Emby 4k / Transcode Audio

[jangle 1]

SERVER: 4.5.4.0

Windows Server 2019

Intel i5 3.4 / 64Gb RAM

Nvidia GT710 Video with hardware transcoding enabled

Good Evening,

I have a stable server that has been running fine for months.

I have introduced 4k content and finding the client requesting to transcode due to audio stream.

 I am struggling to understand why my client is request transcoding for the audio stream when the client supports AC3.

I have included a copy of the transcode log which may hold the key.

The film will play then start stuttering as the transcoding fails to keep up.

Regards,

Stuart

ffmpeg-transcode-17bcf740-f779-4d6a-bb3c-be686834a0d6_1.txt

[rbjtech 5284]

"TranscodeReasons=DirectPlayError,AudioChannelsNotSupported&AllowVideoStreamCopy=false"

The reason it is transcoding is the Audio but assuming you are selecting the AC3 before you press play (which you have according to the log) - then I see no reason why you should not be able to direct play.

I don't usually use AC3 myself, but in recent testing, I have noticed AC3/EAC3 issues on my FireTV (2nd Gen) client, with it transcoding audio to AAC.   This is possibly related.

Can you direct play on another client ?  Android Phone ?  Web Browser ? (Video will transcode, but AC3 should 'copy')   

You will also notice that it plays AC3/EAC3 just fine if you configure it to use VLC as the external player - so I believe the issue is Emby thinks the FireTV cannot play AC3/EAC3.

 

[ebr 16193]

8 minutes ago, rbjtech said:

so I believe the issue is Emby thinks the FireTV cannot play AC3/EAC3

No, that is not the issue.

The attempt to direct play failed (as indicated in the transcode reasons) so we played it using transcoding.  If you play the item for just a few seconds and then immediately send a log from the app, we can see why it failed.

[rbjtech 5284]

ok thanks @ebr - so while the OP is sending theirs, I've just sent mine - User:Richard - FireTV transcodes to AAC - it doesn't seem to want to recognise AC3/EAC3 at all.  All other clients OK, VLC plays it OK (via Emby) on the FireTV ok.

Thanks.

[jangle 1]

rbjtech,

Thank you for the information, under the amazon device I am unable to change the player.

My concern and confusion is the device should support playing the audio stream with no transcoding required, unless I misunderstand the bitrates for the audio stream.

 

Regards,

Stuart

[rbjtech 5284]

If you follow the instructions ebr has sent above - please send the log directly from the Emby App on the FireTV. 

[jangle 1]

ebr,

I just ran the process and no transcode required, this was after I had restarted the server in question.

Which I found weird as AC3 was selected the same as before.

I can see in my original transcode log AC3 being selected and and recoded as not compatible.

However in this run I have to select True HD which was not supported and coding made sense.

I am confused. 

I guess my first thought was hardware should support the video and audio types so no transcode required.

My second thought was transcode is glitching as the speed is slow hence the playback was struggling do I need an upgrade.

My third thought was it was playing for 80% of the film no issues then towards the end the audio cut out but the picture was fine, stopping and starting 3 times it eventually kicked in but then starting glitching and on review I was getting 1.1mbps transcode, hence this thread.

I appreciate the transcoding hardware acceleration for GPU for Video but what handles audio stream?

ffmpeg-remux-ab66c6d2-11df-470c-855a-2c6ccbc5cd91_1.txt

Edited February 14, 2021 by jangle

[jangle 1]

I have to admit I wasn't aware of a client log only on the Emby server side.

[ebr 16193]

14 hours ago, rbjtech said:

ok thanks @ebr - so while the OP is sending theirs, I've just sent mine - User:Richard - FireTV transcodes to AAC - it doesn't seem to want to recognise AC3/EAC3 at all.  All other clients OK, VLC plays it OK (via Emby) on the FireTV ok.

Thanks.

Your device is reporting no support for AC3.  Is this an original Fire Stick?  It is also running Android 5.1.  I think the next version will probably do better for you on that old device.

[rbjtech 5284]

1 hour ago, ebr said:

Your device is reporting no support for AC3.  Is this an original Fire Stick?  It is also running Android 5.1.  I think the next version will probably do better for you on that old device.

Hi ebr - thanks.  Yes this an original Gen 2 FiretV stick - it always used to play AC3 and EAC3 just fine.  It definitely supports AC3/EAC3 as other players work just fine.  Amazon also reports it as fully capable - see 

https://developer.amazon.com/docs/fire-tv/device-specifications-fire-tv-stick.html?v=ftvstickgen2

I'll wait to see what the next emby Release version does - thanks for investigating. 

[jangle 1]

Good Evening Ebr,

I am using the Fire Cube

Here are the specs: https://developer.amazon.com/docs/fire-tv/device-specifications-fire-tv-cube.html

 

 

[rbjtech 5284]

@ebr - Just to report that the release version of Emby on FireTV ( 2.0.09a) and the new emby release (4.6.0.50) are now playing AAC, AC3 and EAC3 perfectly (direct) - thanks for showing some love to the Gen2 sticks - which still perform very well imo and seem a little faster in the latest release.   

[ebr 16193]

Excellent.  Thanks for reporting back.