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Can anything be done to speed up the playback of high bitrate MKVs?


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Posted

Server has an i5 6600K CPU, 8 gigs of RAM

Playing back on Apple TV 4

Plex and Emby

 

With Plex, I can play this file back perfectly fine. I can scrub half way into the video and after a second or 3, the video starts to pay with no problem.

 

Doing the same thing with Emby, when I scrub half way into the video and try to play from there, it will sit and buffer for 2x-3x longer than Plex and THEN start playing. What (if anything) can be done on the server side to speed things up and make it as quick as Plex? (And I'm still looking into it but I think the video looks a LITTLE TINY bit better when playing back on the Plex client. Maybe it's my imagination, maybe not, but can anything be done to 'punch up' the video in Emby?)

 

I don't have this issue with ripped movies with lower bitrates, I only see this slowness with videos I've recorded off my HD camcorder.

 

General
Complete name                      : D:\Home Movies\2017\2017 July - August.mkv
Format                                   : Matroska
Format version                       : Version 4 / Version 2
File size                                  : 13.0 GiB
Duration                                 : 1 h 13 min
Overall bit rate mode             : Variable
Overall bit rate                       : 25.3 Mb/s
Encoded date                        : UTC 2017-08-17 01:25:14
Writing application                 : mkvmerge v14.0.0 ('Flow') 64bit
Writing library                        : libebml v1.3.4 + libmatroska v1.4.5

Video
ID                                           : 1
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                            : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                        : High@L4.2
Format settings, CABAC        : Yes
Format settings, RefFrames  : 2 frames
Format settings, GOP            : M=1, N=15
Codec ID                                : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration                                 : 1 h 13 min
Bit rate mode                         : Variable
Bit rate                                   : 24.9 Mb/s
Maximum bit rate                    : 26.0 Mb/s
Width                                     : 1 920 pixels
Height                                    : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio               : 16:9
Frame rate mode                   : Constant
Frame rate                             : 59.940 (59940/1000) FPS
Original frame rate                 : 59.940 (60000/1001) FPS
Color space                           : YUV
Chroma subsampling             : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                              : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                  : 0.200
Stream size                            : 12.7 GiB (98%)
Default                                   : Yes
Forced                                   : No

Audio
ID                                           : 2
Format                                   : AC-3
Format/Info                            : Audio Coding 3
Format settings, Endianness : Big
Codec ID                               : A_AC3
Duration                                : 1 h 13 min
Bit rate mode                        : Constant
Bit rate                                  : 448 kb/s
Channel(s)                            : 6 channels
Channel positions                 : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate                       : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                           : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF)
Bit depth                              : 16 bits
Compression mode              : Lossy
Stream size                          : 235 MiB (2%)
Service kind                         : Complete Main
Default                                 : Yes
Forced                                 : No

Text
ID                                          : 3
Format                                  : PGS
Muxing mode                        : zlib
Codec ID                              : S_HDMV/PGS
Codec ID/Info                       : Picture based subtitle format used on BDs/HD-DVDs
Duration                               : 1 h 13 min
Bit rate                                 : 59.6 kb/s
Count of elements                : 8747
Stream size                          : 31.3 MiB (0%)
Default                                 : Yes
Forced                                 : No

 

Posted

Do you have those subs enabled for both of your tests?

Posted

Do you have those subs enabled for both of your tests?

 

Subs were disabled for both. (Side note; never mind about the video quality. Plex and Emby appear to render both about the same so scratch this.)

legallink
Posted

Are you sure it's direct playing on emby?

Posted

Are you sure it's direct playing on emby?

 

It's not. Definitely transcoding. I don't think the Apple TV 4 supports (natively) the MKV container or MTS/AC3.

