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Samsung UE46F8000 transcoding MP4 to MKV profile HELP!

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DrDeathhand

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Posts: 5

Joined: Fri Feb 19, 2021 7:31 pm

Post Thu Feb 25, 2021 8:32 am

Samsung UE46F8000 transcoding MP4 to MKV profile HELP!

Dear Sir/Madam,

I need/would like your help with the following.
I am using Serviio version 2.1 to stream my movies/series etc to my Samsung UE46F8000 (DLNA)and a load of other devices like Ipads.
Serviio really works awesomely and it streams almost everything without a problem to any device.

The only problem I encountering is playing certain types of MP4 files to the Samsung UE46F8000.
I can play most MP4 files without a problem via Serviio on the Samsung UE46F8000 but some of them wont play.
When trying to playing those files I get the error message "The video data is not supported" on the Samsung UE46F8000 TV.

I thought that Serviio would transcode those files automatically but Serviio is not transcoding anything.
So I have been reading up on this transcoding forum and I know I probally have to edit the profile.xml and add some lines for Serviio to start transcoding.
I just do not know what to add to add to make this happen. My idea is to add something to make Serviio transcode those non working MP4 files from MP4 to MKV.
But maybe that wont work and something else is better... I dont know.

Can someone please help me to solve this problem? Any help would be appreciated!

Awaiting your response. and Thanks!
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atc98092

User avatar

DLNA master

Posts: 5205

Joined: Fri Aug 17, 2012 10:22 pm

Location: Washington (the state)

Post Thu Feb 25, 2021 2:59 pm

Re: Samsung UE46F8000 transcoding MP4 to MKV profile HELP!

First, you must remember that MP4 and MKV are simply containers, and the video and audio codecs within them are vary. Your Samsung appears to be having an issue with a codec within one of the files. Generally, MP4 containers have a supported video codec, but it sounds like you might have some that don't. What we need to know is what codecs are in the files that won't play. If you look at my signature line, there's a link to a page that tells how to retrieve the contents of a media file. Use those instructions and let us know what codecs are being used in a file that won't play.

Yes, Serviio will transcode files that are recognized as unsupported. It's all controlled by the profile Serviio has assigned to your TV. But that profile is likely assuming that anything within an MP4 container is supported, so does not attempt to transcode. Every profile has to make some assumptions about the file contents, although some profiles are more detailed than others to catch these outliers. You are likely using the Samsung E/F TV profile. I just took a quick look at it, and I only see one MP4 matches line, for LPCM audio. So it will only transcode an MP4 file if PCM audio is detected. It will also transcode any video that has a higher resolution than 1080, regardless of container. So depending on your media, you might need a customized profile.

Your other option is to use something like Handbrake to convert your unplayable files. Transcoding doesn't work quite the way you think. It can't convert MP4 to MKV. As I said, those are just containers. Most profiles transcode into a MPEG-TS stream, with some using a few other formats. The TS stream contains the codecs either as they were in the original container (if they are supported) or transcoded into a supported codec.
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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DrDeathhand

Serviio newbie

Posts: 5

Joined: Fri Feb 19, 2021 7:31 pm

Post Fri Feb 26, 2021 9:31 am

Re: Samsung UE46F8000 transcoding MP4 to MKV profile HELP!

atc98092 wrote:First, you must remember that MP4 and MKV are simply containers, and the video and audio codecs within them are vary. Your Samsung appears to be having an issue with a codec within one of the files. Generally, MP4 containers have a supported video codec, but it sounds like you might have some that don't. What we need to know is what codecs are in the files that won't play. If you look at my signature line, there's a link to a page that tells how to retrieve the contents of a media file. Use those instructions and let us know what codecs are being used in a file that won't play.

Yes, Serviio will transcode files that are recognized as unsupported. It's all controlled by the profile Serviio has assigned to your TV. But that profile is likely assuming that anything within an MP4 container is supported, so does not attempt to transcode. Every profile has to make some assumptions about the file contents, although some profiles are more detailed than others to catch these outliers. You are likely using the Samsung E/F TV profile. I just took a quick look at it, and I only see one MP4 matches line, for LPCM audio. So it will only transcode an MP4 file if PCM audio is detected. It will also transcode any video that has a higher resolution than 1080, regardless of container. So depending on your media, you might need a customized profile.

Your other option is to use something like Handbrake to convert your unplayable files. Transcoding doesn't work quite the way you think. It can't convert MP4 to MKV. As I said, those are just containers. Most profiles transcode into a MPEG-TS stream, with some using a few other formats. The TS stream contains the codecs either as they were in the original container (if they are supported) or transcoded into a supported codec.


