FFMPEG cannot stream and decode with MPEG-DASH.

nasawyer7 · June 10, 2024 at 2:18 AM

The inputstream.ffmpegdirect cannot decode sources of hifi audio streaming over MPEG-DASH, and instead this addon has to stream over https. This leads to higher bandwidth, and inability to play some hires audio. Is there any chance that this will be added?

Here, scroll to the bottom of this page to see more information about it and why this matters: https://github.com/arnesongit/plugin.audio.tidal2

Also, here is a workaround this person found, but will not work with libreelec, since it requires apt. https://github.com/arnesongit/plu…/README-Dash.md

**chewitt** · June 10, 2024 at 5:42 AM

I've asked one of the ffmpegdirect maintainers if he can decipher the request; because the Tidal2 repo you've linked to only shows how to compile the add-on. It contains no mention of what technical change is required somewhere.

**emveepee** · June 10, 2024 at 5:44 PM

I think it is explained here https://github.com/arnesongit/inp…direct-binaries

phunkyfish · June 10, 2024 at 8:06 PM

It’s says the dash multiplexer is not enabled in Linux builds.

I assume this means the multiplexer which is enabled here: https://github.com/xbmc/inputstre…keLists.txt#L36

What I don’t understand is why this is not working on LibreElec. The build instructions on the referenced tidal2 github don’t have anything special added to the build instructions.

nasawyer7 · June 10, 2024 at 11:42 PM

if you scroll down to the bottom of the repo, they say

"I found out that the imputstream.ffmpegdirect addon for Linux platforms isn't able to play MPEG-Dash streams.

The Dash demultiplexer seems not to be compiled into this addon."

I'm not sure either why it is not working in libreelec, but I have a new system with nothing else that would effect it. the only annoying thing about this issue is that to troubleshoot it will need a tidal subscription/free trial or a way to stream audio to yourself.

also thank you for linking that, emveepee! I tried that out, and was unable to get that to work with the 21.2 aarch64 version, which should work well on my pi. it would just be great if this issue could be fixed with the default addon.

**chewitt** · June 11, 2024 at 2:50 AM

LE builds ffmpeg for Kodi "externally" i.e. we roll our own instead of allowing Kodi to build it. We do not explicitly enable "--enable-demuxer=dash" in the config as per the ffmpegdirect recipe, but we set "--enable-demuxers" which should be the superset of all demuxers. See https://github.com/LibreELEC/Libr…package.mk#L201

This is the list of demuxers from current LE (taken from the compile log): https://pastebin.com/raw/b0LuUrec

This is the list with "--enable-demuxer=dash" set: https://pastebin.com/raw/a9cQstDw

If you diff the output, they are identical.

nasawyer7 what hardware are you trying to use this on? .. and did you configure the Tidal add-on with "supports dash"?

**mglae** · June 11, 2024 at 3:00 PM

chewitt You missed:

Code

WARNING: Disabled dash_demuxer because not all dependencies are satisfied: libxml2

With the following patch ffmpeg is building dash demuxer (still with --enable-demuxers). Only build tested.

Diff

diff --git a/packages/multimedia/ffmpeg/package.mk b/packages/multimedia/ffmpeg/package.mk
index 63ae0683bf..b55ffbd2c8 100644
--- a/packages/multimedia/ffmpeg/package.mk
+++ b/packages/multimedia/ffmpeg/package.mk
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ PKG_SHA256="9b16b8731d78e596b4be0d720428ca42df642bb2d78342881ff7f5bc29fc9623"
 PKG_LICENSE="GPL-3.0-only"
 PKG_SITE="https://ffmpeg.org"
 PKG_URL="http://ffmpeg.org/releases/ffmpeg-${PKG_VERSION}.tar.xz"
-PKG_DEPENDS_TARGET="toolchain zlib bzip2 openssl speex"
+PKG_DEPENDS_TARGET="toolchain zlib bzip2 openssl speex libxml2"
 PKG_LONGDESC="FFmpeg is a complete, cross-platform solution to record, convert and stream audio and video."
 PKG_PATCH_DIRS="libreelec"
 
@@ -227,6 +227,7 @@ configure_target() {
               --disable-libvpx \
               --disable-libx264 \
               --disable-libxavs \
+              --enable-libxml2 \
               --disable-libxvid \
               --enable-zlib \
               --enable-asm \

Display More

Same is required for ffmpegx addon.

