Serviio

Hi forum!

So im using serviio for a while now but just started using a local library for movies. My .mkv files are not working properly. I got a few files with the same codec, some are working, some not(format not supported).

I tried to remux without compressing because of head stripping, didn't work.

I updated ffmpeg, not change.


One general problem I encounter sometimes is that serviio doesn't show up in my PS3 until I restart the service via windows service manager.

Not all mkv's are created equally . It will depend on the combination of video (and what h264 profile) and audio codecs used. Can you please post MediaInfo details for the offending file.
Is this after the PC has gone to sleep? The sleep issue is known - a workaround from jammoblamo can be found here or you can await the next release which may better handle recovery from sleep (dependant on beta testing being done now). If not sleep related, it could be a few things (come back to us, or, some search terms to look for in the forum in the interim: port forwarding, UPNP settings, multicasting, firewall, serviio not found).

Thats the original version, I already remuxed because of header stripping.

The other problem could be sleep related, have to look into, thanks for the hint.

It looks like you still have header compression. Have you tried the steps here to remove it: http://wiki.serviio.org/doku.php?id=header_com and here: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1132#p5402 (shouldn't see header stripping as the muxing mode when successful).

<edit> I should read - you've already done that - send thru the Media info for the remuxed file </edit>

done, sry, should have included both from the start.

Cannot see anything wrong, but it may be due to the notorious "change of audio stream" issue that affects Game of Thrones and other HBO video streams.
See this post viewtopic.php?f=10&t=3414#p70655. If you could try my suggesting there (against the file that has the header compression removed) and see if that helps. I haven't had feedback on whether it works or not. When doing the ffmpeg command take note of what appears on the screen - specifically whether you get a warning re: changing audio stream at the beginning of the process and post back.

Tried your solution, was executed without errors, but didnt't help.


This episode, from the same rip, plays on my ps3.(file size?)


I think i just figured it out, it may be because of the chapters.

Did you get the message re: the change of audio type when doing the ffmpeg command?
This one works, even with the header compression?

Where would i look for that message? At the end? No then.

Yes that one works, im watching it right now.

Update: Removing chapters with mkvmerge didnt help.

Could you remux your mkv to mpegts container to know if it's due to mkv container problem or Video/Audio codec problem ? (With TsMuxertools or a ffmpeg command line)

Not working, remuxed to m2ts too.

So it's a video or audio codec problem.Probably a h264/AVC encoding setting that PS3 does not support.
You have to re-encode your file.

You can try this for file not supported (chapter will be lost) : viewtopic.php?f=7&t=9674#p69495

Overnight I managed to get a copy of a Game of Thrones file that exhibits the same symptoms (I think - its not exactly the same file). Interestingly, this file plays fine on my Panasonic but not on the PS3 (unusual, its normally the other way around).

If it is the same as the one I have then there is something wrong with the video stream within the mkv container (I re-encoded audio only and that didn't fix - even though it has that weird stereo to 5.1 transition - then re-encoded video and that works). As such Illico's solution should work for you, as it transcodes the video stream. The problem though is this will transcode video for all h264 encoded video (including all the mkv's and mp4's that work for you) - so you will either need to live with that or you will need to swap profiles for each file.

As I am not a big fan of transcoding video unless absolutely necessary, I tried remuxing the file to a new mkv container - didn't work, and then I tried remuxing into an MP4, and bingo, worked. Remuxing is prefered as there is no loss in video quality. Unfortunately Serviio cannot remux into an MP4 container automatically, so you need to do this outside of Serviio. If you'd like to go down this path, then from the command prompt type:

"C:\Program Files\Serviio\lib\ffmpeg.exe" - i "G:\Serien\Game of Thrones\S1\gamethrones.s01e01.720-pretail.mkv" -vcodec copy -acodec copy "G:\Serien\Game of Thrones\S1\gamethrones.s01e01.720-pretail.mp4"

I stress this worked for me with my test file - am hoping your file has the same problem. It copies both video and audio without loss, but you will likely lose your chapters and maybe your other audio track (let me know). I have used your file with header compression in the above command line - if this doesn't work, try it with the file that you removed compression from. The above assumes you are a Windows 32 bit users - you may have to adjust for the location of your ffmpeg.exe file if not.

I have no idea why this works - there is an issue in the video stream which only appears in an mkv file and only some renderers (eg the PS3). Put the same streams into an MP4 container and it works!? The added advantage though is that the PS3 prefers MP4 - you will likely get better support for fast forwarding and rewinding as a result.

Interresting,
So this is something with container information (MKV and MPEGTS failed, but MP4 works).

Yep, weird. I did get a warning when converting to MP4: "Codec frame size is not set" but googling that didn't shed any light. Also, some renderers (eg. my old Panasonic TV) dont have a problem with it. And then just to confuse matters more, some files in a series work well, others fail (even though they have presumably been encoded by the same person using the same settings I would think - MediaInfo doesn't show anything of significance that is different about the files). Hopefully this fixes Rykzon's problem.

Could you also try that : viewtopic.php?f=11&t=11181#p72414
Thanks.

Hi Illico - I tried it on my file (remuxing with the --clusters-in-meta-seek option), and no, the resultant file still did not play.
Still havent heard from Rykzon though.

What about the others options ?
https://trac.bunkus.org/wiki/FAQ%3AImpr ... e_position

No good, tried with the following options: --clusters-in-meta-seek --disable-lacing --engage no_simpleblocks --engage no_cue_duration --engage no_cue_relative_position
Did them all together, and also one at a time (except the last two, which were paired up). Same error in all cases - "The data type is not supported".