mpegts files transcoding to x264 n Windows 10

[jonlowe 1]

Fresh install of Windows 10 and Emby server with Premier. HDhomerun Connect and Dual ATSC tuners. Emby tries, and fails to transcode mpegts files on both Live TV and recordings in both browser client (Edge) and Emby Theater on the server PC. Both live TV and recordings play fine on VLC without transcoding. Live tv plays fine in HDHomerun app, and recordings play fine in Windows TV and Movies app all on the same computer. If I turn off transcoding in my user profile, it still fails in the Emby apps. 

Should be no need to transcode anything on Windows 10. How do I fix this?

Thanks.

Jon

ffmpeg-transcode-01d2838e-5792-49bc-bc1b-36eb9b13340d_1 (1).txt embyserver (1).txt

[visproduction 316]

JL,

Since you have tried VLC, I assume you had the media files.  If you run them through AVIdemux copy video, copy audio and make the container x.264 .mp4.  This should fix each media file coming from ts files.  This is just remuxing.  Extra tips: AVIdemux gives you the option to change the audio language with the Audio pull down tab.  With AVIDemux, any ASS subtitles that might work will be removed, as a side effect.

There is probably a way to do the same remux with ffmpeg,  Mp4box  or Mp4muxer with command lines in a .bat file or script and then just run it.  This batch or script can be powerful and do all the media files with one command, that are not playing correctly.

According to https://github.com/gpac/gpac/wiki/MP4Box
 

Quote

• To prepare a file for simple progressive HTTP download, the following instruction will interleave file data by chunks of 500 milliseconds in order to enable playback while downloading the file (HTTP FastStart):

MP4Box -inter 500 file.mp4

I tried this code below in a batch file remuxmp4box.bat and it replaced all the media files and they play back nicely in a browser which should work for Emby media files to playback with no errors.   Be careful with this because it converts everything in the folder and all subfolders.  Try it with just one copy of media file.

for /R %%f in (*.mp4) do "C:\Program Files\GPAC\MP4Box.exe" -inter 500 "%%f"
echo completed
pause

This doesn't answer your question of how to do it automatically inside Emby.  This is just a fix it that might work.

Hope this helps.

[jonlowe 1]

Thanks for the reply, but my files are mpeg.ts, not x.264, from the ATSC system. Windows is perfectly able to play them in the built-in Windows TV and Movie application. Emby shouldn't need to do anything to them. I also should be able to play live TV without real time transcoding/remuxing.

I should have also mentioned that Emby is able to stream both live and recorded TV without transcoding to Android TV and Firestick devices. They work great. It's only Emby Windows apps that can't handle them. 

[ebr 16190]

Hi.  Try turning off the closed captions.

[jonlowe 1]

Tried that. Completely turned off subtitles on the server, and they no longer show up in stats for nerds. Same result. Still tries to transcode and eventually fails. At best, I get short bits of video and audio which stops and restarts after several seconds. This is true of either live tv or recordings.

If I turn off transcoding under my User's setting, leaving on the ability to recontainerize, I get the "no compatible streams available" message.

The HDHomerun app plays live tv with CCs perfectly on the same computer. The Windows Movie and TV app on the same computer also plays LiveTV from the HDHomerun server without issues, although subtitles don't seem to be available.

 

[Luke 42085]

Hi, are you still running into this? have you updated to Emby Server 4.7.11?

[jonlowe 1]

I'm running 4.7.11. Emby Theater now seems to work ok, without transcoding. Using the browser portion of the server application still transcodes, with lots of dropped frames. It's MUCH worse if I try to use closed captions than without, regardless of settings on the server side for allowing subtitle extraction on the fly. The browser also transcodes to h264 to deinterlace 1080i. The Emby Theater app doesn't seem to, but it's stats for nerds are harder to decypher. 

Everything works fine without transcoding on Android TV or a Firestick. It's just Windows dies transcoding.

[Luke 42085]

48 minutes ago, jonlowe said:

I'm running 4.7.11. Emby Theater now seems to work ok, without transcoding. Using the browser portion of the server application still transcodes, with lots of dropped frames. It's MUCH worse if I try to use closed captions than without, regardless of settings on the server side for allowing subtitle extraction on the fly. The browser also transcodes to h264 to deinterlace 1080i. The Emby Theater app doesn't seem to, but it's stats for nerds are harder to decypher. 

Everything works fine without transcoding on Android TV or a Firestick. It's just Windows dies transcoding.

Hi, you understand that web browsers don't support mpeg2video, right? That is why you're seeing video transcoding.

[jonlowe 1]

I didn't realize that about the browser and mpeg2.  Thanks for that info. It all makes sense now.