Transcoding Hi10P - Green Screen

Third Party Apps & Tools
1

Hi,

I have a lot of anime in my library which is encoded as 10 bit video. I wouldn’t mind downloading 8 bit but for most releases this isn’t available and I am too much of a noob to re-encode them properly myself. Normally I have no issues with any of my files, however today I have had an issue with multiple files and multiple times while playing them.

When I start the playback it will say 10 bit is too high so it is encoding to 8 bit, which is fine. This shows that it’s not trying to directly play 10 bit (which works btw but has lower quality and artifacts). The playback itself is smooth, I don’t notice any quality degradation and everything is perfectly in sync.

Randomly during playback my screen will turn entirely green. Audio is fine during this period and I can see SOMETHING is happening but I have no idea what. Just as sudden as it appeared it disappears and I’m back to normal again. I will insert an example picture and list my setup below as well.

Thanks in advance for any help!

I am running Plex Media Server 1.2.7.2987 on Windows 10 Pro 64 bit.
Using an i7-3930K CPU overclocked to 4.40GHz with 32GB 1600MHz RAM.
My GPU is an NVIDIA GTX980 and everything is hooked up to 1 gigabit router.
Rasplex is running on a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B hooked up to a Panasonic TX50-CX680.

I’m using the following settings within Rasplex (might be too much info):

Playback - Advanced Video

Adjust display refresh rate - Always
Sync playback to display - Enabled
A/V Sync method - Resample audio
Video render method - Auto detect (can’t change it)
Allow hardware acceleration - OMXPlayer - Enabled
Allow hardware acceleration - MMAL- Enabled

Network - Quality

Cache Size - 5%
Local video quality - Direct Play
Force Transcode - Disabled
Direct Play HEVC up to - 1080p

During playback - Video Settings

Deinterlace Video - Auto
Deinterlace method - Auto Select
View Mode - Original Size

As for Plex Media Server itself, these are the Transcoder settings:

Transcoder quality - Automatic
Segmented transcoder timeout - 20
Transcoder default duration - 120
Transcoder default throttle buffer - 60
Background transcoding x264 preset - Very fast
Maximum simultaneous video transcode - Unlimited

2

I forgot to mention my Rasplex version is RasPlex-1.6.2.123-e23a7eef-RPi2.

3

LOL
Rasplex…
I recommend getting a real Plex Client player first off.
I NEVER was able to get my Pi3 with Rasplex CAT6 connected to play anything with any modicum of performance or reliability…
(Pi3 would not even play PlexWeb in firefox worth a damn… Tried it both ways PlexWeb and Rasplex.)
Oh and I even tried OverClocking the Pi3 as well.

With that being said… It could have been my lacking Tech Skills LOL

I gave up and bought a Roku 4. NO Regrets!!! Works flawlessly and even Direct Plays my 4K content.

I am gonna take my Pi3 and Arduino boards and make a Weather Station using one-wire sensors.
Or a Morse to Text / Text to Morse converter for my Radio Station KK6UAN.
Those, for me, are much more fun and reasonable expectation for my little Pi… LOL

4

Not to be rude, but my Rasplex works absolutely fine for any content aside from 10 bit video. I can play TV shows, movies and 8 bit anime perfectly fine up to 4K resolution without breaking a sweat or having any type of stuttering in Rasplex.

Keep in mind that Rasplex is merely a client, Plex Media Server does all the work server side. In my case it’s my PC that does all the hard work like transcoding, Rasplex merely receives the streams.

Anyway I’d like to see constructive answers to the problem and not “just buy something else”. That’s not the issue.

NOTE
I’ve also tested the Plex web player in Google Chrome and it works perfectly fine, no green screen issues at all even though it is transcoding just as it does with Rasplex. This leads to me to believe the issue is within Rasplex.

1 Like
5

What its the codec information of the video that shows the error?

