New Theater user with some questions

[themimperials 4]

Thank you very much for your help regarding getting my Emby server running.

 

At the moment I am in the process of also gettting Emby theater  up and running nice and smoothly.

 

I am running this Emby Theater client on a NUC 7th generation i5 with 8 GB RAM and 2 SSDs. The OS is Windows 10, fully updated. Drivers for the NUC also fully updated. My Emby server is running on the same machine. The NUC is connected to a 4K HDR TV and an Atmos sound setup.

 

1. When running Windows at 3840 x 2160p, and opening Emby Theater, I get very sluggish performance. Everything just runs slow. When I set Windows to 1080p resolution, everything runs great. Is there anything I can/should do to get the 2160p performance running?

2. If I have to rely on 1080p for Windows and UI, is there any way I can have Emby Theater switch resolution for me, when watching 2160p movies? I could not find this setting.

3. Should I set up any Hardware Acceleration settings?

4. Is it possible to have Emby Theater not load a movies backdrop image before loading backdrop movies from the Movie Videos plugin? It looks messy when I select a video, then all the metadata first loads, and the background shifts to the movies background image, and then very shortly after it switches to the video. It would look much smoother if I could have it not load background image when there is a video.

5. Is there some way to have the metadata load faster, maybe even to the point where they show instantly when browsing a specific video? Since the server is on the same machine as the Theater client, I was thinking there might be a way?

*EDIT* - Added info for this question:

It seems like, when I open Emby theater, and browse a movie, it shows a placeholder for the poster and the movie cast. Then these load within a second or two, making the experience look a little less than smooth. If I then go ahead and browse a couple of movies like this, and come back to one of those I had previously browsed, they browse much quicker and smoother the second time.

6. What is "Exclusive Audio Mode"?

7. Any other settings that are important for me to set up?

 

Hope you guys can help me get these things straight too, then I should be good to go

Edited May 17, 2017 by themimperials

[Guest asrequested]

The first thing is, if you're running everything at 59/60Hz you need to use the display port on your NUC, not the HDMI. Kaby Lake only supports 4k at 60Hz via the display port. For hardware acceleration, yes, set to auto copy back. Try that first, and see how that works.

[themimperials 4]

The first thing is, if you're running everything at 59/60Hz you need to use the display port on your NUC, not the HDMI. Kaby Lake only supports 4k at 60Hz via the display port. For hardware acceleration, yes, set to auto copy back. Try that first, and see how that works.

 

Hmm I don't quite understand that. I just changed back to 3840x2160p and it is running 59 Hz. I can also see that Windows is running extremely smoothly, so I am definitely sure the Hz readings are correct. Before hooking it up to the TV, when I was setting everything up, I was running on my PC monitor, which only supports 30 Hz at 4K. On that screen, windows was running terribly sluggish in 4K.

Are you sure about that? There was a HDMI update recently for the NUC, that might have fixed that?

 

After setting HW acceleration to auto copy back, nothing is changed. The UI still runs terribly sluggish. When I browse into a movie, it takes like 10 seconds to load images and start video backdrop etc. On 1080p it is pretty fast.

[Guest asrequested]

I'm positive. I have an i7 7700k. Take a look at the specs.

 

https://ark.intel.com/products/97129/Intel-Core-i7-7700K-Processor-8M-Cache-up-to-4_50-GHz

[themimperials 4]

I'm positive. I have an i7 7700k. Take a look at the specs.

 

https://ark.intel.com/products/97129/Intel-Core-i7-7700K-Processor-8M-Cache-up-to-4_50-GHz

 

Hmm. Why is it then working perfectly here? I promise you, I am currently running 2160p @ 59 Hz through the HDMI cable, through my AVR to my UHD TV. Everything looks great and runs smoothly in that mode in Windows.

If I set it down to 30 Hz, then when I minimize a window or something, it looks completely sluggish, exactly like on my PC monitor that only supports 30 Hz 4K.

What am I missing here then? 

 

Anyhow, I am not all that much into refreshrates etc. But I assume it is best to have 60 Hz in the UI and then have it switch to 24(or 23,976, as I believe it is called) when watching movies?

 

I am not questioning what you are saying, don't get me wrong. But I would like to make sure I am running the most optimal settings. 

[themimperials 4]

I'm positive. I have an i7 7700k. Take a look at the specs.

 

https://ark.intel.com/products/97129/Intel-Core-i7-7700K-Processor-8M-Cache-up-to-4_50-GHz

 

Oh, now I see what is going on! You are looking at HDMI 1.4 specs. The NUC Kaby Lakes have HDMI 2.0 with an integrated LPSCON inside. So 2160p @ 60 Hz actually is available through HDMI.

[themimperials 4]

I'm positive. I have an i7 7700k. Take a look at the specs.

 

https://ark.intel.com/products/97129/Intel-Core-i7-7700K-Processor-8M-Cache-up-to-4_50-GHz

 

Also see this spec sheet: http://nucblog.net/2017/01/intel-releases-kaby-lake-nuc-full-specifications/

[Guest asrequested]

Running your desktop at 4k is not the same as video playback. Video playback requires decoding by the GPU. Different video sources will have different refresh rates. I bought a kaby Lake is it's the only GPU that supports 4k 10 bit hardware decoding. To play a movie at a higher refresh rate, means that it has to duplicate frames and adjust the timing. At that resolution, that is a lot to process. If you change your display to the same rate, then the GPU will just follow that, and lower it's rate. You can test by setting your GPU to 23Hz, and see what happens. But at 59Hz, the GPU will have a lot of work to do. Your receiver may also be upscaling. Mine can.

