Note: Further testing revealed this to be a seeking issue in general and not specific to embys intro skip function. See follow on replies.
I am having an issue where sometimes the Emby Intro Skip function fails to skip the intro, instead the video jumps back to the start, and sometimes it freezes there.
I have been watching my own encode of “Star Trek Deep Space Nine” which is a 1080p23, ff-x264-default, DD5.1 AC3, .mkv
The issue would happen roughly 4 or 5 times in a season of ~26 episodes.
In-between watching DS9 I also recently watched “Muderbot” and “Dexter: Original Sin” both are 2160p23, hdr, hevc, web-dl, .mkv’s. all 20 episodes skipped the intro flawlessly.
The issue is repeatable on the episodes it occurs.
However, someone else replicating it would require setting up an Emby server to pass the intro start/end seek points. I could provide access to some test episodes on my emby server or remote control of my vero box if required. See Latest Update for test file and script.
I experienced issues with seeking when I first got my VeroV and found that encoding with keyint=96 resolved that issue. However, that seeking issue was resolved with an osmc hotfix and I can confirm that seeking with the remote works flawlessly.
I found that encoding with keyint=24 resolves the issue on the episode I have been testing with.
I also found that disabling Hardware Acceleration resolved the issue.
Neither of these are viable solutions, as most x264 encodes will have keyint=250 as that is the default and the arm cpu is unable to decode 1080p23 h264 in realtime.
Encoding with x265 - I thought worked but I haven’t been able to replicate.
Encoding audio with AAC had no effect.
Going from no buffer to 1GB @ 50x had no effect - normal setup is defaults with 512MB.
Issue does not occur on other devices - PC Kodi 21.2 + Emby in browser, LG TV Emby App.
I am not sure if the keyint is a false lead as some episodes that don’t work report “SeekTime - seek ended up on time X” that is about 10 seconds off target, but others that do work also report similar offsets. But on the test episode re-encoded with keyint=24 the offset drops from ~10s to ~1s as expected.
I don’t know what exactly is at fault here, though getting it working by disabling HW acceleration leads me to believe it is the OSMC/VeroV and the issue might be related to the other seeking issue hot fixed from the march update.
First Log: paste.osmc.tv/vuwiyajalu
Emby triggers intro skip @ 2025-07-18 01:49:02.289 T:3246 info : EMBY.hooks.player: Skip intro jump 5980000000.
S07E01 x264-defaults.
instead of skipping the intro the video starts again at the beginning.
Playback has a few skips (that work flawlessly) to get to around the 8min mark where the intro starts.
Second Log: paste.osmc.tv/jegepodovo
Emby triggers intro skip @ 2025-07-18 02:29:26.375 T:3246 info : EMBY.hooks.player: Skip intro jump 5980000000
S07E01 x264-keyint=24.
Intro is skipped successfully.
This file is encoded with additional x264-params: “keyint=24:min-keyint=1”.
Third Log: paste.osmc.tv/yidofebojo
Emby triggers intro skip @ 2025-07-18 02:39:50.726 T:3256 info : EMBY.hooks.player: Skip intro jump 5980000000
S07E01 x264-defaults.
repeat of first log with only 1 change: settings>player>videos>Accelerate h264 = never.
Intro is skipped successfully after a ~2s loading spinner.
Fourth Log: paste.osmc.tv/avumupuvab
Emby triggers intro skip @ 2025-07-18 02:48:10.894 T:3255 info : EMBY.hooks.player: Skip intro jump 3890000000
S07E03 x264-defaults.
Example of a file with the same encode settings as the problem files skipping successfully.
