Serviio

Have been a long-time Serviio pro user, and up to now, I have primarily accessed Serviio from either the web interface while traveling, or, from our Samsung Smart TV's.

Recently, our cable co. is switching to encrypting their signal, and I would have had to add a cable box to each TV, at a higher cost. Not fond of that, so, I've "cut the cord", and purchased a sling membership and some roku premiere + boxes.

I figured they should also work well with Serviio, since the Roku boxes are quite popular and support DLNA, but, it looks like the Roku profile in Serviio is very out of date. Searching, I saw at least two other threads on this that also referenced either unnecessary trans-coding, or no audio. I'm plagued by both issues. Serviio seems to transcode almost everything I play from the Roku, and I have no audio on 80% of the h.264 MKV's I've downloaded. I tried the general DLNA profile as well, and still no audio.

My setup is:

Wired Ethernet -> Roku Premiere -> Samsung Smart TV

I'm running Serviio 1.8 Pro

Any news on updated Profiles for the newer Roku boxes?

-Rich H.

Hi Rich.

There are a number of new Roku profiles under development. However, at the moment the current Roku firmware has a bug that is interfering with transcoding HD audio. I believe a fix is getting close. There's also an issue with Serviio not supporting HLS transcoding (the preferred method for a Roku) with audio that has more than 5.1 channels. That also is being worked, although I don't know how close Zip is to resolving that.

Yes, the existing (and only) Roku profile on Serviio will transcode virtually everything. That is because the older players, such as the 2 XS, cannot handle a bitrate much over 15 Mbps. Also, Roku players do not support MPEG-2 video, which is what the vast majority of SD content is encoded with., so again needs transcoding. I have tested my Roku 4, Ultra and Stick (latest version) with videos exceeding 50 Mbps without issue, so the coming profiles will not require restricting the video bitrate.

Until the Roku bug is fixed, and Serviio supports ac3 multi-channel audio with HLS transcoding, your best option is to modify the existing profile or use one of the ones I posted earlier in the Transcoding section. But if you have HD media with audio that requires transcoding (DTS Master Audio or Dolby TrueHD), you will encounter problems.

What sort of media do you have? What video and audio codecs? I assume you are using the Roku Media Player for DLNA playback.

Dan

Hi Dan,

Thanks so much for your help! Yes, using the Roku as DLNA player.

MKV's, H.264 for video (which works fine). Audio is many different codecs. Too many to list.

Are you saying there are some common ones I will encounter that Serviio will not presently transcode for me?

I was hoping as a short-term fix I could just have serviio transcode *ALL* audio into something that the roku premiere+ can decode. Surround would be nice, and I can chase that later, but a first step would be just getting at least 2 channels instead of silence.

Is there a sample snippet you could share that would leave the video untouched, and always transcode the audio into something the Roku likes, and remux?

-Rich H.

This page outlines the codecs supported and their limitations (if any): https://support.roku.com/article/208754 ... and-photos

I'm not at home right now, so don't have access to the profiles I'm working on. But if you look at a transcoding line you see something like this. This section would transcode a video in a MKV container, but would leave the video as is, and convert DTS audio (the dca tag) into ac3 (Dolby Digital).




This one transcodes both the video and audio:


This one will take videos in the MKV and MPG containers, convert the video to H.264, the audio to AAC (which the Roku will only output as two channel) and restrict the video bitrate to 15.36 Mbps. Your Premiere + will not need the video bitrate restricted.

If you experiment with the profiles file, save a copy first. If you get something wrong, Serviio won't start at all/

http://www.serviio.org/index.php?option ... icle&id=24 This page tells more about the transcoding lines.

Thanks again Dan.

So, then, an edit that might leave me with a good starting point would be:

<Video targetContainer="mpegts" targetVCodec="h264" targetACodec="aac">
<Matches container="matroska" />
<Matches container="mpeg" />
<Matches container="mpegvideo" />
</Video>

Would this still transcode video that is already h264? Would obviously be preferable not to.

-Rich H.

