Formats and things that do NOT work with Samsung

[Derek Webb 5]

I waited forever to finally get the Samsung app in the Samsung Store.  Thinking that would be a good working option for Emby.  Unfortunately there still seem to be a lot of Samsung specific problems with playback under specific conditions.  There are some files that play fine on my computer or phone, but come out purple on Samsung.  Discovered that it was one specific codec that Samsung didn't play nice with.  Was trying to play back a movie with my daughter tonight.  Again, played fine on my phone, and computer.  Try to play it on the TV, and it crashed the whole NAS server.  Loads very slow, then when you press play it shows a black screen and memory usage on the NAS goes through the roof.  ONLY on the Samsung.  I had issues once with too many subtitles, not sure if that was a Samsung issue or a weird Emby issue.  There have been others too.  I get that it is a Samsung thing, and not necessarily an Emby thing, but does anybody have a list of Codecs, video formats, or settings that work on everything, but not on Samsung?  It's very frustrating to discover that I need to remux, or convert a media file to get it to work WHEN I'm trying to play it.

[FrostByte 5392]

Yes, the supported codecs list is pretty basic with no DV, no HD audio, no PGS subtitles etc.. Your TV's user manual will have a list of codecs which will be compatible, anything other than that will need to be converted.  Converting codecs with the TV app can sometimes be slow and cause buffering, especially with higher bitrate files.

Example chart you would be looking for:

https://developer.samsung.com/smarttv/develop/specifications/media-specifications/2025-tv-video-specifications.html

Any video with a purple or green hue is most likely DV profile 5 which has no HDR10 layer and thus won't display correctly. 

As far as HD audio and PGS subtitles I usually keep an alternate audio (AC3 or DD+) and subtitle (SRT) track which I can preselect before clicking play.  That way I can enjoy HD audio or PGS subs on other devices whenever supported and then switch these whenever using the Samsung app so that I don't get any transcoding.

Main thing is to stay away from DV profile 5 (DV profile 7 or 8 are good and have a HDR10 layer) unless you want to keep two versions of those videos also.

 

[Derek Webb 5]

Good to note.  My latest issue seems to be something else though.  Double checked Dolby Vision and it is HEVC which is supposedly supported.  Checked other files and they seem to play on the Samsung.  Reinstalled Emby app on the TV.  Remuxed to remove a couple subtitles languages that I would never need.  Emby plays fine on my computer.  Emby plays fine on my phone.  But on the Samsung it still goes to a black screen with a circle turning and never starts.  If I check the NAS it is up over 84% RAM and CPU is working harder than it needs to.  Is there something else that we need to look out for with Samsung?

[FrostByte 5392]

40 minutes ago, Derek Webb said:

Good to note.  My latest issue seems to be something else though.  Double checked Dolby Vision and it is HEVC which is supposedly supported.  Checked other files and they seem to play on the Samsung.  Reinstalled Emby app on the TV.  Remuxed to remove a couple subtitles languages that I would never need.  Emby plays fine on my computer.  Emby plays fine on my phone.  But on the Samsung it still goes to a black screen with a circle turning and never starts.  If I check the NAS it is up over 84% RAM and CPU is working harder than it needs to.  Is there something else that we need to look out for with Samsung?

DV HEVC really means nothing.  Look for the profile in media info.  DV profile 5 won't play without some type of conversion.  However, DV profile 7/8 will play because it has an extra HDR10 layer.  For profile 7/8 Samsung just ignores the DV layer and plays the HDR10.

Normally, when I see the spinner it's because the app is buffering the next chunk while the server is transcoding.  PGS subs are the worst, though HD audio can something cause it also.

Would really need you to post any logs for the devs to look at though.  Also, when playing check SFN and see if it's direct play, transcoding, etc.  It should tell you what is causing any conversion.

 

[SamES 1056]

@Derek Webbcan we please work through a specific example, then it will be easier for us to know what's going on.

Please let us know what TV model and provide the full media info for the file, and any log files produced on the server at the time of your test. Thanks.

https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/739-how-to-report-a-problem/

 

[Derek Webb 5]

Thanks for your help.  Just trying to figure out WHAT it is.  Not super uncommon, I can probably find a different version that will work, but when I don't know what the problem is I'll probably keep running into it because I don't know what I'm trying to avoid.

TV: UN82NU8000

 

[Derek Webb 5]

Media Info

Logs

embyserver.txt ffmpeg-transcode-cd61d895-8711-486f-a239-bf1bc06e2f1c_1.txt

[SamES 1056]

That’s why it’s good to give us an example when you come across one.

Generally, you should avoid TrueHD and DTS. These will cause audio conversion, but shouldn’t touch the video. Possibly FLAC audio as well should be avoided. 
 

DV without HDR is not supported. 
 

Avoid PGS subtitles as they will require burning into the video. Just use the subtitle download feature  to get a text based SRT file. 
 

Pretty much everything else should DirectPlay. It doesn’t mean you can’t use the above stream types, the server should convert them automatically as required and it will work fine assuming your server is capable.

[SamES 1056]

7 minutes ago, Derek Webb said:

Media Info

Logs

embyserver.txt 1.09 MB · 0 downloads ffmpeg-transcode-cd61d895-8711-486f-a239-bf1bc06e2f1c_1.txt 47.97 kB · 1 download

PGS subtitles is your issue here, it requires full video transcode to burn in the subs. 

[SamES 1056]

BTW, an NVidia Shield Pro is about the only device that I’m aware of that will play PGS sub without transcoding, this issue is not unique to Samsung. 

[Derek Webb 5]

Never thought I'd come across more issues with subtitles when I don't even have them turned on.  But you were right, remuxed again, this time with ALL subtitle tracks removed, and not it plays on the Samsung.  So at least I have a solution if I come across them again.  Thanks.

[SamES 1056]

5 hours ago, Derek Webb said:

Never thought I'd come across more issues with subtitles when I don't even have them turned on.  But you were right, remuxed again, this time with ALL subtitle tracks removed, and not it plays on the Samsung.  So at least I have a solution if I come across them again.  Thanks.

If subtitles are not turned on then you shouldn't have an issue, but in the ffmpeg log that you provided, a subtitle track was selected.(SubtitleStreamIndex=2)

Just check what App settings you have configured: