Completed Please Add “direct play” option in quality settings of video

[NAS288 11]

I’m using an iPhone 13 Pro with the latest version app and the latest version of the QNAP server.

Play Movie 1 (4K 200Mbps):
I tried selecting 1080p quality to test the transcoding performance, but the playback was very choppy. I wanted to switch back, but I found there was no "Direct" option. Whether I selected the highest quality 4K 200Mbps or "Auto" (which showed as Auto-4K200M), the playback was still choppy. Restarting the video also didn’t play it in Auto-Direct mode.

Play Movie 2 (4K 200Mbps):
The quality showed as Auto-Direct, and the playback was smooth.

Play Movie 1 and Video 2 (Both 4K 200Mbps) via SMB using nPlayer app:
Both Movie played very smoothly.

I suspect that when playing the first Movie, neither 4K 200Mbps nor Auto is using Direct mode. Please add a Direct option.

[Luke 42077]

HI, did you explore the stats feature in the video player during playback? If it wasn’t direct playing it would tell you the reason why.

[NAS288 11]

thank you for your answer

Could you tell me how to access the "Stats" feature during playback?

 

[seanbuff 1313]

32 minutes ago, NAS288 said:

Could you tell me how to access the "Stats" feature during playback?

That's it, you found it. "Stats for Nerds"

The device is indicating it cannot natively play the video (profile "Rekt"), therefore is converting it to a compatible profile (causing the transcode)

[NAS288 11]

11 minutes ago, seanbuff said:

That's it, you found it. "Stats for Nerds"

The device is indicating it cannot natively play the video (profile "Rekt"), therefore is converting it to a compatible profile (causing the transcode)

thank you for your reply.

Hopefully, Emby will be able to natively play this video one day, since nPlayer can.

[NAS288 11]

1 hour ago, Luke said:

HI, did you explore the stats feature in the video player during playback? If it wasn’t direct playing it would tell you the reason why.

If the device cannot natively play the video, please still add a "Direct" option (grayed out to indicate it's not selectable).

[Luke 42077]

On 6/19/2025 at 8:11 AM, NAS288 said:

If the device cannot natively play the video, please still add a "Direct" option (grayed out to indicate it's not selectable).

Hi, yes it's not a bad idea. Thanks.

[brothom 177]

This is a great feature to have. Most of my users are really confused as to why they have to select "4k 200mbps" sometimes. In most cases this causes 1080p / 4k videos to play at their original settings. When the quality is left at automatic, sometimes a different resolution or bitrates is selected causes the server to transcode it.

It would also be really nice to set "original quality" as a default quality selection for each user because changing the quality only seems applicable when the device literally doesn't understand the codec ór when the device is too slow (older laptop playing 4k, etc).

[yocker 1247]

On 7/17/2025 at 10:57 AM, brothom said:

This is a great feature to have. Most of my users are really confused as to why they have to select "4k 200mbps" sometimes. In most cases this causes 1080p / 4k videos to play at their original settings. When the quality is left at automatic, sometimes a different resolution or bitrates is selected causes the server to transcode it.

It would also be really nice to set "original quality" as a default quality selection for each user because changing the quality only seems applicable when the device literally doesn't understand the codec ór when the device is too slow (older laptop playing 4k, etc).

Auto needs it's description removed as it doesn't work like that afaik. It's just a fixed rate not an actual auto.

Admins needs a way to set the default rate which clients use unless the user has set something else.
My graphics card is running red hot all the time because people don't know about quality settings or how to adjust them!

[brothom 177]

8 hours ago, yocker said:

Auto needs it's description removed as it doesn't work like that afaik. It's just a fixed rate not an actual auto.

Admins needs a way to set the default rate which clients use unless the user has set something else.
My graphics card is running red hot all the time because people don't know about quality settings or how to adjust them!

Absolutely. The general reply to this is "just disable transcoding", which isn't really an option. Sometimes users just pick the wrong quality setting, either by accident or not, and that setting just sticks.

Honestly I would like to have the option to completely disable all quality selection, but still allow transcoding for devices that don't support that media. That way nobody can accidentally choose the wrong quality and older or poorly supported devices (I'm looking at your Chromecast) would continue working as before.  

[yocker 1247]

@Luke Would it be possible to get a way for admins to set a default quality for users to watch in?
Maybe put the quality setting on the main page together with the video before video start so users can't miss it.

[Luke 42077]

I think an option to ignore the user's quality setting makes the most sense.

[seanbuff 1313]

1 hour ago, yocker said:

Maybe put the quality setting on the main page together with the video before video start so users can't miss it.

That won't work either, majority of users aren't looking at anything on that page other than the big 'Play' button

We do desperately need a way for Admins to override the client quality settings though. The number of times I've seen client apps reset back to the default, I'm tired of telling people they need to again set their quality setting to the highest 

[yocker 1247]

1 hour ago, seanbuff said:

That won't work either, majority of users aren't looking at anything on that page other than the big 'Play' button

We do desperately need a way for Admins to override the client quality settings though. The number of times I've seen client apps reset back to the default, I'm tired of telling people they need to again set their quality setting to the highest 

I very much agree but i would guess it would take a good while to make that available, most likely having to change all apps and make those changes to Emby it self as well, so making the quality button easier to explain to people and for them to find would at least help and be faster to implement.

