LG BP620 jerky playback with mp4

Hi

I'm having issues with stuttering or jumping video when playing .mp4 .mkv and some .avi files on my LG BP620 bluray player via LAN from Serviio 1.2.1 on Win7 64bit server. It looks like lost frames or really low framerates. These files if played in vlc (v2.0.6 - 64bit) are fine.

I'm not a codec guru so dont know much about containers etc but I have read on the forums that certain audio codecs cause this on LG equipment as LG cant decode them properly.

I have tried adding transcoding code to my profiles.xml found here http://forum.serviio.org/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=6416 but it doesn't work as the Serviio service fails to start with this entry.

  Code:

   <Profile id="8" name="LG TV / player" extendsProfileId="1">
      <Detection>
         <HttpHeaders>
            <friendlyName.dlna.org>LG.*</friendlyName.dlna.org>
         </HttpHeaders>
      </Detection>
      <!--

ResourceTransportProtocolHandler>org.serviio.upnp.protocol.http.transport.LGProtocolHandler</ResourceTran

sportProtocolHandler -->
      <MediaFormatProfiles>
         <MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/mp4" name="">AVI</MediaFormatProfile>
      </MediaFormatProfiles>      
      <!--
      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>-->
<Transcoding>
  <Video targetContainer="mpeg" targetAcodec="ac3" >
    <Matches container="mpeg" aCodec="lpcm" />
  </Video>
</Transcoding>
      <Subtitles>
         <SoftSubs mime-type="text/srt" />         
      </Subtitles>   
   </Profile>

As a total newbie I'm pretty lost at how to get smooth play back on my BP620 and would appreciate any help.

Many thanks in advance

[DenyAll]

Is this all MP4's and AVI's or selected ones? Please post details for an offending file from MediaInfo (see viewtopic.php?f=5&t=4510).

The standard LG profile in Serviio has some code commented out that transcodes DTS. Try my post: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=10355&p=68933#p68933. This should help with your mkv files (and we may need to modify this for your mp4's and avi's once we get the details).

Hi thanks for the reply.

No, not all files but quite a few.

Here the MediaInfo results for a culprit...

  Code:

Format                                   : MPEG-4
Format profile                           : Base Media
Codec ID                                 : isom
File size                                : 1.31 GiB
Duration                                 : 1h 44mn
Overall bit rate mode                    : Variable
Overall bit rate                         : 1 800 Kbps
Encoded date                             : UTC 2012-05-30 00:56:52
Tagged date                              : UTC 2012-05-30 00:56:52

Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : High@L4.0
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames                : 5 frames
Codec ID                                 : avc1
Codec ID/Info                            : Advanced Video Coding
Duration                                 : 1h 44mn
Bit rate                                 : 1 705 Kbps
Maximum bit rate                         : 25.3 Mbps
Width                                    : 1 920 pixels
Height                                   : 800 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 2.40:1
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 23.976 fps
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.046
Stream size                              : 1.24 GiB (95%)
Writing library                          : x264 core 120 r2164 da19765
Encoding settings                        : cabac=1 / ref=5 / deblock=1:-2:-1 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=umh / subme=9 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.15 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-3 / threads=6 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=240 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=60 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=1705 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Encoded date                             : UTC 2012-05-30 00:56:52
Tagged date                              : UTC 2012-05-30 00:57:41

Audio
ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : AAC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile                           : LC
Codec ID                                 : 40
Duration                                 : 1h 44mn
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Bit rate                                 : 93.9 Kbps
Maximum bit rate                         : 132 Kbps
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel positions                        : Front: L R
Sampling rate                            : 32.0 KHz
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 70.1 MiB (5%)
Encoded date                             : UTC 2012-05-30 00:57:39
Tagged date                              : UTC 2012-05-30 00:57:41

I'll try the the standard LG transcode and post back.

Many thanks

[DenyAll]

Looking at the file details you provided, the likely culprit is video bit rate. Most TV's cannot handle video bit rates in excess of 20Mbps. If you are on a wireless network, then this will also be unable to handle this bitrate (if wireless, try it on wired).

You can try and use Serviio to remedy this, by adding to your profile:

  Code:

<Video targetContainer="mpegts" targetVCodec="mpeg2video" maxVBitrate="17000" >
      <Matches container="mp4" />
</Video>

Unfortunately this transcodes all MP4 files and will result in some quality loss (whether noticeable or not is the question) - I don't know if it is possible to limit what is transcoded based on bit rate (anyone? I know its possible based on profile level, but this is only a level 4 file). If you also need to do this for the AVI files, then you will need to add <Matches container="avi" /> to the above.

Hi DenyAll thanks for your help.

I tried the original transcode for LG TV with no success .

I then tried your video snippet inside the transcode area, also without success .

I am using a LAN (ie wired) connection so the BLURAY player should not be affected by any network/bandwidth latency/restriction, so I am pretty sure that bitrate is not the culprit.

I should mention that I have also tried the file via USB & DVDRW and its still jerky, so it must be a codec issue surely?

Do you have any other ideas?

Is there a tutorial on the profiles.xml for transcoding anywhere?

Thanks in advance.

[DenyAll]

I have also tried the file via USB & DVDRW and its still jerky, so it must be a codec issue surely?

It could still be that the player cannot handle the bit rate - try something lower (eg. try 15000, then 12000 etc). Ensure that it is actually transcoding (make sure transcoding is on and check the detailed log).

See the wiki for transcoding tutorial: http://www.serviio.org/index.php?option ... icle&id=24

Hi again,

I dont think that transcoding is working. Not sure how to check this.

I also found a comment on another forum that (http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056922817) that LG has mp4 issues "Only downsides are jerky mp4 playback (just remux everything to mkv, mp4 is a terrible container anyway) and button layout inconsistency between apps."

So I would like to try remuxing to mkv - Whats the best way to do that?

Thanks

[DenyAll]

You can check whether transcoding is on by setting Serviio to do a detailed log and then playing the file (or a simpler method is start playing the file, and looking at task manager on your PC for all users see if ffmpeg is running - it will only occur at the start of watching the file though). Make sure Transcoding is enabled in the Serviio Console (Delivery Tab).

Not sure I'd agree with the comments re: mp4... depends on your device. Anything Apple tends to prefer mp4, as do many things Sony. Anyway to convert mp4's to mk's there are plenty of tools on the web (I often use XMedia Recode for this, but theres plenty around) or you could simply use the fmpeg command in Serviio's lib folder. From the command prompt type:

ffmpeg.exe -i srcfile.mp4 -vcodec copy -acodec copy destfile.mkv

This will not lose any picture/audio quality but you may lose subtitles or other embedded content.

Thanks for that.

I'll check transcoding is actually working. Its already turned on in the console.

I'm actually already remuxing a file now for testing

I guess I really meant how to transcode mp4 to mkv on the fly.

[DenyAll]

Nope, Serviio doesn't support on-the-fly remuxing or transcoding to the mkv container.

Thats a real shame.

I remuxed my file using your cli example and it plays without stutter brilliantly.

So it looks like I just have to remux all my mp4's to mkv's I guess - dont know why MP4's are a problem for the LG BP620 - maybe they will fix it in a future FW upgrade, who knows!

Anyway, thanks for all your help!