Disable transcoding (use ffmpeg passthru) for mkv files with x264/aac?

[alexrw 13]

I'm using a browser to access http://localhost:8096and I notice Emby is transcoding and encoding my 720p mkv files that use x264/aac. The same happens from any LAN machine (http://192.168.1.2:8096).

 

The video quality is visibly lower than when I use Kodi with a http/webdav source to the same machine (http://192.168.1.2 which also runs apache on port 80) to open the same mkv file - Kodi seems to use passthru settings as I get the same video quality as with a local media player.

 

In Emby, I can see the ffmpeg.exe process is using the following options, which do botch the quality:

 

ffmpeg.exe -i file:"<PATH>\<FILE>.mkv" -map_metadata -1 -threads 0 -map 0:0 -map 0:1 -map -0:s -codec:v:0 libx264 -pix_fmt yuv420p -preset superfast -crf 23 -b:v 3034624 -maxrate 3034624 -bufsize 6069248 -vsync vfr -profile:v high -level 41 -force_key_frames "expr:gte(t,n_forced*3)" -vf "scale=trunc(oh*a/2)*2:min(ih\,1080)" -flags -global_header -sc_threshold 0 -codec:a:0 aac -strict experimental -ac 6 -ab 320000 -af "adelay=1,aresample=async=1" -hls_time 3 -start_number 0 -hls_list_size 0 -y "<APP_DATA>\Emby-Server\transcoding-temp\fd7554ec6af78e7892cbe5725ac20854.m3u8"

 

Can I make Emby use passthru settings for ffmpeg (-c:v copy -c:a copy) instead? If not, would you consider adding this option in the future?

Edited January 16, 2016 by alexr

[Deathsquirrel 745]

Browsers are some of the most limited playback clients.  They have very simple video and audio support and regularly require transcoding.

 

If you find that something is transcoding that your browser natively supports, report it as an issue and it will almost certainly be fixed.

 

If you want playback to force direct play, even if it will fail on your device, you can look at this thread in the FR forum http://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/29478-feature-to-force-directplay-only-without-any-detection-and-disable-all-transcoding/.

[Luke 42083]

browsers are limited, but try chrome and you'll see some of what you're hoping for.