One unplayable mkv, one unnecessarily transcoded

Hi,

I'm a newbie to all this stuff (see viewtopic.php?f=10&t=6115 for background) but hopefully I'm not asking dumb questions here.

I have a Samsung UE55ES8000, which is fairly new so should hopefully support a wide variety of formats. I've been using the "Samsung TV / player (C/D-series)" profile under the assumption that higher-letters = newer, but that could be very wrong (how do I work out which profile is most appropriate for the UE55ES8000?).

I have two .mkv files, one of which works fine whether I have transcoding enabled or not (however if transcoding is enabled, it's not possible to scan to a time within the video, and when I return to it, the video restarts from the beginning).

The other video fails to work transcoding enabled or not.

Q1) For the first one, I'm assuming my TV supports a format that the C/D profile thinks it doesn't, so when attempting to play with transcoding on, it kicks in and re-encodes it (to a format where scan is not supported). What am I looking for between the Device Spy output (link above) and the ffmpeg/mediainfo output (below) that explain where in the C/D profile.xml settings that decision is made?

Q2) I'm assuming serviio thinks my TV does support this, and hence won't transcode it - sadly that's not the case. My suspicion is the audio is not compatible with the TV but I'm speculating. ffmpeg / mediainfo output below.

I'm happy to grab serviio logs as well, but thought I'd start with the fundamental bits (to try and understand better what's going on). If I'm being daft then ask and I'll get the debug logs uploaded as well.

Regards,
Rob


WORKING Video (but appears to be transcoded unnecessarily when transcoding is enabled)
ffmpeg output

ffmpeg version 0.9, Copyright (c) 2000-2011 the FFmpeg developers
built on Dec 13 2011 20:46:11 with gcc 4.4.2
configuration: --enable-static --disable-shared --disable-ffplay --disable-ffserver --enable-memalign-hack --enable-libmp3lame --enable-librtmp --extra-libs='-lrtmp -lpolarssl -lws2_32 -lwinmm' --arch=x86 --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-pthreads --target-os=mingw32 --cross-prefix=i686-mingw32- --pkg-config=pkg-config
libavutil 51. 32. 0 / 51. 32. 0
libavcodec 53. 42. 0 / 53. 42. 0
libavformat 53. 24. 0 / 53. 24. 0
libavdevice 53. 4. 0 / 53. 4. 0
libavfilter 2. 53. 0 / 2. 53. 0
libswscale 2. 1. 0 / 2. 1. 0

