First off, here is my setup:
PMS is running on my Win7 desktop, which has all of my blu ray rips (lossless) in mkv format. Plex client is run from my Nvidia Shield on the LAN with the server. Usually, when ripping movies from MakeMKV I just do audio pass through to get the best possible audio. There are some titles though that I converted the audio to FLAC. Note, this is not a discussion about whether one should convert to FLAC.
Now here is the problem:
I recently discovered that Plex (or Nvidia, not sure which one) cannot handle multi-channel FLAC in the mkv container. In the past, Plex has transcoded the audio stream to a format it agrees with. Recently, Plex on the Shield no longer displays the video–it just plays the audio. Output says it is direct playing the video and transcoding the audio, but no picture is seen. All of my FLAC audio is 24-bit, 48khz. The movies that cause problems are 7.1, my few 5.1 titles play fine. Also, this is only on the Shield, as the media works in Plex on my chrome browser and on my android phone. About a month ago I watched without issue one of these movies that now seems broken on my Shield, suggesting this is the result of a recent update. It seems that when transcoding the audio, the picture is getting forgotten, and this may only be true with 7.1 sources on the Nvidia Shield. Additionally, I can Chromecast these titles to the Shield just fine. They also play in Plex for Kodi on the Shield just fine, and in VLC on the PC.
Any suggestions?
And why can’t we get native multi-channel FLAC support? (a separate issue from this no-video fiasco). Many people use Plex as their home theater and want the best possible quality, yet encode to FLAC to save space. Sure, we can re-rip our library to get the dts-hd ma or DD trueHD lossless tracks, but it would be nice if we didn’t have to.
Provide a debug log and a sample and you might get someone chime in.
As @danjames92 said, we’ll need logs to see what’s going on. BTW, how did you get a 7.1 FLAC audio track. That is not typical for video files, which is why direct playback isn’t supported.
@MovieFan.Plex said:
As @danjames92 said, we’ll need logs to see what’s going on. BTW, how did you get a 7.1 FLAC audio track. That is not typical for video files, which is why direct playback isn’t supported.
Some people convert to FLAC if they have very old recievers that don’t support DTS-HD MA or TrueHD for example. It allows them to maintain the quality.
FLAC inc 5.1 is supported when it’s a .flac file but not inside a .MKV container when it should be.
The audio player and video player are different which is why there is a difference between support for music versus video. Same is true in reverse. You can’t take a DTS audio track save it as a .dts file and have it playback as music.
@danjames92 said:
Some people convert to FLAC if they have very old recievers that don’t support DTS-HD MA or TrueHD for example. It allows them to maintain the quality.
Do receivers support a FLAC audio track in a video file? Just curious if you are trading 1 incompatible format for another.
@MovieFan.Plex said:
The audio player and video player are different which is why there is a difference between support for music versus video. Same is true in reverse. You can’t take a DTS audio track save it as a .dts file and have it playback as music.@danjames92 said:
Some people convert to FLAC if they have very old recievers that don’t support DTS-HD MA or TrueHD for example. It allows them to maintain the quality.Do receivers support a FLAC audio track in a video file? Just curious if you are trading 1 incompatible format for another.
Last time I checked they both used the same custom forked ExoPlayer 1.5.16, there’s not a different player as far as I know? Could you confirm with a dev? As far as I know, FLAC inside .MKV is just unsupported at the moment.
FLAC is decoded as LPCM via AVR’s. It can’t be bitstreamed but it can be played natively.
I’m pretty sure when playing music, exoplayer is not used. It’s exoplayer that doesn’t support FLAC audio. If exoplayer was used for music, FLAC music wouldn’t be supported too.
@MovieFan.Plex said:
I’m pretty sure when playing music, exoplayer is not used. It’s exoplayer that doesn’t support FLAC audio. If exoplayer was used for music, FLAC music wouldn’t be supported too.
Can you confirm with a dev if this is a known issue? Would be very insightful.
@danjames92 said:
Provide a debug log and a sample and you might get someone chime in.
I collected a sample log tonight–I hope this is what you are asking for. I am new to both Plex and the Nvidia Shield. I snagged what I thought was most appropriate.
