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Make Roku Chaneru recognize m4a as mp4's

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p37307

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Posts: 8

Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2017 12:47 pm

Post Wed Nov 28, 2018 5:41 pm

Make Roku Chaneru recognize m4a as mp4's

I've tried to modify the Chaneru profile to recognize m4a's as mp4's to no success. I pasted the code to to original profile below.

I'll admit this is out of my league. I've tried to research, looked at other profiles, etc, to no avail in getting it right. The m4a's I am putting in my libraries are video's and when I simply change m4a to mp4 they play correct but I don't want to have to do this with every video I put in my library as I pull videos from other family members windows video folders for the serviio and, honestly, they barely grasp plugging their phones in to the usb, waiting and letting windows import their videos to their folders on it's own ;)

Briefly, the video codec information of the videos are:
Codec: H264 - MPEG-4 AVC (part 10) (avc1)
Type: Video
Decoded format: Planar 4:2:0 YUV

Codec: MPEG AAC Audio (mp4a)
Type: Audio
Sample rate: 44100 Hz
Bits per sample: 32

Can anyone help?

THX.

  Code:
   <Profile id="roku" name="Chaneru" extendsProfileId="1">
      <Detection>
         <HttpHeaders>
            <User-Agent>.*CHANERU.*</User-Agent>
         </HttpHeaders>
      </Detection>
      <DeviceDescription>
         <ModelName>Chaneru for Serviio</ModelName>
         <Manufacturer>Chaneru Inc</Manufacturer>
      </DeviceDescription>
      <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>
      </MediaFormatProfiles>
      <Transcoding>
         <!-- You may have to limit video rate if Roku rebuffers <Video targetContainer="applehttp" targetVCodec="h264" maxVBitrate="2000" targetACodec="aac"> -->
         <Video targetContainer="applehttp" targetVCodec="h264" targetACodec="aac" maxWidth="1920" maxHeight="1080">
            <Matches container="asf" />
            <Matches container="mpegvideo" />
            <Matches container="mpeg" />
            <Matches container="mpegts" />
            <Matches container="matroska" />
            <Matches container="avi" />
            <Matches container="flv" />
            <Matches container="wtv" />
            <Matches container="ogg" />
            <Matches container="3gp" />
            <Matches container="rtp" />
            <Matches container="rtsp" />
            <Matches container="rm" />
            <Matches container="*" widthGreaterThan="1920" />
         </Video>
         <Audio targetContainer="mp3">
            <Matches container="*" />
            <!-- Convert everything to mp3 -->
         </Audio>
      </Transcoding>
      <GenericTranscoding>
         <Video targetContainer="applehttp" targetVCodec="h264" targetACodec="aac" />
      </GenericTranscoding>
      <AutomaticImageRotation>true</AutomaticImageRotation>
   </Profile>
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atc98092

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Posts: 5205

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Post Wed Nov 28, 2018 10:18 pm

Re: Make Roku Chaneru recognize m4a as mp4's

For Chaneru support, I suggest going to the developer directly. I worked with him a number of years ago and was pretty willing to assist then. http://www.chaneru.com/

One question though, M4A usually indicates an iTunes video. Those all have DRM encoding, and cannot be played outside of iTunes or some iOS device.
Dan

LG NANO85 4K TV, Samsung JU7100 4K TV, Sony BDP-S3500, Sharp 4K Roku TV, Insignia Roku TV, Roku Ultra, Premiere and Stick, Nvidia Shield, Yamaha RX-V583 AVR.
Primary server: Intel i5-6400, 16 gig ram, Windows 10 Pro, 22 TB hard drive space | Test server Windows 10 Pro, AMD Phenom II X4 965, 8 gig ram

HOWTO: Enable debug logging HOWTO: Identify media file contents
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p37307

Serviio newbie

Posts: 8

Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2017 12:47 pm

Post Wed Nov 28, 2018 10:37 pm

Re: Make Roku Chaneru recognize m4a as mp4's

That's weird because we don't use iTunes or or have an iOS device like Iphone. We got our phones through Spectrum cable, which runs Android with Spectrum branding and stuff everywhere.

