Playback failing on iPad without a transcode attempt

[flashls82 7]

When a user in my house tries to play a 4K file on a slightly older iPad, he gets a "no compatible streams available" error. This is on a file that plays fine on several other devices (a newer iPad, a new-ish iPhone, and a Roku TV). I also tried forcing transcoding on one of those devices just to make sure there wasn't some issue going on sever side there; it worked fine. The user has full access to all transcoding/remuxing. Why is the iOS client bailing out of the playback attempt entirely rather than trying to transcode to a compatible format? This happens even if I set the local streaming quality to something low enough to force a transcode from the start. Log of one playback attempt attached, relevant things I'm seeing:

• Bitrate exceeds DirectPlay/DirectStream limit fires (23,334,642 vs the 10,000,001 cap) — seems reasonable for this device, and I would think the trigger for transcoding.
• The very next PlaybackInfo call includes EnableDirectPlay=false&EnableDirectStream=false — the client asking for a transcode profile — and gets a 200 back.
• Then the client immediately calls ActiveEncodings/Delete and reports Sessions/Playing/Stopped at position 0 — no stream request, no ffmpeg process ever spawned, no ffmpeg log from the attempt.

 

ipad playback error.txt

[Luke 42821]

Hi, what version of iOS does it run?

[flashls82 7]

18 hours ago, Luke said:

Hi, what version of iOS does it run?

It's a 9th gen iPad running iOS 26.6 (which I believe is the latest).

Also I just tried playing this as the user in question on an iDevice that can direct play it (a newer iPad) -- it direct played fine but also transcoded fine when I changed the quality setting. So I am assuming this is an issue with the iOS app on the other device not properly calling for a transcode when it thinks it can't direct play? All devices in question are running version 2.2.55 of the app.

Edited 42 minutes ago by flashls82

[Luke 42821]

Please attach the complete emby server log. Thanks.

[flashls82 7]

Here is everything from the moment I hit "play" through the failure on an attempt a few minutes ago. Let me know if you need more.

For this attempt, I actually changed the home streaming quality setting in the app from "Auto" to "4K-200mpbs" (i.e. way higher than the bitrate of the file or the default Emby seems to think this device can handle) It still errored out with the same "no compatible steams" box with no transcode effort, but this time in the log there's no complaint about the bitrate. I see it going from trying to direct play, to trying to trying to direct stream, to trying to remux, to failing completely. No server side errors; it just never requests a transcode like I would think it should. I could buy that maybe this gen of iPad can't play a Dolby Vision/HDR file (audio is just regular AC3), but in any event it should be trying to transcode, right?

ipad playback error 2.txt