Emby Defaulting to 1080p version instead of 4K

[Paul77nz 8]

I am running Emby Server 4.0.2.0 for Windows and Emby Theater 1.0.9 for LG TV.

 

I have several movies where I have two versions of each, 1080p and 4K HDR. My TV is capable of playing 4K HDR, and previously Emby was correctly making the 4K versions the default selection, however I just noticed that it is now incorrectly making the 1080p versions the default selection.

 

My server has only just updated to 4.0.2.0, but I can't be sure if the change behaviour coincided with the update but I suspect this is what did it.

 

The LG app hasn't been updated for quite a while, so I believe it's a server issue.

 

Thanks

Edited February 20, 2019 by Paul77nz

[Luke 42078]

Hi there, please try again with the next update to the app. Thanks.

[Paul77nz 8]

Thanks Luke, how far away is that?

[crusher11 1101]

Years. It's been waiting for approval from LG for the past six months.

[Happy2Play 9780]

Years. It's been waiting for approval from LG for the past six months.

 

Got lo love the approval process.

[elpirate 5]

This version also seems to exist with EmbyCon on Kodi with the embruary skin.

 

This is on a samsung smart TV with version 4.1.0.5 beta server.

 

I thoughu it was because the name I gave them was lover value for 1080p ??

 

[1080p] vs [4k] 1 being lower than 4

[Paul77nz 8]

Years. It's been waiting for approval from LG for the past six months.

 

Oh, I thought Luke meant the next version of the server. But looking back I think I misread.

 

@@Luke, I don't think this is an issue with the LG app - but rather a server issue.

[Luke 42078]

The app is out of date enough that it's not worth debugging until the update is out. If you can reproduce in another Emby app such as the web app then let's look at that. Thanks.

[Paul77nz 8]

The app is out of date enough that it's not worth debugging until the update is out. If you can reproduce in another Emby app such as the web app then let's look at that. Thanks.

 

@@Luke I can reproduce this in the Web app, Emby Theater for Xbox One X, and also when I browse the library directly on the server.

 

The Xbox One X and LG app definitely used to select 4K by default until very recently, and I'm pretty sure 4K had always been the default selection when browsing the library directly on the server as well. Not sure about the web app as I never normally use it.

 

The only app that it is still defaulting to the 4K versions is the iOS app on my iPhone X.

 

Thanks

 

EDIT: For clarity.

Edited February 21, 2019 by Paul77nz

[Luke 42078]

Check the app quality setting. It must not think it can direct play the 4k version.

[Paul77nz 8]

@@Luke the quality setting in the app on the Xbox was "Auto", when I changed it to "4K - 120fps" the Xbox then made the 4K version the default. Interestingly when I changed the setting back to "Auto" the Xbox didn't revert back to defaulting to the 1080p version. So it seems just toggling the setting seemed to fix the Xbox. I have a second Xbox that I'll try to confirm this with tonight.

 

However the LG app doesn't have it's own quality setting, and I believe this setting is pushed from the server - this is where it gets interesting:

 

The quality setting on the server was "Auto", so I changed it to "4K - 120fps". After this change both the server itself and the LG app still default to the 1080p version. Note that If I manually select the 4K version both the server and LG app happily direct play it.

 

This really looks like a server issue since the web interface on the server itself still selects the 1080p version even after changing the quality setting to "4K - 120fps".

 

I see that the public server version 4.x is only a few weeks old, so it's possible this change in behaviour happened when upgrading from v3.x to v4.x (rather than 4.0.1.0 to 4.0.2.0 like I had initially suspected) and I only just noticed.

 

It seems the LG app just does the same as the server for it's default selection, so since the server is incorrectly defaulting to the 1080p version so is the LG app. This indicates that it is a fault with the server, and the LG app is just behaving as intended.

[Carlo 4561]

However the LG app doesn't have it's own quality setting, and I believe this setting is pushed from the server - this is where it gets interesting:

 

The quality setting on the server was "Auto", so I changed it to "4K - 120fps". After this change both the server itself and the LG app still default to the 1080p version. Note that If I manually select the 4K version both the server and LG app happily direct play it.

What quality setting on the server would this be?

