2025-02-26, 05:19 AM
(This post was last modified: 2025-02-26, 05:38 AM by thxcloudsfer. Edited 1 time in total.)
Hi all,
I'm new to Jellyfin and just set up a home server. Most of the videos I've added to my library were curated as I was careful to avoid the codecs that aren't supported by my client. I'm running Jellyfin on WebOS, which I fully understand has limitations and is worse than an Android set top box, but is known to play all of the codecs on LG's site (and apparently recent developments have made it possible to stream DV with WebOS, though I haven't tested this!). Almost all of my media library is able to direct stream except videos from a single series (I'll call this Video #1). On this series, the videos take longer to start (with the preview thumbnail occupying the screen) until it eventually starts by transcoding. The "reason for transcoding" is listed as "There was an error starting direct playback". This led me to believe that there was something wrong with the container and it actually wasn't supported, but when I uncheck the box " Allow video playback that requires transcoding" in my user settings and restart the app, all of the sudden the video will direct stream! With the box checked, I found another series that had no issues with direct play and had very similar container properties (Video #2). I ran mediainfo on both files, pasted below. The only difference I thought might be an issue was that Video #1 is variable bitrate while #2 is constant, but given the "overall mode" is variable for both, I don't think this is an issue. I also tried disabling auto subtitles per this post in case the forced subs were somehow a problem, but this didn't seem to affect the transcoding issue. In addition, I enabled debug logging, but it hasn't produced much useful output (it just confirms that no transcoding is requested when direct play begins). I'd greatly appreciate any help narrowing down what the issue might be, given that it seems like all audio tracks/subtitles work both with and without transcoding allowed!
MediaInfo for Video #1 (the issue video):
MediaInfo for Video #2:
Log snippet:
Technical info:
[*]The version of Jellyfin server: 10.10.6
Installation method and platform: Ubuntu 24.04 apt stable
Client: 10.11.0 (f8df5da81-dirty) WebOS 23.20.44 (LG C4)
[*]Also, I attached images of the tech stats I see when trying to play the videos in question. Interestingly, the "audio" for Video #1 changes its title when direct playing, despite supposely direct playing the audio in either scenario.
I'm new to Jellyfin and just set up a home server. Most of the videos I've added to my library were curated as I was careful to avoid the codecs that aren't supported by my client. I'm running Jellyfin on WebOS, which I fully understand has limitations and is worse than an Android set top box, but is known to play all of the codecs on LG's site (and apparently recent developments have made it possible to stream DV with WebOS, though I haven't tested this!). Almost all of my media library is able to direct stream except videos from a single series (I'll call this Video #1). On this series, the videos take longer to start (with the preview thumbnail occupying the screen) until it eventually starts by transcoding. The "reason for transcoding" is listed as "There was an error starting direct playback". This led me to believe that there was something wrong with the container and it actually wasn't supported, but when I uncheck the box " Allow video playback that requires transcoding" in my user settings and restart the app, all of the sudden the video will direct stream! With the box checked, I found another series that had no issues with direct play and had very similar container properties (Video #2). I ran mediainfo on both files, pasted below. The only difference I thought might be an issue was that Video #1 is variable bitrate while #2 is constant, but given the "overall mode" is variable for both, I don't think this is an issue. I also tried disabling auto subtitles per this post in case the forced subs were somehow a problem, but this didn't seem to affect the transcoding issue. In addition, I enabled debug logging, but it hasn't produced much useful output (it just confirms that no transcoding is requested when direct play begins). I'd greatly appreciate any help narrowing down what the issue might be, given that it seems like all audio tracks/subtitles work both with and without transcoding allowed!