Ended up doing the below temporarily, and it appears to be working for now:

<Profile id="RokuPMPApp" name="Roku Premiere Plus" extendsProfileId="1">
<MediaFormatProfiles>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/mp4">AVC_MP4_MP_SD_AAC_MULT5</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/mp4">AVC_MP4_MP_SD_MPEG1_L3</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/mp4">AVC_MP4_MP_SD_AC3</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/mp4">AVC_MP4_MP_HD_720p_AAC</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/mp4">AVC_MP4_MP_HD_1080i_AAC</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/mp4">AVC_MP4_HP_HD_AAC</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/mp4">AVC_MP4_LPCM</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/mp4">MPEG4_P2_MP4_ASP_AAC</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/mp4">MPEG4_P2_MP4_SP_L6_AAC</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/mp4">MPEG4_P2_MP4_NDSD</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="audio/mpeg">MP3</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">AVC_TS_MP_SD_AAC_MULT5</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">AVC_TS_MP_SD_AAC_MULT5_T</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">AVC_TS_MP_SD_AAC_MULT5_ISO</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">AVC_TS_MP_SD_MPEG1_L3</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">AVC_TS_MP_SD_MPEG1_L3_T</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">AVC_TS_MP_SD_MPEG1_L3_ISO</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">AVC_TS_MP_SD_AAC_MULT5</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">AVC_TS_MP_SD_AAC_MULT5_T</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">AVC_TS_MP_SD_AAC_MULT5_ISO</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">AVC_TS_MP_SD_MPEG1_L3</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">AVC_TS_MP_SD_MPEG1_L3_T</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">AVC_TS_MP_SD_MPEG1_L3_ISO</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">AVC_TS_MP_SD_AC3</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">AVC_TS_MP_SD_AC3_T</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">AVC_TS_MP_SD_AC3_ISO</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">AVC_TS_HP_SD_MPEG1_L2_T</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">AVC_TS_HP_SD_MPEG1_L2_ISO</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">AVC_TS_MP_HD_AAC_MULT5</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">AVC_TS_MP_HD_AAC_MULT5_T</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">AVC_TS_MP_HD_AAC_MULT5_ISO</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">AVC_TS_MP_HD_MPEG1_L3</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">AVC_TS_MP_HD_MPEG1_L3_T</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">AVC_TS_MP_HD_MPEG1_L3_ISO</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">AVC_TS_MP_HD_AC3</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">AVC_TS_MP_HD_AC3_T</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">AVC_TS_MP_HD_AC3_ISO</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">AVC_TS_HD_DTS_T</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">AVC_TS_HD_DTS_ISO</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">AVC_TS_HD_50_LPCM_T</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">AVC_TS_HP_HD_MPEG1_L2_ISO</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">AVC_TS_HP_HD_MPEG1_L2_T</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">MPEG4_P2_TS_ASP_AAC</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">MPEG4_P2_TS_ASP_AAC_T</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">MPEG4_P2_TS_ASP_AAC_ISO</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">MPEG4_P2_TS_ASP_AC3</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">MPEG4_P2_TS_ASP_AC3_T</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">MPEG4_P2_TS_ASP_AC3_ISO</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">MPEG4_P2_TS_ASP_MPEG1_L3</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">MPEG4_P2_TS_ASP_MPEG1_L3_T</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">MPEG4_P2_TS_ASP_MPEG1_L3_ISO</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">MPEG4_P2_TS_ASP_MPEG2_L2</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">MPEG4_P2_TS_ASP_MPEG2_L2_T</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">MPEG4_P2_TS_ASP_MPEG2_L2_ISO</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">VC1_TS_AP_L1_AC3_ISO</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">VC1_TS_AP_L2_AC3_ISO</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">VC1_TS_HD_DTS_T</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="MPEG_TS_SD_EU,MPEG_TS_SD_NA,MPEG_TS_SD_KO">VC1_TS_HD_DTS_ISO</MediaFormatProfile>
</MediaFormatProfiles>
<Transcoding>
<Video targetContainer="mpegts" targetVCodec="h264" targetACodec="aac">
<Matches container="matroska" />
<Matches container="mpeg" />
<Matches container="mpegvideo" />
</Video>
</Transcoding>
</Profile>

You probably don't need all the Media Format Profiles. And if your video is already h264 you don't need the "targetVCodec="h264" " piece. There's no need to transcode to H264 if it's already that codec. Just working the computer harder than necessary. By using aac audio, you're only getting stereo.

