Emby Web direct play failed and stop the video

[acidelk 3]

Hi.
i've been watching serial for a few days and now i have a problem.
Video playback stopped after few seconds after start playing video.
"Recovering from playback error" in stats.
Video stream tried to transcoding instead of direct play (as a few days before this).
CPU utilization about 100%.
What's wrong do i have?
Why emby trying to transcode video? I tried to watch previous video (which "direct played") and they reproduced a same error.
But this error only on web (chrome). I checked on android phone and webos(lg tv) and everything is fine on it.

Thx.

ffmpeg-remux-774226bc-e23d-495e-83f3-5e11e7ba9bb0_1 (2).txt embyserver (8).txt

[Luke 42077]

HI, did you check the stats feature in the video player to learn why it was transcoding?

Anyway this particular example looks like unsupported audio due to Chrome not supporting ac3.

[acidelk 3]

Audio stream always been transcoded ac3 -> mp3. It's fine. But why video stream transcoding now? Always before this video streamed "direct".
And why video freeze and cannot be started again?

[acidelk 3]

[Happy2Play 9780]

Would need the see the transcode ffmpeg log as the above is a remux only converting audio.

But the player does not like something and is failing over to transcoding.

Edited July 5, 2024 by Happy2Play

[acidelk 3]

i'm starting the video and showing this:

After few seconds:

The logs in attachments.

embyserver (9).txt ffmpeg-transcode-b59a6898-b041-46d9-92e1-32f41a178898_1.txt

[Happy2Play 9780]

I guess technically the Direct Play is false as it does not support the ac3 audio codec.

&AudioCodec=mp3,aac

&TranscodeReasons=AudioCodecNotSupported

21:48:16.868 Stream mapping:
21:48:16.868   Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (copy)
21:48:16.868   Stream #0:2 -> #0:1 (ac3 (native) -> mp3 (libmp3lame))
21:48:16.869   Stream #0:9 -> #1:0 (subrip (srt) -> webvtt (native))
21:48:16.869   Stream #0:10 -> #2:0 (subrip (srt) -> webvtt (native))
21:48:16.869   Stream #0:11 -> #3:0 (subrip (srt) -> webvtt (native))

But not knowing the playback error it goes to full transcode of audio and video.  Not sure there is a way to know why the playerror happened thought but the devs will have to comment on that.

&TranscodeReasons=AudioCodecNotSupported,DirectPlayError

22:25:46.388 Stream mapping:
22:25:46.388   Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (h264 (native) -> h264 (libx264))
22:25:46.388   Stream #0:2 -> #0:1 (ac3 (native) -> mp3 (libmp3lame))
22:25:46.388   Stream #0:9 -> #1:0 (subrip (srt) -> webvtt (native))
22:25:46.388   Stream #0:0 -> #1:1 (copy)
22:25:46.388   Stream #0:10 -> #2:0 (subrip (srt) -> webvtt (native))
22:25:46.388   Stream #0:0 -> #2:1 (copy)
22:25:46.388   Stream #0:11 -> #3:0 (subrip (srt) -> webvtt (native))
22:25:46.388   Stream #0:0 -> #3:1 (copy)

 

[acidelk 3]

Before today video stats looks like this (and cpu utilization was about 30%):

[Happy2Play 9780]

I can only guess something specific to the files that the player does not like as that last remux would be correct only converting audio.  Is that a different files?

[acidelk 3]

It's a same file. Sometimes i can watch for about a minute of video before get this error. On the last screenshot was this happiest time window.

