Same.
Still seeing horrible audio sync issues on the newest beta with the new renderers both on.
Same file(s) via Infuse, perfect sync.
Edit: Newest Apple TV 4K, Samsung s90c, Yamaha TSR-700
If you had an existing fixed audio delay set in Plex, you may want to check what that value shows now. Mine was multiplied by a large factor with some some of these recent releases and needed to be reset.
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Good call. I’ll take a look at that tonight and report back.
Edit: No offset was set.
Do you have matched frame rate enabled? If mine is enabled, I get audio sync issues. If I turn it off, audio is aligned. Must be something with rendering the 24fps and audio getting off.
I do have both match options enabled.
It would be nice if they could get that working for those that have it enabled, especially if that is what is causing the issue on my end.
What type of media and is it better with the new audio engine off?
You’re on the most recent build (8.45 (9649)) and with the new audio engine on?
I have some answers for this:
So for the LG Cymatic Trailer, that is one of the medias we used as a barometer of how bad the old player was doing previously. It’s definitely better with the new player but it is possible that there is extra work going on within the app to cause extra hiccups.
This does work better when I disable some of the extra stuff that the app does.
Nothing actionable but just so you know that we are definitely keeping that performance in mind.
I’m looking at the crash
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Yes there is some optimization to be done at startup. It seems like when AirPlaying there is some issue with the audio buffer that is requested. I’m continuing to look at this but it seems to be the biggest culprit of startup issues.
This player was also kind of shoved into the existing playback stack which was tailored specifically to events from the old player. Essentially the events from this player needs to be mapped to the expected events which then triggers requests to PMS to tell it whether something is playing or not.
That seems to be a little off but probably will be better in the new app.
Not a resolution to the problem but just letting you know my thoughts on the issues.
I’ll reply with my testing ideas next.
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TL:DR: Super long thoughts about beta testing playback.
For those with some suggestions on better testing methods, here are some of my thoughts:
Since I joined last year, I’ve been discussing ideas with my team. We agree on some of them, but we haven’t had time to implement anything solid.
When we are debugging playback, we are trying to replicate two things:
- The device setup
- The playback session
This is why we ask for logs, sample media, and everything about your device/app/server.
There is a reasonable expectation that the most basic media will always play. This is media like H264, H265, AAC, etc.
This type of media or any similar “simple” media gets tested extensively within Plex. Of course, we use Plex as much as anyone. We will also have some odd media that pops up from time to time, which gets caught internally.
But this is not always a systematic test of all media that a player should play. A big reason we don’t test everything is that we also try to support everything with every setup. So, we cast a wide net while not always being able to validate everything.
We rely heavily on beta testers like y’all.
This works reasonably well but changes the way we tackle huge refactors like this player and edge cases.
I have even more thoughts about systematically testing everything that should play, but let me focus on our feedback loop here.
This beta feedback loop goes like this:
New build → Everyone tests with their setup/media → Feedback is provided in this thread → The feedback is ingested and tracked (in a few different ways) → Bugs are fixed (by replicating setups and media) → New build
Replicating setup and media is an essential part that can be optimized.
Suppose we have a media repository and a way to track what issues were previously reported and the setup/media required to reproduce the issue. In that case, we can all track issues while testing with our specific setups.
This changes how continuous feedback is reported and tracked while providing a single place for our shared media. Tracking each issue across builds has been difficult recently with just this thread, on top of the difficulty of sharing media.
This is one of the best ways I can think of to systematically test builds with our diverse setups while tracking who has tested with what setup and with what app build.
All said, we should have a place to share media while attaching issues and detailed information to that media.
I don’t believe there is something that exactly matches all the criteria I am considering, but I could be wrong. So, I am not opposed to putting together a small application for us to use for this specific purpose.
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Not to jump in late but as I am a Software Engineer you willingly participated in a BETA which is tagged as not being ready and we (not me but Plex) are working on it. The nonconstructive criticism and the entitlement because you paid a lifetime fee years ago(…) and complaining about it not working or ready was understood by everyone who can read the word BETA and understood what they signed up for ,if you wanted something that worked you would’ve stuck to the general releases and WAITED until this went to PROD. This is clearly marked and not PRODUCTION ready by the word BETA or any other lifecycle that is outside of the word PROD
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Not sure if the is the exact info you want, but it’s an H264/5.1 EAC3 mkv file.
Switching the new audio encoder off doesn’t seem to be any better from what I can see.
About 2 min in on the episode, you could clearly see a ‘drift’ as the audio went out of sync. Audio playing before movement.
Also noticing that when compared to the old player, scrubbing/seeking is much more delayed. Pausing and scrubbing ahead or back, the play head maker stays at the old location while it plays from where you scrubbed to.
Hope this helps.
