"Force transcode max bitrate" default is way too low (7Mbps)

[bonsairobo]

I was pulling my hair out trying to figure out why my stream looked terrible, and it was because jellycon decided to use transcoding (for unknown reason). Then I found the "force transcode max bitrate" setting, turned it up to "maximum" and that fixed the poor quality.

I don't really understand why this is even enabled by default. Shouldn't the client just try to transcode as quickly as it can by default?

[mcarlton00]

That's been the default value since long before I took the project over, and afaik it's never been an issue because the vast majority of playback is direct play and not transcoded. I'm more curious in why this particular file was trying to be transcoded instead. Can you share the media info of that file?

[bonsairobo]

Video
Title: 4K HEVC HDR
Codec: HEVC
Codec tag: HDMV
AVC: No
Profile: Main 10
Level: 153
Resolution: 3840x2160
Aspect ratio: 16:9
Anamorphic: No
Interlaced: No
Framerate: 23.976025
Bitrate: 89287 kbps
Bit depth: 10 bit
Video range: HDR
Video range type: HDR10
Color space: bt2020nc
Color transfer: smpte2084
Color primaries: bt2020
Pixel format: yuv420p10le
Ref frames: 1
Timestamp: Valid

[mcarlton00]

I don't see any reason why that video should have attempted to transcode to begin with. My only thoughts are that you have the "force transcode hevc" setting turned on, or there's a bitrate limit set in the server that you surpassed. Or obviously if you selected "force transcode" instead of "play", but I'm going to assume you didn't do that.

If you enable debug logging (Settings -> System -> Logging), restart Kodi, and then try to play the file again your logs should include the profile and playback info used, which should tell us what's going on.