Live TV Stream Forced Transcoding for Emby

[tmurphy2792]

Hello All!

So I've been googling this as well as asked for support over on the emby forums where I was informed this might be a better venue for seeking support.
I'm not a super advanced user, but I know enough to be dangerous, so hopefully I can detail enough here to get my question properly across.

Context:
I have Emby running on a terramaster NAS that is underpowered in CPU and unable to handle any transcoding. I'm running NPVR on a somewhat decent older windows PC that has a hauppage USB TV Tuner.

When connecting directly to NPVR through the web ui on any of my other devices it works beautifully and the NPVR host machine is able to transcode the video feed just fine per my transcode settings in the settings menu.
When I attempt to connect Emby to NPVR either directly through the NPVR plugin on emby, or by pointing to the M3U playlist, Emby receives the live stream in whatever native format it was broadcast in. From there if I connect a client device to Emby, it will only work if said client can ALSO handle that same native feed and all of the bandwidth required for it. If not the Emby server steps in and attempts to transcode, which results in either a crash or very broken up video as it stops to buffer frequently.

My question is this:
Is there a way to force NPVR to always transcode the feed to something more universally friendly like a lower bandwidth H.264 so that Emby is less likely to need to intervene?

In my searching for a solution I've found the config.xml file, and inside that I've found "<TranscodeHLS>" which seem promising, but I've been unable to find any documentation on what the options are for this value?


I would definitely appreciate any advice anyone can offer.

[mvallevand]

The solution would be to run Emby on the Windows PC. As you noted the m3u and the Emby plugin both do the same thing feed the live raw stream to Emby. With digital tuners there is no way around this.

Martin

[sub]

Is there a way to force NPVR to always transcode the feed to something more universally friendly like a lower bandwidth H.264 so that Emby is less likely to need to intervene?

Unfortunately there is not. The interface that Emby is using always supplies the native streams. It is not possible to get that method to transcode content.

Emby would need to be changed to instead use different NextPVR api to initiate transcoding, and read the transcoded stream etc. This is a lot more complicated though, and I think there is probably a near-zero chance that Emby will make that change for you.

As Martin said, your best option is to probably run the Emby server on the Windows PC, where it'll be capable of doing the transcode it needs.

[mvallevand]

When using low end backends it doesn't matter if it is NextPVR or Emby best bet is to use direct play clients. This really is only an issue on smart phones and some tablets.

For OTA you might also consider adding a TabloTV 2nd or 3rd generation to feed NextPVR. They transcode to h264/aac at the source. I just got a second one, an old dual tuner for $26 US on Kijiji.

Martin

[tmurphy2792]

Thanks guys, good to know it's not doable so I stop beating my head against the wall. lol

I've been contemplating migrating emby to better hardware. I guess this is the push I need. Although I may wait and use this as an excuse to build a proper media server machine, rather than just this old PC.


@mvallevand that's interesting, I thought Tablo was a closed system that didn't play well with others? How are you feeding NextPVR with it? Or are you just using something like tabloripper to rip over your recordings to NextPVR?

[mvallevand]

I wrote an add-on that feed NextPVR. Tablo is closed but not encrypted or hashed and when I read about Tablo ripper I figured I might be able to stream the same way as their browser client. Now that they are on a new generation I don't expect they will change this code but they could

Martin

[tmurphy2792]

I wrote an add-on that feed NextPVR.  Tablo is closed but not encrypted or hashed and when I read about Tablo ripper I figured I might be able to stream the same way as their browser client.  Now that they are on a new generation I don't expect they will change this code but they could

Martin

Thanks, good to know. I had been eyeing an HDHomeRun Extend (the one that transcodes) but looks like I'd be able to pick up even a 4th gen tablo a lot cheaper than one of those.

[mvallevand]

The Extend only transcodes video so the AC-3 audio still needs transcoding. NextPVR doesn't transcode audio only but Emby will.

My app won't work with the 4th Gen Tablo AFAIK. I can't buy one because even though the company is located in my hometown, they aren't sold in Canada. I haven't risked ordering one from the States because I don't know if it will even scan local channels. Having no PC browser app will make reverse engineering a little more difficult. I probably will drop into a BestBuy next time I am in bigger city, they are cheap enough.

Martin