Question about DVDFab

[RedeyeJK 1]

Let me be up front here and say I'm really new to Emby and all of this.  Was using Windows Media Center until that was pulled and I couldn't get the hack to work to get it back. 

 

I'm loving the concept of Emby though.  Was able to download the server without any problems at all.  Server recognized all my movies and everything.  All metadata was there.  However, when I try to watch a movie from the server (i.e. pulling up the server and just clicking the movie and play) it'll play...but the quality is horrible.  Something like 420p.  I rip all my movies using DVDFab and do a 1 to 1 rip, so the quality should still be there.  Never had quality issues with WMC so I'm guessing it's something I'm doing wrong with Emby. 

 

Is it because I'm trying to play through the server?  If I was to use Emby Theater for Windows would the quality issue go away?  Or am I missing something else here.  Again....very new to this and just trying to figure out how I can access and watch my movie library again without the poor quality.  

 

On an unrelated note...I noticed that my movie server was showing up on my PowerDVD12 program.  I can see all the movies, but can't play them...it basically just freezes and is black.  Counter sometimes moves forward like it's playing, but no sound and no picture.  I'm guessing from looking at this forum it's because I'm trying to play from a folder structure or something? 

 

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide. 

[Luke 42079]

Hi there @@RedeyeJK, we're very sorry to hear about this. In order for us to best help you, please discuss a specific example, and then please accompany that example with the information requested in how to report a media playback issue. Thanks !

[legallink 187]

As to the quality issues, there could be a lot of reasons.

 

Are you hard wired or is it wireless? What do you mean when you say playing it on the server? Is the server your end client with a pc monitor? Are you using the web browser?

 

The first thing I would check is the bandwidth/quality settings and start by using chrome as a browser. Fast quality check is the icon that looks like a gear while playing a movie. Move that until you get to a quality setting you are happy with and go from there.

[RedeyeJK 1]

As to the quality issues, there could be a lot of reasons.

 

Are you hard wired or is it wireless? What do you mean when you say playing it on the server? Is the server your end client with a pc monitor? Are you using the web browser?

 

The first thing I would check is the bandwidth/quality settings and start by using chrome as a browser. Fast quality check is the icon that looks like a gear while playing a movie. Move that until you get to a quality setting you are happy with and go from there.

 

Let me see if I can answer your questions correctly.  I have all my movies ripped to a home media PC.  The HMPC itself is wirelessly connected to the internet. However, I've downloaded all the movies and the Emby Server to this same HMPC.  So what I'm doing is going to the "start" menu and opening Emby Server.  I can see all my movies listed there.  When I click on a movie it brings up more info (the metadata which is all correct) and has an option to play.  When I click play, the movie will play but the quality is poor (480p @ 4Mbs).   I tried to change the quality setting as you recommended but the highest it'll let me go is 480p @ 4Mbs. 

 

A few other notes I guess.  The HMPC is connected to a Sony TV as the monitor.  When I pull up the Emby Server it is coming up in Microsoft Edge, even though everything should reside on the PC. 

 

If I went with the Emby Premiere would all this go away and be fixed?  Just trying to figure out how even though I'm ripping 1:1 from a DVD it's now playing with much lower quality.  Never had this with WMC...so I'm guessing it's something I'm doing wrong on my end. 

​Thanks again for any help that can be provided...

[Luke 42079]

Hi @@RedeyeJK, the best thing to do is please see my post #2. As far as your statement here:

When I pull up the Emby Server it is coming up in Microsoft Edge

That's because you are using the web app built into the server. Once you have the server installed, you can then install other Emby apps. You can learn more about those apps by checking out our download page:

 

https://emby.media/download.html

 

Thanks !

[legallink 187]

@@RedeyeJK

 

If it is giving you a limit of 480p@4mbps, aka not allowing you to select a higher resolution, that seems like the source of the problem.  Clients aren't/shouldn't be the basic issue we are talking about.

 

When you say the highest it lets you go, can you walk me through the screen shots of those quality availability settings?  I assume the first time you click on it, it only brings up the 480p?  Are other options available?  For me, when I first click on the gear, the current quality settings show up (and it's the only one available), and then I have to click on that as well and then it provides additional offerings.

 

If the 480p@4mbps is the only option available and you are on the same computer that is hosting/storing the media, then something more than just you using the interface is going on, and @@Luke is right, and you should do a server log post.

Also, I'm assuming the browser you are using, is on the HMPC itself, and not another computer?  If so, try using Chrome (as the experience than Edge).

 

Emby Premiere doesn't solve these issues, so let's start with the basics and go from there.

[overClocked! 65]

@@RedeyeJK

 

If it is giving you a limit of 480p@4mbps, aka not allowing you to select a higher resolution, that seems like the source of the problem. Clients aren't/shouldn't be the basic issue we are talking about.

 

When you say the highest it lets you go, can you walk me through the screen shots of those quality availability settings? I assume the first time you click on it, it only brings up the 480p? Are other options available? For me, when I first click on the gear, the current quality settings show up (and it's the only one available), and then I have to click on that as well and then it provides additional offerings.