**chewitt** · June 11, 2024 at 5:39 PM

nasawyer7 not sure what hardware you are using, but if RPi5, this image contains the patch mglae suggested:

https://chewitt.libreelec.tv/testing/LibreELEC-RPi5.aarch64-12.80.0.tar

If not RPi5, tell us and I'll create something to test.

nasawyer7 · June 12, 2024 at 12:53 AM

I'm using rpi4

**chewitt** · June 12, 2024 at 3:15 AM

nasawyer7 https://chewitt.libreelec.tv/testing/LibreE…h64-12.80.0.tar

nasawyer7 · June 13, 2024 at 3:56 AM

I messed up trying to convert this to an .img, could you either create that for me or tell me how to do that? I'm not too knowledgable on this

**chewitt** · June 13, 2024 at 8:52 AM

Just put the .tar in /storage/.update and reboot. Or if you want to start over with a clean install, use https://chewitt.libreelec.tv/testing/LibreE…-12.80.0.img.gz in the same folder.

nasawyer7 · June 14, 2024 at 12:05 AM

Thank you! I put the .tar in that folder and rebooted. Here is my log when attempting to stream hifi.

Code

2024-06-13 16:54:19.944 T:1467     info <general>: VideoPlayer::OpenFile: plugin://plugin.audio.tidal2/play_track/58990486/58990484
2024-06-13 16:54:19.945 T:2001     info <general>: Creating InputStream
2024-06-13 16:54:19.964 T:2001     info <general>: AddOnLog: inputstream.ffmpegdirect: inputstream.ffmpegdirect: OpenStream() - Num Props: 2
2024-06-13 16:54:19.964 T:2001     info <general>: AddOnLog: inputstream.ffmpegdirect: inputstream.ffmpegdirect property: inputstream.ffmpegdirect.manifest_type = hls
2024-06-13 16:54:19.964 T:2001     info <general>: AddOnLog: inputstream.ffmpegdirect: inputstream.ffmpegdirect property: inputstream.ffmpegdirect.open_mode = ffmpeg
2024-06-13 16:54:19.964 T:2001     info <general>: AddOnLog: inputstream.ffmpegdirect: Stream mimetype: application/vnd.apple.mpegurl
2024-06-13 16:54:19.966 T:2001     info <general>: AddOnLog: inputstream.ffmpegdirect: OpenWithFFmpeg - IO handled by FFmpeg's AVFormat
2024-06-13 16:54:21.259 T:2001    error <general>: CVideoPlayer::OpenInputStream - error opening [plugin://plugin.audio.tidal2/play_track/58990486/58990484]
2024-06-13 16:54:21.259 T:2001     info <general>: CVideoPlayer::OnExit()
2024-06-13 16:54:21.260 T:2001     info <general>: ADDON: Dll Destroyed - Inputstream FFmpeg Direct
2024-06-13 16:54:21.266 T:1467     info <general>: CVideoPlayer::CloseFile()
2024-06-13 16:54:21.266 T:1467     info <general>: VideoPlayer: waiting for threads to exit
2024-06-13 16:54:21.266 T:1467     info <general>: VideoPlayer: finished waiting

Display More

**chewitt** · June 14, 2024 at 3:37 AM

Hard to comment .. and you've not shared the entire log.

**mglae** · June 14, 2024 at 6:49 PM

And always share a debug log.

nasawyer7 · June 16, 2024 at 3:19 PM

Sorry about that! I just created a new install of kodi to test this, in case anything else was influencing it. I applied your update, and then enabled logging correctly this time.

Here is the log file: https://paste.kodi.tv/ovijaxahat

For the last track I played the MQA version, and it played. Not all tracks have MQA, and MQA is getting phased out of tidal, so this is not a good solution. And MQA is a proprietery compression algorithm built for better DRM, but thats another debate. Anyways, every other version of a track (high res, flac) would not play.

Here is another log file with content-specific logging enabled for ffmpeg. https://paste.kodi.tv/qeweqojica

I'm not sure if this will be useful, but I hope it is! The last track again is an MQA, which successfully played.

**chewitt** · June 16, 2024 at 3:44 PM

I guess it did't work because the tidal2 add-on depends upon inputstream.ffmpegdirect and not the native ffmpeg version used by Kodi that we patched in the image; so the patch is still effectively missing.

mglae submitted changes to make changes to ffmpeg and ffmpegdirect earlier, which are now merged, so if you wait patiently for 24-48 hours those changes will have arrived in the latest LE13 nightly and updated add-ons in the LE13 add-on repo.

**mglae** · June 16, 2024 at 6:13 PM

nasawyer7

Code

2024-06-16 14:06:13.155 T:1453     info <general>: AddOnLog: inputstream.ffmpegdirect: inputstream.ffmpegdirect property: inputstream.ffmpegdirect.manifest_type = hls
2024-06-16 14:06:13.155 T:1453     info <general>: AddOnLog: inputstream.ffmpegdirect: inputstream.ffmpegdirect property: inputstream.ffmpegdirect.open_mode = ffmpeg
2024-06-16 14:06:13.155 T:1453     info <general>: AddOnLog: inputstream.ffmpegdirect: Stream mimetype: application/vnd.apple.mpegurl

The tidal plugin is requesting a HLS stream which is failing with 403 Forbidden. IMO no dash involved.

The second stream is played directly without any inputstream addon.

chewitt With a new image I can play a FTA live dash stream using inputstream.ffmpegdirect without rebuilding the addon. (And the stream can even be played with kodi directly).