05-30 20:56:49.899 i: [PlaybackManager] Preparing for Creed 05-30 20:56:49.899 i: [VideoUtils] MediaCodec found (OMX.google.aac.decoder) for audio/mp4a-latm 05-30 20:56:49.899 i: [DefaultPlaybackManager] Passthrough is enabled. 05-30 20:56:49.899 i: [DefaultPlaybackManager] No codecs being downloaded. 05-30 20:56:49.900 i: [PlayQueues] Creating remote PQ. 05-30 20:56:49.900 i: [PlayQueueAPIHelperBase] No item path provided, will generate a new one 05-30 20:56:49.900 i: Fetching [method:POST] https://192.168.7.25:32400/playQueues?repeat=0&includeChapters=1&shuffle=0&extrasPrefixCount=0&key=%2Flibrary%2Fmetadata%2F71414&uri=library%3A%2F%2F1c3cf49f-ee67-407d-acda-9e46b922de21%2Fitem%2F%252Flibrary%252Fmetadata%252F71414&type=video&continuous=0&X-Plex-Token=...hUA2 05-30 20:56:49.981 i: [PlayQueueAPIHelperBase] Result container=<MediaContainer playQueueVersion="1" playQueueSelectedItemID="5050" playQueueTotalCount="1" mediaTagPrefix="/system/bundle/media/flags/" identifier="com.plexapp.plugins.library" size="1" mediaTagVersion="1492024674" playQueueSourceURI="library://1c3cf49f-ee67-407d-acda-9e46b922de21/item/%2Flibrary%2Fmetadata%2F71414" playQueueID="288" playQueueSelectedMetadataItemID="71414" playQueueShuffled="0" playQueueSelectedItemOffset="0" /> 05-30 20:56:49.981 i: Fetching [method:GET] https://192.168.7.25:32400/library/metadata/71414?checkFiles=1&includeExtras=1&includeRelated=1&includeRelatedCount=0&includeReviews=1&X-Plex-Token=...hUA2 05-30 20:56:50.087 i: Creating VideoPlayerActivity. 05-30 20:56:50.098 i: [Exo1VideoPlayer] Player state changed: 1, Restarting: false 05-30 20:56:50.099 i: [TranscodeSession] Media choice updated 05-30 20:56:50.100 i: [MediaDecisionEngine] Starting media decision for: Creed (part index 0) 05-30 20:56:50.100 i: [MediaDecisionEngine] Provided video item has no streams, checking files... 05-30 20:56:50.100 i: Fetching [method:GET] https://192.168.7.25:32400/library/metadata/71414?checkFiles=1&X-Plex-Token=...hUA2 05-30 20:56:50.101 i: [MediaSessionHelper] Starting media session with tag: video 05-30 20:56:50.101 i: [video] Unable to report progress to server, since no duration is available. 05-30 20:56:50.101 i: [MediaSessionHelper] Creating media session with tag: video 05-30 20:56:50.104 i: [MediaSessionHelper] Setting media session playback state with tag video and state 3 05-30 20:56:50.115 i: [MediaSessionHelper] Setting media session playback state with tag video and state 3 05-30 20:56:50.117 i: Resuming VideoPlayerActivity. 05-30 20:56:50.133 i: [MediaDecisionEngine] Transcode server selected: Langley 05-30 20:56:50.133 i: [MediaDecisionEngine] Analyzing media: 1920x800 10744kbps (Container: mkv, Video: h264, Audio: flac) 05-30 20:56:50.133 i: [MediaDecisionEngine] Unable to direct play; Codec (flac) not supported in Container (mkv) 05-30 20:56:50.134 i: [MediaDecisionEngine] Original quality selected, skipping resolution/bitrate check 05-30 20:56:50.134 i: [video] User maximum h264 profile determined: 51 05-30 20:56:50.134 i: [video] Device recommended h264 profile determined: 51 05-30 20:56:50.137 i: [BufferHelper] Assumed Bitrate: 21488, Segment Count: 2518 05-30 20:56:50.137 i: [BufferHelper] Segment