Emby plays MPEG 2 files choppy with no audio to XBOX 360

[Ronstang 294]

I have been experimenting with my DVD collection tonight and when I use MakeMKV to turn my DVDs into MKV files they play fine on the computer in the web app but on the XBOX 360 the console shows they are direct playing but when the movie starts I get no video, only audio.  I tried again and fast forwarded into the movie a bit and it started playing fine.  I converted this same movie to MPEG 4 with MCEBuddy and it plays fine.  I simply wanted to switch between the two to compare quality.  The second time I tried to play the Mpeg 2 MKV it would only play choppy with no audio.

Now I'm confused because the codecs are obviously there for MPEG 2 but the files simply won't play correctly even though Emby shows they are direct playing....but the logs say they are transcoding.   I thought TS files were MPEG 2 also and those play fine on my system.

 

 

[dansblackcat 37]

Xbox 360 has strict requirement for the input formats and only WMV, AVI, H. 264 and MPEG-4 are compatible with Xbox 360. In other words, it's impossible to directly play MKV on Xbox 360.

[dansblackcat 37]

What happens if you change to mp4?

Edit:  Sorry just read you post again, properly

 

 

Edited August 12, 2020 by dansblackcat

[Ronstang 294]

TS files are MPEG 2 and they play fine on my XBOX 360.  I had a movie recorded from TV the other night that had a signal hiccup in the file that when encoded to MPEG 4 would put the audio and video out of sync so I just edited the problem out of the TS file and watched it on the XBOX 360 no problems at all.  And I actually had the MPEG 2 video from one of my DVDs playing after fast forwarding a bit.....so it is definitely not impossible.  I'm just having trouble with the MPEG 2 from my DVDs.

[dansblackcat 37]

How about a different ripping program?  I used Freemake when I did all mine.  People seem to like Handbrake too.

[Ronstang 294]

All my files are MKV , which are just a container format anyway......most of mine are H.264 and they play fine.  These DVDs are H.262 is all.

[Ronstang 294]

I used MakeMKV to put the DVDs into an MKV format so they would be easy to handle and use with Emby.  It is the preferred program for what I am doing.

[dansblackcat 37]

You should post up a server log if you can, from when you try to play one of the files that doesn't work?

I'm sure one of the Dev's will be along shortly to take a look for you.

[Luke 42081]

Hi, how are you playing it, using emby for wmc?

[Ronstang 294]

Yes Luke.....streaming to my XBOX 360 and like I said TS files play fine and they are MPEG 2 also.

[Luke 42081]

Please attach the emby server and ffmpeg log. thanks.

[Ronstang 294]

I just tried to play the same file again, and once again the audio started immediately but there was no video.

embyserver.txt

[Luke 42081]

It's actually direct playing the file over your network, completely bypassing emby server.

That means there isn't much we can do about this. The problem exists either in the source file, or the extremely old and limited video player on the xbox 360.

If you must play on the xbox 360, then i would suggest converting to mp4 with h264/aac.

[Ronstang 294]

If it is bypassing Emby server it is likely it is simply trying to play as a DVD considering the MKV is just a container.  Very strange that Emby plays TS files fine but not a DVD packaged into MKV by MakeMKV considering they are both MPEG2.

I have already decided to convert all my DVDs to H264.  There is no reason not to considering I couldn't tell the difference in quality and the space used is only about 30% of the DVD itself.  

Thanks Luke

[Carlo 4561]

You'll find it's worth the time and effort to convert them!

[ebr 16185]

17 hours ago, Ronstang said:

Very strange that Emby plays TS files fine but not a DVD packaged into MKV by MakeMKV considering they are both MPEG2.

Again, this is not Emby - it is the Xbox 360.  The way that works is the 360 uses an RDP session with your machine running Media Center and the video support in that situation is very limited.  This is early 2000's technology at work here ;).

[Ronstang 294]

On 8/12/2020 at 6:35 PM, cayars said:

You'll find it's worth the time and effort to convert them!

Yes, I'm sure it is.  I already watched a few last night and it was really fun.  Most of these are very old out of print hard to find movies so to me it's kind of special.....but....between DVDs and Blu-Rays I have close to a thousand discs so it's gonna take some time....LOL