Seems stream 0 codec frame rate differs from container frame rate: 47.95 (48000/1001) -> 23.98 (48000/2002)
Input #0, matroska,webm, from 'working.mkv':
Metadata:
title : working
Duration: 01:34:29.15, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 8093 kb/s
Chapter #0.0: start 0.000000, end 307.974000
Metadata:
title : (01)00:00:00:000
Chapter #0.1: start 307.974000, end 458.499000
Metadata:
title : (02)00:05:07:974
Chapter #0.2: start 458.499000, end 660.993000
Metadata:
title : (03)00:07:38:499
Chapter #0.3: start 660.993000, end 1055.095000
Metadata:
title : (04)00:11:00:993
Chapter #0.4: start 1055.095000, end 1235.901000
Metadata:
title : (05)00:17:35:095
Chapter #0.5: start 1235.901000, end 1449.406000
Metadata:
title : (06)00:20:35:901
Chapter #0.6: start 1449.406000, end 1699.739000
Metadata:
title : (07)00:24:09:406
Chapter #0.7: start 1699.739000, end 1960.959000
Metadata:
title : (08)00:28:19:739
Chapter #0.8: start 1960.959000, end 2111.484000
Metadata:
title : (09)00:32:40:959
Chapter #0.9: start 2111.484000, end 2338.419000
Metadata:
title : (10)00:35:11:484
Chapter #0.10: start 2338.419000, end 2510.382000
Metadata:
title : (11)00:38:58:419
Chapter #0.11: start 2510.382000, end 2806.094000
Metadata:
title : (12)00:41:50:382
Chapter #0.12: start 2806.094000, end 3009.256000
Metadata:
title : (13)00:46:46:094
Chapter #0.13: start 3009.256000, end 3347.052000
Metadata:
title : (14)00:50:09:256
Chapter #0.14: start 3347.052000, end 3577.156000
Metadata:
title : (15)00:55:47:052
Chapter #0.15: start 3577.156000, end 3803.132000
Metadata:
title : (16)00:59:37:156
Chapter #0.16: start 3803.132000, end 3997.243000
Metadata:
title : (17)01:03:23:132
Chapter #0.17: start 3997.243000, end 4117.196000
Metadata:
title : (18)01:06:37:243
Chapter #0.18: start 4117.196000, end 4439.351000
Metadata:
title : (19)01:08:37:196
Chapter #0.19: start 4439.351000, end 4614.568000
Metadata:
title : (20)01:13:59:351
Chapter #0.20: start 4614.568000, end 4689.226000
Metadata:
title : (21)01:16:54:568
Chapter #0.21: start 4689.226000, end 4896.933000
Metadata:
title : (22)01:18:09:226
Chapter #0.22: start 4896.933000, end 5108.103000
Metadata:
title : (23)01:21:36:933
Chapter #0.23: start 5108.103000, end 5658.361000
Metadata:
title : (24)01:25:08:103
Chapter #0.24: start 5658.361000, end 5669.152005
Metadata:
title : (25)01:34:18:361
Stream #0:0: Video: h264 (High), yuv420p, 1920x1080, SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9, 23.98 fps, 23.98 tbr, 48003.07 tbn, 47.95 tbc (default)
Stream #0:1(eng): Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, 5.1(side), s16, 640 kb/s (default)
At least one output file must be specified

MediaInfo output

General
Unique ID : 234717790708759399335228604361347259891 (0xB095008D998CF29FB5D6E47016715DF3)
Complete name : working.mkv
Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 2
File size : 5.34 GiB
Duration : 1h 34mn
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 8 093 Kbps
Movie name : working
Encoded date : UTC 2010-11-22 18:17:18
Writing application : DVDFab
Writing library : libebml v0.7.8 + libmatroska v0.8.1

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L5.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 1 frame
Format settings, GOP : M=1, N=15
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 1h 34mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 7 292 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 11.2 Mbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.147
Stream size : 4.81 GiB (90%)
Default : Yes
Forced : No

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Mode extension : CM (complete main)
Format settings, Endianness : Big
Codec ID : A_AC3
Duration : 1h 34mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 640 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 433 MiB (8%)
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No

Menu
00:00:00.000 : en:(01)00:00:00:000
00:05:07.974 : en:(02)00:05:07:974
00:07:38.499 : en:(03)00:07:38:499
00:11:00.993 : en:(04)00:11:00:993
00:17:35.095 : en:(05)00:17:35:095
00:20:35.901 : en:(06)00:20:35:901
00:24:09.406 : en:(07)00:24:09:406
00:28:19.739 : en:(08)00:28:19:739
00:32:40.959 : en:(09)00:32:40:959
00:35:11.484 : en:(10)00:35:11:484
00:38:58.419 : en:(11)00:38:58:419
00:41:50.382 : en:(12)00:41:50:382
00:46:46.094 : en:(13)00:46:46:094
00:50:09.256 : en:(14)00:50:09:256
00:55:47.052 : en:(15)00:55:47:052
00:59:37.156 : en:(16)00:59:37:156
01:03:23.132 : en:(17)01:03:23:132
01:06:37.243 : en:(18)01:06:37:243
01:08:37.196 : en:(19)01:08:37:196
01:13:59.351 : en:(20)01:13:59:351
01:16:54.568 : en:(21)01:16:54:568
01:18:09.226 : en:(22)01:18:09:226
01:21:36.933 : en:(23)01:21:36:933
01:25:08.103 : en:(24)01:25:08:103
01:34:18.361 : en:(25)01:34:18:361

