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this post was submitted on 22 Jan 2025
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Jellyfin: The Free Software Media System
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Ditto, but only because it seems more reliable than the windows client. I didn't bother submitting a bug report because I can't properly articulate the issue.
I believe Ditto has a decent amount of security problems. I wouldn't use it personally.
Hah
I mostly use Jellyfin on Firefox, except on My Steam Deck where the JMP worked better in gaming mode.
Also, for Music I use Finamp everywhere, Desktop and Mobile!
Firefox. It direct streams almost everything, and the rare media it doesn't, the server transcodes fast enough to not matter.
Does it support playing mkv's? I see container not supported and it transcodes.
I experience the same, which is why I switched to Jellyfin Desktop Client to aboid transcoding load on my server.
Is it definitely transcoding? JF can remix without transcoding iirc.
Everything I play has "The container is not supported". I use mkv's mostly. In this example, the audio codec is not supported as well.
Interesting
I wonder if it only displays the first reason for having to mess with the stream, e.g., if it's really that it's an unsupported container, video, and audio codec.
Possible to try playing an h264 mkv (maybe Big Buck Bunny)? Since your screenshot is h265 I wonder if it indeed needs to transcode because that's unsupported (in addition to mkv).
Big Buck Bunny direct plays. It's a .mp4 container and h264, so that likely has to do with it. My understanding was most people would be using h265 mkv files for content that's 1080p or higher. It plays fine on Google Chrome and Edge, but not Firefox, so I'm a bit confused how people can be using Firefox and not have transcoding, unless they avoid h265 and mkv.
I would bet that if you remux BBB to an mkv and play that through JF, it won't transcode
I think it will just remux it back to mp4. Just a guess...
Jellyfin to MPV Shim.
This is the way. Web client to MPV Shim for local playback.
This. mpv with uosc (UI) is great and scrubbing feels much smoother than in browser.
Yeeeee. I think this is because browser playback requires transcoding, where as MPV is like VLC, in that it can play all the file types and codecs.
Desktop client? I just use Firefox.
What I really want is a client I can run on a LG TV, but I figure I’ll need to buy a Nvidia shield or AWS Firestick.
Not sure which tv you have, but there is a webos client that works well. It'll occasionally decide to transcode atmos stuff instead of direct streaming but restarting the movie once or twice gets it to play nice.
Do you use mpv shim? How do you avoid transcoding? In my opinion, that is why we can't rely on the browser client and require a dedicated application.
I also simply watch in my browser when on desktop.
If it needs to transcode, then it transcodes. I don't see the need to put extra effort in trying to avoid it.
What settings are you using under Playback -> Transcoding? Have you changed anything?
My server has a AMD Ryzen 9 5950X and a single transcode about maxes it out on CPU usage. Even when playing a 1080p file. This can't be normal if others are just "dealing" with transcodes, unless everyone is using hardware acceleration. I'm using Firefox as the client.
Edit: I did turn off Allow encoding in HEVC format and Allow encoding in AV1 format and things are a bit better. Still not sure how people avoid transcoding on Firefox though.
What settings are you using under Playback -> Transcoding?
i shoved a cheap used nvidia card into my machine and now transcode isn’t an issue - $20, problem solved and now it’s a solved problem for pretty much any weird format
unless everyone is using hardware acceleration
I think that's what (almost) everyone does. My little N100 works just fine with QSV.
Intel processor N100? Isn't hardware acceleration for GPUs? Or am I misunderstanding.
Isn’t hardware acceleration for GPUs?
Not necessarily, in this case they're referring to Intel's QuickSync (Video) - or QSV for short, which is Intel's way of doing video encoding/decoding on dedicated hardware in the CPU. On the AMD side, there is Video Core Next although I'm not very well versed with the video encode/decode side of things so I'm not sure how it stacks up with QSV.
Unfortunately, Video Core Next isn't listed in Jellyfin's hardware acceleration list. I tried AMD iGPU passthrough with VA-API, but ran into issues. It seems I need to figure out:
- How are people on Firefox not having to transcode? Do they just not use mkv's or h265? Looking at the documentation, Firefox will need to do transcode, which lines up with what I'm seeing on my end.
- I need to figure out how to get iGPU to work so transcoding doesn't hurt the server so much.
AMD Ryzen 9 5950X
Does that even have an APU? I don't think it would have any transcoding hardware without one.
You may be right going off this.
Also this is hilarious:
Looks like I'll be looking into a dedicated gpu, and AMD isn't recommended, so it'll be Nvidia.
Before you run off and get Nvidia, take serious consideration of the Intel ARC line. They're relatively cheap and have great transcoding performance. They're supported by Linux out of the box, and I had no problem getting docker passthrough enabled. Unlike Nvidia the drivers don't have built-in limits for how many simultaneous streams you can transcode.
Yeah, I've started looking into ARC as that looks like what Jellyfin supports the best. Would you mind telling me what ARC you are using and how many simultaneous transcodes you've been able to handle? It looks like the Pro A-Series is the best.
I have an A380, but I bet an A310 would also do the job fine.
I've never actually tested the performance of simultaneous transcodes. However, my server generally sees 2-5 active users on a busy night, and nobody has complained about buffering so far.
Nothing fancy installed, maybe it transcodes IDK? Both client and server have decently fast CPUs and it just works.
Delfin on desktop linux. Official app on android and android tv with mpv as external player.
I've been using Fladder on my steam deck, it allows downloading for offline play. Works pretty well but the interface is too mobile centric IMO.
There was Jellyflix which had a similar feature but it wasn't straightforward to get running on Linux. Haven't checked it since!
Kodi
The jellyfin plugin is great but it doesn't have the ability to cast from another device AFAIK.