I had some problems with a 10bit videos but it was never a deal breaker and I have the transcode settings for best quality. I don´t notice any artifacts and passing from 10bits to 8 bits but you could also hit a bottleneck reproducing flac audio as it can take a lot of bandwith, on the procesor or in the network (specially if you have it over wifi but it shouldnt be the case)

Yes, sounds like you need to remux your videos to a compatible format for rasplex. Handbrake isn´t hard to use or you can just get plexpass and have Plex optimise it for you. That way you can keep both copies and have a tight control of the quality.

6

@Codyksp
Sorry… My bad.

As I said, it’s probably my lack of Tech skills and knowledge.

7

@videotecaCNSU said:
What its the codec information of the video that shows the error?

I had some problems with a 10bit videos but it was never a deal breaker and I have the transcode settings for best quality. I don´t notice any artifacts and passing from 10bits to 8 bits but you could also hit a bottleneck reproducing flac audio as it can take a lot of bandwith, on the procesor or in the network (specially if you have it over wifi but it shouldnt be the case)

Yes, sounds like you need to remux your videos to a compatible format for rasplex. Handbrake isn´t hard to use or you can just get plexpass and have Plex optimise it for you. That way you can keep both copies and have a tight control of the quality.

I’m not entirely sure what you mean, but below is all the information I have. Also I have looked at handbrake before but I have no idea what settings to use, I don’t want to lose any quality whatsoever.

I should also note that I haven’t had this issue before with any of my 10 bit files, and I have roughly 1500 of them… This would make me believe the source itself is bad, but the web player works just fine. That’s why I think it’'s a Rasplex issue.

General
Unique ID                                : 241065071509023815451513709644356595094 (0xB55B71A871C5BD3AB5ED61A7491D2D96)
Complete name                            : E:\Anime\Machine-Doll wa Kizutsukanai (2013)\Unbreakable Machine-Doll - 01 - Facing Cannibal Candy I.mkv
Format                                   : Matroska
Format version                           : Version 4 / Version 2
File size                                : 1.34 GiB
Duration                                 : 23 min 40 s
Overall bit rate mode                    : Variable
Overall bit rate                         : 8 121 kb/s
Encoded date                             : UTC 2016-11-07 02:24:21
Writing application                      : mkvmerge v9.4.2 ('So High') 64bit
Writing library                          : libebml v1.3.4 + libmatroska v1.4.5
Attachments                              : Diverda Sans Com Medium.ttf / Kane.ttf / Significante.ttf / Diverda Sans Com Medium Italics_0.ttf

Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : High 10@L5.1
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames                : 16 frames
Codec ID                                 : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration                                 : 23 min 40 s
Bit rate                                 : 7 377 kb/s
Width                                    : 1 920 pixels
Height                                   : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 10 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.148
Stream size                              : 1.22 GiB (91%)
Title                                    : 10bit H.264 - 1080p
Writing library                          : x264 core 140 r2377kMod 1ca7bb9
Encoding settings                        : cabac=1 / ref=16 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=umh / subme=11 / psy=1 / fade_compensate=0.00 / psy_rd=0.70:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=32 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=0 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=18 / lookahead_threads=4 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / fgo=0 / bframes=16 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=60 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=14.5000 / qcomp=0.80 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=81 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=3:0.82
Language                                 : Japanese
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : No
Color range                              : Limited
Color primaries                          : BT.709
Transfer characteristics                 : BT.709
Matrix coefficients                      : BT.709

Audio
ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : FLAC
Format/Info                              : Free Lossless Audio Codec
Codec ID                                 : A_FLAC
Duration                                 : 23 min 40 s
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Bit rate                                 : 739 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel positions                        : Front: L R
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                               : 11.719 FPS (4096 spf)
Bit depth                                : 16 bits
Stream size                              : 125 MiB (9%)
Title                                    : 2.0 FLAC
Writing library                          : libFLAC 1.3.0 (UTC 2013-05-26)
Language                                 : Japanese
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : No