I also don't use the Chaneru server, only Serviio but I use the Chaneru profile under the console>Status> devices for our Roku's because AVI's play better, or something. Can't remember why now the normal Roku profiles don't work.

They're not DRM. Just video's taken with the phone but if I change the extension from M4A to MP4 the profile picks it up and everything works, no transcoding.

Thanks ZIP. I'll ask the Chaneru folks.
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atc98092

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Posts: 5205

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Post Wed Nov 28, 2018 11:06 pm

Re: Make Roku Chaneru recognize m4a as mp4's

I'm not Zip :lol: , but I am the author of the Roku profiles contained in Serviio.

If you aren't using Chaneru server, are you using the Chaneru player or the Roku Media Player (RMP)? If you aren't using his player, i wouldn't expect him to help much.

What precisely is the problem using the Roku profiles? Which Roku player are you using? If you are using the Chaneru player app, that might be why the Roku profiles aren't doing what you need, as I developed them using RMP. If I've overlooked something, I'd be happy to add them to the profiles.

I just compared the Chaneru profile to one of the Roku 1080 profiles, and there are only a couple of differences. The major difference is that Chaneru transcodes using applehttp (HLS). This allows using FF and rewind with transcoded video, but doesn't support Dolby Digital audio. That brings the other difference, in that Chaneru transcodes the audio into AAC, which again is only two channel.
Dan

LG NANO85 4K TV, Samsung JU7100 4K TV, Sony BDP-S3500, Sharp 4K Roku TV, Insignia Roku TV, Roku Ultra, Premiere and Stick, Nvidia Shield, Yamaha RX-V583 AVR.
Primary server: Intel i5-6400, 16 gig ram, Windows 10 Pro, 22 TB hard drive space | Test server Windows 10 Pro, AMD Phenom II X4 965, 8 gig ram

HOWTO: Enable debug logging HOWTO: Identify media file contents
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p37307

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Posts: 8

Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2017 12:47 pm

Post Wed Nov 28, 2018 11:28 pm

Re: Make Roku Chaneru recognize m4a as mp4's

atc98092 wrote:I'm not Zip :lol:


Sorry, Dan. I didn't even pay attention to the thread user. The email notification came in from "zip@serviio.org" so I went with that. :lol:

I have files that are MP4's that have the m4a extension that the phone syncs with the computer when you take videos on the phone. I want Serviio to recognized M3A's as MP4's. It's annoying. I've been changing them manually. There's not a lot but I suspect with the holidays coming we'll be importing more to "look at later." Bah Humbug! :o

I am just using Serviio with the Roku Media Player. The Chaneru profile works better for me with AVI's. (I think it's AVI's that caused me to go to the Chaneru profile. Honestly, I can't remember why I went to Chaneru instead of Roku.)

I've got a couple Roku 2's and a couple Roku Express+. I just wanted to make the profile recognize m4a's as mp4's: (Codec: H264 - MPEG-4 AVC (part 10) (avc1) Type: Video and Codec: MPEG AAC Audio (mp4a).

If I can't I'll just run a batch script to look and rename M4A's as MP4's if there's too many.

Thanks,
Paul
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atc98092

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Joined: Fri Aug 17, 2012 10:22 pm

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Post Thu Nov 29, 2018 6:22 pm

Re: Make Roku Chaneru recognize m4a as mp4's

I'll play around with the M4A recognition issue. I'll see if we can work it out. My last post mentioned the differences between the Roku and Chaneru profiles for AVI. I can't see any reason the Chaneru profile would work better, but I'm not an uber-expert with that. Just a hacker. :D.