As it is right now only a few of my family and friends have actually found the cogwheel when watching a video, much less the profile settings to customize their client.
I've resorted to make a video library with text in the image explaining and containing a small video showing how to do it but still no luck.

I appreciate the dev teams hard work but this should really be on the very top of the to do list IMO, my graphics card would thank you!!

[yocker 1247]

1 hour ago, Luke said:

I think an option to ignore the user's quality setting makes the most sense.

That's not a good idea IMO as some might need transcoding and just disabling transcoding would achieve that any way.

My suggestions would be.
An option to override what default quality is for people would be better, that way they can still set the quality if needed.
Making the quality option more user friendly would also be great, right now the quality controls (and profile options) are hidden, almost invisible to none techy people, making them easier to find would help a lot!
Have a button called "settings" that's easy to find for the menus and a big quality button next to the actual movie information like where the subtitle selection is, people seems to be able to find the subtitles most of the time.

Problem is not so much people transcoding, it's that they do it even when they don't need to and how to make them stop.
 

[Luke 42077]

1 hour ago, yocker said:

That's not a good idea IMO as some might need transcoding and just disabling transcoding would achieve that any way.

My suggestions would be.
An option to override what default quality is for people would be better, that way they can still set the quality if needed.
Making the quality option more user friendly would also be great, right now the quality controls (and profile options) are hidden, almost invisible to none techy people, making them easier to find would help a lot!
Have a button called "settings" that's easy to find for the menus and a big quality button next to the actual movie information like where the subtitle selection is, people seems to be able to find the subtitles most of the time.

Problem is not so much people transcoding, it's that they do it even when they don't need to and how to make them stop.
 

What I'm saying would not take away all transcoding.

[yocker 1247]

30 minutes ago, Luke said:

What I'm saying would not take away all transcoding.

Sorry if i misunderstood.

"I think an option to ignore the user's quality setting makes the most sense."

But this sounds to me (with my broken english) like just ignoring what setting the user has and force them to direct play.
Doing that would as i said not be good if users actually needs the transcoding.

But again sorry if i misunderstood.
 

[Luke 42077]

A new user restriction is being added here. So now you'll be able to allow them to transcode based on supported media, but not based on their quality setting.

[seanbuff 1313]

52 minutes ago, Luke said:

A new user restriction is being added here

This sounds promising. Can't wait to try it out. Thanks @Luke

[yocker 1247]

On 9/27/2025 at 7:32 AM, Luke said:

A new user restriction is being added here. So now you'll be able to allow them to transcode based on supported media, but not based on their quality setting.

That's awesome, many thanks for this!! 

How ever, unless it only overrides the auto quality then it brings back the problem of not wanting to disallow transcoding.
Some of my family have old and very slow TVs/streaming boxes that can't handle very high quality.

Having admins able to control what the auto quality is (for example change it to maximum quality) would fix it IMO.

[ebr 16169]

4 hours ago, yocker said:

Having admins able to control what the auto quality is (for example change it to maximum quality) would fix it IMO

Hi.  You can do that now for remote connections in the user settings.

[Neminem 1518]

1 hour ago, ebr said:

Hi.  You can do that now for remote connections in the user settings.

But not a admin, right.

[yocker 1247]

54 minutes ago, ebr said:

Hi.  You can do that now for remote connections in the user settings.

Sorry if i'm thick but do you mean the bitrate limit? That can only limit what people can stream at, not change what the auto quality is.

I want the default for all client to be maximum quality, then if needed users can lower the quality setting them self.
That would limit transcoding and explaining needed (even though people don't care anyway, grrr!) a huge amount.

[Happy2Play 9780]

1 hour ago, yocker said:

Sorry if i'm thick but do you mean the bitrate limit? That can only limit what people can stream at, not change what the auto quality is.

I want the default for all client to be maximum quality, then if needed users can lower the quality setting them self.
That would limit transcoding and explaining needed (even though people don't care anyway, grrr!) a huge amount.

Haven't seen the setting yet but isn't that really what the setting will do as it will ignore the in-app fallback value everyone somewhat disagrees with.  So with the setting disabled the media should just play as is on Auto.

@Lukeis this supposed to be in 4.9.1.80?  It appears to be hidden.

Edited October 1, 2025 by Happy2Play

[yocker 1247]

7 minutes ago, Happy2Play said:

Haven't seen the setting yet but isn't that really what the setting will do as it will ignore the in-app fallback value everyone somewhat disagrees with.  So with the setting disabled the media should just play as is on Auto.

Maybe, the wording to me sounds like users won't be able to change quality at all with the setting though.

I'm not at all complaining, it's a nice addition to Emby! Just not what i think most are looking for to help with the transcoding "problem".

Edited October 1, 2025 by yocker