Some movies are just black screens with audio.

[theotherplex 0]

Watched half of a movie this morning...got back home and tried again and now the movie is just black with only audio playing. Several movies do this but others do not. I was really excited moving from Plex to Emby but apparently that's not going to happen.  

[yocker 1247]

I had a friend with a similar problem.
Turns out it was when playing Dolby Vision and possibly HDR videos when hes TV didn't support those.

As i had to troubleshoot over the phone the easiest solution was just to force transcoding as that removes Dolby Vision and HDR.

To help the developers best troubleshoot your problem please read this:

 

[Luke 42077]

@theotherplex

 

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

 

[theotherplex 0]

I think I'm going to just use plex. I've been fighting it for days. Plex just works. I really wanted to move to Emby but just fundamental stuff like this is too much. I just need it to work.  

[visproduction 315]

Top,

Plex stores the media and uses their high speed servers to convert, as needed, for whatever you are using to playback your media. You actually need a paid license to do Emby transcoding. That might be your issue.  Or, maybe your server cannot match the super fast Plex server conversion speed. It could be that your Emby settings are set too high for your home server.  If you have an Emby license, then you may only need to just adjust your transcoding settings a little lower, so the high end 4K quality media can transcode in real time. 

Possible hack conversion: It's also possible to convert your high end media with a 3rd party transcoder with your server and have the quality setting turned up to high quality but fits in a smaller file with a lower bitrate. 

This is even suggested at Plex in their documents. Plex support - Streaming Media: Direct Play and Direct Stream

Quote

Multi-version media

If you have two devices on which you commonly watch your media (e.g. a powerful HTPC and a tablet) you might have a high-bitrate, full-HD file but would like to avoid transcoding it on the Server for playback on the tablet. In this case:

• Use a conversion tool like Handbrake to create a version compatible with your mobile device;
• Name both files according the Your Media guides; and
• Update the Library.

If you use a 3rd party conversion tool,  it might need 4 or even 6 hours to transcode a 2 hour media.  It depends on your server and the quality settings.  The only reason to do a slow transcoding is to get a higher quality copy with video set to h.264 ,mp4 container and AAC audio and has a lower bitrate.  Most Emby users do not take this step because it's a lot of extra work, but it can give you a quality media copy in 1080P that playbacks on Emby directly, without transcoding, for all users.

Difference with Emby: Plex runs with content on their server.  Yes, you can download copies.  I am not sure if there is any limit to this.  If Internet connection to Plex fails, or if something happens to your account, your content, stored at Plex, may instantly be unavailable to you.  Emby stores all your content locally.  If Internet fails, Emby will still work for any content that does not need transcoding and you still, automatically, have copies of your content.

Send logs if you want to see exactly what is happening.  It's possible, all you need is to adjust your Emby transcoding settings.  Hope that helps.

Edited December 11, 2025 by visproduction

[pwhodges 2012]

You don't have to pay for Emby to transcode; buying Premiere gets it to enable hardware transcoding - whether you need that depends on your hardware and your usage.

Paul