4K HVEC mkv not playing anymore

[Neminem 1518]

11 hours ago, GrimReaper said:

Stream #0:43(chi): Subtitle: subrip

Ohh I see @GrimReaperalready asked about this.

[NIIcK 9]

7 minutes ago, GrimReaper said:

Increase in-app quality (OSD cog menu). 

 

Thank you for your help! I do not wish to nagg but where do I find this setting please?  

[GrimReaper 4739]

As said, in the OSD during playback>click Cog icon>select desired quality or in server Settings>Emby Web Settings tab in the sidebar>Playback>Streaming quality. 

Edited November 14, 2025 by GrimReaper

[NIIcK 9]

21 minutes ago, Neminem said:

And the media file has 44 streams, 41-42 subtitle streams.

I would make a copy of file and remove all subs not needed, using MKVToolNix.

Then try with that.

 

 

The video plays now if I set the streaming resolution to 4K instead of Auto as it used to be. It is not affected by the number of subtitles but I will remove the majority of them either way.

Thank you @GrimReaper, @Lukeand @Neminem for your help! 

[GrimReaper 4739]

3 minutes ago, NIIcK said:

The video plays now

That's what we were gunning for - excellent.

Enjoy. 

Edit: @Lukewhy was item so aggressively downscaled for - not only LAN playback - but literally on localhost? Why did Auto come into play at all in this scenario? 

Quote

http://‌‍‍localhost/emby/videos/41911/hls1/main/0.ts

Stream #0:0: Video: hevc, qsv(progressive), 640x266 [SAR 1:1 DAR 320:133], q=2-31, 560 kb/s, 23.98 fps, 90k tbn

cpb: bitrate max/min/avg: 560999/0/560999

 

Edited November 14, 2025 by GrimReaper
Append

[Luke 42077]

Audi doesn’t have a limit on the local network. 

[GrimReaper 4739]

7 minutes ago, Luke said:

Audi doesn’t have a limit on the local network. 

Yeah, hence the question, as as per OP quality was set to Auto:

13 hours ago, NIIcK said:

The video plays now if I set the streaming resolution to 4K instead of Auto as it used to be

 

[NIIcK 9]

Quote

Audi doesn’t have a limit on the local network. 

Shouldn't auto do as it does on other media streaming services: start small, "test" the connection and end big?  

In order to properly play 4K with the EAC3 codec I need to have to have the "Remote streaming quality" on 4K - 200Mbps by default in the Emby web server settings:

Edited November 17, 2025 by NIIcK

[GrimReaper 4739]

5 minutes ago, NIIcK said:

Shouldn't auto do as it does on other media streaming services: start small, "test" the connection and end big?

It doesn't. 

6 minutes ago, NIIcK said:

In order to properly play 4K with the EAC3 codec I need to have to have the "Remote streaming quality" on 4K - 200Mbps by default in the Emby web server settings:

How are you playing remotely on localhost? What kind of setup do you have? 

[NIIcK 9]

I'm not playing remotely on localhost. I was only testing on localhost, the default setup is:

Home (LAN) on port 8096 then proxy with nGINX for outside the LAN on a subdomain on regular port 443.

[GrimReaper 4739]

Well, you shouldn't have provided logs from localhost playback or should've been more clear about the steps you took - as you were confusing the heck out of me trying to figure out why was Auto restricting you for local playback, as you stated quality was on Auto prior manually increased. 

[NIIcK 9]

Based on @Luke, Auto should not restrict on LAN either. Emby server is only operating on LAN; in my mind, operating on LAN between itself and nGINX, it should not have any restrictions; however, this aside, how does Auto work after all? 

[GrimReaper 4739]

Auto should not come into play at all for local (LAN) playback. Something in your setup is causing Emby to think you're on a remote connection, evidenced by both Auto actually imposing a limit and your client app playback settings, as it should say "Home streaming quality" instead of "Remote streaming quality" there. 

1 hour ago, NIIcK said:

settings:

You can compare your NGINX config with this one:

 

Edit: Do you have any LAN networks set under your server Settings>Network tab? Also, are you binding your server to any local IP? Are you reading proxy headers?

Edited November 17, 2025 by GrimReaper
Append

[NIIcK 9]

13 minutes ago, GrimReaper said:

You can compare your NGINX config with this one:

 

My nGINX config is identical (I believe I have actually taken it from this post) but I am not continuing here as it is outside the scope of this thread  

I am willing to continue debugging why Auto failed so should you want to continue as well please feel free to message me privatelly or let me know if you consider I should open a different thread for the Auto part.

Once again, thank you for your help, much appreciated! 

[GrimReaper 4739]

1 minute ago, NIIcK said:

I am willing to continue debugging why Auto failed so should you want to continue as well please feel free to message me privatelly or let me know if you consider I should open a different thread for the Auto part.

That is completely up to you and whether you want to troubleshoot that further, to open a new topic or not. Though if you're happy with the current state of affairs, you might just as well continue as it is if it ain't causing you any issues. 

