Transcoding problem in Docker

[Panyo 0]

Hello everybody!

I would like to ask help with the following problem.

I am running an Openmediavault NAS (ASRock J3455-ITX with 8GB RAM and no GPU) and using Docker in there to run Emby. I have several 4K movies on the NAS and I can play those without any problem on the main TV in the living room (through Kodi/OSMC). Sometimes I have to use the TV in our bedroom and as it is only FHD I need to transcode the movies. I wanted to use the iGPU in the J3455 and tried HW transcode but every time I try it the movies plays just fine for about a minute but after that the whole machine freezes, not only Emby but everything becomes unavailable on the NAS.

Of course it occurred to me that maybe the J3455 is not powerful enough for the task but I wanted to ask you guys to check the logs if there is anything I am missing or configured bad. I tried both the linuxserver docker and the official one. 

Sorry if I use some expressions the wrong way + I am not sure which log files you need so I uploaded those two.

Thank you very much for responses in advance, any help is very much appreciated!

embyserver-63864073162.txt ffmpeg-transcode-e93dc634-07d4-4bb4-b1d0-d161b5ca3035_1.txt

[yocker 1247]

I fixed a similar problem with Kodi on my Raspberry by using Embycon and setting the an audio option (can't remember the name of the one) to "Convert unsupported formats to Dolby",
setting it to "downmix to stereo" worked as well.

Don't know if it will fix your problem but worth a try while waiting for a more knowledgeable Emby member to respond.

[Panyo 0]

1 hour ago, yocker said:

I fixed a similar problem with Kodi on my Raspberry by using Embycon and setting the an audio option (can't remember the name of the one) to "Convert unsupported formats to Dolby",
setting it to "downmix to stereo" worked as well.

Don't know if it will fix your problem but worth a try while waiting for a more knowledgeable Emby member to respond.

Thank you for the suggestion @yockerbut it seems I was not clear enough in my description of the problem.

I do not have any problem with Kodi/OSMC playing the 4K original on my main TV. I use the Emby stuff with Kodi and direct play there works without problem. The problem occurs when I try to play the movie on a screen that is not 4K capable and so it has to be played in FHD. It is almost always my Android phone (casting the video to a GoogleCast hooked to the FHD bedroom TV) but I also experienced the same issue when trying to watch the movie in a browser on my desktop PC (my monitor is also FHD).

But again, thank you for the suggestion!

[Q-Droid 989]

The CPU probably can't keep up and you have a pretty high output bitrate at 24mbps. You can try reducing the bitrate during playback to see how high it can go and play consistently. The ffmpeg log you posted is only 30 seconds long.

Also make sure this is mapped to a location with enough space to handle the transcoding temp files: /config/transcoding-temp

 

Edited October 9, 2024 by Q-Droid

[yocker 1247]

4 hours ago, Panyo said:

Thank you for the suggestion @yockerbut it seems I was not clear enough in my description of the problem.

I do not have any problem with Kodi/OSMC playing the 4K original on my main TV. I use the Emby stuff with Kodi and direct play there works without problem. The problem occurs when I try to play the movie on a screen that is not 4K capable and so it has to be played in FHD. It is almost always my Android phone (casting the video to a GoogleCast hooked to the FHD bedroom TV) but I also experienced the same issue when trying to watch the movie in a browser on my desktop PC (my monitor is also FHD).

But again, thank you for the suggestion!

Yeah i misunderstood then, sorry about that.

Looking at hardware in the server i don't think it has the horsepower to transcode, i think that might be whats the problem.
I'm not sure that transcoding is needed for display 4K stuff on a 1080p screen though because of scaling.

I'm sure the Emby team has a better idea.

Edit: Can see Q-Droid just beat me to it.
So i will add, if i switch to software decoding on my server my CPU can juuuuust handle transcoding one mid bit rate 4K stream. It's a very CPU intensive operation.

Edited October 9, 2024 by yocker

[guunter 49]

4 hours ago, yocker said:

Yeah i misunderstood then, sorry about that.

Looking at hardware in the server i don't think it has the horsepower to transcode, i think that might be whats the problem.
I'm not sure that transcoding is needed for display 4K stuff on a 1080p screen though because of scaling.

I'm sure the Emby team has a better idea.

Edit: Can see Q-Droid just beat me to it.
So i will add, if i switch to software decoding on my server my CPU can juuuuust handle transcoding one mid bit rate 4K stream. It's a very CPU intensive operation.

Luckily all you really need is any of the n100 pcs out there. They’re pretty cheap and worth the investment. Do a fair amount of 4k transcodes.

[Panyo 0]

11 hours ago, Q-Droid said:

The CPU probably can't keep up and you have a pretty high output bitrate at 24mbps. You can try reducing the bitrate during playback to see how high it can go and play consistently. The ffmpeg log you posted is only 30 seconds long.

Also make sure this is mapped to a location with enough space to handle the transcoding temp files: /config/transcoding-temp

 

Thank you @Q-Droid! 

Yes, that's how far playback got unfortunately. Thanks for the tip regarding the temp folder, I will check it.

Thanks for you @yockerand @guunteras well! Yeah, I suspected that the CPU+iGPU is wesk for that task but I wanted to get a confirmation from people better in this ;)

 

[yocker 1247]

9 hours ago, guunter said:

Luckily all you really need is any of the n100 pcs out there. They’re pretty cheap and worth the investment. Do a fair amount of 4k transcodes.

Yeah they really are work horses those CPUs and iGPUs.