Newbie question about transcoding

I am new to this DLNA game, having just bought a box to render stuff to the TV, and installed Serviio, which seems very good.

My basic question is, can someone define what is meant by transcoding? For instance, does transcoding only involve changing wrappers to fool renderers into playing content, or can the complete file format be changed so that a renderer can play a file type which is not native to that renderer?

Thanks for your time.

[moltra]

Transcoding is changing the file so the render can play it. It can consist of changing the Video or Audio Codec, or if can change the framerate, or even the resolution of the file.

Thank you for that clarification.

So if my 1080i (AC3,eng).m2ts file is being served by Serviio, yet my Renderer says it cant play the file, even though my profile is set to the correct device, what can I do? Is there a beginners guide to this stuff?

[Illico]

Transcoding is changing the file so the render can play it. It can consist of changing the Video or Audio Codec, or if can change the framerate, or even the resolution of the file.

Word "Transcoding" can also consist of simply re wrapping Video/Audio into a container that renderer can play without change on Video or Audio Codec : We use the word Remuxing.

[Illico]

So if my 1080i (AC3,eng).m2ts file is being served by Serviio, yet my Renderer says it cant play the file, even though my profile is set to the correct device, what can I do? Is there a beginners guide to this stuff?

We need informations about this media. see my signature links...
Provide "ffmpeg -i" result of your file, also provide "MediaInfo" tool result os this file.

As I said - beginner alert re video files... Where do I get those tools please?

[Illico]

As I said - beginner alert re video files... Where do I get those tools please?

See my signatures links:
HOWTO: Provide details of a video file that doesn't play
MediaInfo

Aha Thanks. Here you go...

Running on Windows 7 x64/x86, renderer is Sony SMB-N100 media streaming box.

Thing is, if I stick the file on a USB drive and plug it in to the renderer, it can play the file. What it cant do is stream it over DLNA, the preferred solution. Thi concurs with Sony's spec sheet here http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/sto ... ifications which says clearly "AVC-HD : Yes (USB)". ie not on DNLA.

Therefore I am pursuing whether it is possible to get Serviio to transcode this file into one of the formats acceptable to this box over DLNA? These appear to include:
DivX HD : Yes (USB and DLNA)- XviD
MPEG-1 : Yes (USB)- vob, vro, mpg, mpeg, m2ts, mts
MPEG : Yes (USB and DLNA)- vob, vro, mpg, mpeg, m2ts, mts

As I say, I am new to video transocding, but otherwise not new to techie things.

FFmpeg version UNKNOWN, Copyright (c) 2000-2011 the FFmpeg developers
built on Jan 10 2011 21:46:22 with gcc 4.4.2
configuration: --enable-static --disable-shared --disable-shared --disable-ffp
lay --disable-ffserver --enable-memalign-hack --enable-libmp3lame --arch=x86 --e
nable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-w32threads --target-os=mingw32 --cross-prefix=i
686-mingw32-
libavutil 50.36. 0 / 50.36. 0
libavcore 0.16. 0 / 0.16. 0
libavcodec 52.108. 0 / 52.108. 0
libavformat 52.92. 0 / 52.92. 0
libavdevice 52. 2. 3 / 52. 2. 3
libavfilter 1.72. 0 / 1.72. 0
libswscale 0.12. 0 / 0.12. 0
Input #0, mpegts, from 'Test.m2ts':
Duration: 03:28:50.32, start: 0.200000, bitrate: 10512 kb/s
Program 1
Stream #0.0[0x1518]: Video: h264, yuv420p, 1440x1080 [PAR 4:3 DAR 16:9], 28.
35 fps, 25 tbr, 90k tbn, 50 tbc
Stream #0.1[0x1519](eng): Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, stereo, s16, 192 kb/s
At least one output file must be specified

And the Mediainfo file


General
ID : 1 (0x1)
Complete name : D:\HD Video\F1 2011 Monaco Race\Test.m2ts
Format : BDAV
Format/Info : Blu-ray Video
File size : 15.3 GiB
Duration : 3h 28mn
Overall bit rate : 10.5 Mbps

Video
ID : 5400 (0x1518)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.0
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 4 frames
Codec ID : 27
Duration : 3h 28mn
Bit rate : 9 895 Kbps
Width : 1 440 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : MBAFF
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.255
Stream size : 14.4 GiB (94%)
Color primaries : BT.709-5, BT.1361, IEC 61966-2-4, SMPTE RP177
Transfer characteristics : BT.709-5, BT.1361
Matrix coefficients : BT.709-5, BT.1361, IEC 61966-2-4 709, SMPTE RP177

Audio
ID : 5401 (0x1519)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Mode extension : CM (complete main)
Codec ID : 6
Duration : 3h 28mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 192 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 287 MiB (2%)
Language : English

[Illico]

OK thanks,
Could you check on the serviio console, what is the profile selected for your Sony SMB-N100 device ?
Click on profile name, you can change the profile (list): select Sony Bravia or Sony BDP and retry.

