djotaku 3 Posted February 7, 2017 Posted February 7, 2017 If the 1080 stream causes Kodi to say the buffer's full ..... how do I know if it's using the 720p file? (or transcoding lower)
Luke 42078 Posted February 7, 2017 Posted February 7, 2017 Sorry, I don't quite understand the question, can you back up a little and explain from the beginning? thanks !
djotaku 3 Posted February 7, 2017 Author Posted February 7, 2017 Sorry, I don't quite understand the question, can you back up a little and explain from the beginning? thanks ! Sure. I'm using Kodi 16 with Emby plugin. I started having an issue where Kodi starts buffering playback. Then, after playback starts it becomes infinitely stuttery. Like an 8 minute short film took 15 minutes to complete. The whole reason I'm using Emby instead of just Kodi is because Emby can transcode files to make them match the right bitrate the device can support on the moment. So it can ensure that a bluray can be watchable on ethernet, wifi, or even to another house. That and it can make the file work on Roku. When it comes to Blurays I have created 2 transcoded files for each movie using the naming convention on Emby's wiki. So there's a "Movie - 1080p.mkv" and a "Movies - 720p.mkv". So when it comes to the question I first asked - if I launch the movie, it's going to be the 1080p version, right? But if it starts having issues, will it switch to the 720p version? I have not updated packages on the server where Emby resides nor on the source HTPC in the living room. Other commonly asked details: I'm a little behind on Emby versions (not on 3.2 - I think I'm on 3.0.xxxxx), but it was working with this version before Emby is running on CentOS in a VM The video files are on the host and are NFS'd to the Emby VM.
Luke 42078 Posted February 7, 2017 Posted February 7, 2017 I don't believe the kodi addon has implemented support for multiple versions so at this point you will just always get the higher quality version. When you are away from home and transcoding is needed you will be better off with an Emby app. When you're at home then kodi will be fine as it can just play the files over the network. You may want to check your network paths in server library setup to make sure that Kodi can access them.
djotaku 3 Posted February 7, 2017 Author Posted February 7, 2017 I don't believe the kodi addon has implemented support for multiple versions so at this point you will just always get the higher quality version. When you are away from home and transcoding is needed you will be better off with an Emby app. When you're at home then kodi will be fine as it can just play the files over the network. You may want to check your network paths in server library setup to make sure that Kodi can access them. OK, it's a bummer that it doesn't transcode or fall to the lower version. I'm not sure about your last sentence, though. The video starts and stutters, does that not imply they can be accessed?
Luke 42078 Posted February 7, 2017 Posted February 7, 2017 If you're inside your network why do you need transcoding?
djotaku 3 Posted February 7, 2017 Author Posted February 7, 2017 If you're inside your network why do you need transcoding? Good question. I can only work with the symptoms I see. I see it complain about buffering so I assume the bitrate or something is either too high for the network (unlikely as it's ethernet) or too high for the processor. (Weird since it was working fine before) I've noticed in the past that when I transfer lots and lots of gigabytes of data between hard drives, I need to reboot the computer as something gets "stuck" and it stops working well. Similar situation with NFS? When I get home later I'm going to attempt rebooting all computers involved - one at a time to see if that fixes anything. First the HTPC, then the Emby server, then the host computer NFSing to the Emby server.
djotaku 3 Posted February 7, 2017 Author Posted February 7, 2017 Some info for the devs - let me know where to take things from here. I went to the problem computer and ran the same movie file through VLC - no issues. I went back into Kodi and told the plugin to use Direct Play. Did not work. Told the plugin to use SMB instead of HTTP. It wouldn't load the video. Took Emby off of Kodi. Used Kodi normally the way it would work without Emby - it works fine. So the problem is Emby....but I don't know enough to know why. Ideally I'd get Emby working again because it does transcoding and is more flexible, but for 90% of my use cases, it's not really needed. (Also I've been using it for about a year or so now -- give or take -- and so depending on what Kodi does, may need to re-fix some movies that the IMDB scrapers tend not to find unless I do it manually) So rather than just throw up my hands and say to hell with it, I figure I can help the devs fix the problem. (Unless I'm the only user of Emby w/ the problem)
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