Google TV Streamer - Some 4K movies show no video, only audio

[doron 10]

Hi folks,

I have the Chromecast 4K and am in the process of switching to the new GStreamer. The emby app is at 2.1.23g.

Some of my 4K movies, when I hit play, show no video. Playback does seem to commence since audio is there. The screen becomes black - no image at all, not even emby's own stuff (e.g. "Rated ...", playback info when I hit pause, nerd stats etc. etc.). Nothing is displayed. Hitting "back" stops playback and resumes the display.

The very same content, on the Chromecast, plays perfectly, no issue. (They are both still connected to the same AVR and display, so easy to test A:B).

This happens only on some of my 4K content. I tried to look for a common denominator, and came up empty. On one film that plays fine on the GST and one that doesn't, I can see (when viewing on the CC... no can do on the GST):

Player: ExoPlayer
HDR Support: HLG HDR10
Play Method: Direct Play
Stream Type: HTTP

Video Codec: HEVC (direct)
Audio Codec: DOLBY+

Both are MKV files.

One, very long shot, difference I see is that the ones that do not play, show a bitrate higher than 20Mbps. This guess is indeed way out there, even more so since the GST is connected via 1Gb/s Ethernet, but I thought I'd mention it. I even tried swapping HDMI cables and AVR ports   

I saw some threads here about some Android 14 issues with this unit, but (a) I do have the later app version and (b) this issue appears to be a bit different.

Help?!...

[ebr 16169]

Hi.  This sounds like the same problem as the Fire devices with the same chipset.

It happens on items that are DV and HDR10+?

[doron 10]

1 hour ago, ebr said:

It happens on items that are DV and HDR10+?

Indeed.
The GST has an option to force conversion of content's dynamic range to a preset format that I choose (default is to let the system determine that). I just tried forcing to HDR10 and it does not help.

But you are right - the content that does not play is 4K HDR10+, while the content that does is 4K HDR10. On the Chromecast, both play perfectly.

Note that I don't see such issue with any other app on the device, only with emby.

[doron 10]

To verify, per some other threads here (with a similar issue on other streamers), I went on and updated one of the files to remove the HDR10+ metadata (used the DDVT tool). Sure enough, it now plays video. So the issue is identified - thanks @ebr!

So now - should we expect a fix?

[doron 10]

Hi @ebr,

How do I proceed here? Is this something that's on your queue, or is there something I can do to work around this issue (short of removing HDR10+ from all content... ).

Thanks!

[ebr 16169]

This is a bug in the hardware that the hardware providers don't care much about because it doesn't affect any media that the masses would ever encounter on these devices.

It isn't something that we can just flip a switch on to work around either unfortunately.  The standard Android app will have to somehow know which devices are affected and force a transcode in these instances.

[doron 10]

3 hours ago, ebr said:

This is a bug in the hardware that the hardware providers don't care much about because it doesn't affect any media that the masses would ever encounter on these devices.

Ouch. Didn't realize that. 

Just for better understanding this, could you please explain briefly as to why the masses would not encounter this issue? Do they not watch HDR10+ content? Or do the apps of the masses (eg Netflix, AppleTV and whatnot) use a different mechanism to display HDR10+ content, which is not exposed to this issue?

This is quite painful, mainly since the "upgrade" from Chromecast to the new hardware ends up in a downgraded experience... Low family approval rating, etc.  

[Luke 42077]

@doron 

Hi.  Can you try searching for our standard android app (Just "Emby" on Amazon and "Emby for Android on Google) on the same device's app store and see how that compares?

Thanks.

 

[doron 10]

13 hours ago, Luke said:

Hi.  Can you try searching for our standard android app (Just "Emby" on Amazon and "Emby for Android on Google) on the same device's app store and see how that compares?

Thanks @Luke. Already tried that - per some other threads I've seen - same behavior unfortunately. That HDR10+ video does not play (totally blank screen), audio does play.

I've seen some fingers being pointed at ExoPlayer in other forums. Could this be related here as well?

[ebr 16169]

16 minutes ago, doron said:

I've seen some fingers being pointed at ExoPlayer in other forums. Could this be related here as well?