Dear Dan,

Thank you very much for responding to my post.

I am familiar with how mediafiles work, about how they are encoded, about media containers, codecs etc.
I am / Serviio is indeed using the standard Samsung E/F TV profile.
I also know I can ofcourse convert the MP4 files to an other format which I did before with for example Wondershare Video Converter Ultimate, but if you have alot of mediafiles or download alot its quite a hassle/time consuming.
About the transcoding bit... I really dont mind how Serviio transcodes the file as long as it does it so it would be quite helpful!

Anyways like I said before, the Samsung UE46F8000 TV with Serviio plays almost everything except for that MP4 type of movie.
I went to your page that tells about how to get the content of a videofile. I will post my findings here.
I recently I downloaded a same type op MP4 file from the same type of content from the same contentcreator which for some reason does play on the Samsung UE46F8000 so I have made a FFMPEG.exe -i and MediaInfo. I will post those results to.

MediafileInfoSaMP4.jpg is from the MP4 file / type of file that WONT play on the Samsung UE46F8000
MediafileinfoCAMP4.jpg is from the MP4 file of the same content/contentcreator that does work on the Samsung UE46F8000
FFMPEGSACAMP4.jpg is from both files. On the left you see the FFMPEG -i of the SA.mp4 file / type of file that WONT play on the Samsung UE46F8000, on the right you see the FFMPEG -i of the CA.mp4 file which is the MP4 file from the same content/contentcreator that does work on the Samsung UE46F8000

I hope with this information we can add something to the standard Samsung E/F TV Profile so that it will start transcoding those non working MP4 files.

Awaiting your response!
Attachments
FFMPEGSACAMP4.jpg
FFMPEGSACAMP4.jpg (342.47 KiB) Viewed 5753 times
MediafileInfoSaMP4.jpg
MediafileInfoSaMP4.jpg (92.26 KiB) Viewed 5758 times
MediaFileInfoCAMP4.jpg
MediaFileInfoCAMP4.jpg (79.48 KiB) Viewed 5758 times
Last edited by DrDeathhand on Fri Feb 26, 2021 6:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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atc98092

User avatar

DLNA master

Posts: 5205

Joined: Fri Aug 17, 2012 10:22 pm

Location: Washington (the state)

Post Fri Feb 26, 2021 3:17 pm

Re: Samsung UE46F8000 transcoding MP4 to MKV profile HELP!

The FFMPEG screenshots are both the same file (ca.mp4), so that doesn't help ;) .

The MediaInfo does show a slight difference between the two AVC video codecs, in that one is baseline L4, while the one that doesn't play is L4.2. And that's probably the cause. I looked on the TV manual online, but it's not really specific about what levels of H.264 it supports.

I don't know if the Serviio developer is willing to alter the existing E/F profile, since it's an older configuration and changes might have unintended consequences. I suggest we create a user profile that is easier to experiment with. So, you need to create a new text file in the Serviio/config folder, and name it user-profiles.xml. Inside this file, past the following text:
  Code:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Profiles version="1.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="http://www.serviio.org/xsd/profiles/v/1.10/Profiles.xsd">
<Profile id="Sam_F_user" name="Samsung TV (F-series)" extendsProfileId="sam_ef">
       
      <H264LevelCheck>FILE_ATTRIBUTES</H264LevelCheck>
      <Transcoding>
         <Video targetContainer="mpegts" targetVCodec="h264" >
             <Matches container="mp4"  vCodec="h264" profile='high" levelGreaterThan="4.0" />
         </Video>
      </Transcoding>
   
   </Profile>

</Profiles>

I can't test this, but it should identify and transcode any MP4 video with the Main profile and level higher than 4.0.

After you create and save the file, you need to restart Serviio to load the new file. Once it's loaded, change your profile for the TV to "Samsung TV (F-series)". Now see if the previously unplayable files work.
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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DrDeathhand

Serviio newbie

Posts: 5

Joined: Fri Feb 19, 2021 7:31 pm

Post Fri Feb 26, 2021 6:03 pm

Re: Samsung UE46F8000 transcoding MP4 to MKV profile HELP!

atc98092 wrote:The FFMPEG screenshots are both the same file (ca.mp4), so that doesn't help ;) .

work.


