Universal Media Server | Forum

I have had a problem but only since version 6.4.0. Previous versions going back to 5.5.0 did not have this issue.
Some files which previously always played could not play since 6.4.0.
From the trace logs, this is a sample of one of the files "Argo.mpg"

Part of 6.4.0 log (not working)
TRACE 2016-07-06 17:59:52.451 [New I/O worker #1] Matched format MPG to "/home/media_mnt/Videos/Movies/Argo.mpg"
TRACE 2016-07-06 17:59:52.453 [New I/O worker #1] Adding new child "Argo.mpg" with class "net.pms.dlna.RealFile"
TRACE 2016-07-06 17:59:52.453 [New I/O worker #1] File "Argo.mpg" will be forced to skip transcoding by configuration
TRACE 2016-07-06 17:59:52.453 [New I/O worker #1] Getting player for resource "Argo.mpg"
TRACE 2016-07-06 17:59:52.453 [New I/O worker #1] Returning compatible player "FFmpeg"
TRACE 2016-07-06 17:59:52.453 [New I/O worker #1] This video does not have subtitles
TRACE 2016-07-06 17:59:52.453 [New I/O worker #1] File "Argo.mpg" will not be streamed because the bitrate (21684074) is too high (12500000).
TRACE 2016-07-06 17:59:52.453 [New I/O worker #1] Final verdict: "Argo.mpg" will be transcoded with player "FFmpeg" with mime type "video/mpeg"
TRACE 2016-07-06 17:59:52.454 [New I/O worker #1] Adding "Argo.mpg" to transcode folder for player: "FFmpeg"
TRACE 2016-07-06 17:59:52.454 [New I/O worker #1] Adding new child "Argo" with class "net.pms.dlna.FileTranscodeVirtualFolder"

Part of 6.3.2 log (working)
TRACE 2016-07-06 18:05:22.149 [New I/O worker #1] Matched format MPG to "/home/media_mnt/Videos/Movies/Argo.mpg"
TRACE 2016-07-06 18:05:22.299 [New I/O worker #1] Parsing results for file "Argo.mpg": container: mpegps, bitrate: 21684074, size: 1268843576, video tracks: 1, audio tracks: 1, video codec: mpeg1, duration: 00:07:48.00, width: 352, height: 288, frame rate: 25.000, mime type: video/mpeg, attached fonts: false
Audio track id: 192, lang: und, audio codec: mpa, sample frequency:44100, number of channels: 2, bits per sample: 16
TRACE 2016-07-06 18:05:22.301 [New I/O worker #1] Adding new child "Argo.mpg" with class "net.pms.dlna.RealFile"
TRACE 2016-07-06 18:05:22.301 [New I/O worker #1] File "Argo.mpg" will be forced to skip transcoding by configuration
TRACE 2016-07-06 18:05:22.301 [New I/O worker #1] Getting player for resource "Argo.mpg"
TRACE 2016-07-06 18:05:22.301 [New I/O worker #1] Returning compatible player "FFmpeg"
TRACE 2016-07-06 18:05:22.301 [New I/O worker #1] This video does not have subtitles
TRACE 2016-07-06 18:05:22.301 [New I/O worker #1] Final verdict: "Argo.mpg" will be streamed
TRACE 2016-07-06 18:05:22.302 [New I/O worker #1] Adding "Argo.mpg" to transcode folder for player: "null"
TRACE 2016-07-06 18:05:22.302 [New I/O worker #1] Adding new child "Argo" with class "net.pms.dlna.FileTranscodeVirtualFolder"

If I modify the renderer conf file to include: "MaxVideoBitrateMbps = 100" it will then play in version 6.4.0 though.

Is this the proper way to fix the issue or is their something else at play here?

Thanks

I think I have found the issue.
It is the new renderer config setting "HalveBitrate" which has a default of "true"
If I set this to "false", I can set "MaxVideoBitrateMbps = 50" which is the default and videos play as they did in previous versions.

Hi boss, you're right that that is what caused the issue for you, but it was really a bug that was fixed. It just happens that the bug worked for you by masking an issue with transcoding - in 6.3.2 the file was being streamed while in 6.4.0 it was being correctly transcoded because the video bitrate exceeded your network bitrate.

