ffmpeg-subtitle_convert error: Invalid loglevel "timing"

[yanofsky 1]

Hi, I am seeing subtitles not show up with Emby 4.8.0.37 and the following error in logs. Emby seems to be calling ffmpeg with an invalid command line:

2023-06-10 17:05:07.494 Info SubtitleEncoder: ProcessRun 'ffmpeg-subtitle_convert' Execute: /nix/store/jg6267ihx1hww4mqiambbnirymrfd37b-ffmpeg-4.4.2-bin/bin/ffmpeg -loglevel +timing -y -sub_charenc:s:0 windows-1252 -i "/var/lib/emby/metadata/library/XX/XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX/X.en.srt" -map 0:0 -vn -an -c:s:0 subrip "/var/lib/emby/cache/temp/XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.srt"
2023-06-10 17:05:07.802 Info SubtitleEncoder: ProcessRun 'ffmpeg-subtitle_convert' Process exited with code 1 - Failed
2023-06-10 17:05:07.802 Error SubtitleEncoder: ffmpeg subtitle conversion failed for /var/lib/emby/metadata/library/XX/XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX/X.en.srt
2023-06-10 17:05:07.816 Error SubtitleEncoder: ProcessRun 'ffmpeg-subtitle_convert' Output:

2023-06-10 17:05:07.816 Error SubtitleEncoder: ProcessRun 'ffmpeg-subtitle_convert' Error Output:
        Invalid loglevel "timing". Possible levels are numbers or:
        "quiet"
        "panic"
        "fatal"
        "error"
        "warning"
        "info"
        "verbose"
        "debug"
        "trace"

2023-06-10 17:05:07.818 Error App: Error getting subtitles
        *** Error Report ***
        Version: 4.8.0.37
        Command line: /nix/store/k0r7zr4qfm1jivhqd1kgwkgpj8xv954f-emby-4.8.0.37/opt/emby-server/EmbyServer.dll -ffmpeg /nix/store/jg6267ihx1hww4mqiambbnirymrfd37b-ffmpeg-4.4.2-bin/bin/ffmpeg -ffprobe /nix/store/jg6267ihx1hww4mqiambbnirymrfd37b-ffmpeg-4.4.2-bin/bin/ffprobe -programdata /var/lib/emby
        Operating system: Linux version 5.15.74 (nixbld@localhost) (gcc (GCC) 11.3.0, GNU ld (GNU Binutils) 2.39) #1-NixOS SMP Sat Oct 15 05:59:05 UTC 2022
        Framework: .NET 6.0.10
        OS/Process: x64/x64
        Runtime: nix/store/xzcrqns22fn9sb92dmnqyl1rjg5qgf9d-dotnet-sdk-6.0.402/shared/Microsoft.NETCore.App/6.0.10/System.Private.CoreLib.dll
        Processor count: 1
        Data path: /var/lib/emby
        Application path: /nix/store/k0r7zr4qfm1jivhqd1kgwkgpj8xv954f-emby-4.8.0.37/opt/emby-server
        System.Exception: System.Exception: ffmpeg subtitle conversion failed for /var/lib/emby/metadata/library/37/379478cc9cc709232b47da21eaef4f67/Man on Fire (2004).en.srt
           at Emby.Server.MediaEncoding.Subtitles.SubtitleEncoder.ConvertExternalSubtitleInternal(MediaStream subtitleStream, IDictionary`2 requestHeaders, String outputPath, SubtitleMediaTypes outputCodec, Nullable`1 startTime, Nullable`1 endTime, Boolean preserveOriginalTimestamps, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
           at Emby.Server.MediaEncoding.Subtitles.SubtitleEncoder.ConvertExternalSubtitle(MediaStream subtitleStream, IDictionary`2 requestHeaders, String outputPath, SubtitleMediaTypes outputCodec, Nullable`1 startTime, Nullable`1 endTime, Boolean preserveOriginalTimestamps, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
           at Emby.Server.MediaEncoding.Subtitles.SubtitleEncoder.GetReadableFile(String mediaPath, MediaProtocol mediaSourceProtocol, Boolean isAudio, IDictionary`2 requestHeaders, MediaStream subtitleStream, String outputFormat, Int64 startTimeTicks, Int64 endTimeTicks, Boolean preserveOriginalTimestamps, EncodingContext encodingContext, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
           at Emby.Server.MediaEncoding.Subtitles.SubtitleEncoder.GetSubtitles(String inputPath, MediaProtocol inputProtocol, Boolean isAudio, IDictionary`2 requestHeaders, MediaStream subtitleStream, String outputFormat, Int64 startTimeTicks, Int64 endTimeTicks, Boolean preserveOriginalTimestamps, EncodingContext encodingContext, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
           at Emby.Api.Subtitles.SubtitleService.GetSubtitles(GetSubtitle request, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
           at Emby.Api.Subtitles.SubtitleService.Get(GetSubtitle request)
        Source: Emby.Server.MediaEncoding
        TargetSite: Void MoveNext()

 

[Luke 42078]

Hi there, how did you install Emby server?

