Detect dual layer DV/HDR10 media in respect to transcoding or not

[speechles 2055]

 

The web app shows this as the Video Range. When playing this via the Roku I get transcoding because it reads in the video range only Dolby Vision when in fact there are two layers and both Dolby Vision and HDR10 are present. The media information above is lacking.

@LukeIs there a way to have the Video Range contain multiple profiles? That way it can just compare these against what the clients reports support for. In this case my Roku would stop transcoding if this were "DolbyVision, HDR10" inside the Video Range. The Roku would send support for HDR10. The server would know the Roku would be able to detect the dual layer media and pull out the appropriate stream. But what happens is instead a full transcode with tone mapping happens which entirely misses the point. Can the Video Range support multiple profiles and smart enough to know the capabilities of the client and when not to transcode? This is a big problem right now on Roku transcoding Dolby Vision when it isn't required. Thank you.

 

When transcoding is entirely disabled this plays back just fine and shows as Direct Play even though this Roku TV only supports HDR10.

Edited August 31, 2023 by speechles

[Luke 42081]

Can you provide a sample video for testing? Thanks.

[rbjtech 5284]

@speechles

'Dual layer' media - ie 2 x Video Tracks - is not supported in any software based video player.   You need to either 'remove' the DV layer (the 1080p 2nd Video track) - leaving just the HDR10 track - OR - merge the two tracks into a single layer / track.  Running through makemkv will do this, plus otehr tools such as dovitools are available to to this.   Being 2 'layers' - I'm presuming this is a Dolby Vision profile 7 rip from a UHD disk.   In which case, the playback device 'may' not support that profile anyway - even if merged.   I know the Shield does, but not sure about the Roku's.    It may be better to then convert it to Profile 8.2 - which is much more compatible with most 'DV' enabled players.

However, going back to your original point, and in the case of profile 7 and profile 8 - the device should automatically fallback to HDR10 anyway if the playback device does not support DV.  Only in the case of profile 5, will it not, as there is no HDR10 base layer.

The latest beta server has all these DV details collected (you may need to refresh the item) - but it is only displaying / acting on some of the details.

See my FR below to try and get more of this information presented to the user.

 

 

[speechles 2055]

On 8/31/2023 at 4:17 AM, rbjtech said:

@speechles

The latest beta server has all these DV details collected (you may need to refresh the item) - but it is only displaying / acting on some of the details.

It is the only displaying / acting on some of the details part that isn't fleshed out enough. Specifically if the DolbyVision has HDR embedded too Emby should be smart enough to send DolbyVision to a client that only supports HDR since the client  can see the HDR within the DolbyVision. But we are not there yet. All my DV material transcodes to my Roku when it doesn't need to. I am sure same happens on Apple TV, Android TV, and everything else. It would be rather awesome to get there. That is what I meant.

Edited September 1, 2023 by speechles

[rbjtech 5284]

16 hours ago, speechles said:

 I am sure same happens on Apple TV, Android TV, and everything else. It would be rather awesome to get there. That is what I meant.

I'm not sure on Apple TV - but on Android/AndroidTV, there are no issues playing a DV8 or DV7 title on an HDR10 only device - it Direct Plays just fine (in HDR) - and has done for years.    DV5 and likely DV8 also play just fine (in DV) if you have a DV capable device, DV7 needs a more capable player, such as the Shield - but they all play 100%.

So i think the issue here is the Roku client is not working as it should and 'falling back' to HDR10.

If it's an SDR device, then emby will transcode - using the HDR10 layer as the source.   However, if only DV5 is available (ie no HDR10 layer) then emby will display/transcode in the green/purple hints (due to the DV5 colour space difference)

This is why I raised the FR above - emby 'knows' this info - it just isn't fully acting on it.

Edited September 2, 2023 by rbjtech

[speechles 2055]

6 hours ago, rbjtech said:

So i think the issue here is the Roku client is not working as it should and 'falling back' to HDR10.

The client has nothing to do with it. The client reports support for HDR. The server should be smart enough to go okay the media isn't DV5, it is DV(anything else here), we can send it to direct play since the Roku knows how to procure the HDR metadata from that DV. Right now the server goes, well, no DV support means we transcode this regardless of the DV version it is.

The clients send a capabilities profile that does not include DolbyVision in any way. The Roku is just asking the sever "what is the best possible to play this?" and taking the result whatever it is. Android TV can directly tell the server how to playback, it can say listen buddy, do it my way. The Roku is always listen to to the server. It does not have settings to force certain behavior. The Roku does not do this because it was never necessary. It shouldn't be necessary. The server should be smart enough that we just ask "what is the best way possible to play this?" without the Roku having to do this song and dance.

@Lukeand @ebrknow what I am on about. I just want to see interest on how many other users wish this would happen. That anything not DV5 is just sent directly to the client when it reports support for HDR. Simple stuff. Asking for simple stuff.

tl;dr - The Roku can direct play this DolbyVision file with just HDR support but you have to do the song and dance. It goes like this: The server has the ability to deny video transcoding. When this is done the server sends the DolbyVision to the Roku which can then play it because it understands the underlying HDR metadata within. But doing this for everything isn't feasible since some material must transcode such as DV5. I was hoping for the simple solution. Thanks again.

Edited September 2, 2023 by speechles

[rbjtech 5284]

I'll leave it to the powers that be - but I'll admit that if the Roku is not just falling back to the base layer (HDR10) from a DV7/8 file - and it currently transcodes instead - I'm frankly surprised there is not a LOT more noise about it as obviously any transcode is going to lose HDR in the process.

[Luke 42081]

HDR filters are coming in Emby Server 4.8, just fyi: