Transcoding failure!!

[lessyen 0]

Hello,

I can't transcode any videos anymore!! I have Emby on my Synology DS218 NAS and I used to play any video stream to anywhere just fine. Now every direct stream is working perfect (mac, iPhone, etc.) but every attempt to transcode 4K to FHD or x265 to x264 ends with failure. I have 3 TVs (Samsung, LG and TCL), Samsung can handle anything via direct stream, problem is with LG and TCL.

LG is FHD only and can play x265 codec but while playing a 4K video or x265 video, it ends up with "No compatible streams are currently available" error message..

TCL is FHD only and can play x265 codec but while playing a 4K video, it ends up in infinite circle loop and if playing x265 video, it freezes every few seconds - it's unwatchable..

The only videos I can now play on both my TVs (LG and TCL) are x264 videos, nothing else..

Please help!! Tell me what am I missing?? It used to work just fine and now it's not..

(Attaching 6 logs from TCL TV and 3 logs from LG TV)

ffmpeg-transcode-1fa2cab0-236f-4fa7-80f8-69d0177303d5_1.txt ffmpeg-transcode-11e965ca-29e3-476b-a436-ac2efe44bf71_1.txt ffmpeg-transcode-44acb2c1-2631-4d89-8bc2-988c2b70f38a_1.txt ffmpeg-transcode-e9b59865-f9b6-436f-8b91-c80e6599568d_1.txt ffmpeg-transcode-eb49e090-032d-4f77-80d6-1a6252bf082d_1.txt ffmpeg-transcode-f708551c-9a54-4ec4-b309-05bbe8f5e8be_1.txt ffmpeg-transcode-78b711b0-b3d0-4eea-9fc9-a034a3f94f14_1.txt ffmpeg-transcode-8812e92f-a8aa-4ce6-a0b8-8747608e0474_1.txt ffmpeg-transcode-fbcc2c20-7210-4ff4-808d-3333949c7076_1.txt

[Luke 42077]

Hi, in case it might help the server beta channel has an updated intel media driver. We will be publishing that in a stable release update any day now.

[MAX92 91]

Do you update your synology recently ? 

[lessyen 0]

I had DSM 7.2.2-72806 Update 4 or 5 (can't remember) for couple months but suddenly it stopped working about 2 or 3 weeks ago for no reason. Few days ago Synology released their recent update DSM 7.3.2-86009 and because it's official by Synology, I updated it hoping to work again (like maybe it was something broken on their side) but nothing has changed..

[Luke 42077]

@lessyenare you still having an issue with this?

[lessyen 0]

Hi Master Luke,

after today's testing results are:

Samsung TV - still no problem at all - works perfect!!

LG TV - had an emby update - now can play FHD HEVC smoothly but still not able to transcode and play 4K (at least it doesn't show pop-up error message anymore, only infinite loop of loading circle)

TCL TV - don't know if there was an update - now can play FHD HEVC smoothly but still not able to transcode and play 4K (however - it loads the movie than freezes)

Attaching 5 logs from TCL TV (2 are from working HEVC, 3 are from non-working 4K) - LG TV has not created any logs during playback..

ffmpeg-remux-ae00c4b3-73ca-45f7-8acf-c772542bab21_1.txt ffmpeg-remux-d37b23b8-eaa0-4992-8b3a-8b8a3096a27c_1.txt ffmpeg-transcode-87a20ea8-03c1-48ce-bea3-7fd7cf940ffb_1.txt ffmpeg-transcode-182c461b-4c41-49b7-b269-8bdfb5ca42ce_1.txt ffmpeg-transcode-f34eaba8-1f93-4814-bd4a-53842d0c927b_1.txt

[Bims0n 14]

Which Emby Version are you on? If you recently updated to 4.9.x.x your problem might be associated with the following documented issue.

 

[Luke 42077]

Hi, the server beta channel has an updated intel driver in case that might help. We will have that on the release channel very soon.

[lessyen 0]

Actually I'm currently on 4.9.1.90 and it looks like my hardware acceleration disappered as well.. Could this be the problem??

[Bims0n 14]

The issue I posted previously only affects tone mapping, meaning your hardware acceleration section should still be populated. However I had the same issue once where emby was not able to access the DSM video drivers anymore due to right issues of the appropiate files. The section was then empty until the rights were set correctly once again.

Could you check in the filesystem at root/dev/dri and set the rights for the files as following and restart your emby?