Edited May 17, 2017 by Doofus

[themimperials 4]

Alright I most definitely have some work to do here. I cannot get it to work properly unfortunately

Running the UI in 1080p(With Windows set to that resolution) runs pretty fine, and playing videos in 1080p also works perfectly. 

Running Windows at 2160p@59 Hz makes the UI terribly slow, borderline unusable, and I cannot play any movies basically.

Running Windows at 2160p@23 Hz makes the UI run pretty fine like on 1080p. I can play all my videos - but unsure if 4K videos are actually 4K and what happens to 1080p. Also HDR is NOT working.

 

Another thing, in addition to my question 5, is that my fans in my NUC spin up like crazy just when I browse a movie for the first time after starting Emby Theater(while loading the metadata). If I rebrowse something, it does not do that.

 

So basically, I would really appreciate some help on how to set up, both my Windows display settings, and Emby Theater settings to be able to get it to:

-Play 2160p videos at native resolution, and play 10 bit HDR properly

-Play 1080p videos without my NUC upscaling it, just play it as 1080p to have my TV do the scaling

-Make my metadata load quicker or precache it or something

 

Anyone?

[Guest asrequested]

Just get one of these and plug it in. Set your GPU to 59Hz, once you get it plugged in

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B017BQ8I54/ref=yo_ii_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[themimperials 4]

Just get one of these and plug it in. Set your GPU to 59Hz, once you get it plugged in

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B017BQ8I54/ref=yo_ii_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

I'm quite confident that should not be needed on a NUC. The HDMI port is not a "real" HDMI port per say. It is an internally wired DP to HDMI, so basically it should already be able to do what that adapter does?

[Guest asrequested]

Well, you just proved it isn't the same bandwidth as a display port. Do you have a display port on the NUC? If yes, it's there for a reason.

Edited May 17, 2017 by Doofus

[themimperials 4]

Well, you just proved it isn't the same bandwidth as a display port. Do you have a display port on the NUC? If yes, it's there for a reason.

 

Maybe yes, I am not sure. There is no actual display port on it however. It is a USB-C 3.1.

[Guest asrequested]

OK, well if there's no display port, the HDMI maybe able to support the bandwidth. And you are using HDMI 2.0 cables, I'm assuming? The other possibility is your receiver isn't handling the bandwidth. If it can, and you are using 2.0 cables, make sure the receiver is setting the display parameters, correctly. What receiver is it and what model NUC do you have?

[themimperials 4]

OK, well if there's no display port, the HDMI maybe able to support the bandwidth. And you are using HDMI 2.0 cables, I'm assuming? The other possibility is your receiver isn't handling the bandwidth. If it can, and you are using 2.0 cables, make sure the receiver is setting the display parameters, correctly. What receiver is it and what model NUC do you have?

 

That's what I am thinking as well.

I can confirm that my cables are compatible, and receiver set up correctly. 

I basically unplugged a NVIDIA Shield from the same cable, where everything including HDR was working perfectly, and plugged in the NUC.

The NUC is NUC7i5BNH and my receiver is a Denon AVR-X3300W.

[Guest asrequested]

Well, your tech definitely supports everything. What I do see, is that your USB c is also a display port. I'm wondering if the GPU thinks it's connected to an HDMI 1.4. As that's the highest HDMI port it supports. I would try using a mini display port adapter to HDMI 2.0.

[themimperials 4]

Alright I messed around with it some more. My issues still persist.

I have however figured out why HDR is not working. Appearantly the WDDM 2.2 drivers needed are not released yet for Kaby Lake processors, so HDR is not possible. Yet at least.

 

As far as I can tell from browsing other forums etc. it should not be necessary to use a mini DP to HDMI. The HDMI port itself should do the trick. There are actually quite a few threads on this on the intel forums.

 

I strongly believe I am just facing settings related performance issues. :/

 

All help is appreciated.

Edited May 17, 2017 by themimperials

[Guest asrequested]

Well, for now you can at least set to 23Hz. When I get home I'll see if I can come up with something more useful.

[Guest asrequested]

I think it would be good to test playback in the mpv standalone player. That could help rule out a few things. You can get it here. Launch the player and just drag a file onto it.

 

https://mpv.srsfckn.biz/

Edited May 18, 2017 by Doofus

[themimperials 4]

Just checked with KODI, playback seems to be working perfectly. The interface is also very fast in KODI, even with heavy graphical themes in 4K.

So I think it must be my Emby theater settings?

[Guest asrequested]

If the theater UI is also not working correctly, it may be something to do with electron. I've got my own electron issues.

[themimperials 4]

Damn You seem like you know alot about the system though, are you in the Emby team or? If not, do you know if there are any supporters from the emby team, that can help setting up emby theater properly? Luke has given me a ton of help for the server side.

[Guest asrequested]

No, I'm just an enthusiast @@Luke is the one that needs to answer the question about electron.

[Guest asrequested]

You could test with the portable version that Luke is testing with. Just unzip to a folder and run it from there.

 

https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/46763-theater-mpv-test/

Edited May 18, 2017 by Doofus

[themimperials 4]

Just tried out the portable version, no luck!

 

I also just tried out Plex, just for kicks. Plex, somewhat sadly, works way better on my setup. Plex Home Theater and OpenPHT both works perfectly, and does exactly what I expected Emby Theater to do.

 

Basically right now, I am on the fence. I don't know if I should cancel my Emby premiere and just use Plex, or if it is possible to get Emby theater working like intended.

Hopefully @@Luke can give some feedback for Theater.