Can't play movie when transcoding is off, but works via dlna?

[Kiesel]

Hi, 

I have a movie that I am trying to play with jellyfin. I needed to turn transcoding off, but the client (LG G2) then says it can't play the file.

Which normally is fair enough, but I noticed, that the same file can be played by the G2 via dlna (hosted by kodi).

I am new to this so this might be a stupid question, but: is that normal? I thought dlna just hands the file over to the client? But then it shouldn't be able to play the file.

Are there some options I can try within jellyfin(besides transcoding) so that the file can be played anyway?

Thanks!

[TheDreadPirate]

I can't speak for Kodi or DLNA. But we would need to know more about the video itself. Like what codec the video and audio is using.

One of the most difficult aspects of Jellyfin clients are device profiles. What the device can and can't play. Or how the client interprets the device profile and gets it wrong. Resulting in this kind of situation where it transcodes unnecessarily.

Having said that. Is there a reason you're avoiding transcoding? Does your hardware not perform well enough to transcode? No GPU? Do you have an AMD GPU and the transcode quality is garbage?

[Kiesel]

Sorry, I should have provided that info immediately

According to mediainfo:
Video:

Codec ID                                : V_MPEGH/ISO/HEVC

Audio:

Format                                  : DTS XLL
Format/Info                              : Digital Theater Systems
Commercial name                          : DTS-HD Master Audio
Codec ID                                : A_DTS

When I play the file via dlna there is no audio, because the G2 can't do DTS and I can't choose any of the other tracks.

Might that be the issue? The other tracks can be played by the TV. 

The very simple reason that I am not transcoding (yet) is: we just got our first 4K TV and my wife insisted on watching a movie NOW, but jellyfin, by default, transcodes into a folder on the root partition, and that root partition is almost full 😅

But I do have an AMD apu, so your comment doesn't give me much hope.

[TheDreadPirate]

Looking at the SoC specs of the G2, it should be able to play that file. So I am assuming this is an issue with the device profile and Jellyfin client.

If you're using an APU, I'm assuming that means you don't have a dedicated GPU, then. If you intend to continue using Jellyfin, perhaps getting something like an Arc A380 is warranted?

[Kiesel]

Thank you for your help!

Just gave it another try.

When I use a Non-DTS audio profile from the start(TrueHD), the movie gets played by jellyfin, but without sound.

I'll move jellyfins work-folder to a bigger Partition tomorrow and activate audio transcoding.

I don't have a dedicated GPU, but the apu (from memory: ryzen 5) supports VA-API. I'll give that a try too tomorrow.