Dear Dan,

Sorry about that, I was in a rush this morning so I apparently did not edit the file correctly.
I have reedited it correctly and uploaded it.
Hope that it helps!
<<

DrDeathhand

Serviio newbie

Posts: 5

Joined: Fri Feb 19, 2021 7:31 pm

Post Fri Feb 26, 2021 6:19 pm

Re: Samsung UE46F8000 transcoding MP4 to MKV profile HELP!

atc98092 wrote:The FFMPEG screenshots are both the same file (ca.mp4), so that doesn't help ;) .

The MediaInfo does show a slight difference between the two AVC video codecs, in that one is baseline L4, while the one that doesn't play is L4.2. And that's probably the cause. I looked on the TV manual online, but it's not really specific about what levels of H.264 it supports.

I don't know if the Serviio developer is willing to alter the existing E/F profile, since it's an older configuration and changes might have unintended consequences. I suggest we create a user profile that is easier to experiment with. So, you need to create a new text file in the Serviio/config folder, and name it user-profiles.xml. Inside this file, past the following text:
  Code:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Profiles version="1.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="http://www.serviio.org/xsd/profiles/v/1.10/Profiles.xsd">
<Profile id="Sam_F_user" name="Samsung TV (F-series)" extendsProfileId="sam_ef">
       
      <H264LevelCheck>FILE_ATTRIBUTES</H264LevelCheck>
      <Transcoding>
         <Video targetContainer="mpegts" targetVCodec="h264" >
             <Matches container="mp4"  vCodec="h264" profile='high" levelGreaterThan="4.0" />
         </Video>
      </Transcoding>
   
   </Profile>

</Profiles>

I can't test this, but it should identify and transcode any MP4 video with the Main profile and level higher than 4.0.

After you create and save the file, you need to restart Serviio to load the new file. Once it's loaded, change your profile for the TV to "Samsung TV (F-series)". Now see if the previously unplayable files work.


Dear Dan,

I did as you asked. I started notepad, copied your supplied information, saved it. Stopped Serviio, Started Serviio again.
But when I now try to start Serviio again I get an Error. (Unexpected Error occured 500 check log)
Il add the XML file I made, a screenshot of the Error and the Serviio logfile. Hope you can make sense of it.
The error only occurs when Serviio tries to load the the user.profiles.xml file, when I rename or remove that file I can start Serviio without a problem
Attachments
serviio.log
(12.1 KiB) Downloaded 246 times
user-profiles.xml
(609 Bytes) Downloaded 255 times
ServiioConsole Error.jpg
ServiioConsole Error.jpg (86.96 KiB) Viewed 5753 times
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atc98092

User avatar

DLNA master

Posts: 5205

Joined: Fri Aug 17, 2012 10:22 pm

Location: Washington (the state)

Post Fri Feb 26, 2021 7:46 pm

Re: Samsung UE46F8000 transcoding MP4 to MKV profile HELP!

I'm sorry. I see I made a typo. :oops: On the Matches line, after profile=, it's supposed to be a quote " but it's a parenthesis ' . Please change that and try loading it again. That should do 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
<<

DrDeathhand

Serviio newbie

Posts: 5

Joined: Fri Feb 19, 2021 7:31 pm

Post Sun Feb 28, 2021 11:41 am

Re: Samsung UE46F8000 transcoding MP4 to MKV profile HELP!

atc98092 wrote:I'm sorry. I see I made a typo. :oops: On the Matches line, after profile=, it's supposed to be a quote " but it's a parenthesis ' . Please change that and try loading it again. That should do it.


Dear Dan,

Thank you for the info! I changed the settings and Serviio does load.
I have selected the Samsung F series profile and tried to load the MP4 file but I still get the same error message.
Serviio does not seem to Transcode anything.
When I look @ the Serviio Transcode folder I do not see any Transcoded files.

I will post a screenshit of the Serviio Status Window and I will also post the Serviio.log file.
Hope you can help me figure out whats going wrong!
Attachments
Serviio.log
(380 Bytes) Downloaded 252 times
ServiioStatusFseries.jpg
ServiioStatusFseries.jpg (134.53 KiB) Viewed 5741 times
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atc98092

User avatar

DLNA master

Posts: 5205

Joined: Fri Aug 17, 2012 10:22 pm

Location: Washington (the state)

Post Sun Feb 28, 2021 8:05 pm

Re: Samsung UE46F8000 transcoding MP4 to MKV profile HELP!

Well, I'm at a loss now. I've never played much with matching H.264 profiles, so maybe I have something wrong there. Hopefully someone with better knowledge can help out now. I'd hate to tell it to transcode all MP4 files, just to catch this one type.
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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