Can't Stream 4K sometimes

[GoldenSpider 12]

Hello Emby community, I'm having an odd issue when trying to playback some of my 4K content from my emby server

 

Basically when I try to playback 4K content on the emby webapp or on the Emby SmartTV app on my 4K smartTV it just gets stuck on buffering, which I assume means its transcoding

 

But when I try to playback the same content on the Emby Theater windows app on Windows 11 it works fine and just starts playing

Why can I play 4K content on Emby Theater but not the webapp or on my 4K tv?

[GoldenSpider 12]

Additional info: I have my library on my Terramaster NAS which I assume why the transcoding fails because the NAS doesn't have much RAM. but why does it have to transcode for the two apps but not for the Emby Theater app

[Happy2Play 9782]

Hi there, let's look at an example. Please attach the information requested in how to report a media playback issue. Thanks!

 

will guess there are codecs webapp and TV do not support.  Where the player in ET has more compatibility.

 

[GoldenSpider 12]

Here are the logs

 

 

ffmpeg-transcode-ffaf2be1-8452-4991-b6cc-23832c974a02_1.txt ffmpeg-transcode-c8aaffd7-aafe-4875-b052-95a9eb9f0d88_1.txt

[Happy2Play 9782]

Don't know if it will make a difference but is there a reason you have not updated to 4.7.11.0?

Suggests the browser does not support 265/hevc.

&VideoCodec=h264&AudioCodec=aac

So the server chokes on transcoding this HDR content.

[GoldenSpider 12]

1 minute ago, Happy2Play said:

Don't know if it will make a difference but is there a reason you have not updated to 4.7.11.0?

Suggests the browser does not support 265/hevc.

&VideoCodec=h264&AudioCodec=aac

So the server chokes on transcoding this HDR content.

The latest update doesn't seem to be available on my NAS OS yet

 

Is there a way I can change that so my browser will support it?

 

let me run another test here with the TV and see if I can get that log

[GoldenSpider 12]

Here should be the logs for the TV app

if it is the same Issue I am confused how the native app for the 4K smartTV is not able to encode 4K content

ffmpeg-transcode-37177a7b-ece2-40af-8908-f5797c73f2aa_1.txt ffmpeg-transcode-8db9e30a-00b6-4356-a06c-8d28a27e7291_1.txt

[Happy2Play 9782]

 

Only with hardware support.

"hevc" | Can I use... Support tables for HTML5, CSS3, etc

You can test disabling user playback setting but if transcoding is required it will fail to play.

1 minute ago, GoldenSpider said:

Here should be the logs for the TV app

if it is the same Issue I am confused how the native app for the 4K smartTV is not able to encode 4K content

ffmpeg-transcode-37177a7b-ece2-40af-8908-f5797c73f2aa_1.txt 50.11 kB · 0 downloads ffmpeg-transcode-8db9e30a-00b6-4356-a06c-8d28a27e7291_1.txt 1.97 MB · 0 downloads

Primary issue here should be graphical subtitles.  But hard to say on the additional Directplay error.

TranscodeReasons=SubtitleCodecNotSupported,DirectPlayError

 

[Lazarus_Long 80]

12 minutes ago, GoldenSpider said:

The latest update doesn't seem to be available on my NAS OS yet

 

Is there a way I can change that so my browser will support it?

 

let me run another test here with the TV and see if I can get that log

If even you get a browser that supports HEVC, getting the browser to stream 4K might still be problematic (at least in my experience).  My browser can play 1080p HEVC content fine.  But when trying to play 4K content it will play without transcoding, but I do get significant frame drops.

[Lazarus_Long 80]

19 minutes ago, Happy2Play said:

 

Only with hardware support.

"hevc" | Can I use... Support tables for HTML5, CSS3, etc

You can test disabling user playback setting but if transcoding is required it will fail to play.

Primary issue here should be graphical subtitles.  But hard to say on the additional Directplay error.

TranscodeReasons=SubtitleCodecNotSupported,DirectPlayError

 

So I have a similar question...just tried to play a 4K title in Chrome and getting this (pasted below).  It does transcode (and I was actually surprised that my server could handle it as it's not all that powerful - but I did get some frame drops).

