Emby transcoding because 'bitrate exceeds limit'

[avitali 8]

Hi, I've been using Emby for a few weeks now. I've noticed that, pretty often, when users stream, the server transcodes the file, even though it would be compatible with the client. The reason given is always something along the lines of 'media bitrate exceeds limit'.

Can somebody of you explain to me why this happens? It seems to me that most files should just direct play. I've used Jellyfin, where everything direct plays (which can be both good and bad...) and neither I, nor my users have ever had issues direct playing (caused by bitrate limitations). It just seems weird Emby does this, and I cannot understand why...

I've attached the logs of two instances where this occurred as txt-files.

Emby-logs-1.txtEmby-logs-2.txt

[Happy2Play 9780]

The playback set to "Auto" being conservative and using the hardcoded remote fallback value of 3Mbps.

If you set the Playback quality to anything besides "Auto" it works, correct?

[avitali 8]

For my own user, under Playback, I have set 1080p - 60mbps. Since I've set it that way, I don't have the issue anymore. But still, before setting it, the quality was lowered at times, and at times not. I don't really understand why this happens...

Is there any way to set settings server-side so that emby only transcodes when necessarily needed? Most of my media is 8-10 mbps, and 3 mbps just seems unnecessarily low.

[Happy2Play 9780]

Emby already only transcodes, when necessary, but from a REMOTE standpoint it can be conservative and fallback to hard coded value for any number of reasons when set to Auto.

Note playback quality is a per device setting and we would need to see a specific example if you have value set at 1080p - 60Mbps and you are getting a low value.

[avitali 8]

Well, it's more for remote users I asked. Since I've set the quality at 1080p - 60 mbps it works fine for me.

Is there any way to mitigate the issue of the stream transcoding? What are reasons why this would happen?

I just wondered why it would default to 3mbps, even when through a remote connection, as this seemed unnecessary to me - especially as my goal is to provide a high quality stream

[Luke 42077]

The default for auto on a remote connection will generally be on the conservative side. If you raise the quality setting, that may help avoid transcoding.

[avitali 8]

Can I change the default for auto? As in, can I set global quality settings which are higher than the default is?

[Luke 42077]

Hi, no, but we are looking into improving it. Thanks.

[avitali 8]

I'd love to see that. As I connect through cloudflare (when I'm home as well, almost never use the local address), pretty much all my connections are 'remote' connections. The limit just seems arbitrary - is it possible to just abandon it entirely?

The only limit which would make sense imo is if bandwidth isn't high enough... which server or client could detect

[avitali 8]

@LukeAre there any news on this? The server forcing clients to transcode even though there's ample bandwidth available is quite annoying. On low power hardware, I can barely support 2 streams, other stuff gets bogged down, there's much higher energy usage etc.

It seems the defaults are a little less conservative than when I last tested. But I still cannot understand why streams cannot just take up as much bandwidth as needed/available. Attached is playback info with default settings. Saving less than 500kBps really isn't worth the degradation in quality from transcoding... I just cannot understand.

Emby is much more polished than Jellyfin, however I cannot actually use it as long as it keeps eating through CPU resources because of arbitrary bitrate limits 

[Carlo 4560]

On 4/12/2022 at 5:24 PM, avitali said:

Well, it's more for remote users I asked. Since I've set the quality at 1080p - 60 mbps it works fine for me.

Is there any way to mitigate the issue of the stream transcoding?

Have your users make the bandwidth change like you did to 1080-60 mbps or one of the 4K settings if applicable.

On 4/13/2022 at 3:59 PM, avitali said:

Can I change the default for auto? As in, can I set global quality settings which are higher than the default is?

Not at this point in time.  It's a device setting that needs to be set on the client.  No way to change the client setting from the server.

On 12/4/2024 at 9:45 PM, avitali said:

@LukeAre there any news on this?

Not yet.

[Luke 42077]

On 12/4/2024 at 9:45 PM, avitali said:

@LukeAre there any news on this? The server forcing clients to transcode even though there's ample bandwidth available is quite annoying. On low power hardware, I can barely support 2 streams, other stuff gets bogged down, there's much higher energy usage etc.

It seems the defaults are a little less conservative than when I last tested. But I still cannot understand why streams cannot just take up as much bandwidth as needed/available. Attached is playback info with default settings. Saving less than 500kBps really isn't worth the degradation in quality from transcoding... I just cannot understand.

Emby is much more polished than Jellyfin, however I cannot actually use it as long as it keeps eating through CPU resources because of arbitrary bitrate limits 

We'll look into whether or not we can further increase our defaults .Thanks.

[Carlo 4560]

I'd be glad to see the defaults increased quite a bit. With a setting on the server to limit a streams max bitrate (non 4K and 4K) it would give far more customization to server owners.

Heck I'd like to see the default set to the highest resolution/bitrate on the client and allow the user to turn it down if needed.

[avitali 8]

Thanks a lot for your feedback!

Quote

Have your users make the bandwidth change like you did to 1080-60 mbps or one of the 4K settings if applicable

They did, however the setting seems to either reset or is dependent on the client - as all of their streams start transcoding after some time again. Moreover, they do not really understand the implications of those settings, and just complain when playback is buggy  
It's only 3 users, but that's enough ^^

Quote

I'd be glad to see the defaults increased quite a bit. With a setting on the server to limit a streams max bitrate (non 4K and 4K) it would give far more customization to server owners.

Heck I'd like to see the default set to the highest resolution/bitrate on the client and allow the user to turn it down if needed.

This would be amazing! Imo Emby does a really good job at transcoding down to the max supported quality when bandwidth is limited with the setting "Auto" - as long as "Auto" is below the hardcoded default bandwidth limit ^^

Having "Auto" just go as high as the user's bandwidth allows, and giving the server admin options to set a limit (which already exists server-wide, maybe optionally per-stream as well), would be perfect imo! As for my use case, just getting rid of the hard-capped bitrate limit per stream would be enough

[Carlo 4560]

On 12/23/2024 at 12:42 PM, avitali said:

They did, however the setting seems to either reset or is dependent on the client - as all of their streams start transcoding after some time again.

These are not user settings but are client/app settings.  If a user has Android Mobile, Android TV, Roku and uses Web client they would need to configure each of these separately.