Would it make sense to have you/Plex host a server with some test media, and invite a subset of users in this thread to test it out on their setups? I know we’re wandering into copyright territory here (maybe we can use the test videos like the Chameleon one previously listed), but it would provide a consistent base for testing.
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With the latest tvOS update I’m starting to a full app crash when playing something directly after opening.
Different media, different TVs, seems random, but about once per tv per day. I usually only use the plex app (it’s set to turn on Apple TV then automatically open the plex app via a homebridge plugin as I mostly use scenes or automations) or the app is usually still “active” when powering back on.
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Feedback on the Beta Experience with Plex on Apple TV 4K (3rd Gen)
Hello everyone,
I’ve recently joined the beta and would like to share my experience so far.
My Setup
- Device: Apple TV 4K (3rd Gen)
- Software: tvOS and Plex (latest versions)
- Settings: Match Content and Match Frame Rate enabled
- Playback: All content (video, audio, and subtitles) is being output as Direct Stream.
I primarily use Plex for watching anime, which is mostly 1080p resolution, AAC audio, and ASS subtitles.
Initial Issues with the Current Player
The current non-beta player had significant issues that made it almost impossible to enjoy content on Plex. Frequent stuttering was noticeable during playback, though it did excel in rendering subtitles perfectly. On the other hand, the “old player” ran smoothly but failed to display any subtitle styling.
Beta Observations
Video Renderer
The new video renderer introduced in the beta is a significant improvement:
- Pros:
- Smooth playback without stuttering.
- Standard subtitles (both top and bottom aligned) are displayed correctly.
However, there are notable issues with heavily styled subtitles, especially those that occupy a large portion of the screen or remain visible for an extended period:
-
Scenario 1: For subtitles that are highly styled and span across the screen, playback becomes extremely choppy, with display FPS dropping below 10.
-
Scenario 2: When subtitles scroll or persist on the screen for longer durations, playback becomes laggy and causes the Plex app to crash entirely after ~10 seconds.
This indicates that there are still major challenges with handling complex subtitle rendering.
Audio Engine
The new audio engine has synchronization issues:
- I tried adjusting the audio delay settings (e.g., I use
-50msin Infuse), but I couldn’t achieve proper sync in Plex. - The adjustment UI is also problematic, as it seems truncated; I can only see a minus sign followed by two dots, e.g.,
- . .. - Even when sync seems correct, it drifts out of sync after some time.
Comparison with the Old Audio Engine:
The previous audio engine performs flawlessly.
- I could even apply positive offset values (which I haven’t encountered in other apps) and maintain perfect sync across multiple episodes of different titles.
Conclusion
While the new video renderer is a step in the right direction for smooth playback, the handling of heavily styled subtitles and the new audio engine require significant improvements. For now, the old audio engine remains superior in terms of synchronization.
I hope this feedback helps the team in refining the beta further.
4 Likes
When watching a movie through, it was playing smooth and find for me till about an hour and a half in (1080p content) and then started getting buffering every minute which then slowly turned into every 3-5 seconds. According to Unifi, the Apple TV was only showing about 2 Mbps download on the port. Force closing the app and opening it back up and now Plex is downloading over 100 Mbps and plays smooth.
My Setup
- Device: Apple TV 4K (1st Gen) going through Denon Receiver to TV
- Software: tvOS and Plex (latest versions)
- Settings: Match Content Enabled and Match Frame Rate Disabled (audio sync issues when enabled)
- Playback: All content (video, audio, and subtitles) is being output as Direct Play.
- Thermal State: Nominal
Hi,
are you seeing this issue with a remote connection Plex Server or local Direct Play/Direct Stream from your Home Plex Media Server via your Television?
You mentioned download, what do you mean?
Plex Clients don’t download. Exception Mobile devices with a Plex Client
I was watching the switch port traffic stats the Apple TV was connected to. What I mean by download is the stream it buffers - it downloads it from the Plex server. This is a local connection to the Server. For some reason I was only seeing very slow traffic through the port (gigabit mind you). But when closing the Plex all and opening it back up, cleared something and allowed the plex client to buffer the video stream much faster so it didn’t constantly pause every 2 seconds and allowed it to keep up to have a smooth playback. It was able to keep up with the buffer. Did not restart the Apple TV, only restarted the Plex app.
It was find for the first half of the movie, then got progressively worse with shorter and shorter periods in between the buffer. I’ll see if I can get it to do it again and get server logs and client logs.
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Have you made Reserved/Static PMS LAN IP in your router/ switch. Other things to look at are Patch leads, age of your switch, the last time your router was restarted. Check your router for TX and RX errors in diagnostics that can be a good indicator of a ageing router needing replacement or hardware struggling with traffic.
I was thinking something like this, however that potentially introduces network issues that could muddy things. Better, in my opinion, to provide a zip full of files that could be added to a server, ideally as a new library…