MediaInfo for Video #1 (the issue video):
Code:
General
Unique ID : 1234 (0x1234)
Complete name : /data/Media/Video#1.mkv
Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 4
File size : 6.90 GiB
Duration : 24 min 10 s
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 41.1 Mb/s
Frame rate : 23.976 FPS
Movie name : S01E01 - Title
Encoded date : 2025-01-27 10:46:37 UTC
Writing application : mkvmerge v88.0 ('All I Know') 64-bit
Writing library : libebml v1.4.5 + libmatroska v1.7.1
Cover : Yes
Attachments : Bahnschrift.ttf / Acme-Regular.ttf / ArchitectsDaughter-Regular.ttf / Audiowide-Regular.ttf / augie.tff / AVENIRNEXTROUNDEDPRO-DEMI.OTF / BadScript-Regular.ttf / BalsamiqSans-Bold.ttf / BalsamiqSans-Regular.ttf / BESTAGON-ITALIC.OTF / BESTAGON-REGULAR.OTF / BESTAGON-THICK ITALIC.OTF / BESTAGON-THICK.OTF / BESTAGON-THIN ITALIC.OTF / BESTAGON-THIN.OTF / BilboSwashCaps-Regular.ttf / Caveat-VariableFont_wght (1).ttf / Caveat-VariableFont_wght.ttf / CHOPPERRR.otf / CraftyGirls-Regular.ttf / CURLZ__.TTF / FFFFORWA.TTF / GHelveticaNeueLTStd-LtEx.otf / GochiHand-Regular.ttf / HERCULES.TTF / Kalam-Regular.ttf / KleeOne-Regular.ttf / LATO-EXTRABOLDITALIC.TTF / LATO-EXTRABOLD_0.TTF / LATO-EXTRABOLD_1.TTF / LovedbytheKing-Regular.ttf / Martel-Regular.ttf / Merriweather-Bold.ttf / NOODLESOUP.TTF / PatrickHand-Regular.ttf / PermanentMarker-Regular.ttf / PlayfairDisplay-VariableFont_wght.ttf / Proxima Nova Extrabold.otf / RabioHead.ttf / Ramabhadra-Regular.ttf / ReenieBeanie-Regular.ttf / ROBOTO-REGULAR_0.TTF / SF-UI-Display-Regular.otf / Sofia_Pro_Soft_Regular.ttf / SqueakyChalkSound-ZG8.ttf / Sriracha-Regular.ttf / SUBWT___.ttf / TavernloreBB-Regular.otf / Bahnschrift.ttf / Acme-Regular.ttf / ArchitectsDaughter-Regular.ttf / Audiowide-Regular.ttf / augie.tff / AVENIRNEXTROUNDEDPRO-DEMI.OTF / BadScript-Regular.ttf / BalsamiqSans-Bold.ttf / BalsamiqSans-Regular.ttf / BESTAGON-ITALIC.OTF / BESTAGON-REGULAR.OTF / BESTAGON-THICK ITALIC.OTF / BESTAGON-THICK.OTF / BESTAGON-THIN ITALIC.OTF / BESTAGON-THIN.OTF / BilboSwashCaps-Regular.ttf / Caveat-VariableFont_wght (1).ttf / Caveat-VariableFont_wght.ttf / CHOPPERRR.otf / CraftyGirls-Regular.ttf / CURLZ__.TTF / FFFFORWA.TTF / GHelveticaNeueLTStd-LtEx.otf / GochiHand-Regular.ttf / HERCULES.TTF / Kalam-Regular.ttf / KleeOne-Regular.ttf / LATO-EXTRABOLDITALIC.TTF / LATO-EXTRABOLD_0.TTF / LATO-EXTRABOLD_1.TTF / LovedbytheKing-Regular.ttf / Martel-Regular.ttf / Merriweather-Bold.ttf / NOODLESOUP.TTF / PatrickHand-Regular.ttf / PermanentMarker-Regular.ttf / PlayfairDisplay-VariableFont_wght.ttf / Proxima Nova Extrabold.otf / RabioHead.ttf / Ramabhadra-Regular.ttf / ReenieBeanie-Regular.ttf / ROBOTO-REGULAR_0.TTF / SF-UI-Display-Regular.otf / Sofia_Pro_Soft_Regular.ttf / SqueakyChalkSound-ZG8.ttf / Sriracha-Regular.ttf / SUBWT___.ttf / TavernloreBB-Regular.otf / Sofia_Pro_Soft_Regular.ttf / SqueakyChalkSound-ZG8.ttf / Sriracha-Regular.ttf / SUBWT___.ttf / TavernloreBB-Regular.otf / courbd.ttf / Cucho Bold_1.otf / Mijas-Ultra_0.otf / 000GoombellaTB-Regular.ttf / AstounderSquaredBB.otf / giaothong2.ttf / 000SkippySharpiCiel-Regular.ttf / 000BillyTheFlyingRobotLCBB-Regular.otf / SVN-Avo bold.ttf / iCielPequena.otf / 000 Augie [TeddyBear].ttf / 000 10 Cent Comics [TeddyBear].ttf / 000 Akbar [TeddyBear].ttf / 000 Chinacat [TeddyBear].ttf / 000 Clairvoyant BB [TeddyBear].ttf / 000 Blambot Pro Lite TB.ttf / 000 CCGabrielBautistaLito TB.ttf / SVN-Bree Regular.ttf / SVN-Amsi Narw Bold.ttf / SVN-Bali Script.ttf / iciel Cadena.ttf / UVNVietSach.TTF / SVN-Bear.ttf / UVNAnhHai_R.TTF / 9Slide03-Jura-Medium_1.ttf / A-otfMaruFolkProM.otf / A-otfハッピーnStdR.otf / A-otfハッピーnStdR.otf / Aqua_pfont-str.ttf / Bahnschrift.ttf / Bahnschrift-Bold.ttf / BrokeStone.otf / DftegakimegumiStdW3.otf / EverythingRises.ttf / FiraSansMedium.ttf / FiraSansMediumItalic.ttf / Fot-カラットStdUb-Black.otf / HelveticaLtBold.ttf / NotoSans.ttf / NotoSansMedium.ttf / Notosans-regular-mary.ttf / SegoeUi.ttf / SegoeUiSemibold-SemiBold.ttf / Acme-Regular.ttf / ArchitectsDaughter-Regular.ttf / Audiowide-Regular.ttf / augie.tff / AVENIRNEXTROUNDEDPRO-DEMI.OTF / BadScript-Regular.ttf / BalsamiqSans-Bold.ttf / BalsamiqSans-Regular.ttf / BESTAGON-ITALIC.OTF / BESTAGON-REGULAR.OTF / BESTAGON-THICK ITALIC.OTF / BESTAGON-THICK.OTF / BESTAGON-THIN ITALIC.OTF / BESTAGON-THIN.OTF / BilboSwashCaps-Regular.ttf / Caveat-VariableFont_wght (1).ttf / Caveat-VariableFont_wght.ttf / CHOPPERRR.otf / CraftyGirls-Regular.ttf / CURLZ__.TTF / FFFFORWA.TTF / GHelveticaNeueLTStd-LtEx.otf / GochiHand-Regular.ttf / HERCULES.TTF / Kalam-Regular.ttf / KleeOne-Regular.ttf / LATO-EXTRABOLD_0.TTF / LATO-EXTRABOLD_1.TTF / LATO-EXTRABOLDITALIC.TTF / LovedbytheKing-Regular.ttf / Martel-Regular.ttf / Merriweather-Bold.ttf / NOODLESOUP.TTF / PatrickHand-Regular.ttf / PermanentMarker-Regular.ttf / PlayfairDisplay-VariableFont_wght.ttf / Proxima Nova Extrabold.otf / RabioHead.ttf / Ramabhadra-Regular.ttf / ReenieBeanie-Regular.ttf / ROBOTO-REGULAR_0.TTF / SF-UI-Display-Regular.otf / GandhiSans-Italic.otf / GandhiSans-Regular.otf / cover.jpg / arial.ttf / arialbd.ttf / comic.ttf / comicbd.ttf / CONSOLA.ttf / CONSOLAB.ttf / Roboto-Medium.ttf / Roboto-MediumItalic.ttf / times.ttf / timesbd.ttf / trebuc.ttf / trebucbd.ttf / verdana.ttf / verdanab.ttf / tahoma.ttf / times.ttf / trebuc.ttf / verdana.ttf / AdobeArabic-Bold.otf / Arial_Black.ttf / arialbd.ttf / comic.ttf / cour.ttf / georgia.ttf / impact.ttf / RixLoveFool.ttf / GandhiSans-Bold.otf / GandhiSans-BoldItalic.otf / NotoSansJP-Bold.ttf / Ampersand.ttf / Arial.ttf / DjbChalkItUp.TTF / DkDownwardFall.TTF / Dotf1.ttf / FaracoHand.TTF / Fixedsysttf-SemiBold.ttf / Grain.ttf / HelveticaNeue.otf / Panton-Bold.OTF
Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.1
Format settings : CABAC / 4 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames : 4 frames
Format settings, Slice count : 4 slices per frame
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 24 min 1 s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 36.7 Mb/s
Maximum bit rate : 39.0 Mb/s
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.738
Time code of first frame : 01:00:00:00
Stream size : 6.16 GiB (89%)
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Audio #1
ID : 2
Format : PCM
Format settings : Little / Signed
Codec ID : A_PCM/INT/LIT
Duration : 24 min 1 s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 2 304 kb/s
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate : 200.000 FPS (240 SPF)
Bit depth : 24 bits
Stream size : 396 MiB (6%)
Title : Commentary
Language : English
Default : No
Forced : No
Audio #2
ID : 3
Format : FLAC
Format/Info : Free Lossless Audio Codec
Codec ID : A_FLAC
Duration : 24 min 1 s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 1 346 kb/s