[NIIcK 9]

I was thinking of other people having the same situation where, having solved the removed Dolby Digital audio dirvers support in the latest Windows 11 versions, the server playback settings are on Auto, the browser player settings are on auto as well, they have the proper audio codecs and yet the playback fails with

ContainerBitrateExceedsLimit

unless they set 

[GrimReaper 4739]

The issue is not that the bitrate limit was imposed, the issue is why it happened at all - and the reason was already given:

57 minutes ago, GrimReaper said:

Something in your setup is causing Emby to think you're on a remote connection

Meaning, as far as Emby is concerned, you might've been sitting half a world away, it'd act the same. You need to investigate what is it in your setup (and/or settings) that is causing that. 

[NIIcK 9]

 

I'll start digging into the logs. I'm sure there is something there ... either Emby or nGINX if not both as you are correct, Emby-wise it should only be local with nGINX proxy_pass unless it sees 192.168.x.x/24 as remote (the nGINX setup is stating http://localhost:8096 while mine is on http://192.168.x.x:8096).

[Luke 42077]

59 minutes ago, NIIcK said:

 

I'll start digging into the logs. I'm sure there is something there ... either Emby or nGINX if not both as you are correct, Emby-wise it should only be local with nGINX proxy_pass unless it sees 192.168.x.x/24 as remote (the nGINX setup is stating http://localhost:8096 while mine is on http://192.168.x.x:8096).

HI, please let us know what you find. Thanks.

[NIIcK 9]

Summary:

•  - LAN and WAN are detected as remote by Emby
•  - Auto fails to offer the video resolution and Emby is transcoding if the connection is detected as remote (instead of DirectPlay at the video resolution - I guess)
•  - Transcoding fails (for me) -> at least this is my conculsion since when it tries to transcode it creates several ffmpeg logs and gives up
•  - Auto works on local play (playing from a browser on the same machine where Emby Server is installed) -> Emby detects the connection as local and offers DirectPlay at the video resolution; no transcoding involved
•  - Tests conducted with nGINX proxy_pass set to http://localhost:8096/ and the Emby Server Network/Local Networks = 192.168.x.0/24 and Local IP address = 192.168.x.x

Testing details:

I have changed the nGINX proxy_pass setting from the LAN IP to localhost but, apparently, to no avail.

What I can tell so far is that it works on DirectPlay, as in having Web Server Settings/Playback/Remote Streaming Quality to the highest setting, in order to avoid Auto, so the video does not transcode:

If I set Web Server Settings/Playback/Remote Streaming Quality to a lower resolution than the played video it does transcoding:

and this fails.

The above was played from a live vhost pointing to a public IP with nGINX doing proxy_pass to http://localhost:8096.

However ... with the nGINX proxy_pass on localhost and playing the video from a local browser (same machine as the emby server), but from the public IP vhost, Emby detects me as playing locally and will only allow a local setting in the Web Server Settings/Playback area:

Playing locally, with everything on Auto, works correctly with Emby detecting the video resolution and starting streaming at 4K with DirectPlay.

As a conclusion, LAN and WAN are detected as remote by the Emby Server; Auto does not work remotelly as Emby, instead of offering 4K DirectPlay, tries to transcode instead; transcoding fails (at least for me).

DirectPlay works remotely while transcoding does not -> I have tried setting 1080p in the Web Server Settings/Playback/Remote Streaming Quality, to force Emby to transcode automatically and playing the 4K video; it fails. Only DirectPlay works (aka setting Web Server Settings/Playback/Remote Streaming Quality to the highest possible value to avoid transcoding for 4K videos).

I don't know if there is an issue with the way the video was created (the MKV itself); I only have 2 files that fail if Auto is set in the Remote Streaming Quality section.

I hope the above make sense. I tried as best I could to explain my testing logic and results  

L.E. @Luke@GrimReaper

 

Edited November 17, 2025 by NIIcK

[Luke 42077]

Quote

•  - LAN and WAN are detected as remote by Emby

Hi, what makes you think this?

[NIIcK 9]

3 hours ago, Luke said:

Hi, what makes you think this?

My bad, if I access the server settings from http://LAN_IP:8096/ from a network device or http://localhost:8096/ from the Emby machine I only have the "Home streaming quality" setting and Auto is switched to "Auto - Direct" for video playback.

From WAN or public IP Auto is not working, Emby is trying to transcode on these 2 videos I am talking about; I guess transcoding fails as the playback is stopped after a few tries.

Edited November 18, 2025 by NIIcK

[Walter Zamora 0]

Es solo para la tv pero no puedo configurarme pide la IP del servidor y no se cuál es y si no lo puedo instalar mejor no pago 

[NIIcK 9]

5 minutes ago, Walter Zamora said:

Es solo para la tv pero no puedo configurarme pide la IP del servidor y no se cuál es y si no lo puedo instalar mejor no pago 

If you open your Emby from a browser and click on the top right corner cog:

it will open the server settings page where you have your IP address (look for something similar to http://192.168...) -> the 192.168.xxx.xxx is the server IP address and the 4 numbers after the colon (:) is the server port, usually 8096.

Edited November 18, 2025 by NIIcK