But if I can figure out the M4A issue, I won't be altering the Chaneru profile. I don't mess with any profiles but the ones that are labeled Roku. But if I do find it I can pass it on to Zip and the Chaneru developer.
Dan

LG NANO85 4K TV, Samsung JU7100 4K TV, Sony BDP-S3500, Sharp 4K Roku TV, Insignia Roku TV, Roku Ultra, Premiere and Stick, Nvidia Shield, Yamaha RX-V583 AVR.
Primary server: Intel i5-6400, 16 gig ram, Windows 10 Pro, 22 TB hard drive space | Test server Windows 10 Pro, AMD Phenom II X4 965, 8 gig ram

HOWTO: Enable debug logging HOWTO: Identify media file contents
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p37307

Serviio newbie

Posts: 8

Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2017 12:47 pm

Post Thu Nov 29, 2018 7:28 pm

Re: Make Roku Chaneru recognize m4a as mp4's

atc98092 wrote:I'll play around with the M4A recognition issue. I'll see if we can work it out. My last post mentioned the differences between the Roku and Chaneru profiles for AVI. I can't see any reason the Chaneru profile would work better, but I'm not an uber-expert with that. Just a hacker. :D.


I appreciate that. I played around with it but couldn't get it to work. I also use Chaneru because it doesn't use transcoding for mp4's on my Roku's

I'll read your last posts and snoop around your profile to see if I can learn anything from previous. I've used Serviio for a long time but haven't needed to do anything or even come to the forums because it either works without issue for me or because I can find out what I needed to know on the support section and Wiki. :)

I started using it to stream live over-the-air TV with the online profiles using my Hauppauge TV tuner and nextpvr and also the recordings my tuner recorded.

Paul
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atc98092

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DLNA master

Posts: 5205

Joined: Fri Aug 17, 2012 10:22 pm

Location: Washington (the state)

Post Thu Nov 29, 2018 9:38 pm

Re: Make Roku Chaneru recognize m4a as mp4's

That's strange. I thought all of the Roku profiles pass MP4s without transcoding. Makes me wonder what codecs might be inside. I'll go looking online to see if I can find any M4A demo files to download. I don't want to make them myself because I might not use the typical codecs.

Your Roku Express + players should be using the Roku 1080 (2016+) profile. The older Roku 2 might or might not work with that one. I had the older Roku 2 XS, and it couldn't handle a bitrate over about 16 Mbps, which means it couldn't handle a normal Blu Ray rip at typical bitrates. I suggest trying it, and change back to the standard Roku profile if you encounter buffering, since that profile will restrict the bitrate. The Chaneru profile also restricts the bitrate, so that too might be why you've had success with it.
Dan

LG NANO85 4K TV, Samsung JU7100 4K TV, Sony BDP-S3500, Sharp 4K Roku TV, Insignia Roku TV, Roku Ultra, Premiere and Stick, Nvidia Shield, Yamaha RX-V583 AVR.
Primary server: Intel i5-6400, 16 gig ram, Windows 10 Pro, 22 TB hard drive space | Test server Windows 10 Pro, AMD Phenom II X4 965, 8 gig ram

HOWTO: Enable debug logging HOWTO: Identify media file contents
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p37307

Serviio newbie

Posts: 8

Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2017 12:47 pm

Post Thu Nov 29, 2018 11:39 pm

Re: Make Roku Chaneru recognize m4a as mp4's

atc98092 wrote:That's strange. I thought all of the Roku profiles pass MP4s without transcoding.


Every Mp4 I have, Roku transcodes.

atc98092 wrote:Your Roku Express + players should be using the Roku 1080 (2016+) profile. The older Roku 2 might or might not work with that one. I had the older Roku 2 XS, and it couldn't handle a bitrate over about 16 Mbps, which means it couldn't handle a normal Blu Ray rip at typical bitrates.


Good to know. I'll play around with the profiles tonight and see what happens.