 

Log file if it helps:

Application version: 3.2.28.0http://192.168.1.249:8096/emby/videos/7bbffa2d5ed2ebbb8537946250c66373/hls1/main/0.ts?DeviceId=8D6402E1-BB30-488C-A9D2-E3F701AD6BAC&MediaSourceId=7bbffa2d5ed2ebbb8537946250c66373&VideoCodec=h264&AudioCodec=ac3,aac,mp3&AudioStreamIndex=1&VideoBitrate=49616000&AudioBitrate=384000&MaxAudioChannels=6&MaxHeight=1080&Level=41&Profile=high&PlaySessionId=64e00f59504c4c7683e697cfa0220b3f&api_key=a4c1401ca1d34ca29532e8d88bca3c88&CopyTimestamps=false&SubtitleMethod=Encode&EnableSubtitlesInManifest=true&Tag=45bd3f8fa2920147e18ab3d60a7354d2&RequireAvc=false&RequireNonAnamorphic=false&DeInterlace=false&SegmentContainer=ts&BreakOnNonKeyFrames=True&TranscodeReasons=ContainerNotSupported,VideoCodecNotSupported,AudioCodecNotSupported{"Protocol":"File","Id":"7bbffa2d5ed2ebbb8537946250c66373","Path":"D:\\Home Movies\\2017\\2017 July - August.mkv","Type":"Default","Container":"mkv,webm","Name":"1080P/H264/AC3","IsRemote":false,"ETag":"45bd3f8fa2920147e18ab3d60a7354d2","RunTimeTicks":44027060224,"ReadAtNativeFramerate":false,"IgnoreDts":false,"IgnoreIndex":false,"GenPtsInput":false,"SupportsTranscoding":true,"SupportsDirectStream":true,"SupportsDirectPlay":true,"IsInfiniteStream":false,"RequiresOpening":false,"RequiresClosing":false,"SupportsProbing":true,"RequiresLooping":false,"VideoType":"VideoFile","MediaStreams":[{"Codec":"h264","TimeBase":"1/1000","CodecTimeBase":"1001/120000","NalLengthSize":"4","IsInterlaced":false,"IsAVC":true,"BitRate":25326499,"BitDepth":8,"RefFrames":2,"IsDefault":true,"IsForced":false,"Height":1080,"Width":1920,"AverageFrameRate":59.9400635,"RealFrameRate":59.9400635,"Profile":"High","Type":"Video","AspectRatio":"16:9","Index":0,"IsExternal":false,"IsTextSubtitleStream":false,"SupportsExternalStream":false,"PixelFormat":"yuv420p","Level":42,"IsAnamorphic":false},{"Codec":"ac3","TimeBase":"1/1000","CodecTimeBase":"1/48000","DisplayTitle":"Dolby Digital 5.1 Default","IsInterlaced":false,"ChannelLayout":"5.1","BitRate":448000,"Channels":6,"SampleRate":48000,"IsDefault":true,"IsForced":false,"Type":"Audio","Index":1,"IsExternal":false,"IsTextSubtitleStream":false,"SupportsExternalStream":false,"Level":0,"IsAnamorphic":false},{"Codec":"PGSSUB","TimeBase":"1/1000","CodecTimeBase":"1/1000","DisplayTitle":"Und Default","IsInterlaced":false,"IsDefault":true,"IsForced":false,"Type":"Subtitle","Index":2,"IsExternal":false,"IsTextSubtitleStream":false,"SupportsExternalStream":false,"Level":0,"IsAnamorphic":false}],"Formats":[],"Bitrate":25774499,"RequiredHttpHeaders":{}}User policy for server: EnablePlaybackRemuxing: True EnableVideoPlaybackTranscoding: True EnableAudioPlaybackTranscoding: TrueC:\Users\server\AppData\Roaming\Emby-Server\ffmpeg\20160410\ffmpeg.exe -f matroska,webm -i file:"D:\Home Movies\2017\2017 July - August.mkv" -map_metadata -1 -map_chapters -1 -threads 0 -map 0:0 -map 0:1 -map -0:s -codec:v:0 libx264 -pix_fmt yuv420p -preset veryfast -crf 23 -maxrate 25326499 -bufsize 50652998 -profile:v high -level 4.1 -x264opts:0 subme=0:me_range=4:rc_lookahead=10:me=dia:no_chroma_me:8x8dct=0:partitions=none -force_key_frames "expr:gte(t,n_forced*3)" -vf "scale=trunc(oh*a/2)*2:min(max(iw/dar\,ih)\,1080)" -copyts -vsync -1 -codec:a:0 ac3 -ac 6 -ab 384000  -f segment -max_delay 5000000 -avoid_negative_ts disabled -start_at_zero -segment_time 3  -individual_header_trailer 0 -segment_format mpegts -segment_list_type m3u8 -segment_start_number 0 -segment_list "D:\transcoding-temp\44374ba55bec0cf3ae7e1508ffcb42d8.m3u8" -y "D:\transcoding-temp\44374ba55bec0cf3ae7e1508ffcb42d8%d.ts"ffmpeg version N-79277-g0c90b2e Copyright (c) 2000-2016 the FFmpeg developers  built with gcc 5.3.0 (GCC)  configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --disable-w32threads --enable-avisynth --enable-bzlib --enable-fontconfig --enable-frei0r --enable-gnutls --enable-iconv --enable-libass --enable-libbluray --enable-libbs2b --enable-libcaca --enable-libfreetype --enable-libgme --enable-libgsm --enable-libilbc --enable-libmodplug --enable-libmfx --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopus --enable-librtmp --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libsnappy --enable-libsoxr --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libtwolame --enable-libvidstab --enable-libvo-amrwbenc --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libwavpack --enable-libwebp --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-libxavs --enable-libxvid --enable-libzimg --enable-lzma --enable-decklink --enable-zlib  libavutil      55. 20.100 / 55. 20.100  libavcodec     57. 34.100 / 57. 34.100  libavformat    57. 32.100 / 57. 32.100  libavdevice    57.  0.101 / 57.  0.101  libavfilter     6. 41.100 /  6. 41.100  libswscale      4.  1.100 /  4.  1.100  libswresample   2.  0.101 /  2.  0.101  libpostproc    54.  0.100 / 54.  0.100Input #0, matroska,webm, from 'file:D:\Home Movies\2017\2017 July - August.mkv':  Metadata:    encoder         : libebml v1.3.4 + libmatroska v1.4.5    creation_time   : 2017-08-17 01:25:14  Duration: 01:13:22.71, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 25326 kb/s    Stream #0:0: Video: h264 (High), yuv420p, 1920x1080 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 59.94 fps, 59.94 tbr, 1k tbn, 119.88 tbc (default)    Metadata:      BPS             : 24857179      BPS-eng         : 24857179      DURATION        : 01:13:22.700000000      DURATION-eng    : 01:13:22.700000000      NUMBER_OF_FRAMES: 263850      NUMBER_OF_FRAMES-eng: 263850      NUMBER_OF_BYTES : 13679837805      NUMBER_OF_BYTES-eng: 13679837805      _STATISTICS_WRITING_APP: mkvmerge v14.0.0 ('Flow') 64bit      _STATISTICS_WRITING_APP-eng: mkvmerge v14.0.0 ('Flow') 64bit      _STATISTICS_WRITING_DATE_UTC: 2017-08-17 01:25:14      _STATISTICS_WRITING_DATE_UTC-eng: 2017-08-17 01:25:14      _STATISTICS_TAGS: BPS DURATION NUMBER_OF_FRAMES NUMBER_OF_BYTES      _STATISTICS_TAGS-eng: BPS DURATION NUMBER_OF_FRAMES NUMBER_OF_BYTES    Stream #0:1: Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, 5.1(side), fltp, 448 kb/s (default)    Metadata:      BPS             : 447998      BPS-eng         : 447998      DURATION        : 01:13:22.706000000      DURATION-eng    : 01:13:22.706000000      NUMBER_OF_FRAMES: 137584      NUMBER_OF_FRAMES-eng: 137584      NUMBER_OF_BYTES : 246550528      NUMBER_OF_BYTES-eng: 246550528      _STATISTICS_WRITING_APP: mkvmerge v14.0.0 ('Flow') 64bit      _STATISTICS_WRITING_APP-eng: mkvmerge v14.0.0 ('Flow') 64bit      _STATISTICS_WRITING_DATE_UTC: 2017-08-17 01:25:14      _STATISTICS_WRITING_DATE_UTC-eng: 2017-08-17 01:25:14      _STATISTICS_TAGS: BPS DURATION NUMBER_OF_FRAMES NUMBER_OF_BYTES      _STATISTICS_TAGS-eng: BPS DURATION NUMBER_OF_FRAMES NUMBER_OF_BYTES    Stream #0:2: Subtitle: hdmv_pgs_subtitle, 1920x1080 (default)    Metadata:      BPS             : 59599      BPS-eng         : 59599      DURATION        : 01:13:21.698000000      DURATION-eng    : 01:13:21.698000000      NUMBER_OF_FRAMES: 8747      NUMBER_OF_FRAMES-eng: 8747      NUMBER_OF_BYTES : 32792497      NUMBER_OF_BYTES-eng: 32792497      _STATISTICS_WRITING_APP: mkvmerge v14.0.0 ('Flow') 64bit      _STATISTICS_WRITING_APP-eng: mkvmerge v14.0.0 ('Flow') 64bit      _STATISTICS_WRITING_DATE_UTC: 2017-08-17 01:25:14      _STATISTICS_WRITING_DATE_UTC-eng: 2017-08-17 01:25:14      _STATISTICS_TAGS: BPS DURATION NUMBER_OF_FRAMES NUMBER_OF_BYTES      _STATISTICS_TAGS-eng: BPS DURATION NUMBER_OF_FRAMES NUMBER_OF_BYTES[libx264 @ 0000000000570ce0] using SAR=1/1[libx264 @ 0000000000570ce0] MB rate (489110) > level limit (245760)[libx264 @ 0000000000570ce0] using cpu capabilities: MMX2 SSE2Fast SSSE3 