Live TV playback error in Emby on Fire TV and Android TV

[techbri 12]

I have searched the forum and I didn't find info on this issue. I have cablecard tuners attached to a Channels app server (in docker) and I attach it to Emby via m3u and xml guide. I could attach the tuners directly in emby but initially I was having issues getting both tuners to work together in emby so I set it up this way.

When watching live tv in Emby on Apple TV, the MPEGTS stream direct plays fine and I can use closed captioning if needed.

When playing via Fire TV Cube or via Android TV, I the default behavior looks like this:
Stream:

MPEGTS (3 mbps)

HLS (6 mbps 60 fps)

Converting to compatible container

Recovering from playback error

 

While it plays like this, it seems to work and I can enable closed captioning. I am testing now and I do hear some short audio interruptions...not sure if this is due to the conversion or if it's the news channel I am testing.

I can go into settings in the app, live tv and enable direct play of live tv. This works and the stream shows direct play on the server but I can't seem to enable closed captioning in the android tv app.

[ebr 16169]

Hi.  What is the error?

[techbri 12]

Watching Live TV right now from an Nvidia Shield - here is what the server shows. Note, I removed the M3U stream and added the HDHomeRun tuners directly to Emby and I see the same issue.

MPEGTS (3 mbps)

> HLS (5 mbps 60 fps)

Converting to compatible container

Recovering from playback error

Here is some info from the logs:

{"Protocol":"Http","Id":"native_915c48d9d2055222d4fb4c057c46f1a4_c286ad84a90a5c43171b2ab1dd060af6","Path":"http://127.0.0.1:8099/LiveTv/LiveStreamFiles/b288cb59cf424acebbaa3e31fe296788/stream.ts","Type":"Default","ProbePath":"/config/transcoding-temp/b288cb59cf424acebbaa3e31fe296788/0000000.ts","ProbeProtocol":"File","Container":"mpegts","Size":1474560,"IsRemote":false,"HasMixedProtocols":false,"ContainerStartTimeTicks":173592716560,"SupportsTranscoding":true,"WallClockStart":"2025-01-16T15:39:27.4122380Z","SupportsDirectStream":true,"SupportsDirectPlay":false,"IsInfiniteStream":true,"RequiresOpening":true,"RequiresClosing":true,"LiveStreamId":"06044cf0e6f93cdae5f285c9ecfaaeb4_01413a525b3a9622ce6fdf19f7dde354_native_915c48d9d2055222d4fb4c057c46f1a4_c286ad84a90a5c43171b2ab1dd060af6","RequiresLooping":false,"SupportsProbing":false,"MediaStreams":[{"Codec":"h264","StreamStartTimeTicks":173612426220,"TimeBase":"1/90000","VideoRange":"SDR","DisplayTitle":"720p H264","NalLengthSize":"0","IsInterlaced":false,"BitRate":2154822,"BitDepth":8,"RefFrames":1,"IsDefault":false,"IsForced":false,"IsHearingImpaired":false,"Height":720,"Width":1280,"AverageFrameRate":59.94006,"RealFrameRate":59.94006,"Profile":"High","Type":"Video","AspectRatio":"16:9","Index":0,"IsExternal":false,"IsTextSubtitleStream":false,"SupportsExternalStream":false,"Protocol":"File","PixelFormat":"yuv420p","Level":32,"IsAnamorphic":false,"ExtendedVideoType":"None","ExtendedVideoSubType":"None","ExtendedVideoSubTypeDescription":"None"},{"Codec":"ac3","CodecTag":"AC-3","Language":"eng","StreamStartTimeTicks":173592716560,"TimeBase":"1/90000","DisplayTitle":"English AC3 5.1","DisplayLanguage":"English","IsInterlaced":false,"ChannelLayout":"5.1","BitRate":384000,"Channels":6,"SampleRate":48000,"IsDefault":false,"IsForced":false,"IsHearingImpaired":false,"Type":"Audio","Index":1,"IsExternal":false,"IsTextSubtitleStream":false,"SupportsExternalStream":false,"Protocol":"File","ExtendedVideoType":"None","ExtendedVideoSubType":"None","ExtendedVideoSubTypeDescription":"None"},{"Codec":"eia_608","StreamStartTimeTicks":173612426220,"TimeBase":"1/90000","Title":"Closed Captions 1","DisplayTitle":"(Default EIA_608)","IsInterlaced":false,"IsDefault":true,"IsForced":false,"IsHearingImpaired":false,"Type":"Subtitle","Index":100,"IsExternal":false,"IsTextSubtitleStream":true,"SupportsExternalStream":false,"Protocol":"File","ExtendedVideoType":"None","ExtendedVideoSubType":"None","ExtendedVideoSubTypeDescription":"None","SubtitleLocationType":"VideoSideData"}],"Formats":[],"Bitrate":2538822,"RequiredHttpHeaders":{},"AddApiKeyToDirectStreamUrl":false,"ReadAtNativeFramerate":false,"DefaultAudioStreamIndex":1}

