Why are 4k thumbnails from recorded TV grayed out?

[MBSki 1114]

Here's an example from the super bowl which I recorded from Verizon Fios cable on their 4k channel. Why are all the thunmbnails grayed out?

[Luke 42077]

hi, is it only from this channel?

[MBSki 1114]

7 hours ago, Luke said:

hi, is it only from this channel?

No, it's from all 4k channels. This is just my latest example.

[rbjtech 5283]

Worth providing a log - look for 'QuickImageSeriesExtractor' - and see what the ffmpeg command is doing.   I'm thinking it maybe is trying to do tonemapping on SDR material ?

[MBSki 1114]

9 hours ago, rbjtech said:

Worth providing a log - look for 'QuickImageSeriesExtractor' - and see what the ffmpeg command is doing.   I'm thinking it maybe is trying to do tonemapping on SDR material ?

Unfortunately those logs are long gone, and i don't see any upcoming 4k broadcasts. I'd suspect you're right though. if I see another 4k broadcast I'll record again and save the logs.

[Happy2Play 9780]

1 minute ago, MBSki said:

Unfortunately those logs are long gone, and i don't see any upcoming 4k broadcasts. I'd suspect you're right though. if I see another 4k broadcast I'll record again and save the logs.

Does removing, Full scan, and readding provide the same results?  If so, you would have logs.

[rbjtech 5283]

11 hours ago, Happy2Play said:

Does removing, Full scan, and readding provide the same results?  If so, you would have logs.

or just delete the .bif file and it will regenerate it.

[MBSki 1114]

On 3/18/2023 at 4:25 AM, rbjtech said:

or just delete the .bif file and it will regenerate it.

I'm just getting a chance to look at this. Where's the bif file stored?

[MBSki 1114]

On 3/17/2023 at 5:19 PM, Happy2Play said:

Does removing, Full scan, and readding provide the same results?  If so, you would have logs.

I removed, scanned, added it back and rescanned and it's the same results. Nothing in the logs that say QuickImageSeriesExtractor though. I'll send the logs to Luke.

[rbjtech 5283]

9 hours ago, MBSki said:

I removed, scanned, added it back and rescanned and it's the same results. Nothing in the logs that say QuickImageSeriesExtractor though. I'll send the logs to Luke.

I think these logs only appear on debug log mode.?

I certainly still see them - they are named quick-extract-imageseries-XXXXX.txt

An example extract of the top of the file below -

quick-extract-imageseries
2023-04-06 01:38:54.277
Application version: 4.8.0.29

C:\Emby-Server\system\ffmpeg.exe -f matroska -threads 1 -skip_interval 10 -copyts -i file:"\\media\TV Series\Superman and Lois (2021) [tvdbID=375655]\Season 3\Superman & Lois (2021) - s03e04 - Too Close to Home - WEBDL-1080p.mkv" -an -sn -vf "scale=w=320:h=180" -vsync cfr -r 0.1 -f image2 "O:\Emby\cache\temp\cc868c1996df41649f8809cb218f2051\img_%05d.jpg"

ffmpeg version 5.1-emby_2023_03_08 Copyright (c) 2000-2022 the FFmpeg developers and softworkz for Emby LLC
  built with gcc 12.2.0 (Rev10, Built by MSYS2 project)
Execution Date: 2023-04-06 01:38:54
-vsync is deprecated. Use -fps_mode
Input #0, matroska,webm, from 'file:\\media\TV Series\Superman and Lois (2021) [tvdbID=375655]\Season 3\Superman & Lois (2021) - s03e04 - Too Close to Home - WEBDL-1080p.mkv':
  Metadata:
    title           : 
    ENCODER         : Lavf59.27.100
  Duration: 00:42:26.30, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 1447 kb/s
  Stream #0:0: Video: hevc (Main), yuv420p(tv, progressive), 1920x1080 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], Level 120, 23.98 fps, 23.98 tbr, 1k tbn (default)
    Metadata:
      title           : HD 1080p  [1.4Mb/s]
      ENCODER         : Lavc59.37.100 hevc_qsv
      DURATION        : 00:42:26.294000000
  Stream #0:1(eng): Audio: aac (LC), 44100 Hz, stereo, fltp (default)
    Metadata:
      title           : AAC 2.0 [LC] 
      DURATION        : 00:42:26.300000000
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (hevc (native) -> mjpeg (native))
Press [q] to stop, [?] for help
[swscaler @ 0000021d5b289f80] [swscaler @ 0000021d5b29b100] deprecated pixel format used, make sure you did set range correctly
[swscaler @ 0000021d5b289f80] [swscaler @ 0000021d5b836380] deprecated pixel format used, make sure you did set range correctly
[swscaler @ 0000021d5b289f80] [swscaler @ 0000021d5b87b5c0] deprecated pixel format used, make sure you did set range correctly.....