Text
ID                                       : 3
Format                                   : ASS
Codec ID                                 : S_TEXT/ASS
Codec ID/Info                            : Advanced Sub Station Alpha
Duration                                 : 23 min 25 s
Bit rate                                 : 216 b/s
Count of elements                        : 479
Compression mode                         : Lossless
Stream size                              : 37.1 KiB (0%)
Title                                    : FFF
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : No

Menu
00:00:00.033                             : en:Prologue
00:03:58.000                             : en:Part A
00:13:05.010                             : en:Part B
00:22:04.010                             : en:Ending
00:23:35.010                             : en:Preview
8

@Codyksp said:

@videotecaCNSU said:
What its the codec information of the video that shows the error?

I had some problems with a 10bit videos but it was never a deal breaker and I have the transcode settings for best quality. I don´t notice any artifacts and passing from 10bits to 8 bits but you could also hit a bottleneck reproducing flac audio as it can take a lot of bandwith, on the procesor or in the network (specially if you have it over wifi but it shouldnt be the case)

Yes, sounds like you need to remux your videos to a compatible format for rasplex. Handbrake isn´t hard to use or you can just get plexpass and have Plex optimise it for you. That way you can keep both copies and have a tight control of the quality.

I’m not entirely sure what you mean, but below is all the information I have. Also I have looked at handbrake before but I have no idea what settings to use, I don’t want to lose any quality whatsoever.

I should also note that I haven’t had this issue before with any of my 10 bit files, and I have roughly 1500 of them… This would make me believe the source itself is bad, but the web player works just fine. That’s why I think it’'s a Rasplex issue.

HI10P is not supported on the rPi3 (8bit color depth max and HEVC is only supported at 720p btw). The GPU doens’t have instructions for it and the CPU isn’t powerful enough for software decoding of it.

The green screen you’re seeing is video data has come into the hw decoder that cannot be decoded properly and is being displayed as a green video output. You could try things like disabling HW decoder and forcing the transcode in PMS, or optimizing the video in Plex. Transcoding in realtime does change the quality though, so you’re not watching in the original quality anyway.

I would recommend though, that you probably look into getting a client hardware that supports the Hi10P color depth you want to view instead of trying to tweak a system that’s not made to play it. You’ll just end up fixing one problem and causing another in my experience.

9

@benjaminwolf said:

HI10P is not supported on the rPi3 (8bit color depth max and HEVC is only supported at 720p btw). The GPU doens’t have instructions for it and the CPU isn’t powerful enough for software decoding of it.

The green screen you’re seeing is video data has come into the hw decoder that cannot be decoded properly and is being displayed as a green video output. You could try things like disabling HW decoder and forcing the transcode in PMS, or optimizing the video in Plex. Transcoding in realtime does change the quality though, so you’re not watching in the original quality anyway.

I would recommend though, that you probably look into getting a client hardware that supports the Hi10P color depth you want to view instead of trying to tweak a system that’s not made to play it. You’ll just end up fixing one problem and causing another in my experience.

I only have 1 season of a TV show in HECV format, but as you said it doesn’t run well (stutters). Even though nothing is maxed out on the Raspberry, but I will just avoid that format for now. Most files are still AVC.

Why would the HW decoder on my Raspberry be active for 10 bit? I thought PMS handled everything through transcoding using my PC’s hardware and then sends it on to Rasplex for viewing.

I will try disabling the HW decoder, I don’t know how to force transcode in PMS. I am pretty sure it already does this as I can see the process “PlexTranscoder” running on my PC during playback of these files.

None of my other roughly 1500 10 bit files have given me any problems so far, so why this one all of a sudden? Also what hardware would you recommend for use with PMS that I can hookup just like the Raspberry?

10

I suggest a Roku 3 or 4.
They work beautifully.
BUT don’t bite my head off as you did before… LOL
John

11

Well I have played the same file with both HW decoders disabled, and it runs without any issues now. The only thing is that the CPU will sometimes shoot up and I am also seeing a yellow/orange square in my top right corner sometimes, is this a CPU/overheat warning?

