Allow separate Direct Play setting for Audio and Video

Plex Players
,
1

I have two issues with Direct Play. On my brand new Samsung TV, I can stream movies and TV as long as Direct Play is enabled. However, to play any of my tens of thousands of FLAC music files, I have to have Direct Play off. Am I doing something wrong? If I’m remote, my server (hosted on Synology DS1520+) will transcode just fine. I’m running the latest server and client.

What I want to happen is to really allow Direct Play if the client supports it, but convert my FLAC to PCM when I want to play music on here.

Another reason for wanting PCM is that I’m setting up a separate theater/listening area with a very high end processor and DAC. Ideally, I’d like the Plex client on the TV to send the movie audio stream untouched to the processor, but I want music converted from FLAC to PCM so my DAC can do its thing (my DAC does not support FLAC directly).

Can I make this happen, or do I need to setup a separate Plex client?

2

Do you get an error? In the app, there is an option to send logging info to your server. Enable that, reproduce the problem, grab your server logs and provide them here.

3

I can try that tonight. I don’t get an error message. It just says it can’t play the file.

4

Logs are attached. Note, the screen does say and “unexpected playback error” occurred. If I turn off DirectPlay, then the FLAC file will play.
Plex Media Server Logs_2021-12-01_16-58-32.zip (1.2 MB)

5

Your TV is reporting it does support FLAC. The file is 24-bit, so it’s possible it supports less than 24-bit but isn’t providing that info to us. I’ll check if there is something we can do to restrict not trying to direct play 24-bit FLAC or at least fallback to transcoding when this fails.

You have debug logging off on your server. Can you turn that on, reproduce the issue, and get me a new log. I’ll need that to give to the team when I report this issue.

6

Log files attached again. I don’t think it is 24 bit related. I played 2 files – one 24 bit, and one 16 bit. Both failed.

These files play everywhere else (Sonos, iPhone, iPad, Mac, Windows, Web). The TV is a 2021 Samsung Neo QLED with the latest software. Plex Server is 1.25.0.5282. Plex client is latest, but I don’t have that version handy. I do know it updated recently because I remember it asking if I wanted to try the new UI.

Plex Media Server Logs_2021-12-01_18-18-38.zip (1.2 MB)

7

Can you send me the xml info for one of these files?

8

Here is one from Eric Clapton that I purchased list week (no DRM):

<MediaContainer size="1" allowSync="1" identifier="com.plexapp.plugins.library" librarySectionID="4" librarySectionTitle="Music" librarySectionUUID="a3d2a9d3-6579-464e-9f9e-2644edac9e76" mediaTagPrefix="/system/bundle/media/flags/" mediaTagVersion="1638287659">
<Track ratingKey="27625" key="/library/metadata/27625" parentRatingKey="27622" grandparentRatingKey="13030" guid="plex://track/61647f6d4c451f5a44831c15" parentGuid="plex://album/61647f6c4c451f5a4482f811" grandparentGuid="plex://artist/5d07bbfd403c6402904a66da" parentStudio="EPC Enterprises LLC" type="track" title="Black Magic Woman" grandparentKey="/library/metadata/13030" parentKey="/library/metadata/27622" librarySectionTitle="Music" librarySectionID="4" librarySectionKey="/library/sections/4" grandparentTitle="Eric Clapton" parentTitle="The Lady in the Balcony: Lockdown Sessions" summary="" index="3" parentIndex="1" viewCount="1" lastViewedAt="1638382224" parentYear="2021" thumb="/library/metadata/27622/thumb/1638321681" art="/library/metadata/13030/art/1637828358" parentThumb="/library/metadata/27622/thumb/1638321681" grandparentThumb="/library/metadata/13030/thumb/1637828358" grandparentArt="/library/metadata/13030/art/1637828358" duration="261440" addedAt="1638321668" updatedAt="1638322188">
<Media id="30146" duration="261440" bitrate="2919" audioChannels="2" audioCodec="flac" container="flac">
<Part accessible="1" exists="1" id="30226" key="/library/parts/30226/1638319971/file.flac" duration="261440" file="/volume1/Media/Hi-Def Music/Eric Clapton/The Lady In The Balcony_ Lockdown Sessions (Live) (FLAC 96-24)/01-03 Black Magic Woman (Live).flac" size="96095510" container="flac" deepAnalysisVersion="6" hasThumbnail="1" requiredBandwidths="2905,2905,2905,2905,2905,2905,2905,2905">
<Stream id="36754" streamType="2" selected="1" codec="flac" index="0" channels="2" bitrate="2919" albumGain="-5.91" albumPeak="0.965184" albumRange="6.712255" audioChannelLayout="stereo" bitDepth="24" endRamp="-51.00 0.14;-35.97 2.64;-25.84 2.94;-17.11 3.04;-14.31 3.14;-11.92 6.64;-8.31 7.54;-5.88 9.64;-2.59 9.84;1.84 10.14;3.54 12.24;6.14 12.84;" gain="-5.91" loudness="-13.87" lra="5.86" peak="0.958082" requiredBandwidths="2883,2883,2883,2883,2883,2883,2883,2883" samplingRate="96000" startRamp="-51.00 0.00;-1.86 0.20;0.13 4.50;3.28 41.10;6.16 50.70;" displayTitle="FLAC (Stereo)" extendedDisplayTitle="FLAC (Stereo)"></Stream>
</Part>
</Media>
<Extras size="0"></Extras>
<Related></Related>
</Track>
</MediaContainer>

