DTS Converting to AC3; then movie stutters

Hello,

I've been using Serviio for around 2-3 months now and really like how easy it was to set up and use. It has been far more stable than using the built in Win7 DLNA... it was hit or miss... sometimes it's available... sometimes not... but Serviio has been running VERY smooth.... I'm almost at a point where I'd like to "go Pro" with it, however...

I understand that DTS isn't supported by my TV: LG47e5400 or something like that, so I looked around for something that could convert the DTS audio in the MKV to AC3 (Dolby whatever)... as you can tell I'm not 100% versed in how to do this, however, I know enough to know that I'm able to accurately convert the audio stream.

Once I play the new MKV the video/audio will stutter after about 10 seconds (pause, resume, pause, resume).... if I manually pause the video, its almost like the tv is buffering the DLNA stream and allows it to catch up... the video/audio will play fine for a full minute or two before resuming the stutter.

I thought it might be the router, however, the file size itself is actually smaller with DTS removed.
I've also checked to make sure the video was ONLY video and audio... the old DTS channel and the subtitles were both removed.
I've watched the new MKV with VLC Player and it runs completely fine.

So a couple of questions...

- am I the only one this is happening to?
- does anyone have any insight as to why this could be happening? I mean if it plays fine on VLC the encoding should be okay.
- I don't believe it's the router or tv as the file size IS smaller (nearly 25% smaller) and the AC3 format is supported.... any thought as to this?
- Perhaps the tools themselves are the underlying cause? I've used MKV2AC3, MKV-insert-name-here... all kinds of Tools... same results. Are there better (FREE) tools that I can use that folks swear by... perhaps something I've missed?

[DenyAll]

Hi. Which renderer profile have you assigned to your TV? Did you try getting Serviio to do the conversion from DTS to AC3 on the fly?

Honestly, not sure profile it's using... just whatever the default was... I believe I recall seeing Generic DLNA Profile... I didn't even realize I could change the profile.

I'll switch it over to LG TV and see how it goes.

I'm also not sure how I would go about getting Serviio to do the conversion from DTS to AC3 on the fly... what tab / option is that in?

Thanks for your help

okay... I've change the profile for the media renderer (my LG tv) to LG TV / Player.

I've also gone into the Delivery tab, enabled transcoding, selected the highest number of CPU cores to use. I *unchecked* the Produce best Video quality and selected the Downmix to Stereo option.

I saved my settings and went back to check on the TV.

The original file is not playing any sound and it is also skipping at the same spots as the converted one was.

I tried it again after shutting both the service and the server down and restarting them... same result.

The file codecs are:
Stream 0
Type: Video
Codec: H264 - MPEG-4 AVC (part10) (avc1)
Language: English
Resolution: 976x270
Frame rate: 23.967215
Decoded format: Planar 4:20 YUV

Stream 1
Type: Audio
Codec: DTS audio (dts)
Language: English
Channels: 3F2R/LFE
Sample Rate: 48000 Hz
Birtate: 1536 kb/s

Stream 2
Type: Subtitle
Codec: Text subtitles with various tags (subt)
Language: English
Description: English

[DenyAll]

OK, thanks. Lets try and get audio working first and then deal with the stuttering. For now, on the Delivery tab re-check the Produce best Video quality and keep the Original Audio option (ie. put them back to their defaults).

In C:\Program Files\Serviio\config is a file called profiles.xml. Make a backup of this file in case we have to revert back. Then, open the original with Notepad (or better, Notepad++ if you want to download that). Under the section that starts "<Profile id="8" name="LG TV / player" extendsProfileId="1">" you will find the following code:

  Code:

<!--
Transcoding doesn't seem to work and some files can be played natively:
http://forum.serviio.org/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=3914#p26273
<Transcoding>
   <Video targetContainer="mpegts" targetACodec="ac3">
      <Matches container="matroska" aCodec="dca" />
   </Video>
   <Video targetContainer="mpegts" targetVCodec="mpeg2video" targetACodec="ac3" >
      <Matches container="flv" />
      <Matches container="asf" vCodec="wmv2"/>
      <Matches container="rm" />
   </Video>
</Transcoding>-->

This code is commented out at the moment as some LG devices don't need it. To enable it add " -->" without the quotes after "#p26273" and remove the "-->" on the last line after "</Transcoding>".

Once done save the file and you must restart your PC (or restart the Serviio services if you know how to do that). The key bit we are enabling here is the:

  Code:

<Video targetContainer="mpegts" targetACodec="ac3">
   <Matches container="matroska" aCodec="dca" />
</Video>

What this code does is remux any matroska containers (.mkv files) containing DTS audio (dca) to a new container (mpegts), transcoding the audio to AC3 on the fly. Lets see if that works first (I am worried about the bit that states "Transcoding doesn't seem to work" - from posts on the forum it doesn't appear to be confirmed for all LG devices so without having your TV there is no way to tell without trying it). Let us know how it goes.

For stuttering: Is this all mkv files or just this one (or is it all with DTS audio?). It may be a corrupt mkv file, or it may be the LG simply doesn't have the grunt to play it. In the command window run "C:\Program Files\Serviio\lib\ffmpeg.exe" -i "filename.mkv" (with the quotes this time) and post the results.

This seems to have done the trick. I can play the original MKV w/ DTS after uncommenting that piece of the profile.

It also seems to have fixed the stuttering issue... I watched a good 15 minutes just to be sure... no issues at all.

Thank you VERY much for helping me with this so quickly and for being very helpful with a Serviio noob like myself.

Hello,

i've the same case to thejames.

i do modification on config.xml for resolve the issue of sound on dts and still work, but on the select movie the subtitles disappear.

Before the config change the movie work with subtitles without sound and now they doesn't appear.

Maybe have a other modification on the same .xml to do appear subtitles ?

Thank's before helping.

[atc98092]

Hello,

i've the same case to thejames.

i do modification on config.xml for resolve the issue of sound on dts and still work, but on the select movie the subtitles disappear.

Before the config change the movie work with subtitles without sound and now they doesn't appear.

Maybe have a other modification on the same .xml to do appear subtitles ?

Thank's before helping.

Transcoding removes the subtitles, unless you enable them in the Serviio console to always be burned into the stream. However, this will cause every file to be transcoded, even those that don't need to be. Also, you can't turn them off without disabling the setting again in the console. So you'll always see the subtitles.

Transcoding removes the subtitles, unless you enable them in the Serviio console to always be burned into the stream. However, this will cause every file to be transcoded, even those that don't need to be. Also, you can't turn them off without disabling the setting again in the console. So you'll always see the subtitles.[/quote]



Well thank's fo your answer but when i back to the original configuration of config.xml subtitles come back and sound go out.

Maybe i don't understand very well your advise ?

Hello,

Sorry for my fastly answer, well if i understand what you told :

With the basic configuration of the .xml i've this configuration on my serviio console :

i have : Enable burned-in subtitles (ok)

i import movie

and after i make the .xml configuration but i've not subtitles burned on option with the media browser or on LG Tv

i've do something wrong ?

[atc98092]

Can you post a screen shot of your Transcoding settings? Also, can you provide mediainfo for a file that has captions that isn't playing sound for you? Need to see what codecs are in the file.

hey,

you've screen in attachments.
most of codec from movie are DTS and AC3 for MKV
and only DTS doesn't have any sound without .xml modification