 

Can you post a screen shot of what you are referring to?

[Paul77nz 8]

@@cayars on the server I click my profile picture in the top right hand corner, then select "Playback".

 

 

But when I browse the library on the server it puts the 1080p version first. Previously the 4K version was the default selection and at the top of the list:

 

 

Media Info showing the version labelled 4k is "4K HEVC" and that the one labelled HD is "1080P H264".

 

 

EDIT: Changed to more straight forward example.

Edited February 21, 2019 by Paul77nz

[Paul77nz 8]

@@Luke @@cayars I may not have properly explained what I meant earlier when talking about changing the quality setting on the server and browsing the library directly on server. What I meant was using the Web App in Chrome from the same Windows computer that Emby server is installed on (i.e. http://localhost:8096)and changing the quality settings and browsing the library that way.

 

For testing purposes I restored my server version to 3.5.3.0 and found that the Web App correctly selected the 4K versions as the default and places them on the top of the list:

 

 

But then I restored server version 4.0.0.2 and found that the Web App incorrectly selects the 1080p version and puts that at the top of the list (the same as it does in 4.0.2.0 - see screenshot in previous post).

 

It seems pretty clear from this that something changed between version 3 and version 4.

 

All this testing is completely independent of the LG app, which as stated earlier I believe is just using the Web App settings.

 

Thanks

 

 

[Carlo 4561]

Thanks for the update.  Crystal clear now what you are referring to.

This is something Luke will need to look at and address.

 

I'll mentioned that on my system including the web app it's still choosing the 4K version as the default.

My setting in the web app for what you showed are set to AUTO.

 

Are you sure you didn't set any bit rate maximums for users or anything like that?

[Paul77nz 8]

@@cayars I definitely hadn't changed any settings to do with bitrate or quality, and I get the same behaviour with three different users. My quality setting in the Web App had always been set to AUTO, I only changed to "4K 120fps" to see if it would fix the problem this problem - it didn't so I've now set it back to AUTO.

 

Very interesting that yours is correctly defaulting to the 4K version. Are you running the 4.0.2.0 public version or are you running a later beta?

 

@@Luke my server is installed on Windows 10 Pro version 1809 (OS Build 17763.316) if that helps at all.

Edited February 22, 2019 by Paul77nz

[Carlo 4561]

I'm running latest beta.  I typically stay on the beta channel releases.

 

Has anyone else tried this on their system to see if it auto chooses the 1080 or 4K versions?

[Luke 42078]

Remember that the feature is designed to pick the most efficient version. In your screenshot above, neither version can direct play,  but the 1080p version can stream copy the h264 video, so that's why it was chosen.

 

If the 1080p version had also been hevc, then i believe it would have selected the 4k version.

[Paul77nz 8]

Remember that the feature is designed to pick the most efficient version. In your screenshot above, neither version can direct play,  but the 1080p version can stream copy the h264 video, so that's why it was chosen.

 

If the 1080p version had also been hevc, then i believe it would have selected the 4k version.

 

@@Luke I thought the web app was direct playing both files, but you're right it is actually transcoding. LG app definitely direct plays both versions, but does that leave me waiting until the new LG app is finally approved before it can be looked into further?

 

Can you advise if the new LG app waiting for approval has it's own setting for quality?

 

What's annoying is that the LG app hasn't changed, and I have demonstrated that the change in behaviour is a result of upgrading the server to version 4. Perhaps this new behaviour is correct for the web app, but it unfortunately messes up the LG app!

 

I'm still working on the assumption that the LG app chooses it's default version based on the Web App - but is this actually they case?

 

If so, is there a way I can force the Web App to pick the default version based on something other than the codec or resolution? Alphabetically would be fine, but is that possible?Thanks

 

If all else fails, is there a way I can prevent server updates so I can restore to 3.5.3 and keep it at that level until LG finally approve the new app? I found the setting to prevent auto server updates, so if all else fails it might be a temporary option to revert to 3.5.3.

 

@@cayars when you tested in the beta that is defaulting to 4K version, can you advise what the video and audio codecs of the 4k and 1080p files are?

