server and Emby Connect is transcoding media that was previously able to be streamed

[spon 26]

Hi everyone. I'm hoping someone can help me with this problem or point me in the right direction. I'm a long-time Emby user and love it. I have a HTPC set up at home that I use to run Emby Server to different setups in my home (HTPC computer, FireStick, Windows 8.1 App on Surface Pro, etc). Everything continues to work flawlessly at home. The problem that I'm having is playing media remotely. I've been using the wonderful Emby Connect since it was released to access my media while in the office using the web client. Until about 2 months ago that worked perfectly and I was able to stream all my media. However, for the past 2 months everything that I attempt to play via Emby Connect (Web Client) is being transcoded. This includeds the exact same files that previously I had been able to stream. NOthing has changed with my setup (as far as I know). One thing that I did notice in the server log file is that it's identifying my system as Windows NT and it is actually Windows 7. I'm not sure if that's revelvant or not.  

 

Does anyone have any ideas why everything is being transcoded? I've attached log files. 

 

Emby server: 3.0.5666.2

 

 

Thank you!!

transcode-log.txt

server-log.txt

[spon 26]

I hope it's not bad form to bump this up. I'm happy to provide any additional info that would be helpful in diagnosing this issue. I feel a little silly saying this, but I feel lost without being able to play my emby media remotely. 

 

Thanks!

[Luke 42081]

can you post a sample of the original file? thanks.

[spon 26]

Thanks for looking into this Luke. I've attached a small sample from a file. One thing that I noticed today is that in the server it's showing the video as vpx and audio as vorbis. I have no idea of that's normal or not, but it's the first i've noticed it and thought I would point it out (image attached).

 

Thanks again.

 

 

arrow-sample 2.zip

[Poptartica 13]

Thanks for looking into this Luke. I've attached a small sample from a file. One thing that I noticed today is that in the server it's showing the video as vpx and audio as vorbis. I have no idea of that's normal or not, but it's the first i've noticed it and thought I would point it out (image attached).

 

Thanks again.

 

I'm not one of the devs but I will say this, I checked that sample and the audio is AC-3. This will require a transcode as direct web stream requires audio to be 2-channel AAC. I'm not sure if that is a result of your MKV trimmer or if that's the file's original format but an easy way to tell if your files 100% "should" play correctly is to straight up drag and drop the file into the browser. If, for example, the file is compatible with chrome.. doing this will play the file directly in the browser. If it's not compatible, the file will simply attempt to download. Chrome likes the following filetype usually:

 

- .MP4 container

- h264 codec

- 2-channel AAC (usually encoded as 'Low Complexity', or LC)

- Profile of Main or High @ 4.1 (lower profile levels usually work OK too, I just find 4.1 to give me the least problems as far as compatibility, potential quality levels during encoding, etc.)

 

In case you aren't aware, and aren't very attached to the MKV format for any particular reason, H264 MKV files can quickly and easily be repackaged as MP4 files (though I'm sure at some point MKV will become compatible with most browsers in the same way MP4 is). Simply look for a tool that can do Stream Copies, such as MkvToMp4.

Edited July 11, 2015 by Poptartica

[spon 26]

Thanks so much Poptartica, I really appreciate your help. I went back and checked a bunch of my media and a large portion of it is MKV containers with AC3 audio, which seems to point to my issue being something completely different than what I thought it was. It sounds like I've probably been transcoding media this entire time without realizing it. So I guess my real problem is that media that used to transcode smoothly is now pretty much unwatchable. I used to get very smooth playback and now it pauses every few seconds. I checked the Task Manager on the machine running Emby Server and when transcoding my CPU is close to maxing out due mostly to ffmpeg. Is it normal for both Server and ffmpeg to be used during transcoding? I'm assuming so, but I'm a little out of my depth here. It if is normal, is there anything obvious that could be causing ffmpeg to be taking up so much CPU usage? Again, these are the same files that used to play smoothly. 

 

Thanks!!

[Luke 42081]

doesn't it throttle after a short period of time?

[spon 26]

doesn't it throttle after a short period of time?

 

Hi Luke,

 

ffmpeg stays around 80-85% CPU usage for as long as I am playing the file via connect. good news is that the lastest beta server release does allow the video to play with much less frequent pauses, even at the high CPU utilization. 

 

my memory could be wrong, but I'm fairly certain in the past there were times when I experienced the issue of high CPU utilization and would just kill ffmpeg from the task manager all together. This would allow files to play smoothly and it seemed the Emby Server would be able to send the content without ffmpeg running at all. Again, this is from memory so if what I'm saying doesn't make sense, please ignore it.

 

Thanks again for your help!!

[Luke 42081]

ok then once the online web client is updated it will perform the same as your local web client.

[spon 26]

great! Thanks again for you help!!