Transcoding Really Necessary?

[Embodiment 28]

My media files are .mpg captured from a HDHomeRun tuner. Up till now I have played and managed them through Kodi. I believe Kodi does not need to transcode the files which as I understand the latter, that is converting the videos as necessary to work on a particular device. IE. I have an Android TV and Windows PC running Kodi and they play without any conversion. 

With my Emby subscription, I have been setting up some users and discovered with Playback of Allow audio and Allow video transcoding unchecked, playing something on my wife's user account gave the following error, "No compatible streams are currently available. Please try again later or contact your system administrator for details."

When I checked those two boxes, Allow audio and Allow video transcoding, the TV show would start playing. Why would Emby need to transcode (convert) these mpg files when they play fine on Kodi and the other media players I have on my Windows PC and Android. IE. Media Player Classic (Windows) and MX Player Pro (Android)

I am concerned of the overhead and processing that transcoding requires affecting my Qnap NAS. Does it actually transcode every mpg as it is  playing in Emby?

[Luke 42078]

HI, you don't need to uncheck those options because Emby will already try to direct play whenever possible. There is nothing you need to do to force that.

Just keep in mind when playing using the Emby web app, that web browsers have limited support for video formats compared what an installed app could do.

[rbjtech 5284]

As a test, try saving the HDHomerun output as a .TS (transport stream).   Depending on the client settings for things such as interlacing, you may get better direct results using TS.

Edited January 6, 2025 by rbjtech