SSE4.2 AVX FMA3 AVX2 LZCNT BMI2[libx264 @ 0000000000570ce0] profile Main, level 4.1[libx264 @ 0000000000570ce0] 264 - core 148 r2665 a01e339 - H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec - Copyleft 2003-2016 - http://www.videolan.org/x264.html - options: cabac=1 ref=1 deblock=1:0:0 analyse=0x1:0 me=dia subme=0 psy=1 psy_rd=1.00:0.00 mixed_ref=0 me_range=4 chroma_me=0 trellis=0 8x8dct=0 cqm=0 deadzone=21,11 fast_pskip=1 chroma_qp_offset=0 threads=6 lookahead_threads=1 sliced_threads=0 nr=0 decimate=1 interlaced=0 bluray_compat=0 constrained_intra=0 bframes=3 b_pyramid=2 b_adapt=1 b_bias=0 direct=1 weightb=1 open_gop=0 weightp=1 keyint=250 keyint_min=25 scenecut=40 intra_refresh=0 rc_lookahead=10 rc=crf mbtree=1 crf=23.0 qcomp=0.60 qpmin=0 qpmax=69 qpstep=4 vbv_maxrate=25326 vbv_bufsize=50652 crf_max=0.0 nal_hrd=none filler=0 ip_ratio=1.40 aq=1:1.00Output #0, segment, to 'D:\transcoding-temp\44374ba55bec0cf3ae7e1508ffcb42d8%d.ts':  Metadata:    encoder         : Lavf57.32.100    Stream #0:0: Video: h264 (libx264), yuv420p, 1920x1080 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], q=-1--1, max. 25326 kb/s, 59.94 fps, 90k tbn, 59.94 tbc (default)    Metadata:      encoder         : Lavc57.34.100 libx264    Side data:      cpb: bitrate max/min/avg: 25326000/0/0 buffer size: 50652000 vbv_delay: -1    Stream #0:1: Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, 5.1, fltp, 384 kb/s (default)    Metadata:      encoder         : Lavc57.34.100 ac3Stream mapping:  Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (h264 (native) -> h264 (libx264))  Stream #0:1 -> #0:1 (ac3 (native) -> ac3 (native))Press [q] to stop, [?] for helpframe=   55 fps=0.0 q=31.0 size=N/A time=00:00:00.98 bitrate=N/A speed=1.96x    frame=  112 fps=112 q=31.0 size=N/A time=00:00:01.97 bitrate=N/A speed=1.97x    frame=  174 fps=115 q=31.0 size=N/A time=00:00:03.00 bitrate=N/A speed=1.99x    frame=  237 fps=117 q=31.0 size=N/A time=00:00:04.05 bitrate=N/A speed=   2x    frame=  305 fps=121 q=31.0 size=N/A time=00:00:05.27 bitrate=N/A speed=2.08x    frame=  371 fps=122 q=31.0 size=N/A time=00:00:06.29 bitrate=N/A speed=2.06x    frame=  431 fps=121 q=31.0 size=N/A time=00:00:07.38 bitrate=N/A speed=2.08x    frame=  488 fps=120 q=31.0 size=N/A time=00:00:08.28 bitrate=N/A speed=2.04x    frame=  548 fps=120 q=31.0 size=N/A time=00:00:09.27 bitrate=N/A speed=2.03x    frame=  611 fps=121 q=31.0 size=N/A time=00:00:10.26 bitrate=N/A speed=2.03x    frame=  673 fps=121 q=31.0 size=N/A time=00:00:11.32 bitrate=N/A speed=2.04x    frame=  737 fps=122 q=31.0 size=N/A time=00:00:12.47 bitrate=N/A speed=2.06x    frame=  802 fps=122 q=31.0 size=N/A time=00:00:13.49 bitrate=N/A speed=2.05x    frame=  862 fps=121 q=31.0 size=N/A time=00:00:14.49 bitrate=N/A speed=2.04x    frame=  926 fps=121 q=31.0 size=N/A time=00:00:15.51 bitrate=N/A speed=2.03x    frame=  986 fps=121 q=31.0 size=N/A time=00:00:16.53 bitrate=N/A speed=2.03x    frame= 1042 fps=120 q=31.0 size=N/A time=00:00:17.49 bitrate=N/A speed=2.02x    frame= 1102 fps=120 q=31.0 size=N/A time=00:00:18.49 bitrate=N/A speed=2.02x    frame= 1158 fps=120 q=31.0 size=N/A time=00:00:19.48 bitrate=N/A speed=2.02x    frame= 1215 fps=120 q=31.0 size=N/A time=00:00:20.50 bitrate=N/A speed=2.02x    frame= 1269 fps=119 q=31.0 size=N/A time=00:00:21.27 bitrate=N/A speed=1.99x    frame= 1329 fps=119 q=31.0 size=N/A time=00:00:22.29 bitrate=N/A speed=1.99x    frame= 1392 fps=119 q=31.0 size=N/A time=00:00:23.29 bitrate=N/A speed=1.99x    frame= 1455 fps=119 q=29.0 size=N/A time=00:00:24.50 bitrate=N/A speed=2.01x    frame= 1510 fps=119 q=31.0 size=N/A time=00:00:25.30 bitrate=N/A speed=1.99x    frame= 1562 fps=118 q=31.0 size=N/A time=00:00:26.29 bitrate=N/A speed=1.99x    frame= 1629 fps=119 q=31.0 size=N/A time=00:00:27.29 bitrate=N/A speed=1.99x    
Posted

