What option in the android TV client for portrait playback of home vids recorded from iphone ?

[vaise 340]

I am busy with 10 years of the wife's video content taken of our grandson on her Iphone.

Unfortunately, it is mostly portrait.  When played back on VLC on PC - it plays portrait.

When played back in emby browser - it plays portrait.

When played back in android TV - it is landscape.

I search for this on here and loads of hits / complaints, but no solution I have found.

Any idea what I can do ?

[Luke 42077]

 

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

 

[vaise 340]

OK.

This file - Tallon 20140208.mov.  See attached.

On VLC and played via emby in browser (chrome), it is portrait all the way.

It also plays portrait on the emby for iphone app (and ipad) - which is good.

But the Android TV - it flips it.

I took some photos of this (if you need proof) but will have to add those from my phone.

The mov file it attached.

Media info says this - I note it states 1920/1080 so maybe that is why the android client is flipping it - but I want it to play the same as it does everywhere else.

[sa2000 674]

9 hours ago, vaise said:

Media info says this - I note it states 1920/1080 so maybe that is why the android client is flipping it - but I want it to play the same as it does everywhere el

We recently fixed issues in this area - well, not very recently !

Could you select the item in the library and use the "..." and then select "Refresh Metadata" and see if this resolves the issue

When you view the item with the details showing in Emby Web, you should see "Rotation -90" at the bottom

[vaise 340]

Yep - in the web I can see the -90.  But the web plays it correctly.

I only added this media yesterday - so it would have done the metadata then - but I will give that a go.

 

[sa2000 674]

I tried your video on the shield with android tv app and played portrait ok

what version of the app ? And can you try the universal emby for android app 

[sa2000 674]

And what emby server version ?

[vaise 340]

The refresh did not help.

i have uploaded a sample to my post.  
I am using a TCL TV with googleTV built in.  I have both shield TV’s on my media room so will try up there but the timber floor is being re surface ed so can’t access that yet:

I am using the universal android app.  
latest prod emby version.  I keep my apps updated all the time.

i do have the beta running on another docker container however and I was going to try that, but it would not help me as I like to keep prod and dev separate.

 

 

Edited December 3, 2025 by vaise

[vaise 340]

49 minutes ago, sa2000 said:

And what emby server version ?

3.5.16

[vaise 340]

I can see that rotate -90 on the TV too.  It just does not seem to do it there.  Will report back when I can test the shield tv (I gave a 2917 and a tube).  But that won’t help the wife as no spare HDMI’s in the lounge.

[vaise 340]

One thing I noted.  The files recorded on older iPhone resolution 1280/720 are playing portrait.  Scratch that.  One did, another did not.  

Edited December 3, 2025 by vaise

[vaise 340]

OK - I access the media room - connected the stuff back up and YES - The ShieldTV is playing all of them in portrait.

Where do we go from here.

I guess there is nothing I can do to 'fix' the GoogleTV as it is shipped installed with loads of TV's now.

I have some of the CCwGTV devices in the kids bedrooms - I will test those and report back.

 

[vaise 340]

I have done more testing - and the CCwGTV devices all play portrait fine also.

So as of right now, I am going to continue renaming and uploading the home video's in the hope that a fix for the TCL built in GoogleTV works in the future.

I am happy to test anything if you want me to assist. 

I also think I have some family members with Sony TV's that also have the GoogleTV built in and they can test also.

[sa2000 674]

I just tried Emby for Android 3.5.17 on the Shield and that plays it ok as portrair - both when direct playing and when transcoding

It sounds like confined to TCL TV with the built-in googleTV. Is it different if you force transcode by changing quality setting in the app?

 

 

[vaise 340]

I change the playback to 1mb / 480p and they all play portrait correctly.

This gives the wife a workaround which is good.

I normally have the playback set to 4K 100mbps if that means anything to this issue ?

[sa2000 674]

3 minutes ago, vaise said:

I change the playback to 1mb / 480p and they all play portrait correctly.

you might be able to go higer than that and transcode.

[sa2000 674]

So this appears to be a Direct Play issue with the TCL TV/Google TV

You could enable debug logging on the Emby for Android App and Emby Server and after fresh restart of both the server and the app, do a test with Direct Play where it goes wrong and get me the logs - I am hoping you can find a way to access the logs area on the android device - i added a section about this for the Shield here https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/15638-how-to-report-an-android-problem/ 

The internal directory path would be the same for other android devices 

As the android logs are not sanitized, if you manage to extract them, please send to me in a private messahe together with the embyserver log for the test

[vaise 340]

2 hours ago, sa2000 said:

you might be able to go higer than that and transcode.

I tried what I force the family to use - 1080p/5mbps, and that has the same issue.

[vaise 340]

I have a very long process to rename and sort the media for now.  Then add to home videos library.  As I have a work around for now (force transcode), then this is not that much of a priority as it only affects the one TV (albeit the main TV).  Once I complete this work, I will try and get that logging stuff on the app.  I suspect it will be a bit tricky.