Live TV Should Transcode, Doesn't

[Bert 49]

I would assume this is a bug.  I have a HDHR Connect and when on my android phone on the 4G network it direct plays TV.  The android app is supposed to be limited to 4 Mbps which should trigger transcoding.  Additionally, my upload is only about 10, so that should kick off transcoding.  Logs:

 

https://1drv.ms/f/s!Ao2HmJdFTqZehY1qhxTwbqAJUHQEww

 

 

[Luke 42077]

There are a lot of logs here. Which one demonstrates the problem? I clicked on the very first one and saw it contained video transcoding.

[Bert 49]

Sorry, Luke, just reproduced and made a clean log.  Same link.  It works, sort of but stutters as the connection cannot keep up.  Emby reports direct play even on my 4G network.  I'm actually surprised that it does almost keep up.

[Luke 42077]

And why do you think the app should be limited to 4 Mbps?

[Bert 49]

Because I set that as the max on the Emby app under playback advanced max streaming bit rate. I set this to try to force transcoding so I could watch something on my cell network.

[Luke 42077]

I would double check that it's set because that should do it.

[Bert 49]

Yeah it's definitely set... Emby reports it as direct play and it plays beautifully but stutters.

[Bert 49]

Interestingly, I lowered the quality to 360p directly on the hamburger icon on the phone and it kicked it to transcoding.  Looks ok, I will test to see how high it goes without transcoding.

[Luke 42077]

What happens if you set it to 4 and then try a video file slightly higher?

[Bert 49]

What happens if you set it to 4 and then try a video file slightly higher?

Not sure what you mean.  It's a live stream so I can't pick a video file and I guess I would have to have one at 4 Mbps which I don't.  What I did find out is the workaround is to start the stream on the phone and then select whatever data rate you want.  It changes from direct play to transcoding correctly.  The real issue is upon the initial request it is not honoring the limited bandwidth so you have this extra step.  The one upside to this is on my home network it will automatically try to direct play and I would only need to do this step while out and about.  Still, I think ideally this decision would be honored from the initial request.  

[Bert 49]

I take that back, when I adjust the quality of the file it plays for a bit and then crashes.  Start new stream and it says direct play.  I've been testing for a while but I put up more recent logs.  Not sure if they'll help any.

[Luke 42077]

Ok, right now i can't reproduce this. I set the setting to 4mbps and got a transcoded stream as expected, but i'll keep an eye out for it. I guess I would suggest triple checking the setting inside the app as well as any user settings on the server that might be restricting access to transcoding.

[Bert 49]

Weird.... I confirmed same behavior on my tablet. Setting limit at 4 is ignored and it direct plays.

[Bert 49]

For what it's worth the video files being transcoded seem to honor whatever limit is set.