transcoding why bother?

I like serviio and am using it to stream my video to my TV. As a newbie I spent a long time trying to get serviio (and mezzmo) to work properly and have come to this conclusion.
First let me say that I have no problems with SD AVI files and this post only concerns playing HD 720 and 1080 files.
The 2 main problems I had is either the file will not play or it plays and stutters or stops. I found out that the reason why files would stutter/stop is because serviio was transcoding and my PC was not up to it. PC is 2.4GHz dual core with 3 GB memory. My TV is a Panasonic Viera TX-42G30B. So I switched off transcoding and found that my TV would play HD files smoothly but with some limitations. These varied depending on the file but would typically be no sound or more commonly the wrong aspect ratio.
So I converted these files to a MKV extension which works for my TV. This takes a little while but can be done away from the PC and once done is done! i.e. you only need to do it once. Now I can stream all my downloaded HD files smoothly with no problems and no transcoding. Looking at your forums there are so many problems posted about transcoding that my advice would be get the file in the right format for your TV or display device and then stream with transcoding switched off. Controversial? Maybe but it works for me. I would be interested in comments from the forum. Serviio I would think has spent a lot of effort and time developing transcoding but I'm thinking get the format right first then you don't need it!

[jhb50]

My comment is that the time spent to convert every file you have now or may wish to play in the future far outweighs the time it will take you to understand Serviio's transcoding and convert on the fly. That's the whole value of Serviio. My Serviio setup allows me to play any file including online streams immediately and I see no reason why your dual core cannot transcode any avc file on the fly. 1080P however will stutter due to Wifi limitations so you need to reduce the resolution or use a wired connection.

Why don'tyou post an example of one that did not work well so others can suggest a profile change that will do the job correctly. Just post the file details and the debug log.

Thanks jhb50 sounds like a plan. I'm certainly interested in getting serviio to work for me like you described. I will set up the log and use mediainfo to get file details. How long should I stream the file for to get a useful log that can be looked at by yourselves to work out a new profile? Also I have both TV and PC connected to router with ethernet cables and am on fibre optic (To cabinet)

[jhb50]

For files that do not work correctly, you just need to start their playback. The debug log will show what happened and you just need to describe the failure and attach the name of the profile being used and the file details from ffmpeg -i

"and the file details from ffmpeg -i" sorry dont quite understand. Is this a log file also? Where can I find it.

[zip]

http://wiki.serviio.org/doku.php?id=file_np

tried to upload log but it is too big to send as an attachment. How do I get the log to you please?
Profile is Panasonic Viera G/GT/DT/Ut/Vt . File is an Mp4. It plays on my Viera with no stuttering and with sound. However the aspect ratio is wrong, squashed narrow effect that the TV cannot change. I dont think serviio is transcoding as the file plays smoothly and I cant see ffmpeg.exe running. If I change profile to DirectV-HD-DVR transcoding starts the movie plays correctly but stutters and eventually stops. Media info for the file is

General
CompleteName : C:\Users\johnny\My Videos\Taken (2008) [1080p]\Taken.2008.1080pBrRip.x264.YIFY.mp4
Format : MPEG-4
Format_Profile : Base Media
CodecID : isom
FileSize/String : 1.30 GiB
Duration/String : 1h 33mn
OverallBitRate_Mode/String : Variable
OverallBitRate/String : 1 979 Kbps
Encoded_Date : UTC 2012-06-19 07:07:57
Tagged_Date : UTC 2012-06-19 07:07:57

Video
ID/String : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format_Profile : High@L4.0
Format_Settings_CABAC/String : Yes
Format_Settings_RefFrames/String : 4 frames
CodecID : avc1
CodecID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration/String : 1h 33mn
BitRate/String : 1 886 Kbps
BitRate_Maximum/String : 15.7 Mbps
Width/String : 1 920 pixels
Height/String : 816 pixels
DisplayAspectRatio/String : 2.35:1
FrameRate_Mode/String : Constant
FrameRate/String : 24.000 fps
ColorSpace : YUV
ChromaSubsampling : 4:2:0
BitDepth/String : 8 bits
ScanType/String : Progressive
Bits-(Pixel*Frame) : 0.050
StreamSize/String : 1.23 GiB (95%)
Encoded_Library/String : x264 core 120 r2164 da19765
Encoded_Library_Settings : cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:-2:-1 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=hex / subme=7 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=6 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=240 / keyint_min=24 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=1886 / 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 2012-06-19 07:07:57
Tagged_Date : UTC 2012-06-19 07:12:43

Audio
ID/String : 2
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format_Profile : LC
CodecID : 40
Duration/String : 1h 33mn
BitRate_Mode/String : Variable
BitRate/String : 92.0 Kbps
BitRate_Maximum/String : 102 Kbps
Channel(s)/String : 2 channels
ChannelPositions : Front: L R
SamplingRate/String : 48.0 KHz
Compression_Mode/String : Lossy
StreamSize/String : 61.7 MiB (5%)
Encoded_Date : UTC 2012-06-19 07:12:40
Tagged_Date : UTC 2012-06-19 07:12:43

I would appreciate some help on this please as the forum advised me that I should be able to transcode with my setup.
Thanks

[jhb50]

zip the log and attach. There is no limit on attachements only on embedded Code.