You can see the icon and the stats in the picture below.

Also any of my movies and probably higher bit rate videos play like absolute crap with the HW decoders disabled. What I don’t understand is why none of my other 10 bit videos have shown this issue before, why suddenly now? I would assume that if PMS is transcoding to 8 bit and Rasplex is receiving 8 bit 1080p video it should be a breeze, what gives?

Also the main issue I have with a Roku is that it’s filled with tons of extra’s that I will never use. Aside from that I am not 100% sure that device can play 10 bit video at 1080p either.

12

UR Right. I do not think Roku can play 10bit. Not sure.
I did not even think PMS could use 10Bit as ffmpeg does not support that I do not think. Not sure.

LOL. I never use my Roku for anything but Plex. It is a beautiful UI and a Very Solid Performer.
One thing a Roku does for me is… It takes all the bytehead stuff out of making things work. It plays my PMS flawlessly right out of the box…
I also enjoy my Pi very much for just doing that… ie. playing with Bytehead stuff not my main entertainment device. Been there done that… Just ddn’t need the headaches and it made me hate the Pi for a while LOL

13

@Codyksp said:
Well I have played the same file with both HW decoders disabled, and it runs without any issues now. The only thing is that the CPU will sometimes shoot up and I am also seeing a yellow/orange square in my top right corner sometimes, is this a CPU/overheat warning?

Yes, it’s letting you know it’s being throttled for overheat.

“This indicates that the Pi 3 is throttling CPU speed due to thermal limitations. There is a graceful reduction in ARM clockspeeds if the SoC exceeds 80°C and during this time a yellow square icon is rendered on-screen. Idle clockspeeds (600MHz) are forced if the SoC hits 85°C. If this is an issue for your application, buy a heatsink - even a small one will likely prevent throttling.”

Also any of my movies and probably higher bit rate videos play like absolute crap with the HW decoders disabled. What I don’t understand is why none of my other 10 bit videos have shown this issue before, why suddenly now? I would assume that if PMS is transcoding to 8 bit and Rasplex is receiving 8 bit 1080p video it should be a breeze, what gives?

During transcode, OpenPHT plays what PMS sends it.

Also the main issue I have with a Roku is that it’s filled with tons of extra’s that I will never use. Aside from that I am not 100% sure that device can play 10 bit video at 1080p either.

The Roku’s are PMP with a couple extra features. If you’re looking for a cheap Hi10P compatible client, look at the Odroid C2 or WeTek Hub.They have HW decoding for H265 and 10bit color depth.

14

If this is the only series that gives me trouble I will just watch it with the HW decoding disabled, everything else so far has 0 issues, so maybe there is some kind of corruption in the files (that doesn’t explain why the web player works though).

If I run into this problem with other series as well then I will look at an alternative device, but for now it’s not that big of an issue. The other devices also seem to lack support in comparison to the Pi which makes me a bit doubtful to try them out.

I have no idea what PMP stands for right now, but will the Roku play Hi10P and H265 up to 4K?

The Odroid C2 seems like the easiest choice but the support is lacking and it’s only a slight upgrade to the Pi. The WeTek hub seems to be better hardware wise but also lacks some support. Both devices also seem to run mostly with LibreELEC which means switching back to KODI, personally I prefer Plex a lot more due it’s customisation of the library, something KODI lacks.

15

@Codyksp said:
I have no idea what PMP stands for right now, but will the Roku play Hi10P and H265 up to 4K?

Plex Media Player. It’s the official Plex Inc client. I don’t own a Roku 4 so I cannot confirm anything.

The Odroid C2 seems like the easiest choice but the support is lacking and it’s only a slight upgrade to the Pi. The WeTek hub seems to be better hardware wise but also lacks some support. Both devices also seem to run mostly with LibreELEC which means switching back to KODI, personally I prefer Plex a lot more due it’s customisation of the library, something KODI lacks.

