Let's talk Transcoding

[annisman 13]

Alright, kind of confused about transcoding and I want the details from those in the know !

 

To start, this is my current setup:

 

I have Emby Server on my HTPC, my HTPC also doubles as my main playback device to my television (using Emby for WMC + MPC-BE&MadVR)

 

I play MKV rips from Harddrives connected to the HTPC via USB 3.0 in external enclosures.

 

I assume playback on my HTPC needs no transcoding whatsoever (it plays flawlessly), however, what happens when I access my server from a mobile device such as my android phone or my Windows tablet ?

 

When this happens, I am no longer able to access my MKV files directly from the USB 3.0 Hard drive enclosures, instead I must go over my home network. My network setup is unfortunately wireless, does this mean I am limited by my ISP speeds ? (120mb/s down, 12 mb/s up)

 

Let's go a step further, if I am at my brother's house and want to stream an MKV file from my Emby server at home, I am now limited by both my own ISP speeds AND my brother's ISP speeds for playback ?

 

In these scenarios, is transcoding the way to get playback to work better ?

 

Right now I have left all transcoding settings to default, I have a GTX 1060 3GB, would enabling transcoding with this card help me out with playback over wireless networks ? One of my fears is that enabling transcoding will trigger it to transcode my direct playback on the HTPC itself.

 

Lastly, if I have a 4K MKV file, would transcoding allow it to play on something such as my android phone ? Obviously a 4K file is going to have a massive bitrate, and may not even play natively so yeah.

 

 

[Luke 42077]

 

 

if I am at my brother's house and want to stream an MKV file from my Emby server at home, I am now limited by both my own ISP speeds AND my brother's ISP speeds for playback ?

 

Yes correct. Transcoding can help reduce the size to make it fit into the available bandwidth.

[annisman 13]

Which settings should be used with a GTX 10603GB graphics card ?

[Guest asrequested]

This might help

 

https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/48799-direct-play-vs-direct-streaming-vs-transcoding/

[annisman 13]

This might help

 

https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/48799-direct-play-vs-direct-streaming-vs-transcoding/

 

So according to this rather confusing thread... I can look on the Emby server during playback and see if it's transcoding etc ??

[Guest asrequested]

Yes, but I used that to explain what's happening. What don't you understand? Maybe I can clarify.

[annisman 13]

I'm ok with not totally understanding how transcoding works, what I need to know is if in my scenario (original post) it's going to help me do what I need, and if so, what settings to use on the transcoding page to get that result.

[annisman 13]

For example, right now I am ripping both BD and UHD copies of the same movies to my server so that if I'm accessing that movie (apart from direct play) I can choose the lower bitrate BD, I am hoping transcoding will allow me to just rip the UHD and still have smooth playback from the network.

[Guest asrequested]

What CPU do you have?

[Luke 42077]

First just try default settings.

[annisman 13]

What CPU do you have?

 

i3 3220

[Guest asrequested]

i3 3220

 

Ouch! Yeah that'll struggle. Try enabling Nvidia NVENC, in the transcode settings. First try with everything else at default.

[annisman 13]

Ouch! Yeah that'll struggle. Try enabling Nvidia NVENC, in the transcode settings. First try with everything else at default.

 

Enabled NVENC, default settings video still pausing every 2 or 3 seconds, tried upping encoder CRF to 28, same result, tried 'ultra fast' preset, same result.

[annisman 13]

In the app I am trying to use, I have Home network and Internet quality both set to AUTO

[Guest asrequested]

Post the transcode log

[annisman 13]

Post the transcode log

 

How/where ?

[Guest asrequested]

How/where ?

 

On your server dashboard, left side scroll down, logs. Right click the log you want and save link as...

[annisman 13]

irrelevant post

Edited August 4, 2018 by annisman

[annisman 13]

Sorry for the wall of text, I hope this is what you need.

[mastrmind11 722]

Sorry for the wall of text, I hope this is what you need.

find the file that has 'transcode' in the filename and post that one.  if there isn't one, then you aren't transcoding anything and that's likely the problem.

Edited August 4, 2018 by mastrmind11

[Guest asrequested]

Attach the ffmpeg-transcode log for the relevant test. Save it as a text file, click more reply options, and attach it.

[annisman 13]

Attach the ffmpeg-transcode log for the relevant test. Save it as a text file, click more reply options, and attach it.

 

Ok, I'm trying my best, doing this from my phone at work...

[Guest asrequested]

Oh, well you should wait until you're home. Don't copy and paste all of that text.

[annisman 13]

Oh, well you should wait until you're home. Don't copy and paste all of that text.

 

Well first I need something to copy/paste, right now the only transcoding log I'm seeing is from 2 days ago, no idea why nothing is showing up right now.

[Guest asrequested]

Well first I need something to copy/paste, right now the only transcoding log I'm seeing is from 2 days ago, no idea why nothing is showing up right now.

 

You are possibly playing something that doesn't need transcoding. Try lowering the bitrate in the app, to something like 1 Mb