how to configure transcoding - practical example?

Hi,

I'm new to serviio and I am trying to watch some older series on my LG C1 TV.
I figured out that the problem must be that the transcoding isn't happening, even if it is enabled in serviio.

I found this article, but I doesn't understand it.
https://serviio.org/index.php?option=co ... icle&id=24

I am looking profiles.xml file and I am not sure if I should modify existing profile, create new or what ? I am using profile "LG TV / player".

For example
this is working episode

Codec: Xvid MPEG-4 Video (XVID)
Decoded format: Planar 4:2:0 YUV

and this one is not working

Codec: MS MPEG-4 Video v3 (DIV3)
Decoded format: Planar 4:2:0 YUV

If someone is so kind to tell me exactly what to do I would be really grateful.

[atc98092]

As you probably noticed on the help page you referenced, there's no mention of the DIV3 codec. When I did a web search for that codec, it appears to be DIVX3, which seems to be an older outdated codec. Depending on how many such files you have, it might be easier to convert your files to a different video codec. There is a free program called Handbrake that can convert most media into another format. I would suggest using H.264 as the video codec, and either the MP4 container or MKV container. You most likely can leave the audio alone. In Handbrake you simply set the audio to passthrough and it leaves it as is.

As a test, you could try using the DirecTV profile, which is supposed to try to transcode everything, and see if your video will play.

Hi,

thank you for the answer, I have changed profile to "DirecTV HD-DVR" and indeed it works now. So this confirms that transcoding works.

As a next step I would still like to configure the transcoding in the profiles.xml
1) to learn how to do it
2) my linux mini pc isn't strong enough to transcode all formats

As far as I was testing TV seems to play xvid, h264 and h265 content just fine, so for start I would like to configure profile to do something like this:
- if codecs are xvid, h264 and h265 leave at it is
- anything else transcode into h264 (or xvid)

Help is much appreciated.

[atc98092]

It is recommended that the entries in profiles.xml not be altered. In any event, if you change something it will be replaced at the next Serviio update, as the file is always replaced. But Serviio also support a user created file with profiles that will never be removed.

Here's an example of one I made to play around with a new device. Everything within the <Profile> and </Profile> fields is a single profile. Just a few things to remember. The id in the first line must not match any of the existing IDs used in the main profile file. For your matching of the DIVX file, you might need to enable detailed logging and then play one using the DirecTV profile to see what it is using for that file.

My example is only altering the audio codec. Notice on the <Video ...> line there's a target ACodec, but no VCodec. In your case, you probably need a targetVCodec of either h264 or mpeg2video. Your target container should be fine using mpegts with either target codec. The tricky part is the Matches lines. I doubt you can use the container as a match, as you likely have playable and non-playable files in the same container. So the trick will be finding the match for the vCodec. You can see the available options on that page you linked to previously. It might take some experimentation to find the right match.

Once you've entered the information, you can reload the profiles in Serviio from the Console by clicking "Stop Server" then "Start Server" on the Status tab at the bottom. If you have an error in your coding, Serviio won't restart, so you can troubleshoot the code for the error. Using a text editor like Notepad++ is enormous help, since it understands the XML code and can guide you with the proper opening and closing section spellings.