 

Thanks

Edited February 22, 2019 by Paul77nz

[Carlo 4561]

@@cayars when you tested in the beta that is defaulting to 4K version, can you advise what the video and audio codecs of the 4k and 1080p files are?

 

Thanks

My bad,  should have given much more info.  It worked exactly how I'd think it should have worked with various combinations of codecs EXCEPT when HDR/UHD is involved and all files are H.265:

 

The movie I looked at via Web was Avatar and I have that in 4K and 1080p BUT both are H.264.

 

Forrest Gump in the Web defaulted to 4Kp.

1080p is H.264

4K is H.264

 

Tried another movie "Wonders of the Arctic" which in the Web defaulted to 1080p.

1080p is H.264

4K is H.265

 

Elysium defaulted to 1080p in browser:

1080p is H.264

4K is H.265

 

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story defaulted to 1080p in browser:

1080p is H.264

4K is H.265

 

The Fifth Element defaulted to 4K in browser

1080p is H.265

4K is H.265

 

The Passion of the Christ

 defaulted to 4K in browser

1080p is H.265

4K is H.265

 

All 4K files above up to this point are SDR (not using HDR or UDH)

 

Here is where things get interesting and where I think Emby makes a bad decisions.

 

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest in browser choose 4K

1080p is H.265

4K is H.265 UHD  <-- not this

 

Same with other files just like the above.

 

 

So basically when using a browser that doesn't support H.265, Emby always choose the highest quality H.264 file.

When the 1080p and 4K version was both H.265 SDR it choose the highest quality file.

 

When the 1080p is H.265 and the 4K version is H.265 is HDR/UHD. Emby makes a bad decision to use the HDR/UHD file and to transcode from it.  I say this because we can't properly transcode HDR to SDR at present so the picture looks washed out.  Had it used the 1080p version the colors would be proper.

Edited February 22, 2019 by cayars

[Paul77nz 8]

Thanks @@cayars

 

That all makes sense. All my 1080p videos are H264, and all my 4K ones are HEVC. So here's what I think is happening:

 

1. The LG App uses the Wep App settings to choose the default version, ignoring it's own actual capabilities (this is an assumption on my part, but fits with what I am seeing).
2. Prior to version 4.x the web player was actually choosing the incorrect version. It picked 4K HEVC over H264 even though HEVC requires a full transcode and H264 can be direct played/streamed. By luck this incorrect decision by the Web App was actually the correct decision for the LG App (which can direct stream/play HEVC).
3. In server version 4.x the Web App is now correctly defaulting to H264. This choice is pushed to the LG App, resulting in the default selection there also being H264, even though it can actually direct stream/play 4K HEVC.
4. It appears that HDR vs SDR doesn't factor into the decision.

So the problem for me seems to be that the LG App isn't making it's own decision on what the default version should be, and instead just does whatever the Web App does. If this is the case then it would indeed need to be fixed in the LG App. I'll create a new thread in that forum about this issue, but if I'm lucky it may already have been addressed in the update (still) waiting for approval by LG.

 

Is anyone aware of a workaround to make the Wep App select the default version based on the resolution or filename, instead of choosing the "most efficient version"?

[Luke 42078]

No, but options for that are something to consider.

[Paul77nz 8]

Hi there, please try again with the next update to the app. Thanks.

 

@@Luke I just updated to the LG app version 1.0.15 which now has it's own quality settings that you can specifiy in the app itself.

 

This new version of the LG app is still defaulting to the 1080p H.264 version even though there is a 4K HEVC version that can be direct played. This happens regardless of whether the playback settings are set to "Auto" or "4K - 120Mbps".

Edited March 16, 2019 by Paul77nz

[Luke 42078]

Right, did you read post #18?

[Paul77nz 8]

@@Luke I did read that post. That only explains why this is the default selection in the web app. The issue is - why is the LG Emby app making decisions based on the capabilities of the web app instead of on its own capabilities?

 

My LG C8 TV is 100% capable of direct playing both of these files, it can happily direct play 4K HEVC with DTS, AC3, or EAC3 audio. The LG Emby app is definitely making the wrong decision.

 

Initially you had said that it wasn't worth debugging until the new app was out, which is fair enough. The new app is now out, and the incorrect behaviour is still present.

 

Thanks