H265/Hevc video is extreamly choppy and unwatchable.

[hearingaid 0]

Does anyone else have an issue with H265/Hevc files?

When I watch h265/HEVC files direct stream at home to my Sony android TV's the video is choppy and unwatchable.

I had emby on win10 and had this issue, I switched to Linux mint and same issue both on different computers.

when i use an h264 file, no problem.

Anyone have a solution?

[Sammy 790]

 

[Guest]

I am looking into it for myself right now... 

I am finding however that of course yet again with Apple and it's proprietary BS ( one of the reasons I don't like Apple ).. HEVC codecs are making then millions of dollars each year and has become an issue because it is not open-source.. Therefore licensing has to be in place to be able to have an app use software decoding. This one of the reasons that I cannot play a video right now in my browser.. AND I have been doing some digging online which has lead me to several places.. with some right and wrong answers. 

The only way I found was to cut the stream way down and trigger transcoding which means h.265/hevc is not such a good codec anymore. I actually get sick of all of this stuff when it comes to these companies.. LOL .. So I would lean more towards h.264 if you can.. and stay away from HEVC. 

Give it another 5-6 years to work out, or if someone creates an open-source solution we can use for software decoding.

[Sammy 790]

I don't have problems with HEVC playback. I have invested in the system resources to handle it though.

[Guest]

From what I was reading, if you have hardware support for it.. It will work, but currently support for software decoding.. as far as say a browser is concerned it does not support it, even paying Microsoft for the extension in Edge.

Transcoding it will work, but it has to be lower than the total bitrate for the video to trigger it and you are left with the settings for that resolution.

K-Lite uses an Open Source software decoder.. Mine is using LAV Splitter..with the MPC Renderer.. and it works beautifully, ( low CPU usage, and excellent image ) but this codec does not seem to cover the browser or Direct Play through the browser.

Edited April 3, 2021 by Guest

[Luke 42079]

Hi, yes can we please look at an example? thanks.

[hearingaid1970 0]

What hardware are you using that is capable of working with h265?

will it also work with 4K?

[Luke 42079]

@hearingaid, let's look at an example. Please attach the information requested in how to report a media playback issue. thanks.

[hearingaid1970 0]

I am sorry, but I really have no idea of how to attach an example. 
I used a downloaded movie which is 4-5 gb in size. 
I can’t attach such a big file. 
I found all .265 video files cause extreme stuttering during direct play back on local devices such as Sony TVs and Apple TV. 

[Guest]

IS your Apple TV old.. and ( I am not even for sure if this applies ) Up to date? I would expect newer hardware to be capable by default. ( Some of these changes did happen earlier last year though )

The problem I have is because of software decoding being available for licensing from Apple. The Sony TV I would suspect to have the same issue... possibly.

[hearingaid1970 0]

Both the Sony 4K TVs are about 2-3 years old. 
the Apple TV is a 64mb 4K model. 

[Carlo 4561]

Do you have a GPU in your Emby Server?

[hearingaid1970 0]

I am using the onboard gpu. 
it is an older computer running Emby on Linux mint with 8gm ram with a core i5 cpu. 
 

I used to use win10 however, I got hit with ransom ware twice and lost everything. 
I got fed up and so far with Linux mint, no issues. 

[Carlo 4561]

Can you try playing something then uploading the ffmpeg log file created on the server?

[hearingaid1970 0]

I would love to. 
as I am still very new to this, please tell me where the log would be and I will do exactly as you request. 

[Carlo 4561]

Log menu in Emby web menu.  The ffmpeg files should be at the top corresponding to the time you played it back.

[hearingaid 0]

here is the ffmpeg log you asked for. 

it would only produce this log if I force the emby to transcode.  When transcoding, the file plays better or perfectly. the problem is when I use direct streaming with no reduction in quality or bitrate.

This is when I watch at home on my local network. All my 264 files play perfectly, only the 265 files have problems with direct stream.

ffmpeg-transcode-19800ba5-f67b-4f28-9003-2fed8a40d296_1.txt

[Guest]

IF you are using Edge, there is something you could try.. I found something last night looking for something else... I would also only try this if you have a GPU that can actually handle it but the browser is not allowing it..

My issue came from the fact that I have a factory GPU and rely on software decoding.. ( I think ) it is what I use for the most part. So stating that you have an aftermarket GPU ( not for sure if I got that or not- above )... AND you should be able... Edge has some settings to adjust..

You will need to type in 'about:flags' into the url bar.. and you will get a page full of experimental features, with their settings available. If you scroll down through those settings there are about four of them that are specifically for or about hardware decoding... Take a look at those settings..

I actually fixed this issue by turning off hardware acceleration... ( in Edge-regular setting ).. BUT my CPU usage shot up to 100% and stayed there when decoding HEVC.

It does seem to be settings based however.. I use LAV in MPC-HC... and the videos play fine with little to no CPU utilization.

Edited April 10, 2021 by Guest

[hearingaid 0]

I don't use edge. My GPU is built in to my MB. My emby can only do software decoding. when I have files encoded with 265, they are choppy and can not be watched when local (no transcoding/direct play) when transcoding kicks in, then the videos are good, just lower quality.

[rbjtech 5284]

For starters, this should directly play, there should be no reason for it to transcode.

However - "TranscodeReasons=ContainerBitrateExceedsLimit"

I'm not sure why there is a container limit for hevc - this is only a 1080p file..  maybe something to do with VAAPI.

..and lastly, the transcode rate is way above 1.0x - so it should playback via h264 without issue anyway.

Try turning off Hardware transcoding ?

 

[Carlo 4561]

I would check your playback settings to see if this is limiting your playback and forcing transcode.

[Luke 42079]

@hearingaid are you still having an issue with this?

[hearingaid1970 0]

this issue has not gone away.  H265 still does not play nice with emby.

now I have tried switching system to win10.

I find that using apple app, log in with administrator account, does not let me delete files from emby server which are located on a nas drive..  It used to .

in fact, when delete is selected, it does nothing at all.

[Carlo 4561]

What did you try from the above suggestions given to you and what was the result?

[RanmaCanada 495]

On 14/04/2021 at 10:28, rbjtech said:

For starters, this should directly play, there should be no reason for it to transcode.

However - "TranscodeReasons=ContainerBitrateExceedsLimit"

 

 

This typically means that your connection to the server is crap.  If you have your quality settings on auto, manually change it to something high like 100MB, IF your server is local (ie in your house).  H265 works perfectly fine in Emby, most of my library is that, and it's over 50TB in size.  If H265 didn't work, then no one would be watching 4k movies..well except for those who use Apple TV haha.