count: 2518 05-30 20:56:50.139 i: Fetching [method:GET] https://192.168.7.25:32400/video/:/transcode/universal/decision?audioBoost=100&autoAdjustQuality=0&directPlay=0&directStream=1&directStreamAudio=1&fastSeek=1&hasMDE=1&location=lan&mediaBufferSize=161152&mediaIndex=0&partIndex=0&path=%2Flibrary%2Fmetadata%2F71414&protocol=*&session=e1250926c588cf78-com-plexapp-android&subtitleSize=75&X-Plex-Client-Identifier=e1250926c588cf78-com-plexapp-android&X-Plex-Client-Profile-Extra=add-limitation(scope%3DvideoCodec%26scopeName%3Dh264%26type%3DupperBound%26name%3Dvideo.level%26value%3D51)%2Badd-limitation(scope%3DvideoCodec%26scopeName%3D*%26type%3DupperBound%26name%3Dvideo.width%26value%3D3840%26replace%3Dtrue)%2Badd-limitation(scope%3DvideoCodec%26scopeName%3D*%26type%3DupperBound%26name%3Dvideo.height%26value%3D2160%26replace%3Dtrue)%2Badd-limitation(scope%3DvideoAudioCodec%26scopeName%3Daac%26type%3DupperBound%26name%3Daudio.channels%26value%3D6%26replace%3Dtrue)%2Badd-transcode-target-audio-codec(type%3DvideoProfile%26context%3Dstreaming%26protocol%3Dhls%26audioCodec%3Dmp3)%2Badd-transcode-target-audio-codec(type%3DvideoProfile%26context%3Dstreaming%26protocol%3Dhls%26audioCodec%3Dac3)%2Badd-transcode-target-audio-codec(type%3DvideoProfile%26context%3Dstreaming%26protocol%3Dhls%26audioCodec%3Deac3)%2Badd-transcode-target-audio-codec(type%3DvideoProfile%26context%3Dstreaming%26protocol%3Dhls%26audioCodec%3Ddca)%2Badd-transcode-target(type%3DsubtitleProfile%26context%3Dstreaming%26protocol%3Dhttp%26container%3Dmkv%26subtitleCodec%3Dsrt)%2Bappend-transcode-target-codec(type%3DvideoProfile%26context%3Dstreaming%26protocol%3Dhls%26videoCodec%3Dmpeg2video)%2Badd-limitation(scope%3DvideoCodec%26scopeName%3Dhevc%26type%3DMatch%26name%3Dvideo.profile%26list%3Dmain%7Cmain%2010)%2Bappend-transcode-target-codec(type%3DvideoProfile%26context%3Dstreaming%26protocol%3Dhls%26videoCodec%3Dhevc)%2Badd-limitation(scope%3DvideoCodec%26scopeName%3D*%26type%3DNotMatch%26name%3Dvideo.anamorphic%26value%3D999%26replace%3Dtrue)&X-Plex-Device=SHIELD%20Android%20TV&X-Plex-Platform=Android&X-Plex-Platform-Version=7.0&X-Plex-Product=Plex%20for%20Android&X-Plex-Supported-Commands=abort&X-Plex-Version=5.10.1.264&X-Plex-Token=...hUA2 05-30 20:56:50.156 i: [HdmiUnplugBehaviour] Ignoring sticky intent 05-30 20:56:50.158 i: [PlayQueueBehaviour] Clearing audio PQ because video playback has started. 05-30 20:56:50.176 i: [MediaDecisionEngine] Server was happy with client's original decision 05-30 20:56:50.177 i: [MediaDecisionEngine] Decision: CanPlay: true CanDirectPlay: false CanDirectStreamVideo: true CanDirectStreamAudio: false CanDirectPlaySubtitle: false CanTranscodeSubtitle: false Transcode Reason: Codec (flac) not supported in Container (mkv) 05-30 20:56:50.190 i: [video] Decision made, transcode: true 05-30 20:56:50.192 i: [TranscodeSession] Media choice updated 05-30 20:56:50.192 i: [VideoOverlay] Updating... 05-30 20:56:50.194 i: [video] Starting Playback for: Creed 05-30 20:56:50.194 i: [Exo1VideoPlayer] Using HlsRendererBuilder. 