Problem after upgrade to 1+ serviio .. mkv loading errors

@zip..

and does servio indeed use external renderer when it finds one?



since the 1080p file
\Planet.Earth.S01E01.From.Pole.to.Pole.1080p.x264-CULTHD.mkv
AVC level pattern found at file offset 4366: High@5.1
AVC level pattern found at file offset 4374: High@5.1


Also plays fine when the transcoding is disabled. With it also being a 5.1 header
So question than is....
a) does the TV play much more than you thought it did?
or
b) does serviio use external render from the desktop which is on the same windows homegroup? ( NAS 212+ with windows file system enabled. desktop win7 64bit both linked in same workgroup)

[Illico]

since the 1080p file
\Planet.Earth.S01E01.From.Pole.to.Pole.1080p.x264-CULTHD.mkv
AVC level pattern found at file offset 4366: High@5.1
AVC level pattern found at file offset 4374: High@5.1

There is two solutions to determine the AVC profile level:
- Found the AVC header field
- Based on number of RefFrames : http://wiki.serviio.org/doku.php?id=get_h264_level

This value falls into level 5 (which is different to what is actually in the AVC header (5.1) - that is often the case).
This file would be rejected by most players as it has both levels, the header value (5.1) and RefFrame based (5), higher than the widely used max. level of 4.1.

So this file should be transcoded.

since the 1080p file
\Planet.Earth.S01E01.From.Pole.to.Pole.1080p.x264-CULTHD.mkv
AVC level pattern found at file offset 4366: High@5.1
AVC level pattern found at file offset 4374: High@5.1

There is two solutions to determine the AVC profile level:
- Found the AVC header field
- Based on number of RefFrames : http://wiki.serviio.org/doku.php?id=get_h264_level

This value falls into level 5 (which is different to what is actually in the AVC header (5.1) - that is often the case).
This file would be rejected by most players as it has both levels, the header value (5.1) and RefFrame based (5), higher than the widely used max. level of 4.1.

So this file should be transcoded.

yes BUT when transcoding is disabled.... it ALSO plays fine and perfectly..(the 1080p one)
So either the samsung UE40D6530 is more capable than the profile suggests.... or servvio uses external rendeder... so curious which it is..

first one than serviio develop team should modify profile for samsung D... 2nd scenerio than also explains a lot and i should mdify profile just for myself due to my personal setup

[zip]

a) does the TV play much more than you thought it did?

Yes. It looks like it actually doesn't care about the header value and bases it on the ref frames formula. I don't remember now if it was Samsung users who said changing the header made the file playble, or other (eg Sony)

a) does the TV play much more than you thought it did?

Yes. It looks like it actually doesn't care about the header value and bases it on the ref frames formula. I don't remember now if it was Samsung users who said changing the header made the file playble, or other (eg Sony)

So definitely servio uses no external render tools when linked in accesable workgroup?



Modified these 4.2 to 5.2:
<Matches container="*" vCodec="h264" profile="high" levelGreaterThan="5.2" />
<Matches container="*" vCodec="h264" profile="main" levelGreaterThan="5.2" />

and remove:
<Matches container="matroska" vCodec="mpeg2video" />

Will update soon on outcome, forcing refresh now (cpu 100% , so cant test streaming yet)

Update:

1)First file posted on page1 of this thread with mediainfo: i changed the header in the .mkv for the 720 planet earth to 4.1 on the files themselves.
It now plays fine with transcoding enabled

2)the 1080p still seems to get unneccesary transcoded and thus has loading issues (due to 212+ cpu)
Changing serviio profile from 4.2 to 5.2 as posted higher did not make it skip transcoding it.

MY changes:
Modified these 4.2 to 5.2:
<Matches container="*" vCodec="h264" profile="high" levelGreaterThan="5.2" />
<Matches container="*" vCodec="h264" profile="main" levelGreaterThan="5.2" />


3) the second file still seems to get transcoded as well

removed this:
<Matches container="matroska" vCodec="mpeg2video" />




After playing all three, i notive in serviio.log
[ProcessExecutor] Process /volume1/@appstore/Serviio/bin/ffmpeg has a return code of 137! This is a possible error.
not sure for which file that is.


