I have several Apple TV’s. HD and 4K. The issue is on the HD model on a older 720tv. Apple tv is set to 1080p and I’ve watched the same 1080p blu ray rip for years with zero issues, but now under the Plex app’s Playback Settings (swipe down while movie the blu ray rip is playing) I’m clicking (aka, putting check mark) beside PLAY ORIGINAL QUALITY, but after a couple seconds the check mark moves down to “Convert to 4K (MAXIMUM)”, a setting that I’ve never even seen before. The result is now the video is looking like 1 or 2 frames a second! What’s going on? I’ve been using Plex for many years and never seen this before.
Apple TV Plex app settings are… Adjust Video Quality OFF Home Streaming MAXIMUM Play Smaller videos Original Quality ON Allow Direct Play ON Use Old Video Player OFF
I just did a total reset of the apple tv and tried the movie again. Same result.
I have a 4k Apple tv in the bedroom and it plays the movie when set to “play original quality” with no issues.
Both apple tv’s are connected with ethernet to my router.
Yes. 4k Apple will play original quality.
HD Apple switches itself to Convert to 4k when I try to play original quality.and it’s playing it horribly. Like 1 to 2 frames per second
I deleted the plex app then reset 4k Apple. Reinstalled plex app and no change.
It doesn’t make sense a HD Apple TV would even have a Convert to 4k selection.
We would benefit from server logs and the Apple TV Log. The idea is: put the server into debug mode, power cycle that computer, demonstrate the problem with a file for 30sec, then Setttings → Troubleshooting → Download Logs.
zip what you get and drop it into a reply here for the developers.
They always ask for a sample file from what you played so they can try to reproduce it.
Ok, so …
put the server into debug mode, power cycle that computer, demonstrate the problem with a file for 30sec (so this is where I go to my Apple TV HD and select the video and play it there for 30sec then stop it?), then Setttings → Troubleshooting → Download Logs?
I’m sorry I don’t have any more knowledge. On that TV you might try disabling direct play and seeing if Plex can remux it into something that behaves.
Some TVs don’t work and get special treatment from Plex, for example 2021 Samsung Tizen. Because those TVs are popular, it was noticed and fixed quickly by Plex (decoding 5.1 DTS to 5.1 PCM for 2nd track audio iirc). Maybe it wasn’t DTS, I forget.
Sometimes finding which version of Plex and PMS last worked is a huge help to the devs. Personally I dislike trying to catch up on long threads because they wander. To keep you topic in shape, it can help to distill all the important info, links, logs, what you know in the first post so it’s self contained.
On the home front, find a troublesome video and remux it yourself in mkvtoolnix gui.
You goal is to reduce the streams to: 1 video, 1 audio, 1 SRT (only if you need it). Test that.
Beyond those suggestions, some Plex folk who help here have office hours and repsond to DMs or pings in a thread.
It’s just weird because this same Apple TV HD has played this rip before no problem.
I even did a total reset on the Apple TV. No change. I have another one sitting in a closet. I could set it up to see if it does the same thing.
Btw, did you see the photo of the tv screen? I didn’t even know that “Convert to 4k (Maximum)” was even a setting. I don’t even see it on my Apple TV 4K that connected to a 4k tv.
So the VC1 is why it was transcoding which is only supported in our app on the ATv4k ( this limit has been in place for years) Though it say convert to 4k (which should probably say something else) the logs from server show it is actually going from 1080p>1080p
Was suggested we take a look at the plex media info xml for that movie which might yield some clues
Thank you.
Interesting. So is this “convert to 4k (maximum)” even an actual setting, because I don’t even see it as one in the Apple TV 4K.
Does it say 1080p-1080p in the log because it’s actually a 1080p Apple TV, not 4k capable?
Should the plex app on an Apple TVHD ever even say that it’s “converting to 4k (maximum)” since it’s impossible because it’s not a 4k device? That sounds like a bug in itself.
I’ll post the data from the rip when I get home.
It’s so strange. I have VC1 rips that have played fine on Apple TV HD’s in the past without converting them (directly). Unless I’m grossly mistaken.
These are movies I ripped a couple years ago and I only recently got the Apple TV 4K.
I think the 4K part is a mild red herring here. I think the Maximum part is what applies.
When there aren’t bandwidth restrictions, the result should be the best quality/resolution available to that device.
I see the same thing on an ATV HD w/ a 720p display:
If the VC1 file is 1080p, it transcodes down to 720p for the display.
If the VC1 file is 480p, it transcodes to 480p.
Matching what @BigWheel said, I’m pretty sure Plex on the ATV HD has never played VC1:
Ok. So I’m 99% sure the tv is an older 720p VIZIO. I’m away from home right now. I have the ATVHD set to 1080p. So when I try to play “original quality” by putting the check mark beside that setting, and the check mark drops down on its own and creates this new “Convert to 4k (maximum)” setting, the frame rate drops to something like a few frames a second. Totally unwatchable. What’s that about?
If I change the setting to adjust quality, it plays fine.
Should I seek out another VC1 rip in my server to see if it does the same thing?
Like I said previously, I’m pretty sure I’ve got a few of those and in all the years of playing them and messing with playback settings, this is something that I’ve just noticed happening. Thanks for your input!
Gotcha. So if it’s a 1080p rip being played on a 1080p ATV, why is the video super choppy? I mean, 1080p would be the maximum coming out of that ATVHD.
When I get home in a few hrs I’ll post a pic of what both the 4k and HD the Apple TV are showing they’re playing while playing this rip.
