Fire Stick HEVC Error

[Jrod696 28]

on the Fire Stick when I try to play an HEVC file it tries to play it direct play right from the start, on the screen the circle just spins and spins for about 45 seconds and then a screen pops up saying Playback Error? Is the current item exhibiting a playback problem like no video or audio? Then when I click yes the video starts playing and on the server you can see it switched from direct play to transcoding.

 

Is this a known issue? Is there a fix?

[Luke 42077]

Hi there, can we please take a look at an example? please attach the information requested in how to report a media playback issue. thanks !

[Jrod696 28]

Hi there, can we please take a look at an example? please attach the information requested in how to report a media playback issue. thanks !

I went into the Emby app and sent the log file to the developer just now

[Jrod696 28]

Here is the log file from the server

Edited April 15, 2018 by Jrod696

[Jrod696 28]

Just trying out a different idea I went in and installed VLC on the Fire Stick, and then went into the Emby options and told to play using external player. When it popped up I chose VLC (just once) and the playback started immediately, then stopped playback (VLC is not user friendly) went back to options disabled Use External Player for Videos and I get the same error message again. 

 

It looks like its something in the Emby player that does not like the HEVC videos, any other video in x264 format works perfectly and starts right up but x265 doesn't cooperate.

Edited January 26, 2018 by Jrod696

[ebr 16172]

I went into the Emby app and sent the log file to the developer just now

 

Hi.  Did you send the log immediately after the playback?  It looks like maybe you logged out and back in and so I didn't get the whole playback session.

[Jrod696 28]

Ok, I just now logged in, turned on Debugging, went to video went through the process, let it play for 30 seconds, backed out and sent the log to the developer, should be waiting.

[ebr 16172]

It actually tried to transcode both times so there should have been two ffmpeg logs produced.  Can we please see those?

[Jrod696 28]

So that one single play attempt created 9 log files. Numbered from oldest to newsest, 1 being oldest.

Edited April 15, 2018 by Jrod696

[ebr 16172]

This looks like the root of the problem:

[mpegts @ 0x80a2c0220] HEVC bitstream malformed, no startcode found
av_interleaved_write_frame(): Not yet implemented in FFmpeg, patches welcome
frame=    3 fps=0.0 q=-1.0 Lsize=N/A time=00:00:11.32 bitrate=N/A    
video:65kB audio:2kB subtitle:0kB other streams:0kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead: unknown
Conversion failed!

[Jrod696 28]

I tried it on several files, some encoded by me some not same issue, so the million dollar question, is the fix on my end or is this a bug. By the looks of the comment, Not yet implemented its neither

[Luke 42077]

@@Waldonnis do you think we should add the bitstream filter:

-bsf:v h264_mp4toannexb

@@Jrod696 can you please supply a sample video for testing? thanks !

[Waldonnis 148]

Probably, although in this case, hevc_mp4toannexb would be more appropriate.  I thought this would've been auto-inserted when using the mpegts muxer per the documentation, but maybe not.

Edited January 27, 2018 by Waldonnis

[Luke 42077]

Thanks @@Waldonnis

 

ok @@Jrod696 i have not seen this error on any of my hevc test media so if you could provide a sample video that would be extremely helpful. thanks !

[Jrod696 28]

Thanks @@Waldonnis

 

ok @@Jrod696 i have not seen this error on any of my hevc test media so if you could provide a sample video that would be extremely helpful. thanks !

Attached is a video I took of the error happening on my phone, I then encoded it in HEVC and tested it on the Fire Stick and it gives the same error, I want to add HEVC files I have not encoded myself but obtained elsewhere do it as well, in fact its any HEVC file. Also the log to go with the error of the video file sample.

Edited April 15, 2018 by Jrod696

[Luke 42077]

@@Jrod696, I tested and I can't reproduce the error. I think the issue might be your old ffmpeg version that you have installed:

ffmpeg version 2.8.4 Copyright (c) 2000-2015 the FFmpeg developers
  built with gcc 4.2.1 (GCC) 20070831 patched [FreeBSD]
  configuration: --prefix=/usr/pbi/emby-amd64 --mandir=/usr/pbi/emby-amd64/man --datadir=/usr/pbi/emby-amd64/share/ffmpeg --pkgconfigdir=/usr/pbi/emby-amd64/libdata/pkgconfig --enable-shared --enable-gpl --enable-postproc --enable-avfilter --enable-avresample --enable-pthreads --disable-libstagefright-h264 --disable-libutvideo --disable-libsoxr --cc=cc --extra-cflags=' -I/usr/pbi/emby-amd64/include' --extra-ldflags='-L/usr/pbi/emby-amd64/lib ' --extra-libs=-lpthread --enable-memalign-hack --disable-libaacplus --disable-indev=alsa --disable-outdev=alsa --disable-libopencore-amrnb --disable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libass --disable-libbs2b --disable-libcaca --disable-libcdio --disable-libcelt --disable-libdc1394 --disable-debug --disable-htmlpages --disable-libfaac --disable-libfdk-aac --disable-ffserver --disable-libflite --enable-fontconfig --enable-libfreetype --disable-frei0r --disable-libfribidi --disable-libgme --disable-libgsm --enable-iconv --disable-libilbc --disable-indev=jack --disable-ladspa --enable-libmp3lame --disable-libbluray --enable-mmx --disable-libmodplug --disable-openal --disable-indev=openal --disable-opencl --disable-libopencv --disable-opengl --disable-libopenh264 --disable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopus --disable-libpulse --disable-indev=pulse --disable-outdev=pulse --disable-libquvi --enable-runtime-cpudetect --disable-librtmp --enable-libschroedinger --disable-ffplay --disable-outdev=sdl --disable-libsmbclient --disable-libsnappy --disable-libspeex --enable-sse --disable-libssh --enable-libtheora --disable-libtwolame --disable-libv4l2 --disable-indev=v4l2 --disable-outdev=v4l2 --disable-vaapi --disable-vdpau --disable-libvidstab --enable-libvorbis --disable-libvo-aacenc --disable-libvo-amrwbenc --enable-libvpx --disable-libwavpack --disable-libwebp --disable-x11grab --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --disable-libxcb --enable-libxvid --disable-outdev=xv --disable-libzmq --disable-libzvbi --enable-gnutls --disable-openssl --disable-version3 --disable-nonfree
  libavutil      54. 31.100 / 54. 31.100
  libavcodec     56. 60.100 / 56. 60.100
  libavformat    56. 40.101 / 56. 40.101
  libavdevice    56.  4.100 / 56.  4.100
  libavfilter     5. 40.101 /  5. 40.101
  libavresample   2.  1.  0 /  2.  1.  0
  libswscale      3.  1.101 /  3.  1.101
  libswresample   1.  2.101 /  1.  2.101
  libpostproc    53.  3.100 / 53.  3.100