 

If the 480p@4mbps is the only option available and you are on the same computer that is hosting/storing the media, then something more than just you using the interface is going on, and @@Luke is right, and you should do a server log post.

Also, I'm assuming the browser you are using, is on the HMPC itself, and not another computer? If so, try using Chrome (as the experience than Edge).

 

Emby Premiere doesn't solve these issues, so let's start with the basics and go from there.

It's a DVD rip, right? That's only going to be in 480p regardless. But if you adjust the quality from 420kbps to something like 2Mbps, you should see a dramatic increase in quality. 4Mbps will be better, but DVDs are standard definition video and not actually HD. Don't expect to get 720p or 1080p quality from a DVD.

[JulesC 51]

It's a DVD rip, right? That's only going to be in 480p regardless. But if you adjust the quality from 420kbps to something like 2Mbps, you should see a dramatic increase in quality. 4Mbps will be better, but DVDs are standard definition video and not actually HD. Don't expect to get 720p or 1080p quality from a DVD.

 

Sorry for this naive question, but where do you make this suggested change?  Please note that I'm running the latest version of the Windows Emby Theater.  Thank you.

Edited April 15, 2017 by JulesC

[overClocked! 65]

Sorry for this naive question, but where do you make this suggested change? Thank you.

As suggested earlier...

 

Fast quality check is the icon that looks like a gear while playing a movie. Move that until you get to a quality setting you are happy with and go from there.

You have to be playing back a video for this to appear. It looks like this.

 

 

You can select the bitrate quality to suit your current bandwidth conditions. The small dot is an indicator of the current bitrate setting you've selected.

 

 

Edit:

 

The example screen shots are playing a DVD Rip using the iOS App on iPad, but the gear icon and quality selection list will be the same on Emby Theater and the Web App client.

 

If you try this playing a BluRay rip, you will see higher resolution options.

Edited April 15, 2017 by overClocked!

[Luke 42079]

Thanks @overclocked!

[JulesC 51]

@overclocked!

 

Thank you for your detailed response...very helpful.

 

Is this change in setting specific to only the video you're playing or all videos within your library?  If this setting only applies to the video your playing, can you set the Bitrate Quality from within the Emby Theater Client so it's the default for all videos?

 

Thanks again for your assistance.  I'm still learning my way around Emby.

[tyr_88 4]

Let me be up front here and say I'm really new to Emby and all of this.  Was using Windows Media Center until that was pulled and I couldn't get the hack to work to get it back. 

 

I'm loving the concept of Emby though.  Was able to download the server without any problems at all.  Server recognized all my movies and everything.  All metadata was there.  However, when I try to watch a movie from the server (i.e. pulling up the server and just clicking the movie and play) it'll play...but the quality is horrible.  Something like 420p.  I rip all my movies using DVDFab and do a 1 to 1 rip, so the quality should still be there.  Never had quality issues with WMC so I'm guessing it's something I'm doing wrong with Emby. 

 

Is it because I'm trying to play through the server?  If I was to use Emby Theater for Windows would the quality issue go away?  Or am I missing something else here.  Again....very new to this and just trying to figure out how I can access and watch my movie library again without the poor quality.  

 

On an unrelated note...I noticed that my movie server was showing up on my PowerDVD12 program.  I can see all the movies, but can't play them...it basically just freezes and is black.  Counter sometimes moves forward like it's playing, but no sound and no picture.  I'm guessing from looking at this forum it's because I'm trying to play from a folder structure or something? 

 

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide. 

 

A list of your hardware specs would be great usually where the problem lays also your net connection speed

[JulesC 51]

A list of your hardware specs would be great usually where the problem lays also your net connection speed

Here is my system configuration.  Please let me know if you need any additional information or if you have any suggestions.  Thanks.

 

Windows Home Server 2011

• Processor: Intel Core i5-2500K CPU @ 3.30GHz
• RAM: 8 GB
• OS Architecture: 64-bit
• Emby Server - latest version

HTPC-1

• OS: Windows 10 Home
• Processor: Intel Celeron CPU 1017U @ 1.60GHz
• RAM: 4 GB
• OS Architecture: 64-bit
• Emby Theater - latest version

HTCP-2

• OS: Windows 10 Home
• Processor: Intel Core i5-2320 CPU @ 3.00GHz CPU 1017U @ 1.60GHz
• RAM: 8 GB
• OS Architecture: 64-bit
• Emby Theater - latest version

Network

• Ping: 19 ms
• Download: 28.96 Mbps
• Upload: 4.80Mbps

Edited April 17, 2017 by JulesC

[RedeyeJK 1]

A list of your hardware specs would be great usually where the problem lays also your net connection speed

 

So my hardware specs...I'll probably leave something out so just let me know if I do.   

OS: Windows 10 Professional - 64bit

RAM: 16GB

Processor: Intel Core i5-6600 CPU @ 3.30 GHz

Monitor/Display: Sony HDTV w/ HDMI

 

Don't have any additional soundcards or video cards install but am running a GIGABYTE G1 Gaming GA-Z170X-Gaming 7 (rev. 1.0) motherboard. 