File nr two:

General
Unique ID : 80365510908786020609833546287903880046 (0x3C75D59AF1E2A5F9CBA0135205BF336E)
Complete name : \\MEDIA\video\1_Kinder_TV\De_smurfen\SMURFENSTREKEN\02_Hetvergrootmengseltje.mkv
Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 2
File size : 484 MiB
Duration : 12mn 57s
Overall bit rate : 5 229 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2012-01-08 19:03:09
Writing application : MakeMKV v1.7.0 win(x64-release)
Writing library : libmakemkv v1.7.0 (1.2.0/1.1.0) win(x64-release)

Video
ID : 1
Format : MPEG Video
Format version : Version 2
Format profile : Main@Main
Format settings, BVOP : No
Format settings, Matrix : Default
Codec ID : V_MPEG2
Codec ID/Info : MPEG 1 or 2 Video
Duration : 12mn 57s
Bit rate : 4 901 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 5 000 Kbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 576 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4:3
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Standard : PAL
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Interlaced
Scan order : Top Field First
Compression mode : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.473
Stream size : 454 MiB (94%)
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Color primaries : BT.601 PAL
Transfer characteristics : BT.470 System B, BT.470 System G
Matrix coefficients : BT.601

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 : 12mn 57s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 224 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 20.8 MiB (4%)
Title : 2/0
Language : Dutch
Default : Yes
Forced : No

Menu
00:00:00.000 : en:Chapter 01
00:01:00.320 : en:Chapter 02
00:12:31.400 : en:Chapter 03

[zip]

So definitely servio uses no external render tools when linked in accesable workgroup?

No.

Modified these 4.2 to 5.2:
<Matches container="*" vCodec="h264" profile="high" levelGreaterThan="5.2" />
<Matches container="*" vCodec="h264" profile="main" levelGreaterThan="5.2" />

5.1 is the maximum, so you can as well remove these lines.

[zip]

Did you restart the service/PC?

Did you restart the service/PC?

I did restart the serviio service, can do a hard reboot of the nas though



i also tail-ed servvio log and the video files were removed and re-added to library as you asked, confirmed in log wiht name change and removal/re-add

Hard reboot sorted it.
Seems the soft restart of servviio somehow has not been a 100% clean restart.

ALl play fine now without transcoding and thus no stutter, so all natively supported by the tv, including the real 5.1 10180p file.

Samsung UE-40D6530 , samsung software version 001018


Removed:
:<Matches container="*" vCodec="h264" profile="high" levelGreaterThan="4.2" />
<Matches container="*" vCodec="h264" profile="main" levelGreaterThan="4.2" />

Removed:

<Matches container="matroska" vCodec="mpeg2video" />


And side conclusion that with a 212+ you want a tv to be natively able to play demanding mkv.

[jhb50]

The Samsung specs http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/content/UM/201112/20111208185713733/Web_GSDVBEUA_Eng.pdf indicate that your TV does not support either of those files natively. While you may have found otherwise for those 2 particular files, the Serviio profile should be left as is in order to ensure all files will play correctly. If bitrate is causing stuttering due to your network capacity or CPU limits, you can set maxVbitrate to a lower value than 20000.

The Samsung specs http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/content/UM/201112/20111208185713733/Web_GSDVBEUA_Eng.pdf indicate that your TV does not support either of those files natively. While you may have found otherwise for those 2 particular files, the Serviio profile should be left as is in order to ensure all files will play correctly. If bitrate is causing stuttering due to your network capacity or CPU limits, you can set maxVbitrate to a lower value than 20000.

limit was not network (cabled gbit,maxed at 100mbit) , but 212+ cpu with transcoding

but its not just these files.. same with a lot of other mkv files as well (and i have a lot) , they all work fine without transcoding including those with 5.1 headers
so seems samsung is less picky than advertised (goes for most scene mkv files as well)

in 2012 there has been a firmware samsung update as well for the tv

[jhb50]

they all work fine without transcoding including those with 5.1 headers

Yes they should per the samsung spec including those with false 5.1 headers, but Serviio must respect the headers in case the file is really a 5.1 which will fail per the specs and my experience. Real 5.1 files are few and far between. Planet Earth is one, but most are mislabeled 4.1's.

[zip]

they all work fine without transcoding including those with 5.1 headers

Yes they should per the samsung spec including those with false 5.1 headers, but Serviio must respect the headers in case the file is really a 5.1 which will fail per the specs and my experience. Real 5.1 files are few and far between. Planet Earth is one, but most are mislabeled 4.1's.