Normally in this situation it would just stream copy the original video and change the container, and when that happens playback will start very fast.

 

For this particular video, it also needs to transcode the video and I think that is due to the level 42 but @@ebr or @@corey can confirm that. Thanks.

Posted

I take back my comment about the video quality looking the same. Did some more comparisons and Plex (at least as far as my home videos are concerned) looks way better then Emby on the same scene. I can provide a screen shot but it was my daughter riding on a carousel. With Emby, her face (and the entire scene but it was very noticeable on her face) had a LOT of compression artifacts. Same scene in Plex, nice and smooth.

Posted

Probably because we are transcoding and they are not. We are transcoding this file due to the h264 level 42, and we had been using 41 as a limit. We are in process of rolling out an update to bump up our h264 limit to 42 and then it should stream copy the original video as is.

Posted

Probably because we are transcoding and they are not. We are transcoding this file due to the h264 level 42, and we had been using 41 as a limit. We are in process of rolling out an update to bump up our h264 limit to 42 and then it should stream copy the original video as is.

 

Double checked and Plex is transcoding as well. I'm working on testing out various solutions so I can direct play all my media on all my TVs. I want to get away from transcoding anything. I tried PMP, OpenPHT (hate the interface on both), Kodi (everyone in my house hates ALL the Kodi skins I've tried), Kodi+Plex addons (weird problems all around, plus it looks like development has slowed/stopped on the official Plex Kodi addon), Kodi+Emby (weird problems with stuff not showing up).....tried it all and I think the only product that allows me to direct play everything (as far as I've tested) and has a nice interface that everyone in my house can agree on; is Emby Theater. Right now, I'm playing around with the Linux version and so far, I'm digging it. Just need to work out this problem then I think I'm good to go.

Posted

Thanks for the feedback.

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