Who wants to see VLC in the iOS app?

[totalhavoc 13]

Realize that there could be other trade-offs like lower battery life on the iOS device.

 

please take the time to answer. This could help the devs prioritize the features we want

Edited November 17, 2015 by ebr

[deepseth 10]

(VOTE NO) Server-side transcoding, on a device with lots of electrical power available

or

(VOTE YES) Client-side transcoding, on a device with limited battery

 

I choose server-side transcoding any day. I'd rather my server suffered while I played video for close to double digit hours, than my iPhone/iPad had to do the transcoding and left me with 2-3 hours battery life.

 

(THIS MEANT I VOTED 'NO')

Edited November 16, 2015 by deepseth

[gismo33 4]

Server-side transcoding, on a device with lots of electrical power available

or

Client-side transcoding, on a device with limited battery

 

I choose server-side transcoding any day. I'd rather my server suffered while I played video for close to double digit hours, than my iPhone/iPad had to do the transcoding and left me with 2-3 hours battery life.

 

i think with VLC nobody (server/client) has to transcode. So you save server side performance and client-side battery-life.

Or am i wrong?

I think implement VLC would be a nice feature.

[Luke 42077]

Using vlc for video playback would save server side performance but would require more work on the client device, which would drain your battery quicker. It's a trade-off one way or the other.

[Deihmos 169]

I would to see remuxing added to the server instead of transcoding when possible. Extracting the h264 video that is more than likely compatible with the player and packing it into a compatible container like MP4. The audio is the only thing converted if necessary. This results in barely any cpu use on the server. Maybe like 1% because the video is direct streamed.

 

If VLC will stop the server from transcoding I am all for it. 

Edited November 16, 2015 by Deihmos

[fc7 123]

+1 to server-side transcoding. Do not drain my batteries!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Deihmos 169]

I don't see why battery would drain. All video players are compatible with h264. I have been mostly using the infuse app and I see no hit on the battery.

Edited November 15, 2015 by Deihmos

[mediacowboy 438]

Thing with this is that not everyone has their files as h264.

[Deihmos 169]

Thing with this is that not everyone has their files as h264.

I am sure the vast majority do or at least the majority of the videos in their collection. Videos that need transcoding should be transcoded but what other formats are people using? Xvids died out years ago and h265 doesn't make sense right now.

Edited November 16, 2015 by Deihmos

[mediacowboy 438]

Xvid, mpeg, the video, img, iso

[overClocked! 65]

VOB. I have tons of those, unfortunately.

[deepseth 10]

Deihmos, I think you might be confusing two distinct things:

 

1. Removing server-side transcoding to have the client do software decoding of all codecs (big battery drain on portable devices)

2. Fixing the transcoding logic on the server to do direct stream copy where possible, rather than transcoding unnecessarily (e.g. due to container format change).

 

While I agree (2) is a big issue and something that should be looked into as a higher priority, this thread was about discussing point (1).

[legallink 187]

I think that you should post the distinctions of one vs the other.  It isn't just a transcoding issue (client side vs server side).  Transcoding is part of it, but one of the reasons (as far as I am aware) that we didn't implement the vlc engine in the iOS app was that you lose PiP functionality.  There may have been other reasons as well.

[ebr 16169]

Battery life - as indicated above - is another trade-off so, yes, it isn't quite as simple as the poll is stated which is just "Who wants pie?" .

[tigrao 18]

Those who use Emby to stream live TV also depend heavily on server side transcoding.  Most live TV is still in the MPEG 2 format.  Many providers are rolling out MPEG 4, but it is going to be awhile before it is widely available for live TV.

[Deihmos 169]

Those who use Emby to stream live TV also depend heavily on server side transcoding.  Most live TV is still in the MPEG 2 format.  Many providers are rolling out MPEG 4, but it is going to be awhile before it is widely available for live TV.

 

Using VLC as the video player wouldn't stop your TV streams from transcoding. VLC does not stop transcoding but I think it will direct stream the videos if it is possible. 

[deepseth 10]

Using VLC as the video player wouldn't stop your TV streams from transcoding. VLC does not stop transcoding but I think it will direct stream the videos if it is possible. 

 

Exactly, and direct streaming MPEG2 to an iPhone or iPad for it to be decoded in software will be a significant drain on battery life.

[Deihmos 169]

Exactly, and direct streaming MPEG2 to an iPhone or iPad for it to be decoded in software will be a significant drain on battery life.

I don't know why you think I said no transcoding. Of course some videos must be transcoded. the server can set what formats can be direct streamed to clients such as h264 and live tv bitrate is super high. I think everything streamed to iOS should be in h264 and AAC format packed in an MP4 file but by remuxing instead whenever possible. I have some videos that are h264 format and AAC audio but packed in an mkv container. The server does a full encoding on them. Edited November 16, 2015 by Deihmos

[MSattler 390]

 is just "Who wants pie?" .

@@ebr I like pie! 

 

=)

[spootdev 56]

@@ebr I like pie! 

 

=)

I was led to believe there would be punch and pie!

[fantaxp7 191]

Resident Emby baker here.....NO PIE FOR YOU!