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel layout : L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate : 11.719 FPS (4096 SPF)
Bit depth : 24 bits
Compression mode : Lossless
Stream size : 231 MiB (3%)
Title : Japanese / FLAC / 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1346 kbps
Writing library : libFLAC 1.4.3 (2023-06-23)
Language : Japanese
Default : Yes
Forced : No
MD5 of the unencoded content : D1234
Audio #3
ID : 4
Format : E-AC-3
Format/Info : Enhanced AC-3
Commercial name : Dolby Digital Plus
Codec ID : A_EAC3
Duration : 24 min 0 s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 224 kb/s
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel layout : L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossy
Delay relative to video : 7 ms
Stream size : 38.5 MiB (1%)
Title : English / E-AC-3 / 2.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps
Language : English
Service kind : Complete Main
Default : No
Forced : No
Text #1
ID : 5
Format : ASS
Codec ID : S_TEXT/ASS
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Sub Station Alpha
Duration : 17 min 55 s
Bit rate : 16.7 kb/s
Frame rate : 0.617 FPS
Count of elements : 663
Compression mode : Lossless
Stream size : 2.14 MiB (0%)
Title : English / Forced / ASS
Language : English
Default : No
Forced : Yes
Text #2
ID : 6
Format : ASS
Codec ID : S_TEXT/ASS
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Sub Station Alpha
Duration : 23 min 49 s
Bit rate : 12.7 kb/s
Frame rate : 0.707 FPS
Count of elements : 1011
Compression mode : Lossless
Stream size : 2.16 MiB (0%)
Title : English / Full / ASS
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Menu
00:00:00.000 : en:PrologueMediaInfo for Video #2:
Code:
General
Unique ID : 5678 (0x5678)
Complete name : /data/Media/Video#2.mkv
Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 4
File size : 6.66 GiB
Duration : 24 min 20 s
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 38.6 Mb/s
Frame rate : 23.976 FPS
Encoded date : 2025-01-15 10:48:19 UTC
Writing application : mkvmerge v89.0 ('And the Melody Still Lingers On (Night in Tunisia)') 64-bit
Writing library : libebml v1.4.5 + libmatroska v1.7.1
Attachments : arial.ttf / arialbd.ttf / comic.ttf / comicbd.ttf / CONSOLA.ttf / CONSOLAB.ttf / Dragon-Serial-Heavy-Regular.ttf / ebrimabd.ttf / FOT-GMaruGoPro-B.otf / FOT-UDMarugo_LargePr6-B.otf / Kan2EngGSZS3.otf / MyriadPro (Bold).otf / nobilty.ttf / nyala.ttf / pastel crayon.ttf / PostAntiqua-SemiBold.ttf / puffmod1.ttf / Rakoon Personal Use.otf / Rambla.otf / Roboto-Medium.ttf / Roboto-MediumItalic.ttf / Rubik-Regular_0.ttf / Rubik-SemiBoldItalic-NEW.ttf / Rubik-SemiBold-NEW.ttf / RyoGothicPlusN-Regular.otf / Salsa-Regular.otf / segoeui.ttf / squeaky chalk sound.ttf / Stoobs.otf / times.ttf / timesbd.ttf / trebuc.ttf / trebucbd.ttf / VAGRoundedBT-Regular.otf / verdana.ttf / verdanab.ttf / Vogel Normal.ttf
Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.1
Format settings : CABAC / 4 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames : 4 frames
Format settings, Slice count : 4 slices per frame
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 24 min 40 s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 39.0 Mb/s
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.784
Time code of first frame : 01:00:00:00
Stream size : 6.41 GiB (96%)
Title : Title