05-30 20:56:50.194 i: [video] User maximum h264 profile determined: 51 05-30 20:56:50.195 i: [video] Device recommended h264 profile determined: 51 05-30 20:56:50.195 i: Fetching [method:GET] https://192.168.7.25:32400/:/timeline?containerKey=%2FplayQueues%2F288&duration=7990027&guid=com.plexapp.agents.imdb%3A%2F%2Ftt3076658%3Flang%3Den&key=%2Flibrary%2Fmetadata%2F71414&machineIdentifier=25b7a2b1ae3f9e6a4dc7194c181647b09f8fac24&playQueueItemID=5050&ratingKey=71414&state=buffering&time=0&token=...hUA2&X-Plex-Client-Identifier=e1250926c588cf78-com-plexapp-android&X-Plex-Token=...hUA2 05-30 20:56:50.200 i: [BufferHelper] Assumed Bitrate: 21488, Segment Count: 2518 05-30 20:56:50.200 i: [BufferHelper] Segment count: 2518 05-30 20:56:50.215 i: [pms] /127.0.0.1:52638 - GET /proxy 05-30 20:56:50.215 i: [Proxy] Request received: https://192.168.7.25:32400/video/:/transcode/universal/start.m3u8?audioBoost=100&autoAdjustQuality=0&directPlay=0&directStream=1&directStreamAudio=1&fastSeek=1&hasMDE=1&includeCodecs=1&location=lan&mediaBufferSize=161152&partIndex=0&path=%2Flibrary%2Fmetadata%2F71414&protocol=hls&session=e1250926c588cf78-com-plexapp-android&subtitleSize=75&X-Plex-Client-Identifier=e1250926c588cf78-com-plexapp-android&X-Plex-Client-Profile-Extra=add-limitation(scope%3DvideoCodec%26scopeName%3Dh264%26type%3DupperBound%26name%3Dvideo.level%26value%3D51)%2Badd-limitation(scope%3DvideoCodec%26scopeName%3D*%26type%3DupperBound%26name%3Dvideo.width%26value%3D3840%26replace%3Dtrue)%2Badd-limitation(scope%3DvideoCodec%26scopeName%3D*%26type%3DupperBound%26name%3Dvideo.height%26value%3D2160%26replace%3Dtrue)%2Badd-limitation(scope%3DvideoAudioCodec%26scopeName%3Daac%26type%3DupperBound%26name%3Daudio.channels%26value%3D6%26replace%3Dtrue)%2Badd-transcode-target-audio-codec(type%3DvideoProfile%26context%3Dstreaming%26protocol%3Dhls%26audioCodec%3Dmp3)%2Badd-transcode-target-audio-codec(type%3DvideoProfile%26context%3Dstreaming%26protocol%3Dhls%26audioCodec%3Dac3)%2Badd-transcode-target-audio-codec(type%3DvideoProfile%26context%3Dstreaming%26protocol%3Dhls%26audioCodec%3Deac3)%2Badd-transcode-target-audio-codec(type%3DvideoProfile%26context%3Dstreaming%26protocol%3Dhls%26audioCodec%3Ddca)%2Badd-transcode-target(type%3DsubtitleProfile%26context%3Dstreaming%26protocol%3Dhttp%26container%3Dmkv%26subtitleCodec%3Dsrt)%2Bappend-transcode-target-codec(type%3DvideoProfile%26context%3Dstreaming%26protocol%3Dhls%26videoCodec%3Dmpeg2video)%2Badd-limitation(scope%3DvideoCodec%26scopeName%3Dhevc%26type%3DMatch%26name%3Dvideo.profile%26list%3Dmain%7Cmain%2010)%2Bappend-transcode-target-codec(type%3DvideoProfile%26context%3Dstreaming%26protocol%3Dhls%26videoCodec%3Dhevc)%2Badd-limitation(scope%3DvideoCodec%26scopeName%3D*%26type%3DNotMatch%26name%3Dvideo.anamorphic%26value%3D999%26replace%3Dtrue)&X-Plex-Device=SHIELD%20Android%20TV&X-Plex-Platform=Android&X-Plex-Platform-Version=7.0&X-Plex-Product=Plex%20for%20Android&X-Plex-Supported-Commands=abort&X-Plex-Token=...hUA2&X-Plex-Version=5.10.1.264 05-30 20:56:50.270 i: [Proxy] Response: 200 05-30 20:56:50.277 i: [BufferHelper] Assumed Bitrate: 21488, Segment Count: 2518 05-30 20:56:50.277 i: [BufferHelper] Segment count: 2518 05-30 20:56:50.278 i: [ExoVideoPlayer] Renderers received 05-30 20:56:50.279 i: [ExoVideoPlayer] Seeking to 0ms 05-30 20:56:50.282 i: [pms] /127.0.0.1:52640 - GET /proxy 05-30 20:56:50.282 i: [Proxy] Request received: https://192.168.7.25:32400/video/:/transcode/universal/session/e1250926c588cf78-com-plexapp-android/base/index.m3u8 05-30 20:56:50.292 i: [Exo1VideoPlayer] Player state changed: 2, Restarting: true 05-30 20:56:50.530 i: [Proxy] Response: 200 05-30 20:56:50.587 i: [pms] /127.0.0.1:52641 - GET /proxy 05-30 20:56:50.587 i: [Proxy] Request received: https://192.168.7.25:32400/video/:/transcode/universal/session/e1250926c588cf78-com-plexapp-android/base/00000.ts 05-30 20:56:51.396 i: [Proxy] Response: 200 05-30 20:56:51.409 i: [Exo1VideoPlayer] Player state changed: 3, Restarting: true 05-30 20:56:51.497 i: [Exo1VideoPlayer] Video size is now 1920x800 05-30 20:56:51.497 i: [video] Video size is now 1920x800 (ratio: 1.00) 05-30 20:56:51.498 i: [video] Transcoding anamorphic content, using original video size (1920x800) 05-30 20:56:51.498 i: [video] Scaling video view to 1920x800 05-30 20:56:51.498 i: [VideoOverlay] Video player size changed (1920, 800) 05-30 20:56:51.499 i: [Exo1VideoPlayer] Drawn to surface detected. 05-30 20:56:51.499 i: [video] Video start detected 05-30 20:56:51.513 i: [video] Video has started. 05-30 20:56:51.513 i: [TranscodeSession] Updating session status 05-30 20:56:51.513 i: [Exo1VideoPlayer] Player state changed: 4, Restarting: true 05-30 20:56:51.514 i: [ExoVideoPlayer] Selecting track (2 / -1) 05-30 20:56:51.515 i: Fetching [method:GET] https://192.168.7.25:32400/transcode/sessions/e1250926c588cf78-com-plexapp-android?X-Plex-Token=...hUA2 05-30 20:56:51.519 i: Fetching [method:GET] https://192.168.7.25:32400/:/timeline?bandwidth=62175&bufferedTime=4&containerKey=%2FplayQueues%2F288&duration=7991000&guid=com.plexapp.agents.imdb%3A%2F%2Ftt3076658%3Flang%3Den&key=%2Flibrary%2Fmetadata%2F71414&location=lan&machineIdentifier=25b7a2b1ae3f9e6a4dc7194c181647b09f8fac24&playQueueItemID=5050&ratingKey=71414&state=playing&time=0&timeToFirstFrame=1&token=...hUA2&X-Plex-Client-Identifier=e1250926c588cf78-com-plexapp-android&X-Plex-Token=...hUA2 05-30 20:56:51.544 i: [TranscodeSession] Resolution: -1x-1, Video: Remux, Audio: Transcode, Speed: 13.800000, Throttled: false 05-30 20:56:52.211 i: [pms] /127.0.0.1:52642 - GET /proxy 05-30 20:56:52.212 i: [Proxy] Request received: https://192.168.7.25:32400/video/:/transcode/universal/session/e1250926c588cf78-com-plexapp-android/base/00001.ts 05-30 20:56:52.221 i: [Proxy] Response: 200 05-30 20:56:53.084 i: [pms] /127.0.0.1:52643 - GET /proxy 05-30 20:56:53.084 i: [Proxy] Request received: https://192.168.7.25:32400/video/:/transcode/universal/session/e1250926c588cf78-com-plexapp-android/base/00002.ts 05-30 20:56:53.094 i: [Proxy] Response: 200 05-30 20:56:54.694 i: [pms] /127.0.0.1:52644 - GET /proxy 05-30 20:56:54.694 i: [Proxy] Request received: https://192.168.7.25:32400/video/:/transcode/universal/session/e1250926c588cf78-com-plexapp-android/base/00003.ts 05-30 20:56:54.708 i: [Proxy] Response: 200 05-30 20:56:55.451 i: [pms] /127.0.0.1:52645 - GET /proxy 05-30 20:56:55.452 i: [Proxy] Request received: https://192.168.7.25:32400/video/:/transcode/universal/session/e1250926c588cf78-com-plexapp-android/base/00004.ts 05-30 20:56:55.461 i: [Proxy] Response: 