However, I was able to play the exact same video in Chrome using the PXXX webapp, so I know the browser can support it.  Any ideas?

2023-02-01 19:49:59.034 Info Server: http/1.1 Response 200 to ‌‍‍192.168.0.7‌. Time: 6ms. http://‌‍‍192.168.0.14‌:8096/emby/videos/45598/main.m3u8?DeviceId=ae6108ff-b578-4423-8c3d-b3839c259d77&MediaSourceId=9dc5f88dc9703f50d92886e3df4e30fb&PlaySessionId=8c835709ebc3432a9ab689bf25b8baa5&VideoCodec=h264,h265,hevc&AudioCodec=mp3,aac&VideoBitrate=159616000&AudioBitrate=384000&AudioStreamIndex=1&TranscodingMaxAudioChannels=2&SegmentContainer=m4s,ts&MinSegments=1&BreakOnNonKeyFrames=True&ManifestSubtitles=vtt&h264-profile=high,main,baseline,constrainedbaseline,high10&h264-level=62&TranscodeReasons=AudioCodecNotSupported,DirectPlayError&allowVideoStreamCopy=false
 

[GoldenSpider 12]

22 minutes ago, Happy2Play said:

 

Only with hardware support.

"hevc" | Can I use... Support tables for HTML5, CSS3, etc

You can test disabling user playback setting but if transcoding is required it will fail to play.

Primary issue here should be graphical subtitles.  But hard to say on the additional Directplay error.

TranscodeReasons=SubtitleCodecNotSupported,DirectPlayError

 

If i tell Emby to convert the 4K titles do you think that would work at all? I guess I should probably just delete the 4K titles and convert them to 1080p or something then

[Lazarus_Long 80]

2 minutes ago, swallman said:

So I have a similar question...just tried to play a 4K title in Chrome and getting this (pasted below).  It does transcode (and I was actually surprised that my server could handle it as it's not all that powerful - but I did get some frame drops).

However, I was able to play the exact same video in Chrome using the PXXX webapp, so I know the browser can support it.  Any ideas?

2023-02-01 19:49:59.034 Info Server: http/1.1 Response 200 to ‌‍‍192.168.0.7‌. Time: 6ms. http://‌‍‍192.168.0.14‌:8096/emby/videos/45598/main.m3u8?DeviceId=ae6108ff-b578-4423-8c3d-b3839c259d77&MediaSourceId=9dc5f88dc9703f50d92886e3df4e30fb&PlaySessionId=8c835709ebc3432a9ab689bf25b8baa5&VideoCodec=h264,h265,hevc&AudioCodec=mp3,aac&VideoBitrate=159616000&AudioBitrate=384000&AudioStreamIndex=1&TranscodingMaxAudioChannels=2&SegmentContainer=m4s,ts&MinSegments=1&BreakOnNonKeyFrames=True&ManifestSubtitles=vtt&h264-profile=high,main,baseline,constrainedbaseline,high10&h264-level=62&TranscodeReasons=AudioCodecNotSupported,DirectPlayError&allowVideoStreamCopy=false
 

Looking at the dashboard on the server, it appears to start trying to direct play, but then falls back to transcoding when it shows "recovering from playback error".

[Happy2Play 9782]

2 minutes ago, swallman said:

So I have a similar question...just tried to play a 4K title in Chrome and getting this (pasted below).  It does transcode (and I was actually surprised that my server could handle it as it's not all that powerful - but I did get some frame drops).

However, I was able to play the exact same video in Chrome using the PXXX webapp, so I know the browser can support it.  Any ideas?

