Pi 5 and HEVC files

[caganimo]

Hey all,

I recently tried to play a 4K HEVC file from an highly overclocked Pi 5 (3.1 Ghz) and even that didn't play. Jellyfin on my Android player showed a black screen for a long while and I saw an error message.

Only after deactivating HEVC acceleration in the options I was able to see it playing, although very choppy. And transcoding didn't work at all, it only played at native.

I was wondering whether this problem will only be valid for 4K files or even 1080p HEVC files are effected from this? Anybody tried?

I'm about to rip my big collection to mkv and was considering picking HEVC for saving space.

[caganimo]

On a second note, i realized transcoding doesn't work at all on Pi 5. No matter which codec or resolution I choose, it just plays at original resolution. Is Jellyfin broken on Pi 5?

No matter what resolution I chose in the player, it says direct streaming.

I also tested HEVC 1080p. It plays fine on Windows client, but not on the Android.

[TheDreadPirate]

For the quality selector, only the bit rate triggers transcoding. If the quality you select has a bit rate that is higher than the native bit rate of the video, transcoding will not be triggered.

Also, RPis, no matter how highly overclocked, cannot handle CPU transcoding and they no longer have hardware encoders for Jellyfin to utilize (starting with the 4?).

For the video that just resulted in a black screen, is that an HDR video? If so, what kind?

[caganimo]

For the quality selector, only the bit rate triggers transcoding.  If the quality you select has a bit rate that is higher than the native bit rate of the video, transcoding will not be triggered.

Also, RPis, no matter how highly overclocked, cannot handle CPU transcoding and they no longer have hardware encoders for Jellyfin to utilize (starting with the 4?).

For the video that just resulted in a black screen, is that an HDR video?  If so, what kind?

4K HEVC file was SDR. It first looks black screen but after 10-15 seconds I see the error message below.

On Android app, while playing a 1080p H264 SDR file, if I choose a value that's lower bitrate than native, i see this message:

"Playback Error
This client isn't compatible with the media and the server isn't sending a compatible media format. "

The phone is Samsung S23 Ultra with Android 14.

On PC client, 1080p H264 and HEVC seems to play just fine. 4K HEVC SDR on the other hand freezes the app.

[TheDreadPirate]

Your server is probably trying to transcode and crashing or it isn't configured correctly. Even if configured correctly, your RPi just can't handle transcoding video. Audio only shouldn't be a problem.

Can you share your ffmpeg log and screenshots of Dashboard > Playback.