Hi everyone,
I have just noticed a problem where FLAC files are not direct played on my LG TV through the Plex app but are instead transcoded to AAC. My TV can support FLAC natively just fine as well as my receiver. I’ve used both devices just fine as DLNA players with MediaMonkey as the sender.
Is there a reason why my FLAC files are transcoded to AAC? It would be nice to have them play natively.
Thanks!
Is this FLAC music or FLAC in a video file? Support is not the same for these. Typically, when a device supports FLAC, that’s to describe music (i.e. a .flac file). FLAC inside a video file (.mp4 or .mkv) may or may not work.
Good point. These are flac native audio files (.flac container). Not in a video file. Thanks for pointing out the distinction. Should have made it clearer.
Ok. In the app there is an option to enable logging back to your server. Turn that on, play a flac file, then grab me the logs from PMS. Let’s see whats going on. Also get me the xml for the track you tried to play.
It’s possible that our player may not be able to playback flac.
Plex Media Server Logs_2019-05-31_22-11-14.zip (7.5 MB)
Played 1 flac file and here are the logs. Thanks!
<MediaContainer size="1" allowSync="1" identifier="com.plexapp.plugins.library" librarySectionID="6" librarySectionTitle="Music" librarySectionUUID="b29e0464-a88e-4d01-8a16-784ee0795106" mediaTagPrefix="/system/bundle/media/flags/" mediaTagVersion="1557919790">
<Track ratingKey="110127" key="/library/metadata/110127" parentRatingKey="110121" grandparentRatingKey="110108" guid="com.plexapp.agents.plexmusic://gracenote/track/476025003-2DEB9F88280B61793244B130694B3141/476025009-305A13C24B6C205687F607C549038FF8?lang=en" librarySectionTitle="Music" librarySectionID="6" librarySectionKey="/library/sections/6" type="track" title="Mother Kali" grandparentKey="/library/metadata/110108" parentKey="/library/metadata/110121" grandparentTitle="Devilment" parentTitle="The Great And Secret Show" originalTitle="Devilment" summary="" index="6" parentIndex="1" ratingCount="16304" viewCount="1" lastViewedAt="1559317500" thumb="/library/metadata/110121/thumb/1558693191" parentThumb="/library/metadata/110121/thumb/1558693191" grandparentThumb="/library/metadata/110108/thumb/1558679734" duration="225253" addedAt="1527945465" updatedAt="1558693179">
<Media id="100658" duration="225253" bitrate="1143" audioChannels="2" audioCodec="flac" container="flac">
<Part accessible="1" exists="1" id="100658" key="/library/parts/100658/1527945465/file.flac" duration="225253" file="/share/CACHEDEV1_DATA/Multimedia/Metal/Devilment/2014 - The Great and Secret Show (FLAC)/06 - Mother Kali.flac" size="32180668" container="flac" hasThumbnail="1">
<Stream id="127219" streamType="2" selected="1" codec="flac" index="0" channels="2" bitrate="1143" albumGain="-10.38" albumPeak="0.988556" albumRange="10.973892" audioChannelLayout="stereo" bitDepth="16" gain="-11.00" loudness="-7.00" lra="3.21" peak="0.969147" samplingRate="44100" displayTitle="Unknown (FLAC Stereo)"/>
</Part>
</Media>
<Mood id="17643" filter="mood=17643" tag="Heavy Triumphant"/>
<Extras size="0"> </Extras>
</Track>
</MediaContainer>
Something is odd. It’s reporting that FLAC is not supported, but I know it is. FLAC has been supported in the 3 .x version of the app for a long time. Let me investigate and get back to you.
Thank you! I found it rather odd that it would do such a thing given all the hardware it is being played on is 2018 purchased and with auto updates enabled on everything. All connections are on a cat6 wired network so there is plenty of bandwidth at any given time backed by my Ubiquiti network.
This may also clear up the issues with compatibility I’ve had with 24bit 96-192khz flac files being met with an error h4 unsupported message on my TV. It could be due to the ffmpeg implementation that it cannot convert it to aac when it should play everything back normally.
Tonight I’ve had to resort to playing back several Cradle of Filth albums I have in 24/192 from MediaMonkey direct to my receiver over DLNA just to be able to hear them when if I did it through plex direct play, it would result in an “h4” error.
I’d be interested to see what your checking results in.
Thanks!
Hello! Has there been any update on this? Thanks!
Sorry, I don’t have any updates. FLAC audio works fine on my LG TV. Can you share the file with me in case it’s something specific to the file you have?
Sure, all of the files I’ve tested do not work. How would the best way to get a sample file to you be?
If the file is small enough just include it as an attachment to a PM . Otherwise, upload it to a sharing site like Google Drive or Dropbox and PM me the link.
PM sent. File too big for obvious reasons.
Got the sample. Will let you know if I find anything after testing.
Thanks! Please keep me in the loop!
Hello, any status update on the testing?
I have the same issue. DLNA on LG TV works fine, Plex says No conversion profile found for protocol hls
Note: I have a custom xml profile with flac listed as direct play.
It appears that the client (LG Plex) is refusing to direct play:
Client log:
VERBOSE - [ui-chrome-webos] [MDE] Cannot direct play: containerProfile
WARN - [ui-chrome-webos] [MDE] Direct play failed; unsupported container: flac
Server log:
MDE: Eye Of The Tiger: selected media 0 / 3111
ERROR - Streaming Resource: Cannot make a decision because either the file is unplayable or the client provided bad data
DEBUG - Streaming Resource: Reached Decision id=3015 codes=(General=2000,Neither direct play nor conversion is available. Direct Play=3000,App cannot direct play this item. Direct play is disabled. Transcode=4005,Cannot convert this item. No conversion profile found for protocol hls.) media=(id=3111 part=(id=3528 decision=none protocol=http streams=(Audio=(id=5721 decision= channels=2 rate=44100))))
Hello,
Just a quick reply to see if any progress has been made. Has the issue been diagnosed? Or is there a sign what the problem actually is?
Thanks and have a good weekend!
Has there been any progress on this issue?
Ping?