Do you have one that has header > 4.1 and doesn't play? What profile would it fit according to: http://wiki.serviio.org/doku.php?id=get_h264_level

[jhb50]

Do you have one that has header > 4.1 and doesn't play?

Yes #1 and #3 below with transcoding off but that doesn't tell us anything. You need a file with header >4.1 and ref frames below the 4.1 level that does play natively and a file with header < 4.2 and ref frames greater than the 4.1 level that does not play in order to prove the TV only uses ref frames.
#3 and #4 below do that.

First I think the wikipedia table is better than the formula for determining level, so I'll refer to that below as well as the formula. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264/MPEG-4_AVC

For 1280 up to 5 ref frames = 3.1, 6 to 9 ref frames = 4.0
For 1920 up to 4 ref frames = 4.0, 5 to 13 ref frames = 5.0 and 14 to 16 ref frames = 5.1

Here are my test files.

#1 5-5 A clip of the original Planet Earth 1920x1080 w/16 ref frames and valid 5.1 header (16=5.1 & 1920x1080x16/256= 129,600 = 5.1)
#2 4-4 Same clip w/3 ref frames and valid 4.1 header (3=4.0 & 1920x1280x3/256= 24,300 = 4.0)
#3 5-4 Copy of #1 (16 ref frames) with header changed to 4.1
#4 4-5 Copy of #2 (3 ref frames) with header changed to 5.1

With transcoding off (note new bug https://bitbucket.org/xnejp03/serviio/i ... il-serviio) the Samsung D will play #2 and #4 but not #1 or #3. This demonstrates that the Samsung D uses resolution and ref frames (either by table or formula)rather than header value to determine playback capability which they document as "up to level 4.1" (ie: 32,768).

With transcoding on, Serviio transcodes #1, #3 and #4 due to caching the higher of header or ref frames. Given the above, it would be appropriate to have Servio only use the ref frames value in determining h264 levels with Samsung C/D/E.

I also found that the level change tool reporting of the "AVC level pattern found at file offset nnn" just reports the stored header value and does not report the real level based on ref frames.

To confirm the above, I tested another file.
#5 5-3 A demo clip 1280x720 w/4 ref frames and incorrect 5.1 header (4=3.1 & 1280x720x4/256=14400 = 3.1)

With transcoding off the Samsung D plays it correctly, again confirming the Samsung D ignores the header and uses ref frames.

[zip]

Great, thanks mate. I'll create a ticket for this. https://bitbucket.org/xnejp03/serviio/i ... istinguish

Btw, what do you mean formula vs table? The formula produces a number which then matches a limit of a level within the table.

[Illico]

I test on my Sony Bravia TV with a following file :
Transformers.HL5.1.ts

Video
Format : AVC
Format profile : High@L5.1
Format settings, ReFrames : 8 frames
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 800 pixels

So according to the formula : dpbMbs = (1920* 800 * 8 ) / 256 = 48000 => Should be 5.0 profile level

With TsMuxer tools and change header profile level and create different files:
Transformers.HL5.1.ts => Black screen
Transformers.HL5.0.ts => Black screen
Transformers.HL4.2.ts => Video play with some little blocks artefacts
Transformers.HL4.1.ts => Video play with some little blocks artefacts


I try with another file:
GIJoe.HL4.0.ts

Format : AVC
Format profile : High@L4.0
Format settings, ReFrames : 12 frames
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 528 pixels

So according to the formula : dpbMbs = (1280* 528* 12 ) / 256 = 31680 => Should be 4.0 profile level
With TsMuxer tools and change header profile level and create different files:
GIJoe.HL5.1.ts => Black screen
GIJoe.HL5.0.ts => Black screen
GIJoe.HL4.2.ts => Video play fine
GIJoe.HL4.1.ts => Video play fine
GIJoe.HL4.0.ts => Video play fine

Conclusion: Sony devices "buffer" should support base on Reframes an AVC video stream up to 5.0 profile, but the sony firmware ignore stream with AVC Header stream >4.2 profile level

[zip]

Thanks Illico... so for Sony we will have to keep it as it is, ie matching against the higher value from the two methods

[Illico]

Thanks Illico... so for Sony we will have to keep it as it is, ie matching against the higher value from the two methods

Yep

[jhb50]

Btw, what do you mean formula vs table? The formula produces a number which then matches a limit of a level within the table.

I mean the table in wikopedia, which if you look at my #1 file says it is a 5.1 whereas the formula makes it a 5.0