 

>>>>>> User policy for Brian Thompson

Enable Playback Remuxing: True

Enable Video Playback Transcoding: True

Enable Audio Playback Transcoding: True

 

 

>>>>>> Processing Plan

Name CanDoInHW WillDoInHW Reason 

Copy video stream >> False False Software Codec 

VideoInput >> False False Not a hardware decoder 

VideoOutput >> False False Not a hardware encoder 

Copy video stream >> False False Software Codec 

 

>>>>>> Video Processing Steps for [0:0]: H.264 (AVC)

Step HW-Context Format SW-Format Size Next

H264 >> - yuv420p yuv420p 1280x720 >> 

 

/app/emby/bin/ffmpeg -loglevel +timing -y -print_graphs_file "/config/logs/ffmpeg-directstream-afe1dafe-88a8-486d-b9a7-05e758da526c_1graph.txt" -copyts -start_at_zero -analyzeduration 3000000 -f mpegts -c:v:0 h264 -noautorotate -i "http://127.0.0.1:8099/LiveTv/LiveStreamFiles/b288cb59cf424acebbaa3e31fe296788/stream.ts" -map 0:0 -map 0:1 -sn -c:v:0 copy -c:a:0 copy -metadata:s:a:0 language=eng -disposition:a:0 default -copypriorss:a:0 0 -fflags +discardcorruptts+fillwallclockdts -max_delay 5000000 -avoid_negative_ts disabled -f segment -map_metadata -1 -map_chapters -1 -segment_format mpegts -segment_list "/config/transcoding-temp/F1E83F/F1E83F.m3u8" -segment_list_type m3u8 -segment_time 00:00:03.000 -segment_list_entry_prefix hls/F1E83F/ -segment_start_number 0 -individual_header_trailer 0 -write_header_trailer 0 -segment_write_temp 1 "/config/transcoding-temp/F1E83F/F1E83F_%d.ts"

 

07:39:31.112 ffmpeg version 5.1-emby_2023_06_25 Copyright (c) 2000-2022 the FFmpeg developers and softworkz for Emby LLC

07:39:31.112 built with gcc 10.3.0 (crosstool-NG 1.25.0)

07:39:31.112 Execution Date: 2025-01-16 07:39:31

07:39:31.115 [h264 @ 0x6ff980] non-existing PPS 0 referenced

Last message repeated 1 times

07:39:31.115 [h264 @ 0x6ff980] decode_slice_header error

07:39:31.115 [h264 @ 0x6ff980] no frame!

07:39:31.115 [h264 @ 0x6ff980] non-existing PPS 0 referenced

Last message repeated 1 times

[ebr 16169]

What I'm asking is exactly what problem are you having on the client while watching live TV?

[techbri 12]

I 'm not sure it's a problem per se. The stream works for the most part although sometimes I hear a blip in the audio. I am a tech guy so when I see "errors" I troubleshoot them. The message says it's converting to a compatible container so that leads me to believe something is incompatible. Then it says it's recovering from a playback error. I don't see this scenario on an Apple TV in Emby but I do see it on all Android clients (even the Nvidia Shield which is the holy grail lol). Is this a known issue, something being worked on? Is this something I should just ignore?

[Luke 42077]

Quote

The message says it's converting to a compatible container so that leads me to believe something is incompatible.

hi, this just means the format of the live stream is not natively supported by the device you're playing from. There is nothing to troubleshoot with that.

[Luke 42077]

Quote

Then it says it's recovering from a playback error.

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.

 

[techbri 12]

On 1/16/2025 at 10:53 AM, ebr said:

What I'm asking is exactly what problem are you having on the client while watching live TV?

So you want me to download the android app instead of the android tv app? I am currently using the Shield and I downloaded the android TV app from the Google App Store.

[Luke 42077]

On 1/17/2025 at 6:19 PM, techbri said:

So you want me to download the android app instead of the android tv app? I am currently using the Shield and I downloaded the android TV app from the Google App Store.

Hi, yes can you please try that? Thanks !