Add support for videos encoded with Lavf58.20.100

Plex Players Gaming Consoles
1

Server Version#: 1.14.1.5488
Player Version#: 3.88.0

Ever since upgrading to Handbrake version 1.2.0 it seems they have upgraded the library they use to encode HEVC from Lavf57.7.2 to Lavf58.20.100 and this results in videos that play really slowly on the PS4 even with Direct Play and Direct Stream turned off. On the server side, the conversion from H.265 to H.264 is constantly throttled. Other devices (Apple TV, iPhones, PCs) do not have the same issue and play the videos fine. Please fix, thanks!

2

FYI, throttled conversion is not a bad thing:
https://support.plex.tv/articles/203064726-if-a-transcode-is-throttled-is-that-bad/

3

While that’s generally true, when the video is playing at < 1fps on the PS4 App then it certainly is a bad thing :frowning:

4

Ok here are the (hopefully) relevant logs for this issue. I’ve included the transcoder statistics logs as well if that would be any help. The local time when the issue was reproduced was 20:44:15

plexlogs.zip (114.7 KB)

5

Hi there. A sample file would be super useful if you can!

6

Hi Moussa,

Here is a sample encoded with Handbrake 1.2.2 which according to the metadata uses the Lavf58.20.100 library. I haven’t actually tried this specific file on my setup yet but I am about 90% certain it will exhibit the same issue as all the other files I’ve transcoded so far.

Here is the file: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1hIirKkV06sz2fmsK6PX1KeVx-oRm-Pez

Thanks for looking into this!

Marcus

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Thanks for the sample, I will look into it.

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@marcusboon I was not able to reproduce any issues with the sample file provided, could you confirm it produces the issues described?

9

Hi @Moussa,

You’re right it looks like the difference is the version of Handbrake (1.2.2 vs 1.2.0). I’m not sure what has changed in between. However here is a more comprehensive test sample. I have confirmed that the sample transcoded with Handbrake 1.2.0 does indeed suffer from this issue, while the one transcoded with Handbrake 1.2.2 does not. I have included detailed metadata for:

  • The source file
  • The transcoded files
  • The sample (since I had to use another program to cut them to size)

To reiterate, the issue is only with the PS4 Plex app. All other clients (iPhone, AppleTV, PC, Web) can play both files perfectly (although when they are playing, it seems like Direct Play is in use since they all have hardware H.265 decoders) but the PS4 playback is very poor (video plays at less than 5fps and there is no audio) and the Plex Media Server shows that transcoding from H.265 to H.264 is constantly throttled.

Samples and Metadata.zip (23.1 MB)

Marcus

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