200 05-30 20:56:57.513 i: [pms] /127.0.0.1:52646 - GET /proxy 05-30 20:56:57.514 i: [Proxy] Request received: https://192.168.7.25:32400/video/:/transcode/universal/session/e1250926c588cf78-com-plexapp-android/base/00005.ts 05-30 20:56:57.525 i: [Proxy] Response: 200 05-30 20:56:59.664 i: [pms] /127.0.0.1:52647 - GET /proxy 05-30 20:56:59.665 i: [Proxy] Request received: https://192.168.7.25:32400/video/:/transcode/universal/session/e1250926c588cf78-com-plexapp-android/base/00006.ts 05-30 20:56:59.676 i: [Proxy] Response: 200
@danjames92 said:
@anon18523487 said:
I’m pretty sure when playing music, exoplayer is not used. It’s exoplayer that doesn’t support FLAC audio. If exoplayer was used for music, FLAC music wouldn’t be supported too.Can you confirm with a dev if this is a known issue? Would be very insightful.
I’ve confirmed that Exoplayer does handle music differently from video. What you linked to is the music support portion of Exoplayer. The Plex app doesn’t use Exoplayer for music so it doesn’t apply. FLAC is still not supported when in a video file. This may change with Exoplayer2 but we are still not near using Exo2 yet.
@MovieFan.Plex said:
@danjames92 said:
@MovieFan.Plex said:
I’m pretty sure when playing music, exoplayer is not used. It’s exoplayer that doesn’t support FLAC audio. If exoplayer was used for music, FLAC music wouldn’t be supported too.Can you confirm with a dev if this is a known issue? Would be very insightful.
I’ve confirmed that Exoplayer does handle music differently from video. What you linked to is the music support portion of Exoplayer. The Plex app doesn’t use Exoplayer for music so it doesn’t apply. FLAC is still not supported when in a video file. This may change with Exoplayer2 but we are still not near using Exo2 yet.
This is very helpful in determining why flac in mkv is not supported (and I am glad to hear this might change when the eventual shift to Exo2 occurs), but I am still confused as to why no video is showing up when Plex transcodes the flac audio in a 7.1 movie on the Shield client. I watched one of these videos without issue a month ago, so something has changed since then.
@ttnicky@gmail.com said:
@MovieFan.Plex said:
@danjames92 said:
@MovieFan.Plex said:
I’m pretty sure when playing music, exoplayer is not used. It’s exoplayer that doesn’t support FLAC audio. If exoplayer was used for music, FLAC music wouldn’t be supported too.Can you confirm with a dev if this is a known issue? Would be very insightful.
I’ve confirmed that Exoplayer does handle music differently from video. What you linked to is the music support portion of Exoplayer. The Plex app doesn’t use Exoplayer for music so it doesn’t apply. FLAC is still not supported when in a video file. This may change with Exoplayer2 but we are still not near using Exo2 yet.
This is very helpful in determining why flac in mkv is not supported (and I am glad to hear this might change when the eventual shift to Exo2 occurs), but I am still confused as to why no video is showing up when Plex transcodes the flac audio in a 7.1 movie on the Shield client. I watched one of these videos without issue a month ago, so something has changed since then.
