Just checking in again if there has been an update. I’ve noticed that instead of an error, the option is there to skip the song that it cannot play back.
Is there an update on when high res audio can be played back?
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Same issue on my LG 55UH6090-UF It will transcode an play 16 bit FLAC, but it appears 24 bit FLAC will not transcode nor play. Just the error you said above. I can natively play the 24 bit file on my 2013 Onkyo Stereo receiver and if I use the built in “Music” DLNA App on the TV it will also play. So that makes it appear that the TV supports 24 bit FLAC just not the Plex APP. Probably supports 16 bit FLAC too I would think but for some reason Plex transcodes.
I’ve been waiting around for some time to get a fix. If I want to listen to high res on my stereo, I use DLNA inputs via Media Monkey. I’m sure this will be fixed in the future… but when? Is it even on the roadmap?
Hi
So I have the same problem on an LG C8. The curious thing, like others pointed out, is that these files used to play just fine and have only recently begun to cause problems. I can’t tell exactly what version the issue arrived with as I have just been playing randomly through a playlist where only a handful of files use sampling rates and bit depth that differs from regular CD quality.
PS: Not sure if it’s related, but I have noticed audio artefacts sometimes while playing music. This has been happening for far more than 6 months. It’s very annoying that Plex is so bloody slow to fix this, but having used the software for a few years now I have sort of lost hope that such problems are ever addressed. I guess the 5 rework of the Android UI and inclusion of Tidal is more important 
When did it work? I only switched to Plex MS back in March this year. I was looking for a better way of using my media and Plex fit the bill. Did it work before March 2019?
Yeah pretty sure it worked just fine last year. Like I said i only have a few files like this so it’s not like they end up getting plaid that often. In fact I noticed it partly by chance as I recently bought the soundtrack for Warframe. This just happens to be in 92KHz sampling frequency and use 24 bit sampling rate and having just bought it I planned on listening to it a bit.
PS: The soundtrack is available at bandcamp if the devs want to buy a track to test with. I’m not comfortable sending copyrighted audio files around. That said it’s not a big issue. Any random sine wave generated in a piece of software and stored at anything other than CD quality audio should cause issues assuming they are testing on a C8.
I’ve sent a 24/192 flac to support just so they can have something to test with. I have a nice hifi system and I want good audio, so yeah, in the same boat as you.
Sort of in the same boat. I did play the files using the built in audio app in the TV from a USB drive and it worked. However I noticed that it still would output only 48KHz over the optical output. So there may be some weirdness going on with the TV here, but I would rather have native flac playback with native down sampling over no support at all.
PS: I would be curious to see if the same down sampling occurred over HDMI with ARC. That said my DAC don’t support ARC so I can’t test it.
I have native audio playback with HDMI over ARC. Works out of the box, but you do need to set in the TV to not use PCM and instead set it to auto.
That’s bloody counter intuitive. Do you know if it does any sort of negotiation with the device on the other end. Cause my DAC is strictly stereo so any Dolby or DTS that’s bitstreamed will cause issues.
There isn’t any known workaround which is why I set up the HDMI ARC system to begin with for proper bitstreaming support. Without it, then everything just gets dropped at PCM to the external devices.
Well converting flac to PCM in itself is not really a concern with music as even multi-channel SACD recordings to my knowledge carry no meta-data about the audio tracks like some Dolby and DTS formats do. Hence it’s not bit perfect, but I find it higly doubtful that a PCM stream at the same bit depth and sampling frequency produces a different audio signal in the end. It is however annoying that given the ability to carry anything from CD audio quality to 192KHz@24bit through the optical interface LG has decided to downsample everything as opposed to matching the properties of the PCM stream to the original file. Still this particular issue is on LG not Plex.
What Plex really need to fix, given that the LG music app can downsample to 48KHz, is native streaming of flac files. Alternatively if they have to do transcoding on their end at the very least make that transcoding handle a wider range of bit depths and sampling frequencies than the TV in the best way possible. After all this is typically why transcoding is used.
PS: It would be interesting to see what would happen if you sent say a 192KHz@24 bit PCM signal to the TV. Would it see it as PCM and just pass it through unchanged? If so this would be the best option when transcoding. That said I wouldn’t be surprised if it was converted to 48 KHz too.
So I tried converting my FLAC files to WAV files with the same audio in raw PCM form and it did nothing to the output when using LG’s app. So apparently even when given PCM as input LG still ■■■■■ things up
+1 same problem
Noticed a new version of the server was released the other day. This is still broken.
Have an LG 49SJ810V. FLAC 2.0 16/44.1 get converted to AAC and recognised by my Yamaha AVR as Dolby Digital 2.0. FLAC 5.1 24/96 does not play at all. Interestingly, XPlay plays both as PCM 2.0, so looks like it is the Plex App that is advertising itself as not FLAC compatible. Is it at all possible to have something in the settings that sorts this out?
Is there any update on the status of this problem? I’ve been fiddling around a bit with a seperate client profile, but no luck. Transcoding FLACs kinda beats the purpose of them…
I’ve not seen any updates for the player for my LG C8. I am still waiting. I’ve avoided using it now for music on my Hi-Fi and have reverted back to MediaMonkey with DLNA direct play to my Denon receiver. That has always worked and never failed with formats, however isn’t as feature rich as what Plex is.
Basically, still getting the h4 errors when trying to play a higher than CD quality flac file.
I’ve just discovered the heos app after buying a Denon avr (x1600h) very recently. Must say it answers pretty much all my needs right now and the integration with the amp is quite great! No more need to switch inputs (only when listening to my turntable)
Perhaps it works for you too? Only downside so far: you need to enable SMB1 when using a samba share for your music.
I have 1.8TB of music and using it directly via SMB is a hassle to find files. Essentially, when I play music via DLNA over MediaMonkey, it loads the Denon HEOS app on my receiver so it takes care of that experience anyway. That is basically how I was listening to music anyway before I integrated Plex.