As far as the m4a's, the codecs are as follows:

  Code:
Codec: H264 - MPEG-4 AVC (part 10) (avc1)
Type: Video
Decoded format: Planar 4:2:0 YUV

Codec: MPEG AAC Audio (mp4a)
Type: Audio
Sample rate: 44100 Hz
Bits per sample: 32


This is just personal videos so no big deal. I thought there would be a way to make the profile recognize m4a's in my situation as mp4's with just a few tweaks so I wouldn't have to manually change them.
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atc98092

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Posts: 5205

Joined: Fri Aug 17, 2012 10:22 pm

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Post Fri Nov 30, 2018 12:29 am

Re: Make Roku Chaneru recognize m4a as mp4's

Now I'm confused. I started looking online for a M4A video file to download for testing, and everything I find says M4A is an audio only container, and is an iTunes music format. I checked my music library and I see I have a bunch of M4A audio files. For videos, they should be in the MP4 container.

I'm not saying you don't have videos in that container. But the documentation says that container is for audio only, so there's likely no way to make Serviio recognize them as a video file. If they work be changing the file extension to MP4, then that's what you'll need to do.

I'm looking at the Roku 4K Media Player (2016+) profile in Serviio, and I found where it was capturing an MP4 file to require transcoding. It was a line left over from the standard Roku profile (which I didn't create), and I don't think it's necessary. I just commented it out and tested it on my Ultra, and now MP4 with AAC audio will play without transcoding. I believe it was there to capture supported video in an unsupported container, but because the original author used a wildcard for the container it was capturing anything using MPEG4 video.

If you want to try it, look at the Roku profile you are using and find the line that says:

<Matches container="*" vCodec="mpeg4" aCodec="aac" />


Comment it out by putting <!-- at the beginning of the line and --> at the end. It is very important to use the opening and closing tags in the correct place. Once you've saved the file, you can reload it by opening the console, going to the Status tab, and clicking the "Stop Server" button and then starting it again. Now your MP4s should play without transcoding.

I'll be providing Zip with some updated profiles for the next release that takes care of this. Thanks for bringing it to my attention!
Dan

LG NANO85 4K TV, Samsung JU7100 4K TV, Sony BDP-S3500, Sharp 4K Roku TV, Insignia Roku TV, Roku Ultra, Premiere and Stick, Nvidia Shield, Yamaha RX-V583 AVR.
Primary server: Intel i5-6400, 16 gig ram, Windows 10 Pro, 22 TB hard drive space | Test server Windows 10 Pro, AMD Phenom II X4 965, 8 gig ram

HOWTO: Enable debug logging HOWTO: Identify media file contents
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p37307

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Posts: 8

Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2017 12:47 pm

Post Fri Nov 30, 2018 12:48 am

Re: Make Roku Chaneru recognize m4a as mp4's

That worked for Mp4's. Avi's have no audio, though.
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atc98092

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Joined: Fri Aug 17, 2012 10:22 pm

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Post Fri Nov 30, 2018 1:03 am

Re: Make Roku Chaneru recognize m4a as mp4's

I've posted the updated Roku profiles in the General Discussion area. Strange that you aren't getting audio. Do your files have more than two audio channels? Roku only supports stereo AAC audio. The info you posted doesn't show that, so I was assuming it was stereo.

Here's a post from a Roku support page that discusses codec support:
Roku devices do not support AAC pass-through. Instead, Stereo AAC is transcoded to PCM stereo.

Roku TVs and some Roku players decode 5.1 AAC to PCM stereo for headphone, internal speaker, and HDMI/ S/PDIF (optical) output. However, Roku devices that support Dolby Audio decode connected via HDMI or S/PDIF (optical) to an A/V receiver that also supports Dolby Audio, will convert the audio to Dolby Digital 5.1.


To my understanding, the only Roku player that meets the decode requirement is the Ultra 4640, which is the 2016 version, not the current version.
Dan

LG NANO85 4K TV, Samsung JU7100 4K TV, Sony BDP-S3500, Sharp 4K Roku TV, Insignia Roku TV, Roku Ultra, Premiere and Stick, Nvidia Shield, Yamaha RX-V583 AVR.
Primary server: Intel i5-6400, 16 gig ram, Windows 10 Pro, 22 TB hard drive space | Test server Windows 10 Pro, AMD Phenom II X4 965, 8 gig ram

HOWTO: Enable debug logging HOWTO: Identify media file contents

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