ST30 Aspect Ratio

I suspect your cpu is not up to the task of transcoding the file.

the remuxing that is was doing previously is easy, transcoding requires significantly more CPU power.

When i find files like that i pause it for a few minutes then come back and watch

[atc98092]

You may have just hit on something. I installed a newer version of FFMPEG a month or so ago on the test server. Can't remember exactly why right now, but there was something for the Roku that needed the newer version. I just updated both servers to the 64 bit version of FFMPEG dated today. Seems to work fine on both servers, but the playback issue remained on the test server. So that wasn't it...

I then got a wild hair... I removed the Viera from the console and re-added it. Before I changed the profile (while it was set to generic) I went and tried it. it was identical to what I was seeing before, which tells me that Serviio was using the generic profile even though it was set to the correct one. I changed the profile to Viera 2011 and voila, everything is playable again

I still have the issue with the aspect ratio on the main server. I'm re-ripping my Star Wars discs into M2TS, and I'll see what the server does with them. That should resolve the padding problem, I feel. It still has DTS Master Audio as the first audio track, so I'll see what my Sony players do with that. For some reason they will play some movies with HD audio with no problem (my AV receiver shows the bitstream audio), while others will play for about a minute and lock the player up, requiring a power cycle. I've finished Episode One, and it's transfering from my workstation to the server now. Once the transfer is complete (the file's 41GB ) I'll give it a try.

[atc98092]

I suspect your cpu is not up to the task of transcoding the file.

the remuxing that is was doing previously is easy, transcoding requires significantly more CPU power.

When i find files like that i pause it for a few minutes then come back and watch

Hi Mavack!

No, not a CPU issue, because the stuttering was from a HD file that was not being transcoded. I happened to discover the reason it wasn't being transcoded while you were making your comment. It was a good thought though. It absolutely takes a lot of CPU power to transcode a video. My Sony BD players will play really high bitrate videos with seldom a hiccup, but the Panasonic TV is rather old (for a Smart TV, anyway), and can't keep up. Most of my Blu Ray rips will see 35Mbps or more, and even though the ST30 can play MKV files, it can't handle anything close to that!

Even with only a dual core CPU, my test server does pretty well. I have a couple of really high bit rate videos that does choke it though. My main server has a quad core, and it handles everything I throw at it without issue.

[DenyAll]

@atc98092: I think mavack's post was in response to pancho's last post We have two different conversations going....

So... after resetting the Viera profile (wierd that) on the test server, the file is transcoded and has the right aspect ratio??
On the test server, did you confirm the line <Matches container="matroska" vCodec="h264" aCodec="dca" /> is not removed or commented out of the profile and if it is there, did you apply the change to the profile (adding the DAR switches).?

@pancho: in addition to mavacks post - you can tell if your system is not up to it by monitoring your CPU usage - if its spiking to 90%+ its CPU related (try setting Serviio to use the maximum number of CPU cores on the Delivery, Transcoding tab of Serviio Console). Also listen for hard drive thrashing and make sure the hard drive where the temporary transcode file is being stored has plenty of space and is defragmented.

I could also be due to wireless, if either the TV or server is on wireless.

You've also hit on one of the issues within Serviio at the moment - the second file doesn't really need to be transcoded. It has a 16:9 aspect ratio and will appear correct if the file is only remuxed. Its only files with >16:9 aspect ratio that need to have their video transcoded and padding applied. Unfortunately there is no switch within Serviio to detect the aspect ratio and make decisions based on that (so we end up having to transcode all MKV's, not just the ones with high aspect ratios).

@pancho: in addition to mavacks post - you can tell if your system is not up to it by monitoring your CPU usage - if its spiking to 90%+ its CPU related (try setting Serviio to use the maximum number of CPU cores on the Delivery, Transcoding tab of Serviio Console). Also listen for hard drive thrashing and make sure the hard drive where the temporary transcode file is being stored has plenty of space and is defragmented.

I could also be due to wireless, if either the TV or server is on wireless.

You've also hit on one of the issues within Serviio at the moment - the second file doesn't really need to be transcoded. It has a 16:9 aspect ratio and will appear correct if the file is only remuxed. Its only files with >16:9 aspect ratio that need to have their video transcoded and padding applied. Unfortunately there is no switch within Serviio to detect the aspect ratio and make decisions based on that (so we end up having to transcode all MKV's, not just the ones with high aspect ratios).

OK, I will check the settings later, I believe the transcoding cores option is set to "optimal" at the moment. I'm on a brand new computer with a 4th gen i7 cpu, so I would hope that it is up to the task of transcoding a video file.

Though the first file (with the original aspect issue) plays fine with the profile changes, and I'm assuming it is being transcoded as well?

[atc98092]

@atc98092: I think mavack's post was in response to pancho's last post We have two different conversations going....

So... after resetting the Viera profile (wierd that) on the test server, the file is transcoded and has the right aspect ratio??
On the test server, did you confirm the line <Matches container="matroska" vCodec="h264" aCodec="dca" /> is not removed or commented out of the profile and if it is there, did you apply the change to the profile (adding the DAR switches).?

Everything on the test server is now working correctly. The main server still had the aspect ratio issue with the previously listed file. I re-ripped a couple of Star Wars Blu-Rays last night into MKV format, and they now appear accurate, and are being transcoded. Looks like it was something to do with the Handbrake settings when I modified the audio tracks.

I'm watching Episode One right now, and it looks as good as playing the disc itself, so the transcoding is keeping the bitrate under control but still keeping quality. Since the Panasonic can't handle DTS audio, it's being transcoded to AC3 just fine.

Oh, by the way, the TV is hard wired, not wireless on my network. The network is gigabit, although I know the TV only supports 100BaseT.

[DenyAll]

Oh, by the way, the TV is hard wired, not wireless on my network. The network is gigabit, although I know the TV only supports 100BaseT.

yep... that bit was for pancho's problem Glad you got everything else working.

Though the first file (with the original aspect issue) plays fine with the profile changes, and I'm assuming it is being transcoded as well?

Yes, not sure why the second one is causing stuttering. It should have less processing required than the first and your system should transcode it no problems. Perhaps manually run the ffmpeg process (you will need to capture the command from a detailed log) and see if it spits out any warnings or errors.

Is it only this one file or many? If many, do they all have an aspect ratio of 16:9?