10 metadata is there as a base, other software can play it, it cant be a question of hundreds of employees.

[lharris 3]

1 hour ago, teonigil said:

Interesting you’re automatically assuming pirating and downloading... probably because that’s your kind of game. Sorry!! Nothing like that here. I rip my own BRs for the convenience of watching in every room of the house and backing up the delicate physical media. 
To my humble opinion, regardless of employee number, Emby needs to fix this to keep up with the competition. I prefer Emby over Plex but will keep using Plex until this is fixed by either Amazon or Emby… and it doesn’t look like Amazon cares much. 
 

Well I'll admit it because I don't give two $#*^'s......  I haven't run into this this problem recently because I blacklisted the release groups that do a crap job encoding and I built Custom Formats in Radarr to prioritize groups like FraMeSToR or CiNEPHiLES who produce quality releases.  It's a non issue as the ones that aren't incompetent don't release problematic files that fail to play on open source player and an SoC with flaws. 

[BalthazarBux 16]

30 minutes ago, lharris said:

Well I'll admit it because I don't give two $#*^'s......  I haven't run into this this problem recently because I blacklisted the release groups that do a crap job encoding and I built Custom Formats in Radarr to prioritize groups like FraMeSToR or CiNEPHiLES who produce quality releases.  It's a non issue as the ones that aren't incompetent don't release problematic files that fail to play on open source player and an SoC with flaws. 

Well thats a lot of bullshit, since the standard is more or less going towards releases containing both frame to frame hdr formats. Well of course it probably are releases with the one or other hdr standard also, but thats pretty irrelevant if the player could do the simple task of choosing the format the screen supports or to fallback to HDR10 since BOTH formats include it.

[teonigil 10]

11 hours ago, lharris said:

Well I'll admit it because I don't give two $#*^'s......  I haven't run into this this problem recently because I blacklisted the release groups that do a crap job encoding and I built Custom Formats in Radarr to prioritize groups like FraMeSToR or CiNEPHiLES who produce quality releases.  It's a non issue as the ones that aren't incompetent don't release problematic files that fail to play on open source player and an SoC with flaws. 

Except for not giving two $#*^'s you make zero sense on a few levels. 

[grizlyadams 19]

Is Emby going to fix this? 

Just upgraded my AFS to a 4K Max Gen 2 and the problem is still there.

VIMU player fixes the issue for me (AFS connected to old LG TV) with Emby set to use external player. 

VIMU lists its "engine" as "HLS/DASH over ExoPlayer2"

And has the following "video" options set 

Dolby Vision

Convert Dolby Vision Profile

Remove HDR10+ (Remove HDR10+ metadata during playback)

 

Surely it would be possible for Emby devs to add the same options?

 

 

 

Edited June 5, 2025 by grizlyadams

[BlackDub 50]

Please fix this problem