A lot of videos are stopping only 10 seconds into playback

[dimitrik 14]

This just started to happen to me, right after updating to the latest version last week. It doesn't happen to every video but quite a few, mostly HEVC content.

 

Thankfully, I have an Android TV Box which works ok, but I prefer not to use it because colours look a bit less vivid on it.

 

Looking forward to a fix!

Edited March 31, 2025 by dimitrik

[Luke 42077]

@dimitrik

 

Hi there, let's look at an example. Please attach the information requested in how to report a media playback issue. Thanks!

 

[Luke 42077]

@dimitrik?

[dimitrik 14]

Hi again. The problem persists unfortunately.

New versions do not appear to resolve it, in fact my unobjective impression is that it seems to be getting worse with more files stuck.

It seems connected to audio codecs which trigger transcoding. Examples include Opus and DTS-HD MA.

 

 

[Luke 42077]

HI, we are looking into this. Thanks.

[dimitrik 14]

Awesome, thank you!

[Pitchblack 45]

Hi,

Bumping this thread, I have a similar issue where playback stops only a few seconds in, only when transcoding... It happens on some HEVC files and AV1 files too.

My TV is usually able to play HEVC in direct play but sometimes but lately it's having a lot of issues playing different files.

HEVC video, AAC audio and ASS subs should all direct play... I am very much unsure why some crash now... some have a few many font attachment... some don't and have PGSSubs... some have a single audio track, some more than one...

On the TV Client side, it seems to black out after a few seconds... then after a little while... it tries to play back again and fails again... until the client says there's no stream available and to contact your administrator which is myself. Meanwhile, the server seems to be transcoding, the progress bar of the transcoding is well advancing much faster than the actual playback progress bar in the dashboard playback status but basically it tells me the client seems to be attempting to recover from playback... it's super weird and it wasn't doing that before.

 

Let me know if I can provide any information

(Meanwhile, all of this is working flawlessly on emby web, ms store app and android app... so definitely some fuckery going on with TVs cause they're lesser platforms)

Edited September 3, 2025 by Pitchblack

[Luke 42077]

2 minutes ago, Pitchblack said:

Hi,

Bumping this thread, I have a similar issue where playback stops only a few seconds in, only when transcoding... It happens on some HEVC files and AV1 files too.

My TV is usually able to play HEVC in direct play but sometimes but lately it's having a lot of issues playing different files.

HEVC video, AAC audio and ASS subs should all direct play... I am very much unsure why some crash now... some have a few many font attachment... some don't and have PGSSubs... some have a single audio track, some more than one...

On the TV Client side, it seems to black out after a few seconds... then after a little while... it tries to play back again and fails again... until the client says there's no stream available and to contact your administrator which is myself. Meanwhile, the server seems to be transcoding, the progress bar of the transcoding is well advancing much faster than the actual playback progress bar in the dashboard playback status but basically it tells me the client seems to be attempting to recover from playback... it's super weird and it wasn't doing that before.

 

Let me know if I can provide any information

@Pitchblack

 

Hi there, let's look at an example. Please attach the information requested in how to report a media playback issue. Thanks!

 

[Pitchblack 45]

7 minutes ago, Luke said:

@Pitchblack

 

Hi there, let's look at an example. Please attach the information requested in how to report a media playback issue. Thanks!

 

Hi,

Here's more info:

Emby server: 4.9.1.24 beta (running on Docker container on Ubuntu bare metal... it has the Nvidia toolkit and the NVIDIA runtime GPU passthrough so hardware acceleration works)

Emby Client for LG: 1.0.47 (latest version of the app on the LG app store according to my TV)

Test timestamp: 22:50 to 22:51 (Eastern Time), 02/09/2025 (DD/MM/YYYY)

User performing test: Pitchblack

Test attempted: Playback the first episode of season 1 of the anime Overlord.

File info:

Behaviour expected: My old LG Smart TV (43UH6100-UH) should be able to playback the video track but the OPUS audio as well as the PGSSUB track used would need to be transcoded by the server.

Behaviour encountered: On the server side, it seems to be attempting transcode, on the client side it seems to be attempting to recover from playback issues... long black screens before it tries to continue playback to end up with an error message stating there's no compatible streams currently available.

Some logs:

ffmpeg-transcode-886b1cc4-d6c2-408e-91ad-1dc973eccfd3_1.txtffmpeg-transcode-5ad05d7e-f896-448e-96b0-421e4e4c3a55_1.txtembyserver.txt

Extra info:

Same happens on some AV1 video files with OPUS and with HEVC video file with AAC audio (both with many font attachments if that matters to you)

 

Let me know if you need more info,

Pitchblack

[Pitchblack 45]

Hello, any news?

[Luke 42077]

Hi, as a test, if you disable hardware transcoding in server transcoding settings, how does that compare?

[Pitchblack 45]

21 minutes ago, Luke said:

Hi, as a test, if you disable hardware transcoding in server transcoding settings, how does that compare?

@Luke

I've gone into Server transcoding settings, set hardware acceleration to "No", then hit save.

Fired up the TV and app, and tried starting the same Episode 1 of Overlord anime.

I appear to encounter the same issue, it seems to try playing the file but ends up giving an error message saying there's no stream available. Same with the other files that aren't working and what was working still works.

Here are the logs:
I started the tests at about 18:10 eastern time

ffmpeg-transcode-ddb8808d-fb49-4156-9e2f-ccb70dbaee0a_1.txtffmpeg-transcode-ce5217fd-7561-4836-87bc-e5612d46b2e2_1.txtffmpeg-transcode-09923153-47b9-4736-84da-36490c8d1b4a_1.txtembyserver.txt

[Luke 42077]

OK we'll take a look at it. Thanks.

[Pitchblack 45]

Any update?

[Luke 42077]

Hi, we are still looking at this. Thanks.

[Pitchblack 45]

Any new idea?

[Pitchblack 45]

Hi, it would be nice to have an update.

Thank you

[pgriffith 88]

I have a friend who plays content from my Emby, he has 1.0.47 of the LG app and is getting this exact issue with some HEVC content, but not all.

Here's what I see my end. On his end it plays for exactly 9 seconds every time and then the image freezes on screen and regardless how long he leaves it, that's all it does.

[Luke 42077]

Hi, we are still working on this. Thanks.

[pgriffith 88]

Bump, has any progress been made on this?

 

[ruskolo 0]

+1

Seems to happen when audio needs transcoding but video direct plays, at least for me.

No issues if everything is transcoded to HLS or if everything can direct play from MKV.

[Luke 42077]

HI, we are still working on this. Thanks.

[burnchar 3]

I have the same issue. Movies play for about 10 seconds and freeze at the exact same frame every time. They never recover, though I've only left them for a few minutes.

I don't believe that 10 seconds is a magic member. Some movies played for more like four or five seconds.

 

I can skip ahead, they will play for another 5 to 15 seconds.

This is on an LG C5.

Edited January 18 by burnchar
Added additional detail

[hbouy 0]

same problem here: my emby server is updated to the latest version, installed on my SHIELD, and I am playing on my SHIELD as well

it makes Emby completely useless... I hope a fix comes quick, I'd be sad to switch back to Plex

[alex77777 16]

On 12/31/2025 at 1:43 PM, Luke said:

HI, we are still working on this. Thanks.

Any Updates? The LG C4 wont play any content just plays for a few seconds and buffers, every other device works fine. I'm on the latest Emby Server Version and and the Emby LG app is up to date.