Server Version#: 1.18.2.2058
Player Version#: 7.25.1.14216
Fire-TV always transcode, fails to direct play, but if I use any subtitles, for example srt, it even fails with transcoding. Below screenshots with play from server subtitles/no subtitles and view on TV with subtitles selected.
It looks like there are two things happening: First, your FireTV stick may not support the video format; Second, there is a problem with an Intel driver affecting hardware transcoding.
First, the transcoding:
Your video is HEVC Main 10. Is it 10-bit? Check Get Info if you are not sure.
You have the Fire TV Stick Basic Edition. It does not support 10-bit HEVC video, so Plex is transcoding it to H.264, 8-bit video.
Fire TV Stick Basic Edition Tech Specs
Second, the distorted picture.
On which OS and CPU are you running PMS?
As mentioned, there is a problem with an Intel supplied driver and hardware transcoding on systems with Apollo Lake CPUs. Plex is working with Intel to resolve the problem.
If this is the same problem you are experiencing, the easiest workaround is to disable hardware accelerated streaming.
You can also delete the offending driver. Plex will then fall back to an older driver.
This post has info on how to delete the driver.
Yes, its HEVC 10 bit.
I’m using Synology DS918+ with INTEL Celeron J3455. Removing iHD_drv_video.so solved the problem.
Thank you!
FYI, beta release with Intel driver fix just announced:
No… it does not fixed the problem for my synology, the artifacts in the transcoded video are back after i installed the beta.
Each time a new version is installed, the iHD_drv_video.so must be removed again.
(it’s shipped with each package)
If there are still issues with the driver, let’s see if we can help Intel some more 
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