Non-Working Video
ffmpeg output

ffmpeg version 0.9, Copyright (c) 2000-2011 the FFmpeg developers
built on Dec 13 2011 20:46:11 with gcc 4.4.2
configuration: --enable-static --disable-shared --disable-ffplay --disable-ffserver --enable-memalign-hack --enable-libmp3lame --enable-librtmp --extra-libs='-lrtmp -lpolarssl -lws2_32 -lwinmm' --arch=x86 --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-pthreads --target-os=mingw32 --cross-prefix=i686-mingw32- --pkg-config=pkg-config
libavutil 51. 32. 0 / 51. 32. 0
libavcodec 53. 42. 0 / 53. 42. 0
libavformat 53. 24. 0 / 53. 24. 0
libavdevice 53. 4. 0 / 53. 4. 0
libavfilter 2. 53. 0 / 2. 53. 0
libswscale 2. 1. 0 / 2. 1. 0

Seems stream 0 codec frame rate differs from container frame rate: 95.90 (96000/1001) -> 48.00 (48/1)
Input #0, matroska,webm, from 'failed.mkv':
Duration: 02:05:08.88, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 4488 kb/s
Stream #0:0: Video: h264 (Constrained Baseline), yuv420p, 1920x1080 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 47.95 fps, 48 tbr, 1k tbn, 95.90 tbc (default)
Stream #0:1(eng): Audio: ac3, 44100 Hz, stereo, s16, 64 kb/s (default)
At least one output file must be specified

MediaInfo output

General
Unique ID : 168348648403719580577546155723716462494 (0x7EA6C532C2870C1E037BA147C20E879E)
Complete name : failed.mkv
Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 2
File size : 3.92 GiB
Duration : 2h 5mn
Overall bit rate : 4 488 Kbps
Writing application : Lavf51.12.1
Writing library : Lavf51.12.1

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : Baseline@L1.3
Format settings, CABAC : No
Format settings, ReFrames : 1 frame
Format settings, GOP : M=1, N=12
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 2h 5mn
Bit rate : 4 335 Kbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate : 47.952 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.044
Stream size : 3.79 GiB (97%)
Default : Yes
Forced : No

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Mode extension : CM (complete main)
Format settings, Endianness : Big
Codec ID : A_AC3
Duration : 2h 5mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 64.0 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 57.3 MiB (1%)
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No

[will]

The one that plays has (media info)

  Code:

Format profile : High@L5.1

which is matched against

  Code:

profile="high" levelGreaterThan="4.2

and because 5.1 > 4.2 it gets transcoded

The one that doesn't play has

  Code:

Format profile : Baseline@L1.3


So you could try adding

  Code:

<Matches container="matroska" vCodec="h264" profile="baseline" levelGreaterThan="1" />


to force it to transcode mkv's with h264 video encoded with baseline profile at a level greater than 1


If you want to stop the other from being trasncoded when it doesn't need it, replace this line

  Code:

<Matches container="matroska" vCodec="h264" profile="high" levelGreaterThan="4.2" />


with

  Code:

<Matches container="matroska" vCodec="h264" profile="high" levelGreaterThan="5.2" />


As for fastforwarding, it isn't that the target format doesn't support it, it is that it is sent to the device slightly differently as the whole file isn't available yet. Some devices support fastfowrarding transcoded content (up to what has been processed), others don't. A samsung expert will have to help you with that.

Thank you!

I'm learning more already.

Adding the baseline match worked and the TV could play the content back. I'll try allowing the 5.1 to bypass transcoding in a minute. Am I correct in thinking the 4.2 / 5.1 numbers are profile versions (i.e it's coincidental that audio can be in 5.1?)

Given the Device Spy output, can I transcode to a better (i.e higher bandwidth) format? I'm thinking I could change this line:

<Video targetContainer="mpegts" targetVCodec="mpeg2video" targetACodec="ac3" aBitrate="192" maxVBitrate="20000">

and up the bitrate(s) to ensure I get the best quality transcoded output. Or am I being silly attempting this, is 192/20000 more than enough to hide transcoding artifacts?

Thanks again for the help

[will]

Yes 4.2/5.1 is to do with the video, nothing to do with audio.

You can up it if you want, but i doubt it would make a noticable difference. If you see any artifacts then go for it, but otherwise I would leave it.