Playback error on latest Android App with Server 4.8.11

[voodoo5_6k 29]

I was about to check out a newly uploaded movie, and to my surprise, the playback failed (the playback has failed, contact your administrator for details error screen). This is on an nVidia Shield TV Pro 2019, on the almost latest version (haven't installed the recent upgrade). The emby Android (not TV) app is installed, latest version. The emby server is on 4.8.11.

The file (*.mkv from one my BD, with one audio stream muxed in from a different edition BD) played fine on Windows 11 media player, and also via emby on Firefox. The file scanned fine, and chapter thumbnails also were generated. Overall, everything looked completely normal when I had uploaded it yesterday. Hence, my surprise today.

Logs attached. Please let me know if more information is needed.

emby_android_1742202579153.txt embyserver.txt

Edited March 17, 2025 by voodoo5_6k

[Luke 42078]

Hi, are you able to play other files?

[voodoo5_6k 29]

Hi Luke.

Yes, I just watched another movie (also *.mkv from one of my BD) a few hours ago. I also briefly tested other files, like 720p *.mp4, and everything's seems normal. But for some reason, the Android app aborts playback for this file.

[voodoo5_6k 29]

I suspect this has something to do with the audio delay of the added audio stream.

I tested both BD independently as *.mkv, and both play fine.

The audio stream I moved over needs +7300ms delay, and perhaps the relatively large delay throws off the player? (However: Everything else I tried plays the file just fine...)

I'll test it further without the delay, to see whether that file then plays. If it does, I'll try adding silence to the beginning of that audio stream with eac3to, and then put it all back together.

Edited March 20, 2025 by voodoo5_6k

[voodoo5_6k 29]

Alrighty, I extracted the audio stream, padded it with 7300ms at the beginning via eac3to, and put everything back together. And that finally worked with the emby Android (not TV) app.

The question remaining is whether this is an Android/Shield TV issue, or an emby Android app one?

[Luke 42078]

They both use the same embedded player but the standard app has a newer version. That could have a regression related to this.

 But generally speaking, tracks with delays can be difficult for players to deal with. We have our own longstanding open issues related to transcoding tracks that have them.