 

[MBSki 1114]

3 hours ago, rbjtech said:

I think these logs only appear on debug log mode.?

I certainly still see them - they are named quick-extract-imageseries-XXXXX.txt

An example extract of the top of the file below -

quick-extract-imageseries
2023-04-06 01:38:54.277
Application version: 4.8.0.29

C:\Emby-Server\system\ffmpeg.exe -f matroska -threads 1 -skip_interval 10 -copyts -i file:"\\media\TV Series\Superman and Lois (2021) [tvdbID=375655]\Season 3\Superman & Lois (2021) - s03e04 - Too Close to Home - WEBDL-1080p.mkv" -an -sn -vf "scale=w=320:h=180" -vsync cfr -r 0.1 -f image2 "O:\Emby\cache\temp\cc868c1996df41649f8809cb218f2051\img_%05d.jpg"

ffmpeg version 5.1-emby_2023_03_08 Copyright (c) 2000-2022 the FFmpeg developers and softworkz for Emby LLC
  built with gcc 12.2.0 (Rev10, Built by MSYS2 project)
Execution Date: 2023-04-06 01:38:54
-vsync is deprecated. Use -fps_mode
Input #0, matroska,webm, from 'file:\\media\TV Series\Superman and Lois (2021) [tvdbID=375655]\Season 3\Superman & Lois (2021) - s03e04 - Too Close to Home - WEBDL-1080p.mkv':
  Metadata:
    title           : 
    ENCODER         : Lavf59.27.100
  Duration: 00:42:26.30, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 1447 kb/s
  Stream #0:0: Video: hevc (Main), yuv420p(tv, progressive), 1920x1080 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], Level 120, 23.98 fps, 23.98 tbr, 1k tbn (default)
    Metadata:
      title           : HD 1080p  [1.4Mb/s]
      ENCODER         : Lavc59.37.100 hevc_qsv
      DURATION        : 00:42:26.294000000
  Stream #0:1(eng): Audio: aac (LC), 44100 Hz, stereo, fltp (default)
    Metadata:
      title           : AAC 2.0 [LC] 
      DURATION        : 00:42:26.300000000
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (hevc (native) -> mjpeg (native))
Press [q] to stop, [?] for help
[swscaler @ 0000021d5b289f80] [swscaler @ 0000021d5b29b100] deprecated pixel format used, make sure you did set range correctly
[swscaler @ 0000021d5b289f80] [swscaler @ 0000021d5b836380] deprecated pixel format used, make sure you did set range correctly
[swscaler @ 0000021d5b289f80] [swscaler @ 0000021d5b87b5c0] deprecated pixel format used, make sure you did set range correctly.....

 

Is that the server log or transcode log?

[MBSki 1114]

@rbjtech Never mind. I found it. I was missing the hyphen. It's not finding the show that I removed and added though. Maybe I'll try your method and delete the bif file. Where do I find the bif file?

[rbjtech 5283]

2 hours ago, MBSki said:

@rbjtech Never mind. I found it. I was missing the hyphen. It's not finding the show that I removed and added though. Maybe I'll try your method and delete the bif file. Where do I find the bif file?

In your library settings - if you have ticked 'Save video preview thumbnails into media folders' - then the .bif will be in with media - if not, then it will be buried in the local metadata - I'm not sure there is an easy way to find it tbh as I've never used local metadata.  You should be able to search by file creation date though ?

