Check the transcoding options of your Jellyfin user. Maybe something is off there.
this post was submitted on 15 Jun 2025
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Whenever you try to play something that needs to be transcoded Jellyfin will save the ffmpeg log. That should hopefully give you the info you need.
If the error isnt clear, share your hardware info and transcoding settings.
Check your Jellfin server logs. That should give you a hint what's going on.
Thank you! Now I stupid that u didn’t start there.
I had a tricky time getting hardware encoding to work and it ultimately ended up being I needed to expose the GPU to the Docker container. The yaml config needed:
devices:
- /dev/dri/renderD128:/dev/dri/renderD128
- /dev/dri/card0:/dev/dri/card0
Note this was on a low-end Synology NAS with some sort of crappy intel GPU, but it actually works now, I was surprised. I only mention because before this I spent lots of time messing around with the Jellyfin settings and only the logs tipped me off. Jellyfin loves to fallback silently to CPU transcoding it seems, which I guess is good, but make troubleshooting unintuitive. Searching for log errors online gave me this solution.
Notice: OP uses a RPi.
In my honest opinion it's not worth trying to get Jellyfin working if you plan to use an Apple TV as the client. The only client that is halfway decent for Apple TV is Swiftfin and it's nowhere near as polished as Plex. The watched/unwatched indicators also don't work currently (at least for me), which is a dealbreaker imo.
I'm running Plex and Jellyfin side by side. The only thing I'd use Jellyfin for is remote streaming. It's a shame, because I really want to switch to Jellyfin, but it's just not working for me because Apple TV support is so bad.
Disagree. Jellyfin and ATV could definitely be better, but for the most part it works for me without issue.
Try using the Infuse app instead of Swiftfin. Again, not perfect but it’s the best client I’ve found.
That was kinda the vibe I was getting. What’s holding Jellyfin back atm? I would be willing to donate if that would help
Client support is imo one of the major weak points of Jellyfin. Jellyfin itself does not need donations at the moment, but developers of various clients do [1].
But many client devs don't take donations. E.g. Swiftfin links to Jellyfin's OpenCollective page instead of taking donations themselves [2].
[1] https://opencollective.com/jellyfin/updates/were-good-seriously
[2] https://github.com/jellyfin/Swiftfin
Donating would not help unless you're a dev willing to donate your time to develop the client
For a client on apple tv, ios, etc, check out Infuse. Hands down best client on Apple.
Infuse is not free. It's not Open. Its devs are a bit obscure.
But, hands down, it's the best option for tvOS. It's the only subscription I pay for.
Yeah. It'd be great if it was open source, but it is what it is.
When I was on apple stuff it was the only subscription I paid for as well.
Anyone remember when infuse was a jailbreak tool for the Apple TV 2?
Wait, whaaaat?
Yeah, so Fire core built infuse off the software call Seas0npass that was used to jailbreak the AppleTV 2. Infuse was what would inject code into the AppleTV.
lol thanks for that!
I actually already purchased infuse. Same issues with playback so I guess that means it’s definitely on the backend. Apparently the Rasbury Pi version of Jellyfin no longer supports hardware acceleration. Anyway, sound like Infuse isn’t FOSS but I did appreciate that it’s a one time purchase and not a subscription.
Edit; oops, I thought you talked about both Apple and Android, I'm so used to ATV being Android tv. I might leave the comment anyway if it helps someone else.
For Android tv, if using the official app, I would recommend downloading "Just (Video) Player" and then configuring the Jellyfin app to use external player. On my Shield the videos play much better without transcoding
Plex's transcoding may be better, but jellyfin's will work fine once you get the settings dialed in. A bit more info would be helpful, mainly: What kind of jellyfin install (docker, native package manager, podman)? What video codec is the file? Are you using hardware transcoding, and if so, what hardware?
Docker (via CasaOS) running on a rasbury pi 5 with 16gb ram. Same exact hardware I’m running Plex on. I understand it’s not ideal hardware but I’m only looking for as good of performance as Plex.
What about the video file that won't play? Do you have logs?
I don’t, and you’re right that’s the first thing I should have done. I was hoping it was set and forget but I obviously have to dive a bit deeper. I guess I’m wondering before I invest a lot of time, is it possible to get an experience as good as Plex, or should I expect to hit a wall at some point? I’m happy to donate to Jellyfin devs and consider this a longer term investment but I hope it surpasses Plex.
I've never used Plex or apple TV, so IDK. But, I have been using jellyfin for a while and it's been quite reliable for me. You will need to invest a bit of time, but after that there's very little maintenance needed.
I have Home Assistant + Music Assistant that integrates Jellyfin. Works well with our iPad's to Denon Heos and such but I haven't tested it on my Apple TV yet, it is collecting dust because it doesn't do Stremio without having to fudge around.
What sort of video were you trying to play? Also you said you were running it through docker via CasaOS. Things to note, you need to pass your gpu into the container. Relatively simple. Then you got to make sure hardware acceleration is enabled. Make sure HDR to SDR tone mapping is correct.
Just realized the Pi no longer supports hardware acceleration :(
https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/post-install/transcoding/hardware-acceleration/#raspberry-pi-hardware-acceleration-support-deprecation
I had the same problem when I tried to run it on a RasPi4. Now I have an N100 mini PC and everything runs great.
I have very limited space to run a home lab. I really love how tiny the Pi is, but I could see expanding a little at some point. But aside from this issue, a decked out raspberry pi has exceeded my expectations and definitely meets all of my needs. This is the first wall I’ve hit.
There are mini PCs that aren't much bigger than a Pi in a case.
What does your transcoding configuration look like?
As in hardware or settings? It’s running on the same Rasburry pi 5 with 16gb ram as my plex server. Obviously this is on the lower end of compute, but I would expect it to have similar performance to Plex.
For software config, I’ve changed no Jellyfin settings from the defaults. I kinda was hoping it’s set and forget like Plex.
Edit: both Jellyfin and Plex are running in docker (via CasaOS)
Started the video but didn't see the hardware acceleration option. Then I found this. Not looking good for the pi :(
https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/post-install/transcoding/hardware-acceleration/#raspberry-pi-hardware-acceleration-support-deprecation