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Transcoding when not necessary? - Printable Version

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+--- Thread: Transcoding when not necessary? (/t-transcoding-when-not-necessary)



Transcoding when not necessary? - christiaanvdlaken - 2025-01-23

So i've noticed that some files will initiate a transcode in the internal player but when I use an external player(justplayer) it says that it is direct playing. It also initiates the HDR10 on the external player but not on the internal player, probably because of the transcoding.

I've attached 2 log files that include records of when I was trying it on Nosferatu (2024) but it happens at a lot of files, mostly higher quality ones.

I have QSV enabled and checked pretty much all formats.
I run Jellyfin in a ubuntu VM and have GPU pass through.
I would like to attach my transcoding setting, is there a way to export those in some way ?

Video
Title: 4K HEVC Dolby Vision Profile 8.1 (HDR10)
Codec: HEVC
AVC: No
Profile: Main 10
Level: 150
Resolution: 3592x2152
Aspect ratio: 5:3
Anamorphic: No
Interlaced: No
Framerate: 23.976025
Bitrate: 25421 kbps
Bit depth: 10 bit
Video range: HDR
Video range type: DOVIWithHDR10
DV title: Dolby Vision Profile 8.1 (HDR10)
DV version major: 1
DV version minor: 0
DV profile: 8
DV level: 6
DV rpu preset flag: 1
DV el preset flag: 0
DV bl preset flag: 1
DV bl signal compatibility id: 1
Color space: bt2020nc
Color transfer: smpte2084
Color primaries: bt2020
Pixel format: yuv420p10le
Ref frames: 1

My TV: TCL 65p635


RE: Transcoding when not necessary? - TheDreadPirate - 2025-01-23

You did not check "Enable hardware encoding". It is CPU encoding.

Code:
Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (hevc (native) -> hevc (libx265))

Also, exoplayer has known issues with not actually falling back to HDR10.

https://github.com/jellyfin/jellyfin-androidtv/issues/2700

You could remove Dolby Vision, which would convert the video to HDR10. I wrote a guide for this.

https://forum.jellyfin.org/t-converting-dolby-vision-to-hdr10


RE: Transcoding when not necessary? - christiaanvdlaken - 2025-01-23

Thanks for the quick reply!

I checked and i have 'Enable hardware encoding' checked. I find it strange that the internal player transcodes the file but when it is played in an external player it plays it directly with HDR10 and does it flawlessly. The thing is I much prefer the internal player because it is better integrated with the app, navigation is easier and it just looks much cooler with the banners.

Could it be one of my settings in the transcoding section that initiates these transcodes ?


RE: Transcoding when not necessary? - TheDreadPirate - 2025-01-23

No. This is a flaw in exoplayer (the internal player). Google has known about the flaw for years and has not addressed it. There are some plans to attempt to work around this in future versions of Jellyfin. For now, the workarounds are to force transcoding or convert the video to plain HDR10.


RE: Transcoding when not necessary? - gnattu - 2025-01-23

> No. This is a flaw in exoplayer (the internal player). Google has known about the flaw for years and has not addressed it. There are some plans to attempt to work around this in future versions of Jellyfin. For now, the workarounds are to force transcoding or convert the video to plain HDR10.

Is this really the case? How could exoplayer not being able to even play Dolby Vision 8.1 in HDR10 fallback?


RE: Transcoding when not necessary? - TheDreadPirate - 2025-01-24

I misspoke. I was thinking of this ticket.

https://github.com/androidx/media/issues/1895

But this appears to be a mediatek specific issue. The TCL TV the OP has is using a realtek chipset.