2023-02-01 19:49:59.034 Info Server: http/1.1 Response 200 to ‌‍‍192.168.0.7‌. Time: 6ms. http://‌‍‍192.168.0.14‌:8096/emby/videos/45598/main.m3u8?DeviceId=ae6108ff-b578-4423-8c3d-b3839c259d77&MediaSourceId=9dc5f88dc9703f50d92886e3df4e30fb&PlaySessionId=8c835709ebc3432a9ab689bf25b8baa5&VideoCodec=h264,h265,hevc&AudioCodec=mp3,aac&VideoBitrate=159616000&AudioBitrate=384000&AudioStreamIndex=1&TranscodingMaxAudioChannels=2&SegmentContainer=m4s,ts&MinSegments=1&BreakOnNonKeyFrames=True&ManifestSubtitles=vtt&h264-profile=high,main,baseline,constrainedbaseline,high10&h264-level=62&TranscodeReasons=AudioCodecNotSupported,DirectPlayError&allowVideoStreamCopy=false
 

It is hard to say as the devs have mentioned the error returned from a browser is pretty generic and usually ends up in a full transcode.

&TranscodeReasons=AudioCodecNotSupported,DirectPlay

But would need the full log.

[Happy2Play 9782]

2 minutes ago, GoldenSpider said:

If i tell Emby to convert the 4K titles do you think that would work at all? I guess I should probably just delete the 4K titles and convert them to 1080p or something then

On that hardware it may but would be extremely slow as your speeds on the fly are maybe "speed=0.0356x".

[Lazarus_Long 80]

18 minutes ago, Happy2Play said:

It is hard to say as the devs have mentioned the error returned from a browser is pretty generic and usually ends up in a full transcode.

&TranscodeReasons=AudioCodecNotSupported,DirectPlay

But would need the full log.

OK, just tried playing again (in Edge this time), and attached full logs.  I know one thing is that the audio codec isn't available, but can Emby just transcode that and remux it (and not transcode the video?)  Would love to have this working so willing to help debug/troubleshoot.ffmpeg-transcode-e8dcdc6f-74a1-40fb-9e98-1b3ca627e7e0_1.txt

embyserver.txt ffmpeg-remux-663fa290-5e92-443a-8124-3e8f501a6a91_1.txt ffmpeg-transcode-e8dcdc6f-74a1-40fb-9e98-1b3ca627e7e0_1.txt

[Lazarus_Long 80]

5 minutes ago, swallman said:

OK, just tried playing again (in Edge this time), and attached full logs.  I know one thing is that the audio codec isn't available, but can Emby just transcode that and remux it (and not transcode the video?)  Would love to have this working so willing to help debug/troubleshoot.ffmpeg-transcode-e8dcdc6f-74a1-40fb-9e98-1b3ca627e7e0_1.txt

embyserver.txt 637.22 kB · 0 downloads ffmpeg-remux-663fa290-5e92-443a-8124-3e8f501a6a91_1.txt 58.31 kB · 0 downloads ffmpeg-transcode-e8dcdc6f-74a1-40fb-9e98-1b3ca627e7e0_1.txt 152 kB · 0 downloads

I'm beginning to think it's the audio track causing the issue.  I have some old 4K movies (like Wizard of Oz, etc.) that play fine - mainly because the audio isn't AC3, etc.

So because it has to transcode the audio it ends up transcoding the video during the remux?

[Happy2Play 9782]

Just now, swallman said:

I'm beginning to think it's the audio track causing the issue.  I have some old 4K movies (like Wizard of Oz, etc.) that play fine - mainly because the audio isn't AC3, etc.

So because it has to transcode the audio it ends up transcoding the video during the remux?

If you select an ac3 track instead of truehd do you get the same results?

But usually, any required conversion will end up with full conversion when it come to hevc.

[Lazarus_Long 80]

3 minutes ago, Happy2Play said:

If you select an ac3 track instead of truehd do you get the same results?

But usually, any required conversion will end up with full conversion when it come to hevc.

So I just tried an old movie (Holiday Inn), 4K HEVC HDR10.  Default audio is FLAC stereo - movie streams perfect with no transcoding.  Then I switched to audio commentary (AC3 stereo), and it transcodes both audio and video.  It should only have to do the audio stream and remux it with the video.  That to me seems like a bug, not a browser issue.

(Now I could find a codec for AC3, that might resolve the issue lol).

[Happy2Play 9782]

Devs will have to explain technical side as it come back to the HLS delivery method.  But this is nothing new when it comes to HEVC.

But ac3 is a browser is limited.

HTML5 Browser Support | Dolby Developer

[Luke 42080]

@swallman are you still having an issue with this?