So I’m trying to figure out this 4k business but can’t really wrap my head around it. It seems Joker is playing find without any transcoding going on, direct play, while Lord of the rings is playing as direct stream:
Joker 2160p remux - Direct Play when I check on my plex server
MPEG-H HEVC Video 50191 kbps 2160p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / Main 10 @ Level 5.1 @ High / 4:2:0 / 10 bits / HDR10 / BT.2020 /
Lord of the rings: fellowship of the rings, 2160p remux - Direct Stream when I check on my plex server
CODEC : HEVC
TYPE : 2160p
FRAME RATE : 23.976 fps
DISPLAY ASPECT RATIO : 16:9
FORMAT PROFILE LEVEL : Main 10@L5.1@High
BITRATE : 68.0 Mbps
WIDTH x HEIGHT : 3840 x 2160 pixels
COLOR PRIMARIES : BT.2020
Both are .MKV (HEVC) and being played with AC3-Stereo audio track.
You did not mention if this is on the same TV/Device or not. I am assuming this is on different TVs/Devices. One of the device does not support mkv and is converted to mp4 and is why you would get direct stream instead of direct play.
Also why are you ripping a move and use only stereo?
Use Media Info on the two files which gives us more information and post the info from the two files. That might help to see what is different about them.
Note the message “Stream count exceeds 30 streams.”
The Plex Samsung app has a limit on the total number of tracks in a file: video + audio + subtitles.
Looks like you’ve exceeded that limit. This forces Plex Media Server to re-mux the media to have less than 30 streams. That is why you’re seeing Direct Streaming instead of Direct Playing.
This does not affect video or audio quality. It is just Plex repackaging the media. The video & audio tracks are not transcoded.
If you want the media to direct play, reduce the total number of tracks in the file. Consider removing subtitle and audio tracks in languages you do not need.
You can use MKVToolNix to remove the unneeded tracks (or re-rip with MakeMKV).
FYI, the Samsung app also has a limit of 80 Mbps for HEVC video and 60 Mbps for AVC/H.264 video. If your media exceeds those rates it will force a video transcode.
If you enable “Log to Server” at the debug level in the Plex Samsung app, you will see the messages in the Plex Media Server logs if/when you exceed the limits.
Thanks, as long as it’s not crunching the video quality while doing the repackaging its fine I’ll turn on the “Log to server” setting and check if the limits are exceeded, thanks!
Plex forces Samsungs to transcode if the bitrate is over something like 60Mb/s. Crippling. Plex says Samsung made them do it. I had to switch to an Nvidia Shield.
It is a Samsung limitation, not Plex. 80 Mbps for 4K HEVC, 60 Mbps for H.264. It applies to the total stream, the sum of all the video, audio, & subtitle tracks in the file. Another reason to strip out unnecessary audio & subtitle tracks.
Samsung limitation or not, I could direct play 4K remuxes that were 100+ Mb/s before Plex implemented this rule, on the same tv. No buffering, no issues.
Well I suspect that there was an issue with this on Samsung TV’s, maybe not your model so the developers applied the restrictions. I am a developer my self dealing with mostly communications protocols and I see all the time where other developers do not follow protocol specs or specifications which cause problems later down the line. That said, you might be able to modify the profile for your TV to increase that limit again if that is where they changed it. You should be able to Google Plex Profiles to find where to change this. I have not dealt with the profiles for a long time so I am not sure where they are storing them now or if they are still even using them.
I’ll turn on the “Log to server” setting and check if the limits are exceeded, thanks!