Here is another that I ripped from CD:

<MediaContainer size="1" allowSync="1" identifier="com.plexapp.plugins.library" librarySectionID="4" librarySectionTitle="Music" librarySectionUUID="a3d2a9d3-6579-464e-9f9e-2644edac9e76" mediaTagPrefix="/system/bundle/media/flags/" mediaTagVersion="1638287659">
<Track ratingKey="15340" key="/library/metadata/15340" parentRatingKey="15338" grandparentRatingKey="15337" guid="plex://track/5d07cdb6403c640290f51cee" parentGuid="plex://album/5d07c1a1403c64029085eec9" grandparentGuid="plex://artist/5d07bbfc403c6402904a5c0b" parentStudio="Maverick" type="track" title="You Oughta Know" grandparentKey="/library/metadata/15337" parentKey="/library/metadata/15338" librarySectionTitle="Music" librarySectionID="4" librarySectionKey="/library/sections/4" grandparentTitle="Alanis Morissette" parentTitle="Jagged Little Pill" summary="" index="2" parentIndex="1" ratingCount="549839" userRating="10.0" lastRatedAt="1638210224" parentYear="1995" thumb="/library/metadata/15338/thumb/1637828330" art="/library/metadata/15337/art/1637828294" parentThumb="/library/metadata/15338/thumb/1637828330" grandparentThumb="/library/metadata/15337/thumb/1637828294" grandparentArt="/library/metadata/15337/art/1637828294" duration="249200" addedAt="1624029281" updatedAt="1631887947">
<Media id="17797" duration="249200" bitrate="988" audioChannels="2" audioCodec="flac" container="flac">
<Part accessible="1" exists="1" id="17809" key="/library/parts/17809/1624032881/file.flac" duration="249200" file="/volume1/Media/Music/Alanis Morissette/Jagged Little Pill/02 You Oughta Know.flac" size="31321143" container="flac" deepAnalysisVersion="6" hasThumbnail="1" requiredBandwidths="998,998,998,998,998,998,998,998">
<Stream id="24947" streamType="2" selected="1" codec="flac" index="0" channels="2" bitrate="988" albumGain="-8.40" albumPeak="1.000000" albumRange="12.268750" audioChannelLayout="stereo" bitDepth="16" endRamp="-51.00 0.10;-33.55 2.70;-25.62 2.80;-15.26 2.90;-8.48 3.00;-4.21 3.10;-1.77 3.20;0.42 3.40;4.47 4.90;6.99 5.10;" gain="-8.40" loudness="-11.39" lra="16.11" peak="1.000000" requiredBandwidths="981,981,981,981,981,981,981,981" samplingRate="44100" startRamp="-51.00 0.00;-17.76 0.20;-13.55 0.30;-11.05 0.40;-7.29 17.80;-5.60 17.90;-2.38 18.50;0.04 27.90;3.04 36.40;6.22 52.60;" displayTitle="FLAC (Stereo)" extendedDisplayTitle="FLAC (Stereo)"></Stream>
<Stream id="32442" key="/library/streams/32442" streamType="4" codec="txt" format="txt" provider="com.plexapp.agents.lyricfind" displayTitle="TXT (External)" extendedDisplayTitle="TXT (External)"></Stream>
</Part>
</Media>
<Mood id="16423" filter="mood=16423" tag="Angst-Ridden"/>
<Mood id="16074" filter="mood=16074" tag="Cathartic"/>
<Mood id="16351" filter="mood=16351" tag="Confrontational"/>
<Mood id="16167" filter="mood=16167" tag="Fiery"/>
<Mood id="16304" filter="mood=16304" tag="Freewheeling"/>
<Mood id="16465" filter="mood=16465" tag="Harsh"/>
<Mood id="16181" filter="mood=16181" tag="Intense"/>
<Mood id="16306" filter="mood=16306" tag="Lively"/>
<Mood id="16383" filter="mood=16383" tag="Menacing"/>
<Mood id="16349" filter="mood=16349" tag="Outraged"/>
<Extras size="0"></Extras>
<Related></Related>
</Track>
</MediaContainer>
9

Any updates?

10

I don’t have a Samsung TV so I’ve asked someone else to test. Haven’t heard back yet.

11

Got it. No worries.

12

Just checking in to see if there are any updates.

13

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