Server and client are on latest Plex versions.
Server is a Linux Intel Quicksync. Both are wired and gigbit.
So all of a sudden as of this week I cant play anything 4K on my Shield through Plex. The same files work fine off the same LAN share through VLC but plex just buffers forever.
My Firestick4K in the bedroom on wifi can play the 4K files through Plex without issue!
I’m not getting any errors but it just spins for like 5 or 10 mins at a time and plays a couple seconds then repeats. Last week and a for over a year now we could launch 4K HDR content as if it was nothing. Now its seems to be transcoding every 4K file and its not doing it well but it would Direct Play before. Any ideas on this? Was there a Shield Pro update that caused this? Plex hasnt been updated in awhile so.
The logs show its trying to transcode but I’m quite certain its always direct played 4K content up til now. Anyone have any ideas? This is our main streaming device in the living room so it kinda sucks right now. Two days ago we were watching the Expanse and went to resume the next episode in season 4 yesterday and this. Makes no sense. I’ve changed nothing…
[Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Failed setup for format vaapi_vld: hwaccel initialisation returned error.
[Transcode] Codecs: 10-bit HEVC test returned software frame
[Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Cannot load libcuda.so.1
[Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Could not dynamically load CUDA
[Transcode] Codecs: hardware transcoding: opening hw device failed - probably not supported by this system, error: Unknown error occurred
[Transcode] Could not create hardware context for hevc
[Transcode] MDE: E1 - New Terra: Direct Play is disabled
[Transcode] MDE: E1 - New Terra: media must be transcoded in order to use the hls protocol
[Transcode] MDE: E1 - New Terra: no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/hevc
[Transcode] MDE: E1 - New Terra: no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/hevc/eac3
[Transcode] New Terra - video.colorTrc limitation applies: smpte2084 != bt709|bt470m|smpte240m|smpte170m|bt470bg|bt2020-10 [list]
[Transcode] MDE: E1 - New Terra: no remuxable profile found, so video stream will be transcoded
[Transcode] MDE: Cannot direct stream video stream due to profile or setting limitations
like i said its been working fine for over a year…there was no issues until just seemingly randomly.
i havent changed any settings in plex and i have everything set to max so that theres no auto transcoding or anything.
I set subtitles to none a few days ago when it first started. Subtitles have always been finnicky with Plex. It set to Image only right now. Plex actually grabs the external subs for this show every time. I actually deleted all the external ones because for the first 3 seasons, the show played perfect with the first embedded English and the external one was off. Its just recently this happened.
Yes Experience 9 was installed. I even had some problems booting after that update installed. I didnt want it and was upset about it cuz i got a black screen and took like an hour to recover from it. But that was like 3 or 4 days before this started happening. Ive seen a lot of posts about this nightmare update but most of them are other glitches like hard drive mounts or ppl using Shield as the server. I haven’t seen any about this 4K problem.
It just cant be something here. I’m not exaggerating when I say for over a year now we’ve been watching 4K HDR content under the exact same setup. My wife and I have almost a routine where after we’re done work for the night we’ll do an episode or two of something. Nothing chnaged… except that Shield update. Maybe thats it? Is yours on the new version? the one you have in that screenshot there?
Nothing changed on the Projector. It’s technically not HDR capable but like I said, we’ve been watching HDR content through Plex for over a year now and plex in general for longer but HDR for over a year. We have a new high end projector coming soon when stock is in so I’ve been ramping collecting HDR content for the last 6 months and theres been no issues. Our bedroom TV isn’t 4K or HDR and it plays this exact show through Plex on the Firestick 4K without issue.
So I think maybe youre right its that update but i dont understand why or how… did they drop direct play support for MKV and/or 4K and/or HDR on the shield? That would be crazy of them… like its one of its main features
Here’s the Amazon Fire Stick playing the same episode. With Subs:
UPDATE:
If I turn “Disable Video stream Transcoding” It wont even start the file. Says “Unable to Play Media” on the Shield. Its like the Shield has lost all ability to direct play these files… well through Plex. It DOES play fine through VLC.
UPDATE 2: Looks like its JUST HDR content. Standard 4K seems to play fine.
So did something change where an HDR supported TV/Projector is 100% required (thru plex) now I wonder. I found an article on downgrading the Shield back. I might try that tomorrow. Just annoyed as this has been such a waste of time.
Seems latest Plex version also plays a part in this. I tried an earlier version of Plex on the latest Shield update and still same issue. Downgraded Shield to andriod 9 ShieldTV 8.23 with latest Plex. Same issue. Putting the same earlier version of Plex ( [8.19.4.26517-f35a541c) I tried on the latest Shield update on this one resolves the issue.