The Odroid C2 and Wetek Hub are based off the same Amlogic 905 chipset. OpenPHT is very similar on both. C2 base is slightly less expense, but geared for to developers, and WeTek is more a refined plug-in-play experience. You should check out the pertinent threads over on the OpenPHT sub.

Rasplex/OpenPHT is still based on LibreELEC. The OpenPHT team merges code every build.

16

@benjaminwolf said:

The Odroid C2 and Wetek Hub are based off the same Amlogic 905 chipset. OpenPHT is very similar on both. C2 base is slightly less expense, but geared for to developers, and WeTek is more a refined plug-in-play experience. You should check out the pertinent threads over on the OpenPHT sub.

Rasplex/OpenPHT is still based on LibreELEC. The OpenPHT team merges code every build.

I’ll see how things go for now, as the problem is sort of solved. From what I understand though it should be possible to run Rasplex and/or OpenPHT on those devices? I’m not sure if these are separate pieces of software are that they come together.

17

@Codyksp said:

@benjaminwolf said:

The Odroid C2 and Wetek Hub are based off the same Amlogic 905 chipset. OpenPHT is very similar on both. C2 base is slightly less expense, but geared for to developers, and WeTek is more a refined plug-in-play experience. You should check out the pertinent threads over on the OpenPHT sub.

Rasplex/OpenPHT is still based on LibreELEC. The OpenPHT team merges code every build.

I’ll see how things go for now, as the problem is sort of solved. From what I understand though it should be possible to run Rasplex and/or OpenPHT on those devices? I’m not sure if these are separate pieces of software are that they come together.

Yes. Rasplex is just the rPi version of OpenPHT.

18

@Codyksp said:
Also what hardware would you recommend for use with PMS that I can hookup just like the Raspberry?

I’m guessing the new files also need to transcode the audio as well as the video and that’s why you’re seeing problems.

At any rate there is no native hardware that decodes HI10P. You need a really fast processor to do that and the RPi cannot do it. If it were me I would look at a Rockchip 3229 or 3399 based device (Probably the latter as it’s 8-core as opposed to the former which is 4-core). Something like alibaba.com/product-detail/2017-4Gb-Ram-16Gb-Rom-Android_60547708106.html?s=p. This is an Android box so you would just use the Plex for Android player. Note that I don’t have one of these so can’t say for sure that it will work for your video’s but it’s the only thing I can find that would come close. Let us know if you try one.

Turns out that the 3399 is a hex core.

19

Here is another box using the S912 chipset - geekbuying.com/item/MECOOL-BB2-Android-6-0-Amlogic-S912-KODI-17-0-TV-BOX-371022.html?source=ShareAsale

20

@Valdhor said:

@Codyksp said:
Also what hardware would you recommend for use with PMS that I can hookup just like the Raspberry?

I’m guessing the new files also need to transcode the audio as well as the video and that’s why you’re seeing problems.

At any rate there is no native hardware that decodes HI10P. You need a really fast processor to do that and the RPi cannot do it. If it were me I would look at a Rockchip 3229 or 3399 based device (Probably the latter as it’s 8-core as opposed to the former which is 4-core). Something like alibaba.com/product-detail/2017-4Gb-Ram-16Gb-Rom-Android_60547708106.html?s=p. This is an Android box so you would just use the Plex for Android player. Note that I don’t have one of these so can’t say for sure that it will work for your video’s but it’s the only thing I can find that would come close. Let us know if you try one.

Turns out that the 3399 is a hex core.

@Valdhor said:
Here is another box using the S912 chipset - geekbuying.com/item/MECOOL-BB2-Android-6-0-Amlogic-S912-KODI-17-0-TV-BOX-371022.html?source=ShareAsale

Keep in mind, there are no distributions of OpenPHT for those devices at this time, so you’d have to use Android PMP. And for those full features advertised to work, PMP will have to be updated to support them. But if that’s what you’re looking for, go for it if you want, and let us know what happened on the Android PMP sub forum instead.