[Illico]

Read about that:
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=2549&hilit=N100

[Illico]

Are you talking about SMP-N100 or SMB-N100 model
See the DLNA certification of SMP-N100 model

Moved to Sony Section...

[Illico]

Someone create a profile for SMP-N100 device (Need Test).
You can copy/paste the following into the profiles.xml file you found into Serviio\Config folder.

  Code:

<Profile id="14" name="Sony SMP-N100 Media Player" extendsProfileId="1">
      <Detection>
      <HttpHeaders>
         <X-AV-Client-Info>.*Media Player.*</X-AV-Client-Info>
      </HttpHeaders>   
      </Detection>
      <MediaFormatProfiles>
         <MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/divx">MATROSKA</MediaFormatProfile>
         <!-- rename native mpeg2ts with h264/ac3 ac3 formats to those supported by the tv -->
         <MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="AVC_TS_HD_50_AC3">AVC_TS_MP_HD_AC3</MediaFormatProfile>
         <MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="AVC_TS_HD_50_AC3">AVC_TS_MP_SD_AC3</MediaFormatProfile>
         <MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="AVC_TS_HD_50_AC3_T">AVC_TS_MP_HD_AC3_T</MediaFormatProfile>
         <MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" name="AVC_TS_HD_50_AC3_T">AVC_TS_MP_SD_AC3_T</MediaFormatProfile>
         <!-- rename transcoded mpeg2ts with h264 to one of the TV's supported profiles -->
         <MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/mpeg" name="AVC_TS_HD_50_AC3_ISO">AVC_TS_MP_HD_AC3_ISO</MediaFormatProfile>
         <MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/mpeg" name="AVC_TS_HD_50_AC3_ISO">AVC_TS_MP_SD_AC3_ISO</MediaFormatProfile>
         
      </MediaFormatProfiles>
      <Transcoding>
         <!-- First remux all h264 video on MPEG-TS stream with ac3 audio transcoding, expected profile AVC_TS_MP_HD_AC3_ISO or AVC_TS_MP_SD_AC3_ISO -->
         <Video targetContainer="mpegts" targetACodec="ac3">
            <Matches container="avi" vCodec="h264" />
            <Matches container="mp4" vCodec="h264" />
            <!-- if audio different to ac3, must be transcoded -->
            <Matches container="mpegts" aCodec="aac" />
            <Matches container="mpegts" aCodec="mp3" />
            <Matches container="mpegts" aCodec="dca" />
         </Video>
         <!-- All Others video/audio codec will be transcoded into mpeg2ts, mpeg2video and ac3 audio (MPEG_TS_SD_EU). -->
         <Video targetContainer="mpegts" targetVCodec="mpeg2video" targetACodec="ac3">
            <Matches container="asf" />
            <Matches container="avi" />
            <Matches container="mp4" />
         </Video>
      </Transcoding>
   </Profile>

Right. Now I am confused.

I as running on the Sony Bravia TV profile. At your request, I changed this to Sony BD. Then it would play the offending file, and several others which wouldn't play before. So as a control, I changed it back to Sony Bravia, stopped and started the Serviio server, and rebooted the Sony box, and it still played the offending files.

Something strange it going on. These files always failed before the profile change. Now they work on either profile. Nothing else has changed.

Can you explain that? Is Serviio smart? Does it learn as it goes?

But there is a problem. The offending file which I sent all the info for plays consistently at the WRONG aspect ratio. The TV is definitely zoomed to 16:9, the file is 16:9, but it plays at somewhere between 16:9 and 4:3 on the TV. Does that make any sense? Can it be 'fixed'?

Thanks I was aware of that thread, as I did some searching before posting. But it still doesn't resolve the issue, and it would seem the issue is resolvable from findings already in this thread, although there is still work to do.

Looks like the aspect ratio error is not Serviio's problem. I just copied the file to a USB drive and stuck it direct into the rederer (it can play the file type natively on USB - weird I know), and even like this the aspect ratio is played wrongly.

I just noticed that the sound is not working on the Sony either, so with the aspect ratio being wrong, this is not a fix, although at least the video plays now, which it didn't before.

When I serve the offending file to my laptop with XBMC doing the rendering, it plays fine, with the laptop on wired ethernet, but there is a lot of stopping and buffering going on every 5 seconds or so. It does however play with sound and at the correct aspect ratio with the XBMC renderer.

All the devices in your home networking over DLNA should be DLNA-Certified.
And the videos they share have a format-limited.
Checking this,maybe you will find some problem.
GOOD LUCK!