• card0 (root/root)
• renderD128 (root/videodriver)

Edited December 28, 2025 by Bims0n

[lessyen 0]

Honestly this is beyond my knowledge, could you please write me step by step instructions for "noobs"?? 

I assume it's nothing to do with this right??

[Bims0n 14]

Hi, you guessed right - this has nothing to do with the shared folder permissions. Video Driver files are not accessible within the DSM GUI afaik. Here is a detailed guide on how to access the filesystem (many ways to do so but this is the easiest for rookies I believe):

(please be careful with what you do ever there, do not delete or move any files as this could cause serious damage to your NAS unless you know what you are doing)

If sucesful with the guide above head into the filesystem via WinSCP at /root/dev/dri and check the rights for the files (rightlick on the file --> properties). They should be as following:

• card0 (root/root [0600])
• renderD128 (root/videodriver [0660])

Edited December 28, 2025 by Bims0n

[lessyen 0]

I've managed to connect via SSH from my macOS, listed folders and it I don't see any dev folder nor dri subfolder..

[visproduction 315]

Use ls -a

[lessyen 0]

After typing "ls -a" I got this:

[Bims0n 14]

If you want to do it via SSH then this is also fine, GUI editing is easier however imo. Commands would be as following up to my limited command line knowledge. Please note that

# comment

is the comment that explains what is done in the command line.

sudo -i #get super user rights
#enter your su admin password
cd /dev/dri/ #change directory 
ls -l #read file attributes

(screenshot for comparison)

If these don't match then we should change them, beforehand however I strongly recommend to back them up:

cp /dev/dri/card0 /dev/dri/card0_backup #backup card0 file
cp /dev/dri/renderD128 /dev/dri/renderD128_backup #backup renderD128 file

chmod 600 /dev/dri/card0 #change read/write of card0 file
chmod 660 /dev/dri/renderD128 #change read/write of renderD128 file
chown root /dev/dri/card0 #change owner of card0 file
chgrp root /dev/dri/card0 #change group of card0 file
chown root /dev/dri/renderD128 #change owner of renderD128 file
chgrp videodriver /dev/dri/renderD128 #change group of renderD128 file

after these changes exit & disable SSH and restart Emby.

Edited December 29, 2025 by Bims0n

[lessyen 0]

38 minutes ago, Bims0n said:

cd /dev/dri/ #change directory

"cd /dev/dri/" - No such file or directory.. any ideas??

[visproduction 315]

Is you ./dev in he md directory?

https://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/man4/md.4.html

[TMCsw 246]

9 hours ago, lessyen said:

"cd /dev/dri/" - No such file or directory.. any ideas??

This generally means the computer doesn't have a "GPU/iGPU" or, more likely, the GPU Drivers aren't installed and/or working correctly.

[lessyen 0]

As far as I know:

"Synology DS218 has an integrated GPU (iGPU) within its Realtek RTD1296 CPU, which enables hardware-accelerated video transcoding, specifically for 10-bit 4K H.265 (HEVC) video."

I believe everything went wrong after Synology's decision to cut-off VideoStation and disable HW transcoding natively.. I really need Emby to pull it out from DS218 and make it working again.

[lessyen 0]

Can this be resolved/configured/updated through Emby, or should I start looking into the possibility of running it from Docker (if that's even possible on DS218)??

[DonMacaroni 54]

Docker won't help if your host lacks video drivers. 

[Luke 42077]

Hi can you please attach the emby server and ffmpeg log files together? Thanks.

[lessyen 0]

Hi, no problem:

TCL made 6 logs while trying to play one movie and LG made 2 logs while trying to play three different movies (don't know why..)

embyserver.txt ffmpeg-transcode-8f927018-89ec-4a0a-b44d-8165ada0dd04_1.txt ffmpeg-transcode-94a0cd7b-3204-444a-945a-2bbcb8be2c9e_1.txt ffmpeg-transcode-202bfb94-542a-44c5-9f32-a31e236bb34e_1.txt ffmpeg-transcode-61124658-1eb8-4163-90b2-b4f827388e1a_1.txt ffmpeg-transcode-f6bb662d-980e-4bd4-a2fa-77de29a48d87_1.txt embyserver.txt ffmpeg-transcode-205dc09a-9e87-41bf-b147-c3594d69f910_1.txt

[lessyen 0]

I've updated emby server and LG TV app - still not working..