Option to force transcoding

[sks316]

Describe the feature you'd like

I'd like a feature in the Roku app that tells the server to transcode as opposed to directly playing the file, regardless of whether the client supports the original file.

Additional context

I ran into an issue today playing back a HEVC video with AAC 7.1 audio, namely that the video was playing but the audio was not. I suspect an incompatibility with the Roku device and the audio codec of this specific file, and I found that lowering the max bitrate enough to force transcoding fixed it, but it reduced the video quality to a point that I simply didn't want to watch it anymore. Evidently transcoding is solving my problem, so I'd like to suggest an option to force transcoding regardless of the codecs that the device says it supports, without drastic quality loss.

I know it's not an issue with the file, because it plays just fine on every other device.

[sks316]

Ran into an issue again today that would be resolved by this feature, the Roku client kept wanting to direct-play a video but it would continuously fail without even trying to transcode. None of the settings did anything, it kept giving me a non-descript error that said "An error was encountered while playing this item", and there was absolutely nothing in my server logs to help me diagnose the problem. The video played perfectly fine on every other client, including other Roku clients, it's just this one Roku client refusing to play it. Lowering the bitrate to 1 to force it to transcode resolved the issue, but again, reduced the quality to an almost-unwatchable point.

[cewert]

I understand your feature request and I don't see a problem with adding a user setting to force transcoding but wouldn't you rather the file direct play if possible? Less work for your jellyfin server, possibly better quality output, and one less setting to mess with and remember that you have turned on. A user setting to force transcoding would be more of a workaround and wouldn't address the underlying problem.

The video played perfectly fine on every other client, including other Roku clients, it's just this one Roku client refusing to play it.

Please provide as many details as possible about your roku device (model for working devices and model for device that doesn't work), the video file you are having trouble playing, and the audio device you are using. Are all the roku devices using the same speakers? Do all the roku devices have the same settings selected in the roku settings? Also, what version is your server on and what version of the rokuapp are you using?

[sks316]

I'd be perfectly fine with forcing transcoding actually, as far as I can see it's the only way to address the issue, and my server can handle it just fine.
The only device that doesn't work properly is a TCL 65S431 Roku TV, every other device in my household can play back the videos properly.
The Roku app is using the latest release version, as is the server. All settings are identical.

[sks316]

Didn't mean to close it, oops.

[sks316]

Video 1 is a movie, video is 1080p HEVC SDR and audio is AAC 7.1. The video plays fine, but the audio is totally silent, both on optical audio and through the onboard TV speakers.
Video 2 is a TV episode, with MPEG4 AVC video and DTS-HD master audio. The client refuses to play back the video at all and fails with a non-descript error, and nothing helpful is stored in my server logs.
The client doesn't even try to transcode either case until I lower the bitrate client-side.

[sks316]

I've talked with individuals in the Matrix troubleshooting community, and they believe it to be a device failure: The device is improperly reporting its playback capabilities to the client, which then tells the server that the device can play codecs that, in reality, it doesn't support. When the client tries to play an unsupported codec, it obviously fails, but because the client thinks the device can play codecs it doesn't support, it doesn't even try to transcode and instead displays a nondescript error.
One member of the troubleshooting community says they've seen this before, both on Roku and on Android TV, and in my opinion, the best fix or workaround is to add an option to the client to force transcoding, regardless of the device's reported capabilities.

[cewert]

I've talked with individuals in the Matrix troubleshooting community, and they believe it to be a device failure: The device is improperly reporting its playback capabilities to the client, which then tells the server that the device can play codecs that, in reality, it doesn't support. When the client tries to play an unsupported codec, it obviously fails, but because the client thinks the device can play codecs it doesn't support, it doesn't even try to transcode and instead displays a nondescript error. One member of the troubleshooting community says they've seen this before, both on Roku and on Android TV, and in my opinion, the best fix or workaround is to add an option to the client to force transcoding, regardless of the device's reported capabilities.

Yes, that's totally possible and I agree this would be the best workaround but what if it's being caused by a bug in our code? It would be nice to fix the root cause of the problem if possible. There may be other users experiencing the same problem as you that don't want to transcode for whatever reason.

[cewert]

The only device that doesn't work properly is a TCL 65S431 Roku TV, every other device in my household can play back the videos properly.

Can you goto Home -> Settings -> System -> About and tell me the model and software version listed please? I don't know how to figure out the roku device model from a TV.

[sks316]

TCL model: 65S431
Hardware ID: C141X
Serial number: X000003JUA0N
Software version: 11.5.0 - build 4312-93

I don't believe it to be a bug with your code, otherwise one could assume it would be present on most other Roku devices.

[natzilllla]

Hello, recently I'm also seeing my Roku device being unable to transcode 7.1 aac. It used to get picked up that it doesn't support aac 7.1 and transcode the audio which was fine with me.

My Roku device is the streaming stick

Model: 3820x - streaming stick 4k
Software: 11.5.0 * build 4312-cu

I have two of these streaming sticks and they both exhibit the same issue. I don't want to necessarily force transcode all audio, but I hope this can help find out what's triggered the behavior on aac 7.1

Note: aac 5.1 is recognized and transcoded like normal in my testing.

[cewert]

@natzilllla do you know what version of the app that 7.1 aac files last worked?

[natzilllla]

@natzilllla do you know what version of the app that 7.1 aac files last worked?

It might have been four versions ago. I'm basing this off my memory of the update notify screen.