[yanofsky 1]

I'm using a nixos package based on:

https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/ebbeae56bdce0226ca66414160345ccdf457284b/pkgs/servers/emby/default.nix

https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/ebbeae56bdce0226ca66414160345ccdf457284b/nixos/modules/services/misc/emby.nix

I think my problem is probably not specific to NixOS, though. I am guessing it might be a just be an incompatibility between emby-4.8.0.3 and ffmpeg-4.4.2. You can see from the log the emby is invoking ffmpeg with

ffmpeg -loglevel +timing -y -sub_charenc:s:0 windows-1252 -i [...]

And ffmpeg is failing with:

Invalid loglevel "timing". Possible levels are numbers or [...]

So ffmpeg is interpreting the +timing argument as a loglevel value instead of as a separate option. I'm guessing there is a missing log level value between the "-loglevel" and "+timing" arguments?

This problem started happening after I updated packages on my system, so maybe something changed in newer versions of emby that caused it to no longer pass a log level value. Or maybe something changed in newer versions of ffmpeg that caused it to parse the command line differently. I can try to dig in more and mix and match different versions, but I thought I'd report the issue here first in case someone might have more insight into the problem.

[Luke 42078]

OK, is it not possible to use one of our official packages instead of this one? 

Like for example could you just use our debian package, or Docker container?

[yanofsky 1]

Hmm, I looked into this more and it seems emby relies on a custom version of ffmpeg that does not have source code posted currently (current links lead to 404s if I am understanding this thread correctly):

I should be able to easily fix my installation whenever the ffmpeg source code which emby relies on becomes available again.

I hope that the forked source code will be posted soon. I also think it would be helpful in the future if the forked version of ffmpeg were posted at a stable or predictable URL, or if it were pushed to a public git repository.

I could switch to another package or container system to use emby, but I like the flexibility of nixos packaging and build systems and would prefer to keep using them.

Thanks for your help, and I hope ffmpeg source code will be available soon.

 

 

[Luke 42078]

22 minutes ago, yanofsky said:

Hmm, I looked into this more and it seems emby relies on a custom version of ffmpeg that does not have source code posted currently (current links lead to 404s if I am understanding this thread correctly):

I should be able to easily fix my installation whenever the ffmpeg source code which emby relies on becomes available again.

I hope that the forked source code will be posted soon. I also think it would be helpful in the future if the forked version of ffmpeg were posted at a stable or predictable URL, or if it were pushed to a public git repository.

I could switch to another package or container system to use emby, but I like the flexibility of nixos packaging and build systems and would prefer to keep using them.

Thanks for your help, and I hope ffmpeg source code will be available soon.

 

 

Hi, what links are 404's?

[yanofsky 1]

From the thread, https://mediabrowser.github.io/embytools/ffmpeg-2022_11_29.tar.gz appears to be a 404

Although I just tried https://mediabrowser.github.io/embytools/ffmpeg-2022_05_27-u1.tar.gz and it seems to work, so I can check and see if I'm able to build that and report back.

Would appreciate if you can recommend a way to find latest url, too since the thread is a little obscure, and possibly out of date. Thanks.

 

[Luke 42078]

Where did you get the link from? The best place would be the license file of one of our packages.

[yanofsky 1]

Thanks, but I'm just using the links mentioned in that forum thread, and I'm not sure where to find the license file. If I look in the embyserver-netcore_4.8.0.39.zip file from https://github.com/MediaBrowser/Emby.Releases/releases/ which I am downloading to install emby, it does not appear to contain a license file.

Is there is a different package I can download which includes a license file? Or a different place to find a license file?

 

 

[yanofsky 1]

Update: I was able to successfully build ffmpeg-2022_05_27-u1.tar.gz, and now subtitles are working perfectly with emby-4.8.0.37. The "ffmpeg -loglevel +timing -y ..." command lines I see in the log file show ffmpeg running successfully and no longer failing.

I was also able to find a link to the forked ffmpeg sources by downloading a debian package (emby-server-deb_4.7.13.0_amd64.deb) and manually extracting it. The source URL was on the last line of the "opt/emby-server/licenses/licenses" file inside the debian package:

Source code for the included ffmpeg and ffprobe binaries can be downloaded at https://mediabrowser.github.io/embytools/ffmpeg-2022_05_27-u1.tar.gz.

The license file also included a link to a "git@github.com:MediaBrowser/ffmpeg.git" repository, but unfortunately I could not clone that repository. When I tried to clone it, output was "ERROR: Repository not found." so perhaps the repository no longer exists, or is a private rather than a public repository.

It would definitely be more convenient for me if the link to forked ffmpeg source code were posted in a more accessible place. Or if forked ffmpeg source code were available in a public git repository.

But I appreciate your help on this issue and your work developing emby, and everything is working well for me now!