Can you let me know what happens when you try to play that file? It seems like FFmpeg is trying to transcode the file and succeeding, so does any file that requires transcoding fail for you?

Hi SubJunk,

Thanks for the reply.

If I am understanding your question correctly, you are asking the outcome now that I have set HalveBitrate = false.

The file "Argo.mpg" does play now but is not being transcoded.
From logs: TRACE 2016-07-14 08:52:20.332 [New I/O worker #2] File "Argo.mpg" will be forced to skip transcoding by configuration

What appears to have happened is that prior to 6.4.0, UMS was not trying to transcode the file and it played fine.
At 6.4.0 UMS was trying to transcode the file and it failed as per my previous log attachment.
By setting HalveBitrate = false in 6.4.0, UMS does not try to transcode the file and it plays fine again.

I am using 2 x LG BP550 Blu Ray players to play the media. These players can natively play quite a lot of media types and possibly most files are just being streamed.
I do have a few movie files that don't play and if I go to the #--TRANSCODE--# folder and choose "No transcoding" just about all of these movie files will play.

When using UMS, it chooses "LG-LA6200.conf" as the renderer configuration. This is actually for a LG TV.
The "LG-LA6200.conf" file is default except for the following which allows me to watch about 50% of the FLV files I have:
Supported = f:flv v:divx|h264|mjpeg|mp4|mpeg1|mpeg2|vc1|vp6|wmv a:aac|aac-he|ac3|dts|eac3|lpcm|mp3|wma m:video/x-flv

The FLV files which won't play are of the following type:
Video tracks: ON2 VP6
Audio tracks: MP3 1.0

The full log from 6.4.0 with HalveBitrate = false is attached while playing Argo.mpg.
I am happy to do any further testing you require.

Cheers

Please try transcoding a file using this version and let me know how it works http://www.universalmediaserver.com/upl ... cfab38.tgz
After we have transcoding working for that device we can just add HalveBitrate=false to the config

Hi SubJunk,

I have installed the trial version of 6.4.1.
Everything is default as it was sent and it is using the LG-BP550.conf renderer file that you created. Thanks for the LG Blu Ray conf files.

The file we had been testing (Argo.mpg) is playing now and seems to be transcoding.
Some other files though cause the Blu Ray player to freeze (the movie does not start) and the only way to fix is to actually remove the power from the Blu Ray player and plug back in. When this freezing occurs, the power switch on the remote or on the actual Blu Ray player has no effect.

One of the files is "12 Years A Slave.mpg".

The attached zip file has 2 debug logs.
Argo_debug.txt (test file which seems to be transcoding now)
12_Years_A_Salve_debug.txt (one of the files which makes the Blu Ray player freeze)

I appreciate you help with this matter.

Hi Boss, I've fixed some bugs that may be affecting you but first can you try setting TranscodeFastStart to true in the renderer config file (renderers/LG-BP550.conf) and see if that makes a difference to the freezing?

Hi SubJunk,

I added "TranscodeFastStart = true" to the renderer LG-BP550.conf file and the file which caused the freezing before (12 Years A Slave.mpg), played without causing the Blu Ray player to freeze. I also tried a selection of another 11 movie files (mpg, avi, mp4, mkv) and these played fine. I didn't play the entire movie though but just about 5 minutes of each one as a test.

Thanks for your support and working through these issues with me.

Please let me say that previously I tried every media server program for Linux I could find and UMS was the one I liked best by far.

I am not sure if my server hardware might also be on the light side and causing issues but for what it is worth I am running:
HP N54L Micro Server.
AMD Turion II Neo N54L (2.2GHz)
2GB Ram
1GB LAN

Cheers

Hi boss, thanks for the feedback, I'm really glad you like UMS the most
Here is a build that should be working well for you: http://www.universalmediaserver.com/upl ... e53338.tgz

Hi SubJunk,

I tried the new version and tested all the 56 movies that I had. (just a 2 minute test on each)
They all played fine except one AVI file which displayed the message "unsupported file format". That was a message from my Blu Ray player I am sure.
But, 16 other AVI files played fine.

With the one which wouldn't play, I went into the TRANSCODE folder and found it would play using [FFmpeg] (Audio MP3)

Thanks for your assistance and work with this matter.