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Audio
ID : 2
Format : FLAC
Format/Info : Free Lossless Audio Codec
Codec ID : A_FLAC
Duration : 24 min 40 s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 1 320 kb/s
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel layout : L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate : 10.417 FPS (4608 SPF)
Bit depth : 24 bits
Compression mode : Lossless
Stream size : 233 MiB (3%)
Title : Jpn FLAC 2.0
Writing library : Lavf61.5.101
Language : Japanese
Default : Yes
Forced : No
MD5 of the unencoded content : B5678
Text #1
ID : 3
Format : ASS
Codec ID : S_TEXT/ASS
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Sub Station Alpha
Duration : 24 min 19 s
Bit rate : 8 621 b/s
Frame rate : 3.074 FPS
Count of elements : 4488
Compression mode : Lossless
Stream size : 1.50 MiB (0%)
Title : English Title
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Text #2
ID : 4
Format : ASS
Codec ID : S_TEXT/ASS
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Sub Station Alpha
Duration : 23 min 9 s
Bit rate : 169 b/s
Frame rate : 0.293 FPS
Count of elements : 407
Compression mode : Lossless
Stream size : 28.8 KiB (0%)
Title : English Two
Language : English
Default : No
Forced : No
Menu
00:00:00.000 : ja:IntroLog snippet:
Code:
"Allow transcoding" checked:
[INF] [34] Microsoft.AspNetCore.Hosting.Diagnostics: Request starting "HTTP/1.1" "GET" "https"://"127.0.0.1:8920""""/jellyfin/videos/c269f708-380a-012c-235c-10636a7db0ea/master.m3u8""?DeviceId=TW96aWxsDL12qRAgKFdlYjBTOyBMaW51eC9TbWFydFRWKSBBcHBsZVdlYktpdC81MzcuMzYgKEtIVE1MLCBsaWtlIEdlY2tvKSBDaHJvbWUvMTA4LjAuNTM1OS4yMTEgU2FmYXJpLzUzNy4zNiBXZWJBcHBNYW5hZ2VyfDE3NDAyMDU3MjE0OTY1&MediaSourceId=c268f708380a052c235c10636a7db0ea&VideoCodec=hevc,h264&AudioCodec=flac&AudioStreamIndex=2&VideoBitrate=138654048&AudioBitrate=1345952&AudioSampleRate=48000&MaxFramerate=23.976025&PlaySessionId=230712943a18492a92fcddd61223bb09&api_key=key&TranscodingMaxAudioChannels=6&RequireAvc=false&EnableAudioVbrEncoding=true&Tag=02f5e8aafe6bf9b3929b57f77bbb1284&SegmentContainer=mp4&SegmentLength=1&MinSegments=1&BreakOnNonKeyFrames=False&h264-level=41&h264-videobitdepth=8&h264-profile=high&h264-audiochannels=2&hevc-profile=main,main10&hevc-rangetype=SDR,HDR10,HLG,DOVI,DOVIWithHDR10,DOVIWithHLG,DOVIWithSDR&hevc-level=183&h264-rangetype=SDR&flac-audiochannels=2&TranscodeReasons=DirectPlayError&allowVideoStreamCopy=false" - null null
[INF] [34] Microsoft.AspNetCore.Routing.EndpointMiddleware: Executing endpoint '"Jellyfin.Api.Controllers.DynamicHlsController.GetMasterHlsVideoPlaylist (Jellyfin.Api)"'
"Allow transcoding" unchecked:
[INF] [73] Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Infrastructure.PhysicalFileResultExecutor: Executing "PhysicalFileResult", sending file '"/data/Media/file.mkv"' with download name '""' ...Technical info:
[*]The version of Jellyfin server: 10.10.6
Installation method and platform: Ubuntu 24.04 apt stable
Client: 10.11.0 (f8df5da81-dirty) WebOS 23.20.44 (LG C4)
[*]Also, I attached images of the tech stats I see when trying to play the videos in question. Interestingly, the "audio" for Video #1 changes its title when direct playing, despite supposely direct playing the audio in either scenario.
![[Image: GitHub%20Sponsors-grey?logo=github]](https://img.shields.io/badge/GitHub%20Sponsors-grey?logo=github){kind=icon}