But hey, congratulations! You created your first profile! Just as a comparison, here's my current profile for all 4K capable Roku players. Still a work in progress, and once the Roku crashing issue is resolved and the next version of Serviio is available, I'll likely switch to applehttp transcoding to allow FF and rewind. I hear rumors that Roku is close. I don't know what the status is for the next version of Serviio.

That shouldn't happen anyway. I believe Serviio will detect they are the same and should copy the video stream, unless you also use the forceVTranscoding attribute to force it.

I'm not finding that to be true. If I include the targetVCodec, it still seems to be transcoding the video. I judge that by CPU usage. When I'm only transcoding the audio, my CPU is still almost idling. When video transcoding is happening, CPU usage is bouncing near 100% the entire time. But I like the idea. Would make the profile much simpler!

Its meant to work that way. Check the MediaInfo for he resultant .stf file and if it is transcoding video perhaps raise it as a ticket for zip to investigate.

Initially none of my mkv's we're showing up on the Roku, so I added the media profiles as a copy/paste from the original Roku profile, and it resolved. Maybe I just needed the " <MediaFormatProfiles></MediaFormatProfiles>" and that would have resolved it?

Also, I like the idea of using a container that permits FF and RW. . . is that supported today?

-Rich H.

That's what the "extendsProfileId="RokuMPApp"" tag does. It uses the media profiles from the main Roku profile so you don't have to copy them yourself.

HLS transcoding, also known as applehttp, will allow FF and rewind to work on a Roku player. The problem is that right now Serviio only supports aac audio with HLS, and the Roku player down-converts aac from 5.1 to stereo. If you don't use an outboard AVR, it's not a problem. But if you use an AVR, you want to retain 5.1. The bitbucket ticket has been made to support ac3 audio when transcoding with HLS, so it's just a matter of when it can be added.

So yes, FF and rewind are supported today, but because of both a Roku bug and HLS not supporting 5.1 audio, we haven't included it in the Roku profiles yet. My personal opinion is that both issues will be addressed soon.

This thread mentions expected updates to both Serviio and the Roku firmware. Have those happened yet?

I'm currently using the WDTV Live as a DLNA player, which works great, but I'm thinking of the Roku for its headphone jack. I don't want to lose other features though just so I can do some late night private viewing.

Related question - for most audio I'd be using passthrough to my receiver. But how would passthrough affect the headphone jack on the Premiere + ?

I've never tried my headphone jack and checked to see if it still sent audio out to my AVR. I would assume that it would mute the audio out and only send it to the headphone jack.

Roku just released firmware 7.7 this afternoon, so that part is done. Although I think it was the Roku Media Player update that was really necessary, and that was released some weeks ago. The next version of Serviio is going through beta right now. Zip would have to say what his planned release calendar looks like.

Anyone? What happens when you use the remote headphone jack with an audio format that is not supported natively by the Roku? I assume it won't work, which is a show stopper for me.

P.s. my receiver has no headphone jack and no other way to connect headphones.

Just tried my Ultra (since it was playing a movie anyway!) and plugging the ear buds into the remote and it indeed muted the audio from my AVR. If this is something that you need, it would most likely require something you can insert into the HDMI path and extract the audio and send it to some sort of alternate path that can feed headphones. While a new receiver with a headphone jack might be the least expensive option, you might have difficultly finding one that allows using headphones and still powering the speakers as well.

I'd have no problem with the audio being muted on the receiver - in fact, that's exactly what I want to happen so I can watch videos without disturbing sleeping housemates.

So just to be clear, the question I'm asking is this - if the audio source is something that the Premiere+ doesn't decode itself (e.g. DD+), what will happen if I try to use headphones?

It looks like the Ultra has both a remote headphone jack and built in Dolby decoding, so maybe that's what I need. https://image.roku.com/ww/docs/compare-chart-products-en-ca.pdf

Edit: Roku now also offers a mobile app that supports private listening with a number of models: https://support.roku.com/en-ca/article/217288467-the-roku-mobile-app

But that doesn't change my question - what happens if the Roku can't decode the audio source?

Since I don't have a Premiere+, I can't test that scenario. However, my guess is that the audio (such as DD+) will still be sent to the headphones connected to the remote. Remember that the P+ recognizes DD+, it just can't convert it to standard DD. Only the Ultra can do that. But to my knowledge, all current Roku players can convert the audio to 2 channel PCM, and therefore send it to the headphones.