[zip]

If it doesn't transcode then Serviio can't do much and it's up to the tv

here is the log

[jhb50]

The log shows you playing "Taken" in native format using the Viera profile.
The ffmpeg shows it is a 2:35:1 file (black bars) top and bottom.
The TV will play it that way.
If you want to transcode to a different format you will have to use a different profile.

thanks for the reply
ffmpeg is correct, the movie does have an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 My problem is that when I use the Viera profile I described it plays the movie "squashed" at something like 1.78:1 or 16:9. When I change profile to DirecTV-HDR the aspect ratio is OK (2.35:1) but I get stuttering and eventual stopping of stream. It seems I need a tweak of the Viera profile to play the movie in the correct aspect ratio. Otherwise as I've mentioned before in this thread I will have to convert to MKV.

[jhb50]

Playing a 2.35:1 at 16:9/1.78 does not squash it. It will leave the width alone and stretch the height so the top and bottom black bars are smaller. Your TV should have a "wide" button that will allow you to change the aspect back to the original. Or you can try adding DAR="16:9" to the viera profile just like Direct TV does.

yes I understand what you mean about not being squashed.
My TV aspect ratio control shows the original setting as 16:9. No luck there. I have added the text you mentioned to the viera profile but no result. I'm not sure where in the profile I should add it. Below is the viera profile I have altered. Is the DAR 16:9 you suggested correct and in the right place?
Thanks again

<Profile id="viera2011a" name="Panasonic Viera G/GT/DT/UT/VT (2011/2012)" extendsProfileId="1">
<!-- Panasonic Viera G30, GT30, DT30, UT30 With avi (2011), xx50 (2012) With AVI Support -->
<Detection>
<UPnPSearch>
<FriendlyName>(VIERA (G|D|U)T?(3|5)0?.*)|(VIERA VT50.*)</FriendlyName>
<Manufacturer>Panasonic</Manufacturer>
</UPnPSearch>
</Detection>
<ContentDirectoryMessageBuilder>org.serviio.upnp.service.contentdirectory.PacketVideoDLNAMessageBuilder</ContentDirectoryMessageBuilder>
<SubtitlesMimeType>text/srt</SubtitlesMimeType>
<MediaFormatProfiles>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/divx">AVI</MediaFormatProfile>
</MediaFormatProfiles>
<Transcoding>
<!-- Transcode h264 videos with profile level > 4.1 to mpegts with ac3 audio -->
<Video targetContainer="mpegts" targetVCodec="mpeg2video" targetACodec="ac3" forceInheritance="true" DAR="16:9">
<Matches container="*" vCodec="h264" profile="high" levelGreaterThan="4.1" />
<Matches container="*" vCodec="h264" profile="main" levelGreaterThan="4.1" />
</Video>
<!-- remux VORBIS/FLAC/LPCM in MKV/MP4 to AC3 -->
<Video targetContainer="mpegts" targetACodec="ac3" forceInheritance="true">
<!-- Some models support DTS natively, so the folowing line can be removed for those -->
<Matches container="matroska" vCodec="h264" aCodec="dca" />
<Matches container="matroska" vCodec="h264" aCodec="flac" />
<Matches container="matroska" vCodec="h264" aCodec="vorbis" />
<Matches container="matroska" vCodec="h264" aCodec="truehd" />
<Matches container="mp4" vCodec="h264" aCodec="lpcm" />
<Matches container="mp4" vCodec="h264" aCodec="aac" />
<Matches container="3gp" vCodec="h264" />
</Video>
<!-- Remux MPEG-TS with no transcoding -->
<Video targetContainer="mpegts" forceInheritance="true">
<Matches container="avi" vCodec="h264" />
<Matches container="mp4" vCodec="h264" />
<Matches container="matroska" vCodec="mpeg2video" />
</Video>
<!-- Remux WTV files to MPEG-PS with no transcoding -->
<Video targetContainer="mpeg" forceInheritance="true">
<Matches container="wtv" />
</Video>
<!-- unsupported codecs will be transcoded into mpeg-ts, mpeg2 video and ac3 audio -->
<Video targetContainer="mpegts" targetVCodec="mpeg2video" targetACodec="ac3" forceInheritance="true">
<Matches container="avi" vCodec="mjpeg" />
<Matches container="avi" vCodec="dvvideo" />
<Matches container="mp4" vCodec="mjpeg" />
<Matches container="mp4" vCodec="mpeg4" />
<Matches container="mpeg" vCodec="mpeg1video" />
<Matches container="matroska" vCodec="mpeg4" />
<Matches container="matroska" vCodec="vp8" />
<Matches container="asf" />
<Matches container="flv" />
<Matches container="ogg" />
<Matches container="3gp" />
</Video>
<!-- unsupported audio will be transcoded into lpcm audio -->
<Audio targetContainer="lpcm" forceInheritance="true">
<Matches container="flac" />
<Matches container="ogg" />
<Matches container="asf" />
<Matches container="adts" />
</Audio>
</Transcoding>
</Profile>

Com'on guys we're almost there!

[jhb50]

And add

<Matches container="mp4" vCodec="h264" />

to that section because you said avc. mp4 were the ones needing the DAR correction.