[acidelk 3]

I don't understand, why this happened:
http://emby/videos/1005/main.m3u8?DeviceId=66ba632d-eed9-4920-8450-f58f211611df&MediaSourceId=678d34c567b6e2eef97c09acdcb2440d&StartTimeTicks=5411763800&PlaySessionId=3478bfdd1de04c4aa715301f8ff97112&api_key=x_secret1_x&VideoCodec=h264,h265,hevc,av1&AudioCodec=mp3,aac&VideoBitrate=59808000&AudioBitrate=192000&MaxWidth=1920&AudioStreamIndex=2&TranscodingMaxAudioChannels=2&SegmentContainer=ts&MinSegments=1&BreakOnNonKeyFrames=True&SubtitleStreamIndexes=9,10,11&ManifestSubtitles=vtt&h264-profile=high,main,baseline,constrainedbaseline,high10&h264-level=62&hevc-codectag=hvc1,hev1,hevc,hdmv&TranscodeReasons=AudioCodecNotSupported,DirectPlayError&allowVideoStreamCopy=false

 

[Happy2Play 9780]

As a test if you disable video transcoding on the user does the file play all the way through?  I am can only guess Chrome player is having issues with the file.

[acidelk 3]

"Allow video transcoding, if necessary, during media playback" -> Disabled
Few seconds of playback -> freeze -> new error message
 

[Happy2Play 9780]

So that point specifically to the file itself.

Devs will have to comment but to me points the Chrome player choking on the specific file encoding nothing stands out in the shown media info though.

[Happy2Play 9780]

Does this only happen on large bitrate files >30Mbps?

[acidelk 3]

I have a new interesting moment.
1) Looks fine
Input #0, matroska,webm, from 'The.Sopranos.S01E01-Pilot.BDRemux.8xRus.Eng.Sub.mkv':
  Metadata:
    encoder         : libebml v1.3.10 + libmatroska v1.5.2
    creation_time   : 2020-03-14T20:08:50.000000Z
  Duration: 01:00:01.55, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 39228 kb/s
    Stream #0:0(eng): Video: h264 (High), yuv420p(tv, bt709, progressive), 1920x1080 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 23.98 fps, 23.98 tbr, 1k tbn, 47.95 tbc (default)
    Metadata:
      title           : The Sopranos Season - 1 BD Remux
      BPS-eng         : 31470972
      DURATION-eng    : 01:00:01.515000000
      NUMBER_OF_FRAMES-eng: 86350
      NUMBER_OF_BYTES-eng: 14167897438
      _STATISTICS_WRITING_APP-eng: mkvmerge v44.0.0 ('Domino') 64-bit
      _STATISTICS_WRITING_DATE_UTC-eng: 2020-03-14 20:08:50
      _STATISTICS_TAGS-eng: BPS DURATION NUMBER_OF_FRAMES NUMBER_OF_BYTES
...
2) Producing error
Input #0, matroska,webm, from 'The.Sopranos.S02E04-Commendatori.BDRemux.7xRus.Eng.Sub.mkv':
  Metadata:
    encoder         : libebml v1.3.10 + libmatroska v1.5.2
    creation_time   : 2020-05-13T15:17:52.000000Z
  Duration: 00:52:25.00, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 30436 kb/s
    Stream #0:0(eng): Video: h264 (High), yuv420p(progressive), 1920x1080 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 23.98 fps, 23.98 tbr, 1k tbn, 47.95 tbc (default)
    Metadata:
      title           : The Sopranos Season - 2 BD Remux
      BPS-eng         : 25758205
      DURATION-eng    : 00:52:24.934000000
      NUMBER_OF_FRAMES-eng: 75403
      NUMBER_OF_BYTES-eng: 10125981928
      _STATISTICS_WRITING_APP-eng: mkvmerge v44.0.0 ('Domino') 64-bit
      _STATISTICS_WRITING_DATE_UTC-eng: 2020-05-13 15:17:52
      _STATISTICS_TAGS-eng: BPS DURATION NUMBER_OF_FRAMES NUMBER_OF_BYTES
...

[acidelk 3]

1) everything good (The.Sopranos.S01E01-Pilot.BDRemux.8xRus.Eng.Sub.mkv)

2) Stop playing after few seconds and cannot start again  (The.Sopranos.S02E04-Commendatori.BDRemux.7xRus.Eng.Sub.mkv)

[Happy2Play 9780]

Little beyond my knowledge but nice find.