 

Network Speed...used speedtest.net

Ping: 27ms

Download: 13.8 Mbs

Upload: 11.22 Mbs

 

 

If I get a chance I'll try to post some screenshots showing what I'm referring to with bad picture quality.  Want to show what a DVD looks like when running through PowerDVD and then another picture showing same movie ripped with DVDFab and playing through the Emby server.  Again, hope to do that tomorrow. 

 

As always...thanks in advance for any help. 

[tyr_88 4]

So my hardware specs...I'll probably leave something out so just let me know if I do.   

OS: Windows 10 Professional - 64bit

RAM: 16GB

Processor: Intel Core i5-6600 CPU @ 3.30 GHz

Monitor/Display: Sony HDTV w/ HDMI

 

Don't have any additional soundcards or video cards install but am running a GIGABYTE G1 Gaming GA-Z170X-Gaming 7 (rev. 1.0) motherboard. 

 

Network Speed...used speedtest.net

Ping: 27ms

Download: 13.8 Mbs

Upload: 11.22 Mbs

 

 

If I get a chance I'll try to post some screenshots showing what I'm referring to with bad picture quality.  Want to show what a DVD looks like when running through PowerDVD and then another picture showing same movie ripped with DVDFab and playing through the Emby server.  Again, hope to do that tomorrow. 

 

As always...thanks in advance for any help. 

 

 

Possibly network everything else looks good, does your ISP speed fluctuate a lot or drop / get packet loss

 

 

I dealt with that for a decade before they built this network I am on now which is 100mbps it drove me crazy lol... It is actually a lot faster I just have the lowest pack which is 100mbps 

 

 

Have you tried the manual speed setting as Overclocked posted?

Edited April 18, 2017 by tyr_88

[RedeyeJK 1]

So I think that my issue might just be the movie I was trying to watch (Captain America: Civil War).  This movie starts with poor quality and I've never watched more than 2 or 3 minutes of it because it's so bad.  However, I've recently tried a few other movies and didn't see any issues with picture quality (2 Fast, 2 Furious & Devil Wears Prada).  Those looked pretty much the same as when I used to use WMC.  My wife and kids watched Paddington Bear and noticed a slight drop in quality, but nothing horrible...at least nothing that ruined the watching experience. 

 

I did have a few other issues...but I'll ask about those in a different post.

 

Therefore I'm guessing the poor picture quality is something to do with how the movie is ripped (although I always use DVDFab with the same preset settings) and is movie specific.  I'll keep watching other movies and see if there's any other picture quality issues. 

 

Thanks for all the help and advice you guys have given me!

[mrkillit 5]

I know this topic is old but I have the same problem described here. Any movie I rip using DVD Fab plays in horrible quality in Emby. I also use the 1:1 copy in DVD Fab. It plays fine using VLC or Windows Media player. There appears to be something unique with DVD Fab and Emby. Everything else I have plays with excellent quality in Emby (quality expected from whatever bitrate the video has).

[Luke 42079]

I know this topic is old but I have the same problem described here. Any movie I rip using DVD Fab plays in horrible quality in Emby. I also use the 1:1 copy in DVD Fab. It plays fine using VLC or Windows Media player. There appears to be something unique with DVD Fab and Emby. Everything else I have plays with excellent quality in Emby (quality expected from whatever bitrate the video has).

 

Hi there @@mrkillit, can we look at an example? Please attach the information requested in how to report a media playback issue. Thanks !

[speedingcheetah 39]

Use MakeMKV.....DVDFAB is known to cause issues with how it rips things. Corrupted headers or something.

Edited March 3, 2018 by speedingcheetah

[mrkillit 5]

Sure thing,

 

I've attached a couple of log files from the server and also I grabbed screen captures from approx the same time stamp while playing in VLC and Emby(through browser).

When played through Emby the picture appears pixelated. This happens on TVs as well when using chromecast or the native Emby App on a Sony TV.

 

Thanks for any help you can provide.

 

 

Thanks speedingcheetah,

 

I tried MakeMKV as well with the same results (only on Heavy Metal 2000 though). I used DVDFab on multiple DVDs

I'll try to rip HM2K using a different method and see what the results are. I'll probably use Handbrake.

 

 

 

It's also possible that it's my specific install of Emby, I installed it years ago and have been updating it over time. I've run into a few bugs as new updates came out. Luke, if you don't find anything remarkable in the logs and using Handbrake yields the same results, I'll try a fresh install of Emby.

 

Thanks again!

server-63655555133.txt

ffmpeg-transcode-f00eac3b-513a-427d-84b7-c065cc064e76.txt

ffmpeg-transcode-dc3afd15-8d0a-4d6c-8441-8d8e0858675a.txt

[Luke 42079]

For starters I would update to the latest version of emby server.

[mrkillit 5]

I just updated to 3.3.1.0 with no change, the issue is still the same. Haven't had a chance to try a different tool or a clean install of emby server yet.

[Luke 42079]

I don't think a clean install will matter. There could always be an issue with the files. But i noticed you customized some server transcoding settings so i would start by setting those back to default and see if that helps. thanks.