Emby for FreeBSD does not embed ffmpeg, it uses the one on your system and the one on your system looks pretty old at this point. I would get that updated. Thanks.

[Jrod696 28]

@@Jrod696, I tested and I can't reproduce the error. I think the issue might be your old ffmpeg version that you have installed:

ffmpeg version 2.8.4 Copyright (c) 2000-2015 the FFmpeg developers
  built with gcc 4.2.1 (GCC) 20070831 patched [FreeBSD]
  configuration: --prefix=/usr/pbi/emby-amd64 --mandir=/usr/pbi/emby-amd64/man --datadir=/usr/pbi/emby-amd64/share/ffmpeg --pkgconfigdir=/usr/pbi/emby-amd64/libdata/pkgconfig --enable-shared --enable-gpl --enable-postproc --enable-avfilter --enable-avresample --enable-pthreads --disable-libstagefright-h264 --disable-libutvideo --disable-libsoxr --cc=cc --extra-cflags=' -I/usr/pbi/emby-amd64/include' --extra-ldflags='-L/usr/pbi/emby-amd64/lib ' --extra-libs=-lpthread --enable-memalign-hack --disable-libaacplus --disable-indev=alsa --disable-outdev=alsa --disable-libopencore-amrnb --disable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libass --disable-libbs2b --disable-libcaca --disable-libcdio --disable-libcelt --disable-libdc1394 --disable-debug --disable-htmlpages --disable-libfaac --disable-libfdk-aac --disable-ffserver --disable-libflite --enable-fontconfig --enable-libfreetype --disable-frei0r --disable-libfribidi --disable-libgme --disable-libgsm --enable-iconv --disable-libilbc --disable-indev=jack --disable-ladspa --enable-libmp3lame --disable-libbluray --enable-mmx --disable-libmodplug --disable-openal --disable-indev=openal --disable-opencl --disable-libopencv --disable-opengl --disable-libopenh264 --disable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopus --disable-libpulse --disable-indev=pulse --disable-outdev=pulse --disable-libquvi --enable-runtime-cpudetect --disable-librtmp --enable-libschroedinger --disable-ffplay --disable-outdev=sdl --disable-libsmbclient --disable-libsnappy --disable-libspeex --enable-sse --disable-libssh --enable-libtheora --disable-libtwolame --disable-libv4l2 --disable-indev=v4l2 --disable-outdev=v4l2 --disable-vaapi --disable-vdpau --disable-libvidstab --enable-libvorbis --disable-libvo-aacenc --disable-libvo-amrwbenc --enable-libvpx --disable-libwavpack --disable-libwebp --disable-x11grab --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --disable-libxcb --enable-libxvid --disable-outdev=xv --disable-libzmq --disable-libzvbi --enable-gnutls --disable-openssl --disable-version3 --disable-nonfree
  libavutil      54. 31.100 / 54. 31.100
  libavcodec     56. 60.100 / 56. 60.100
  libavformat    56. 40.101 / 56. 40.101
  libavdevice    56.  4.100 / 56.  4.100
  libavfilter     5. 40.101 /  5. 40.101
  libavresample   2.  1.  0 /  2.  1.  0
  libswscale      3.  1.101 /  3.  1.101
  libswresample   1.  2.101 /  1.  2.101
  libpostproc    53.  3.100 / 53.  3.100

Emby for FreeBSD does not embed ffmpeg, it uses the one on your system and the one on your system looks pretty old at this point. I would get that updated. Thanks.

 

 

 

I am using FreeNAS and its a plugin, I am familiar with scripting, I guess I need to figure out how to update the ffmpeg without messing up the whole jail.

[Luke 42077]

@@josh4trunks may have some insight.

[Jrod696 28]

Well I just got the 3.3 plugin but it is still running the same version FFMpeg and still the same issue, I figured I would bump this thread one last time to see if anyone knows how to update the FFMpeg on the FreeNas Plugin.

[Luke 42077]

Ok, we'll see what @@josh4trunks thinks. Thanks.

[Jrod696 28]

A big thanks for @@josh4trunks for helping me out with this, it looks like after the update is run for FFMpeg inside the FreeNAS jail it fixes the problem

 

The fix:

 

pkg -o OSVERSION=1101505 update -f
pkg -o OSVERSION=1101505 upgrade
pkg install ffmpeg
sed -i '' -e 's|/usr/pbi/emby-amd64/bin/ffmpeg|/usr/local/bin/ffmpeg|' /usr/local/etc/rc.d/emby-server
service emby-server restart

 

Thanks again Josh!

[Luke 42077]

Fantastic, thanks for the feedback.