the android client need to transcode almost everything unnecessarily, like unsupported audio format or for subtitle burning.
I heard the reason that the subtitle burning happens is that when the audio transcodes the subtitles becomes out of sync with the audio.
why not switch to something like mpv ?
well, it was more like a question than a feature suggestion.
currently I’m using plex for kodi on android, the UI is not as good as the native android client, but it does not require any transcoding.
thanks for the answer.
i hope plex moves from exoplayer to mpv for android! that would be amazing!
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We would lose quite a few features and would no longer be relying on Google for MediaCodec (hardware decoders) support, as such it’s unlikely MPV will ever be on the table for Android as it wouldn’t make things better, but worse.
We are looking into improving our subtitle support though so that we can transcode audio and direct play the subtitles without having to transcode the video (the OP’s original annoyance). MPV however wouldn’t solve that.
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Will support for 10 bit h264 and .ASS subtitles be a thing with exo player? Currently only MPV on android supports Direct play of those formats from my testing.
Basic ASS support is available but it needs to be enabled by changing the “Burn Subtitle” option to “Image Formats Only”.
As for H264, we already support 10bit H264 but your device needs to include a capable decoder. We have also been miss identifying the H264 profiles which might of caused playback issues for 10bit H264, this has been fixed in v7.28 and is currently available in the beta.
Are there any plans for ASS support in the future?, or at the very least, the ability to use an external player for the Android TV app. MPV plays ASS subtitles with no issues, it would be nice to have that feature so the incompatible files can be played externally, like in the android app
Yes we have plans to support ASS but no ETA on when this will be available. We don’t have any plans to support an external player on Android TV as it would lose various features and add something into the stack that we need to spend time on rather than concentrating on our own player.
We are constantly improving our player so it becomes better and direct plays as much as possible.
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I hope it’s not too long into the future. I’m going to have to replace my HTPC soon, and I’d really like to replace it with a Shield, but this is a massive dealbreaker for me.
that’s the only disadvantage of the shield TV right now, even 5.1 audio through USB is now supported, if you have have a HW transcoding capable server then it won’t be a big problem.
Well hopefully it won’t take too long, its the only thing i can think of currently thats not allowing me to solely use plex, forcing me to use multiple apps. Looking forward to when it has support for it, cheers!
I completely agree. As someone who enjoys anime, the non-.ass support is a huge dealbreaker. Almost threw my Shield into the wall, cause i didn’t know beforehand, that it would impact the viewing quality immensely.
Going from no transcoding to less than 480p cause it somehow limits the bandwidth is just frustrating. Had to go back to my small Rasplex that just, eat, everything!
If you use the Plex for Kodi addon through Kodi it works a lot better on the Shield for .ass. It is probably the best working setup currently on android.
It’s possible to add Kodi Plex to the Home as a channel like the Plex app already does?
dont get the whole problem.
why is this such a problem to keep the player framework up to date?
[quote=“MovieFan.Plex, post:20, topic:530763”]I’m not positive but I believe that fix only helps if you use Exo2 as-is, which Plex doesn’t. That would support ASS/SSA subs, but then the extra things that Plex has added wouldn’t work
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[quote=“MovieFan.Plex, post:10, topic:530763”]Confirmed that Plex does not support dvb subtitles, but it is being worked on. We don’t need to update exoplayer for that.
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This is a big nono.
My basic knowlege about developing is to keep the frameworks as untouched as possible.
We see what happend when do not, 1 year no update, many bugs after switching the version, compatibilty issues.
Let google make the work, they known the devices best.
I cannot believe that plex have to develop more on the exoplayer than ui, fetch the video url and client-backend communication.
That’s like asking why phone mfg don’t provide a new firmware when a new version of Android comes out. It’s not as simple as just dropping in the new code and providing an update.
perfect example, since project treble updates are much faster (no new drivers etc) and brands who dont touch the underlaying framework much are faster than brands like samsung who needs to bloat up the entire system.
dont blame Plex, but exist no better way to keep frameworks up to date?
You also have to keep in mind that Exoplayer is not a full standalone video player. It’s just code that can be incorporated into a video player application. If Exoplayer was used as-is, as was previously done with Exoplayer v1, a lot of Plex features wouldn’t work. Have you tried using an external player from the mobile app and notice how things don’t work like tracking progress, resuming from the middle, and playlists just to name a few.
Yea i know, but it dont get in my head why this features make it impossible to update the player on a regular basis, changes google with every update the client-player interaction?
I dont get it.
BlockquoteHave you tried using an external player from the mobile app and notice how things don’t work like tracking progress, resuming from the middle, and playlists just to name a few.
Blockquote
On mobile android app plex exo player struggles to play non HDR movies encoded in x265 10bit. Local network direct play. Using external like vlc works perfect but tracking progress, resuming from the middle, and playlists dont work. So little update on the exo player would be nice.
I know exo can play these movies but some of them work and some of them are choppy just like hw support not kicking in.
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