Mediainfo of S07E01 with x264-defaults:
General
Unique ID : 217238276245602222087493091432032130418 (0xA36E91F3F6D116516EE0323013CC5572)
Complete name : X:\TV\Star Trek Deep Space Nine\Season 7\Star Trek Deep Space Nine S07E01 Image in the Sand [x264 default].mkv
Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 4
File size : 4.92 GiB
Duration : 45 min 6 s
Overall bit rate : 15.6 Mb/s
Frame rate : 23.976 FPS
Movie name : Star.Trek.Deep.Space.Nine.S07E01.Image.in.the.Sand.1080p.TVAI-Upscale.NTSC.DVD.x264.DD.5.1-ATC
Encoded date : 2025-07-14 02:05:12 UTC
Writing application : mkvmerge v91.0 ('Signs') 64-bit
Writing library : libebml v1.4.5 + libmatroska v1.7.1 / Lavf61.7.100
Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.1
Format settings : CABAC / 4 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames : 4 frames
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 45 min 6 s
Bit rate : 15.2 Mb/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 : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.305
Stream size : 4.78 GiB (97%)
Title : Star.Trek.Deep.Space.Nine.S07E01.Image.in.the.Sand.1080p.TVAI-Upscale.NTSC.DVD.x264.DD.5.1-ATC
Writing library : x264 core 164 r3106 eaa68fa
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:-1:-1 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=hex / subme=7 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.15 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-3 / threads=24 / lookahead_threads=4 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=17.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Color range : Limited
Color primaries : BT.709
Transfer characteristics : BT.709
Matrix coefficients : BT.709
Audio
ID : 2
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Commercial name : Dolby Digital
Codec ID : A_AC3
Duration : 45 min 6 s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 448 kb/s
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel layout : L R C LFE Ls Rs
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 145 MiB (3%)
Language : English
Service kind : Complete Main
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Dialog Normalization : -27 dB
compr : 12.04 dB
dynrng : 6.02 dB
cmixlev : -3.0 dB
surmixlev : -3 dB
mixlevel : 105 dB
roomtyp : Large
dialnorm_Average : -27 dB
dialnorm_Minimum : -27 dB
dialnorm_Maximum : -27 dB
Text #1
ID : 3
Format : UTF-8
Codec ID : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info : UTF-8 Plain Text
Duration : 43 min 54 s
Bit rate : 73 b/s
Frame rate : 0.299 FPS
Count of elements : 787
Stream size : 23.7 KiB (0%)
Title : (SRT)
Language : English
Default : No
Forced : No
Text #2
ID : 4
Format : ASS
Codec ID : S_TEXT/ASS
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Sub Station Alpha
Duration : 43 min 54 s
Bit rate : 131 b/s
Frame rate : 0.311 FPS
Count of elements : 818
Compression mode : Lossless
Stream size : 42.3 KiB (0%)
Title : SDH (SSA)
Language : English
Default : No
Forced : No
Menu
00:00:00.000 : Chapter 1
00:09:56.863 : Chapter 2
00:14:38.144 : Chapter 3
00:20:04.470 : Chapter 4
00:25:25.958 : Chapter 5
00:30:47.112 : Chapter 6
00:34:47.686 : Chapter 7
00:40:52.884 : Chapter 8
Mediainfo of S07E01 with x264-keyint=24:
General
Unique ID : 50238198559233036279768332532206190556 (0x25CB866CAC7B03ED496578DC6102BFDC)
Complete name : X:\Emby Testing 2 - TV\Star Trek Deep Space Nine\Season 7\Star Trek Deep Space Nine S07E01 Image in the Sand [x264 keyint=24].mkv
Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 4
File size : 5.21 GiB
Duration : 45 min 6 s
Overall bit rate : 16.5 Mb/s
Frame rate : 23.976 FPS
Movie name : Star.Trek.Deep.Space.Nine.S07E01.Image.in.the.Sand.1080p.TVAI-Upscale.NTSC.DVD.x264.DD.5.1-ATC
Encoded date : 2025-07-17 14:32:11 UTC
Writing application : mkvmerge v91.0 ('Signs') 64-bit
Writing library : libebml v1.4.5 + libmatroska v1.7.1 / Lavf61.7.100
Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.1
Format settings : CABAC / 4 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames : 4 frames
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 45 min 6 s
Bit rate : 16.1 Mb/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 : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.323
Stream size : 5.06 GiB (97%)
Title : Star.Trek.Deep.Space.Nine.S07E01.Image.in.the.Sand.1080p.TVAI-Upscale.NTSC.DVD.x264.DD.5.1-ATC
Writing library : x264 core 164 r3106 eaa68fa
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:-1:-1 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=hex / subme=7 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.15 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-3 / threads=24 / lookahead_threads=4 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=24 / keyint_min=1 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=24 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=17.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Color range : Limited
Color primaries : BT.709
Transfer characteristics : BT.709
Matrix coefficients : BT.709
Audio
ID : 2
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Commercial name : Dolby Digital
Codec ID : A_AC3
Duration : 45 min 6 s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 448 kb/s
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel layout : L R C LFE Ls Rs
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 145 MiB (3%)
Language : English
Service kind : Complete Main
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Dialog Normalization : -27 dB
compr : 12.04 dB
dynrng : 6.02 dB
cmixlev : -3.0 dB
surmixlev : -3 dB
mixlevel : 105 dB
roomtyp : Large
dialnorm_Average : -27 dB
dialnorm_Minimum : -27 dB
dialnorm_Maximum : -27 dB
Text #1
ID : 3
Format : UTF-8
Codec ID : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info : UTF-8 Plain Text
Duration : 43 min 54 s
Bit rate : 73 b/s
Frame rate : 0.299 FPS
Count of elements : 787
Stream size : 23.7 KiB (0%)
Title : (SRT)
Language : English
Default : No
Forced : No
Text #2
ID : 4
Format : ASS
Codec ID : S_TEXT/ASS
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Sub Station Alpha
Duration : 43 min 54 s
Bit rate : 131 b/s
Frame rate : 0.311 FPS
Count of elements : 818
Compression mode : Lossless
Stream size : 42.3 KiB (0%)
Title : SDH (SSA)
Language : English
Default : No
Forced : No
Menu
00:00:00.000 : Chapter 1
00:09:56.863 : Chapter 2
00:14:38.144 : Chapter 3
00:20:04.470 : Chapter 4
00:25:25.958 : Chapter 5
00:30:47.112 : Chapter 6
00:34:47.686 : Chapter 7
00:40:52.884 : Chapter 8