May have to compare the media info for S01E01 and S02E04 to see if you see a difference but as mentioned I will guess they are encoded differences.

Have you tried remuxing the file with say mkvtoolnix?

[acidelk 3]

I'll try...

[Luke 42077]

3 hours ago, acidelk said:

I don't understand, why this happened:
http://emby/videos/1005/main.m3u8?DeviceId=66ba632d-eed9-4920-8450-f58f211611df&MediaSourceId=678d34c567b6e2eef97c09acdcb2440d&StartTimeTicks=5411763800&PlaySessionId=3478bfdd1de04c4aa715301f8ff97112&api_key=x_secret1_x&VideoCodec=h264,h265,hevc,av1&AudioCodec=mp3,aac&VideoBitrate=59808000&AudioBitrate=192000&MaxWidth=1920&AudioStreamIndex=2&TranscodingMaxAudioChannels=2&SegmentContainer=ts&MinSegments=1&BreakOnNonKeyFrames=True&SubtitleStreamIndexes=9,10,11&ManifestSubtitles=vtt&h264-profile=high,main,baseline,constrainedbaseline,high10&h264-level=62&hevc-codectag=hvc1,hev1,hevc,hdmv&TranscodeReasons=AudioCodecNotSupported,DirectPlayError&allowVideoStreamCopy=false

 

Sometimes the browser video player might have trouble with your file, and when that happens, Emby will automatically switch to transcoding in order to try and correct it.

[Luke 42077]

2 hours ago, acidelk said:

I'll try...

Additionally I would also see how things compare in the safari browser.

[acidelk 3]

4 hours ago, Luke said:

Additionally I would also see how things compare in the safari browser.

Safari has the same behavior (freeze video and cannot play again)

[acidelk 3]

Another downloaded video with lower bitrate just also transcoding video stream.
  Stream #0:0(eng): Video: h264 (High 4:4:4 Predictive), yuv444p10le(progressive), 1920x1080 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 23.98 fps, 23.98 tbr, 1k tbn (default)
    Metadata:
      BPS             : 6570453
      BPS-eng         : 6570453
      DURATION        : 00:49:27.340000000
      DURATION-eng    : 00:49:27.340000000
      NUMBER_OF_FRAMES: 71145
      NUMBER_OF_FRAMES-eng: 71145
      NUMBER_OF_BYTES : 2437096094
      NUMBER_OF_BYTES-eng: 2437096094
      _STATISTICS_WRITING_APP: mkvmerge v9.2.0 ('Photograph') 64bit
      _STATISTICS_WRITING_APP-eng: mkvmerge v9.2.0 ('Photograph') 64bit
      _STATISTICS_WRITING_DATE_UTC: 2016-06-26 09:25:23
      _STATISTICS_WRITING_DATE_UTC-eng: 2016-06-26 09:25:23
      _STATISTICS_TAGS: BPS DURATION NUMBER_OF_FRAMES NUMBER_OF_BYTES
      _STATISTICS_TAGS-eng: BPS DURATION NUMBER_OF_FRAMES NUMBER_OF_BYTES
chrome:

Interesting that a safari direct play audio, but also transcode the video(safari support ac3, as i understand):

[acidelk 3]

I think video stream for web needs to be with "yuv420p(tv, bt709, progressive)". It's all what the different between "good" and "bad" video streams.
But i don't know, how to convert to it with ffmpeg yet...

9 hours ago, Happy2Play said:

Little beyond my knowledge but nice find.

May have to compare the media info for S01E01 and S02E04 to see if you see a difference but as mentioned I will guess they are encoded differences.

Have you tried remuxing the file with say mkvtoolnix?

How can i remuxing video with ffmpeg?

[Happy2Play 9780]

Does Emby show the same Media Info in the UI for S01E01 and S02E04?