 

On 1/6/2025 at 11:21 AM, ebr said:

This is a bug in the hardware that the hardware providers don't care much about because it doesn't affect any media that the masses would ever encounter on these devices.

It isn't something that we can just flip a switch on to work around either unfortunately.  The standard Android app will have to somehow know which devices are affected and force a transcode in these instances.

 

[Luke 42077]

2 hours ago, doron said:

Thanks @Luke. Already tried that - per some other threads I've seen - same behavior unfortunately. That HDR10+ video does not play (totally blank screen), audio does play.

I've seen some fingers being pointed at ExoPlayer in other forums. Could this be related here as well?

I would try again with the latest build because it has an updated Exoplayer build.

 What ebr is saying is correct. But you never know if the updated libraries might have added workarounds.

[horstepipe 422]

@Luke
could you please provide some infos which devices exactly have that hardware problem at the moment so we can avoid to buy them?

[doron 10]

18 hours ago, Luke said:

I would try again with the latest build because it has an updated Exoplayer build.

I just reinstalled emby for Android on the device to make sure I have the latest from the play store. Same behavior.

18 hours ago, Luke said:

 What ebr is saying is correct. But you never know if the updated libraries might have added workarounds.

Obviously, and I was not doubting him in the slightest, just suggesting there might be some relationship between ExoPlayer and that hardware issue. BTW I'd really love to hear a bit more about that hardware issue, technically, so that I (and probably others) have a better understanding of what we're up against with our new and shiny gizmos...  

Thanks!

[ebr 16169]

There are a couple of discussions on the issue.  I would start here:

 

[doron 10]

5 hours ago, ebr said:

There are a couple of discussions on the issue.  I would start here:

Thanks, much appreciated.

It seems as if the Plex team have a workaround, where they strip HDR10+ metadata off of what's being played. Assuming this is true (I don't have Plex here), perhaps something like that can be made into an advanced settings option.

One curiosity though: The GST does detect that the display does not support HDR10+, and even shows it (in some advanced video menu). It was allegedly supposed to downconvert content with the unavailable protocols, or in some other way "do the right thing". Apparently it does not.

[Luke 42077]

Hi, yes that sort of workaround is something we are looking into. Thanks.

[doron 10]

On 1/14/2025 at 4:37 PM, Luke said:

Hi, yes that sort of workaround is something we are looking into. Thanks.

Is there any progress wrt this issue?

Thanks!

[Luke 42077]

On 1/10/2025 at 1:50 PM, Luke said:

I would try again with the latest build because it has an updated Exoplayer build.

 What ebr is saying is correct. But you never know if the updated libraries might have added workarounds.

Hi, what version number did you try?

[doron 10]

26 minutes ago, Luke said:

Hi, what version number did you try?

At the time of that message I tried the latest version (and also the non-TV android version). I have put the device aside due to this, so not sure what the version number was - can find it if important. Was there a fix directed at this issue, since then? I can reconnect the device and test if so.

[Luke 42077]

I just wanted to make sure you tried the right app, so and version number would answer that for me. And also there was a recent update to exoplayer so that would tell me if you were testing that. Thanks.

[doron 10]

On 3/8/2025 at 2:16 AM, Luke said:

I just wanted to make sure you tried the right app, so and version number would answer that for me. And also there was a recent update to exoplayer so that would tell me if you were testing that. Thanks.

Understood, sorry for taking longer to bring this info. So, what I have on the Gst is:

Emby for Android TV - 3.4.36

Emby for Android - 2.1.36g Registered

Both do not play the content in question.

Let me know if I can provide any further info.

[Luke 42077]

On 3/10/2025 at 11:37 AM, doron said:

Understood, sorry for taking longer to bring this info. So, what I have on the Gst is:

Emby for Android TV - 3.4.36

Emby for Android - 2.1.36g Registered

Both do not play the content in question.

Let me know if I can provide any further info.

Can you provide a sample video for testing? Thanks.

[doron 10]

15 hours ago, Luke said:

Can you provide a sample video for testing? Thanks.

Sure - sent a sample via pm. 

[doron 10]

Hi @Luke- is there progress with this issue? Is a solution to be expected?

Thank you!

[Luke 42077]

@doronare you still having an issue with this using the latest version of Emby for Android?