Transcoding in Kodi

[Theetjuh]

Hi,

I am still quite new to Jellyfin, but I got transcoding working properly from the iPadOS app and in the web portal.
I have been using Kodi for ages, so want to use Jellyfin as the backend for Kodi as well.

I can play files perfectly with native as in normal mode, but trying to transcode doesn't seem to work.
I tried going through the logs, but couldn't really find something weird.

Hope any of you could give a helping hand and point into the right direction.

For testing purpose I installed a fresh new kodi install on my Windows 11 machine and setup the plugin .. that's it.

Thanks in advance!

[mcarlton00]

What issue are you having exactly? Also which clienet addon are you using? Both jellyfin-kodi and jellycon have options in the settings to transcode certain formats, as well as an option to transcode from the context menu when you long click an item.

[tmsrxzar]

sounds like the user is simply unaware that the transcoding settings are in the jellyfin for kodi addon settings

open the addon settings, go to playback
from here you can use the checkboxes for each codec and set maximum bitrate

[Theetjuh]

I use Jellyfin for Kodi (plugin.video.jellyfin) and I use the context menu to engage transcoding, also tried to force transcoding from the settings menu.
The issue I have is that nothing happens, the audio/video doesn't play, just an endless circle spinning.

Tested this on multiple devices, Vero 4k, Vero V, Nvidia ShieldTV Pro and finaly on this Windows 11 machine so I can test a bit better with an empty database/install.

[Theetjuh]

Hmmm nobody? Should I ask on Github instead?

[TheDreadPirate]

Can you share your logs? Approximate time stamps for attempts to play with Kodi.

[mcarlton00]

You could ask on github if you really want to, but you'll just be stuck with me there instead of here. I just don't have a ton of time lately.

I just tried this from one of my clients (linux laptop, kodi 20, jellyfin-kodi installed). Context menu on an item, selected "Jellyfin transcode". It processed for a few seconds and then started playing as expected. Checked the dashboard in the server and it reported the client as transcoding as well. So unfortunately it seems to be something specific on your end. Logs would probably help. As a side note, is there a particular reason you're trying to transcode? Often people use Kodi as a client specifically because it almost never needs to transcode anything.

[TheDreadPirate]

Gave Kodi with Jellycon a go. I get a similar behavior when trying to force transcoding. It eventually fails. The same video transcoded in the web client works as expected.

Code:

Stream mapping:
  Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (av1 (av1_qsv) -> h264 (h264_qsv))
  Stream #0:2 -> #0:1 (ac3 (native) -> ac3 (native))
Press [q] to stop, [?] for help
libva info: VA-API version 1.20.0
libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib/jellyfin-ffmpeg/lib/dri/iHD_drv_video.so
libva info: Found init function __vaDriverInit_1_20
libva info: va_openDriver() returns 0
libva info: VA-API version 1.20.0
libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib/jellyfin-ffmpeg/lib/dri/iHD_drv_video.so
libva info: Found init function __vaDriverInit_1_20
libva info: va_openDriver() returns 0
[h264_qsv @ 0x55c1986aa580] Error querying (IOSurf) the encoding parameters: invalid video parameters (-15)
[vost#0:0/h264_qsv @ 0x55c1986aa280] Error initializing output stream: Error while opening encoder for output stream #0:0 - maybe incorrect parameters such as bit_rate, rate, width or height
Conversion failed!

[mcarlton00]

Jellycon and Jellyfin-Kodi have completely different playback logic, so not really relevant. But that also works just fine on my laptop, fwiw. If there's actually an error it's more likely to be found in the kodi logs than server, I would imagine.

[Theetjuh]

You could ask on github if you really want to, but you'll just be stuck with me there instead of here.  I just don't have a ton of time lately.

I just tried this from one of my clients (linux laptop, kodi 20, jellyfin-kodi installed).  Context menu on an item, selected "Jellyfin transcode".  It processed for a few seconds and then started playing as expected.  Checked the dashboard in the server and it reported the client as transcoding as well.  So unfortunately it seems to be something specific on your end.  Logs would probably help.  As a side note, is there a particular reason you're trying to transcode?  Often people use Kodi as a client specifically because it almost never needs to transcode anything.

Aahh sorry, didn't know who was the maintainer of the plugin

The primairy reason will be an old 1080p tv in the bedroom that would benefit from the transcoding, since almost everything I got is 4k/HDR.
I'll try to get the logs this afternoon, also got a linux laptop I could test on.