[MBSki 1114]

I just did a new recording and found this:

2023-04-06 11:25:27.408 Info App: ProcessRun 'quick-extract-imageseries' Execute: G:\MediaCenter\Emby-Server\system\ffmpeg.exe -f mpegts -threads 1 -skip_interval 10 -copyts -i file:"G:\MediaCenter\Videos\Television\Recorded TV\The View (1997)\Season 26\The View S26E139.ts" -an -sn -vf "scale=w=320:h=180" -vsync cfr -r 0.1 -f image2 "G:\MediaCenter\Emby-Server\programdata\cache\temp\e01ef7e9b1c140169d9478efa3f12fe2\img_%05d.jpg"
2023-04-06 11:25:27.449 Info Server: http/1.1 POST http://emby_remote_ip:8094/emby/Sessions/Playing/Progress. UserAgent: okhttp/4.9.2
2023-04-06 11:25:27.450 Info Server: http/1.1 Response 204 to host15. Time: 1ms. http://emby_remote_ip:8094/emby/Sessions/Playing/Progress
2023-04-06 11:25:27.551 Info App: ProcessRun 'quick-extract-imageseries' Process exited with code 0 - Succeeded

I don't know what it's saying. But I got the grayed out images with that recording just now. 

[rbjtech 5283]

 @softworkzmay want to be involved here.

What you can do it literally copy and paste the ffmpeg command from the above and save the output.   I've modified it for you below to write to g:\MediaCenter\temp.  run the command below from a command prompt.

G:\MediaCenter\Emby-Server\system\ffmpeg.exe -f mpegts -threads 1 -skip_interval 10 -copyts -i file:"G:\MediaCenter\Videos\Television\Recorded TV\The View (1997)\Season 26\The View S26E139.ts" -an -sn -vf "scale=w=320:h=180" -vsync cfr -r 0.1 -f image2 "G:\MediaCenter\temp\img_%05d.jpg"

The temp area will be filled with hundreds of images - which I presume will be 'grey'.

Maybe have a play with the ffmpeg parameters to see if you can get non-grey images.

(remove -vf "scale=w=320:h=180") for example will remove the scaling, -vsync cfr will remove the sync (or change to -vsync auto) -r 0.1 is every 10 seconds, change to -r 0.2 for every 20 seconds etc.   You can't do any damage to the original file - it will dump all the output to the temp area.

Is there any way to get 'the View S26E139.ts' to test with ?  I suspect it's related to it being a TS file but difficult to know why without an analysis on the source file.

[MBSki 1114]

Here's the ts file. I'll try running the command you sent. Thanks!

The View S26E139.ts

[rbjtech 5283]

Do you get the grey thumbs on the commercial breaks ?  As I'm only getting the grey images at the start of that file above - the commercials look fine ?

 

We may need an extract of the actual programme, not just the ads ..

Edited April 6, 2023 by rbjtech

[MBSki 1114]

15 minutes ago, rbjtech said:

Do you get the grey thumbs on the commercial breaks ?  As I'm only getting the grey images at the start of that file above - the commercials look fine ?

 

We may need an extract of the actual programme, not just the ads ..

I'm not sure, I'd have to do a longer recording. For the Super Bowl I got 1 ok image out of more than 50. It seems commercials, at least for that recording are not HVEC. I can try another longer recording. 

Did you see anything in the logs for that first thumbnail?

[rbjtech 5283]

Yea, think we need an actual programme, not the commercials - as they are ok.   It may be the transport stream itself.  Lets get another recording to recreate the issue, then we can try and solve ..

[MBSki 1114]

Just now, rbjtech said:

Yea, think we need an actual programme, not the commercials - as they are ok.   It may be the transport stream itself.  Lets get another recording to recreate the issue, then we can try and solve ..

Sounds good. I'm recording another now for about 10 minutes.

[MBSki 1114]

Ok, I've got a new recording and every thumbnail is gray. Here's a link to the file: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AoeIRL90LCrSr5QCmrSA9iRPGg0Khg?e=gZxz5u

[rbjtech 5283]

22 minutes ago, MBSki said:

Ok, I've got a new recording and every thumbnail is gray. Here's a link to the file: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AoeIRL90LCrSr5QCmrSA9iRPGg0Khg?e=gZxz5u

hmm - I'm not seeing that .. so the output to a manual extract (to the temp folder) is producing grey images for you ?

[Happy2Play 9780]

26 minutes ago, MBSki said:

Ok, I've got a new recording and every thumbnail is gray. Here's a link to the file: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AoeIRL90LCrSr5QCmrSA9iRPGg0Khg?e=gZxz5u

Not sure but this is what I get from that file.

[rbjtech 5283]

Just now, Happy2Play said:

Not sure but this is what I get from that file.

Yep - same as me - images look fine (I'm extracting manually, but same result as you)

[MBSki 1114]

Well that's interesting. @Happy2Play, are your images from the Emby scan or manually? I'll try manual.