ExoPlayer was upgraded to 1.5.16 so that’s probably it. Provide a debug log, clean server logs (I.e. Wipe logs then restart server and repeat action) then @“MovieFan.Plex” should be able to get them to the devs.
Please provide your entire log files as attachments. It’s hard to read when you just paste them into a comment, as all the formatting gets messed up.
Your above snippet doesn’t show any issues. It says the video is being played as is, only the audio is being converted. So there may be an issue with the video itself. When you are using the Chromecast, my guess is that the video is also being converted so the problem with the actual video doesn’t exist anymore. Also provide the XML for this video.
@MovieFan.Plex said:
Please provide your entire log files as attachments. It’s hard to read when you just paste them into a comment, as all the formatting gets messed up.Your above snippet doesn’t show any issues. It says the video is being played as is, only the audio is being converted. So there may be an issue with the video itself. When you are using the Chromecast, my guess is that the video is also being converted so the problem with the actual video doesn’t exist anymore. Also provide the XML for this video.
I will work on getting the logs to you, I appreciate the attention. I know it is not something with the video because it is every video with 7.1 flac and only those videos. The videos direct play (according to Plex overlay info) just fine on my phone and computer (direct play video, audio obviously is being transcoded). Titles with 5.1 flac and original audio are all perfect.
Also, while Plex does indeed transcode the video file during playback to the Chromecast, forcing the Shield to transcode video (by enforcing a limit on bandwidth) does not fix the problem. Therefore, it seems likely this does not have to do with the direct play/transcode status, but the Shield client app.
I’ll have to double check, but I’m not aware of any limitations when using the Google Cast feature. There use to be a limitation but I thought that was removed some time ago.
@MovieFan.Plex said:
Please provide your entire log files as attachments. It’s hard to read when you just paste them into a comment, as all the formatting gets messed up.Your above snippet doesn’t show any issues. It says the video is being played as is, only the audio is being converted. So there may be an issue with the video itself. When you are using the Chromecast, my guess is that the video is also being converted so the problem with the actual video doesn’t exist anymore. Also provide the XML for this video.
Attached are the various log files. I am new at getting these logs, so I hope they are what you wanted. Again, this only happens when playing titles with 7.1 flac soundtracks on the nvidia shield plex client. And this worked fine about 1 month ago. For whatever reason, when Plex is transcoding these audio tracks, the video content is not being displayed.
I don’t see any issues with your logs. Can you try playing the movie again from the Shield and then get me the log from the Shield itself. https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/201573117
PMS is copying the video and converting the audio from flac to 7.1 EAC3 (also known as Dolby Digital Plus). Does your receiver support 7.1 channel EAC3? If not, this could be the issue. Trying to play an unsupported audio track can lead to video issues. This could also be a bug on Plex’s side. I don’t know if the Shield can passthrough 7.1 EAC3 audio. If not, then PMs should not be using that as the transcoder target. NVidia did release a firmware a little while ago that added support for certain 7.1 audio. It’s possible we did not take that change into account and did not limit EAC3 to 5.1 channels. I’m looking into this.
@MovieFan.Plex said:
I don’t see any issues with your logs. Can you try playing the movie again from the Shield and then get me the log from the Shield itself. https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/201573117PMS is copying the video and converting the audio from flac to 7.1 EAC3 (also known as Dolby Digital Plus). Does your receiver support 7.1 channel EAC3? If not, this could be the issue. Trying to play an unsupported audio track can lead to video issues. This could also be a bug on Plex’s side. I don’t know if the Shield can passthrough 7.1 EAC3 audio. If not, then PMs should not be using that as the transcoder target. NVidia did release a firmware a little while ago that added support for certain 7.1 audio. It’s possible we did not take that change into account and did not limit EAC3 to 5.1 channels. I’m looking into this.
Thank you. I’ll try and get that other log to you later today. My receiver supports up to DTS HD MA and DD TrueHD 7.1, so I assume it can do similarly for DD+, but I will need to double check that.
I’m also trying to grab a 10s video clip of the movie to upload so you have a file to work with directly.
@MovieFan.Plex said:
I don’t see any issues with your logs. Can you try playing the movie again from the Shield and then get me the log from the Shield itself. https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/201573117
Attached is the log from the Shield device.
