1.0.43 Sometimes transcodes live TV when previous versions Direct Play

[unisoft 352]

Used Emby on LG v1.0.43 to watch BBC1 HD which is H264/AVC with AAC 5.1 around 3-6 mbps bit rate from DVB-T2 SiliconDust Quadro Tuner.

Usually, channels would direct play on previous versions, including BBC1 HD. Channels are always AAC Stereo or AAC 5.1 and H264, 1080i50 (PAL) (no changes to 720p for example during broadcast). All content is within a fixed 1920x1080 size.

Tried a couple of times, but the Olympics content was being transcoded. Even if it was transcoded, it was annoying, that the deinterlacing was not 50 frames with 'send field' and looked blurry on motion as temporal data was lost in the transcode.

 

Any idea why please as the codecs are all supported by the LG TV model (OLED)? @SamES

Attached both logs.

Thanks.

embyserver.txt ffmpeg-transcode-8f62fb38-3a94-43cf-bc39-e1ee25b5c8d6_1 (1).txt

[Luke 42077]

Hi there, did you explore the stats feature in the video player to learn why it was transcoding?

[unisoft 352]

On 03/08/2024 at 21:01, Luke said:

Hi there, did you explore the stats feature in the video player to learn why it was transcoding?

Yip. "Converting audio to compatible codec" it says. Audio English AAC_LATM5.1 and it also transcodes the picture (badly as 25p instead of 50p aka double frame rate/send_field).

Now both AAC Stereo and AAC 5.1 ARE 100% supported by the TV as well as the H264 for picture. It should just direct play.

If I change to another HD channel that is AAC_LATM Stereo, it still transcodes the sound but in this instance direct plays the picture

Now I am pretty certain the last time I used Live TV on older Emby versions around 2 years ago, this all direct played with no issue!

 

Emby also does not like an SD channel for U&Drama - again 720x576 PAL 25 frames interlaced with MP2 stereo. It takes ages to start playing this channel and nothing wrong with signal. Sometimes it will direct play after two minutes and other times it will just have a swirling circle. Other channels from the "U" family play quickly and without hitch.

Edited August 9, 2024 by unisoft

[Luke 42077]

3 hours ago, unisoft said:

Yip. "Converting audio to compatible codec" it says. Audio English AAC_LATM5.1 and it also transcodes the picture (badly as 25p instead of 50p aka double frame rate/send_field).

Now both AAC Stereo and AAC 5.1 ARE 100% supported by the TV as well as the H264 for picture. It should just direct play.

If I change to another HD channel that is AAC_LATM Stereo, it still transcodes the sound but in this instance direct plays the picture

Now I am pretty certain the last time I used Live TV on older Emby versions around 2 years ago, this all direct played with no issue!

 

Emby also does not like an SD channel for U&Drama - again 720x576 PAL 25 frames interlaced with MP2 stereo. It takes ages to start playing this channel and nothing wrong with signal. Sometimes it will direct play after two minutes and other times it will just have a swirling circle. Other channels from the "U" family play quickly and without hitch.

Maybe the audio codec wasn't aac_latm two years ago?

[unisoft 352]

12 hours ago, Luke said:

Maybe the audio codec wasn't aac_latm two years ago?

No. There have been no changes to DVB-T or DVB-T2 streams in UK. The only change was years ago to not use Dolby Digital 5.1 and use AAC 5.1 where they used this on a programme by programme basis.

If you take a TS file of the raw stream, and load into a video editing app, the streams are presented as AAC low complexity in either stereo 48khz or AAC 5.1. Sometimes there is another audio track for Audio Description. Most people not bothered about that track and not used.

DVB-T2 are H264 AAC 1920x1080i50

DVB-T is mpeg2 with MP2 sound 720x576i50, though SD can vary on the 720 size.

[Luke 42077]

If you use transcoding permissions to temporarily deny access to all transcoding, that will force it to direct play. when you do that, do you get audio? That can help us determine if aac_latm is supported, although I think we've looked at this before.

@SamES

[SamES 1057]

16 hours ago, Luke said:

If you use transcoding permissions to temporarily deny access to all transcoding, that will force it to direct play. when you do that, do you get audio? That can help us determine if aac_latm is supported, although I think we've looked at this before.

@SamES

I can't recall if we tested this on LG, but I know on Tizen it's only supported on older models.  The test above is the right next step.

[unisoft 352]

On 15/08/2024 at 12:05, SamES said:

I can't recall if we tested this on LG, but I know on Tizen it's only supported on older models.  The test above is the right next step.

Sorry for delay, but wanted to test this on new 1.0.44 version as well.

I set no transcoding for the account used on LG TV and got odd results.

1. Picture and sound said Direct Play (Stereo_LATM) on H264 HD channels and other times said it was changing the container using HLS because of audio codec even though it still said Direct Play for Picture and Sound.

2. Still had issues with UKTV channels such as Drama and a few others - where sometimes it will play but more often will sit on spinning wheel. Now this is a SD MPEG2 channel, the only difference is the screen resolution is something like 544x576 instead of 720x576 as the audio is the same on other MPEG2 channels which play fine. So this was no different than when transcoding was allowed.

[Luke 42077]

On 9/17/2024 at 7:41 AM, unisoft said:

Sorry for delay, but wanted to test this on new 1.0.44 version as well.

I set no transcoding for the account used on LG TV and got odd results.

1. Picture and sound said Direct Play (Stereo_LATM) on H264 HD channels and other times said it was changing the container using HLS because of audio codec even though it still said Direct Play for Picture and Sound.

 

Hi, can you please provide an example?

[Luke 42077]

On 9/17/2024 at 7:41 AM, unisoft said:

 

2. Still had issues with UKTV channels such as Drama and a few others - where sometimes it will play but more often will sit on spinning wheel. Now this is a SD MPEG2 channel, the only difference is the screen resolution is something like 544x576 instead of 720x576 as the audio is the same on other MPEG2 channels which play fine. So this was no different than when transcoding was allowed.

   @unisoft

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

 

[unisoft 352]

On 25/09/2024 at 05:41, Luke said:

   @unisoft

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

 

Away at the moment but will do when return.

Do you want logs with transcoding disabled to force a try of direct play?

The logs are in a previous post for the transcode on HD channels issue with latm_aac.

When you say provide example, would you like a sample off air clip, it would be the DVBT2 stream from hd home run quad tuner.

Edited October 2, 2024 by unisoft

[Luke 42077]

I would say don't force anything and let's look at an example of one of those alternative resolution channels that you said was having an issue. Thanks.