Atmos (or any multi-channel not working during internet streaming + video quality

Plex Media Server NAS & Devices
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Server Version#:latest
Player Version#:latest

Hi I have Plex Media Server setup on my Qnap at my office. When streaming to my home, I seem to be getting 2-channel audio only. I’ve checked the settings in the movie title and it does seem to be 7.1 multichannel.
I’ve poured through the settings on the server side, but don’t see much and certainly nothing that’s set to 2-channel.
Also, I do have the quality set to 12mbps 1080, but the video quality is quite poor. I imagine the transcoder is doing it’s job, but I have fiber in both places, so I would expect better performance. Any insight on how I can improve this?

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Which Plex client type are you using to watch the item?

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any audio transcoding will lose atmos, though you should still get multi-channel eac3 etc.

to avoid transcoding, you must set the server and client settings accordingly.

server settings

  • remote access
    – internet upload set correctly
    – limit bitrate = original

client settings

  • quality
    – remote quality = original or maximum

also, your client device must be compatible with the audio, or must pass through to a receiver/soundbar that is compatible.

fyi, there are no known tvs that can play or pass through truehd/atmos.

You will need an nvidia shield + atmos receiver for truehd/atmos.

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Sorry… Apple TV

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Ok thanks. I had “Internet upload speed” blank so I just changed it to 100mbps.
Should that do it?
Limit bitrate was sent to Original.

On Apple TV, I do not see a place to set remote quality. Maybe I’m missing it.

I have a newer Apple TV 4K which is Atmos compatible as well as an Yamaha Atmos Proc

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On the server or on the client side?
Please post the contents of the Plex XML info of the video in question.

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The video is:
24578 kbps
4K
MKV
21.18 GB

  • Codec HEVC
  • Bitrate 19649 kbps
  • Bit Depth 10
  • Chroma Subsampling 4:2:0
  • Coded Height 1616
  • Coded Width 3840
  • Color Primaries bt2020
  • Color Range tv
  • Color Space bt2020nc
  • Color Trc smpte2084
  • Frame Rate 23.976 fps
  • Level 5.1
  • Profile main 10
  • Ref Frames 1
  • Title
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if they are full 4k bluray remuxes, they can easily exceed 100mb.

~200 would be a safe minimum bandwidth for direct play 4k/uhd/hdr remuxes.

check through all the plex settings, there is something there, its slightly different on various devices.

apple tv is NOT compatible with truehd/atmos.
it can play streaming atmos (ie eac3+atmos)

the ‘infuse’ app can decode truehd to pcm, but you still lose atmos.

you might want to check out @ Plex, 4k, transcoding, and you if you haven’t.

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Thanks for sharing that link. It was helpful. We only have 2 titles in our entire library that are 4K. All the rest are HD.
I guess I do not understand what it means that (Apple TV) can stream atmos but it’s not compatible. In short, Apple TV cannot stream Plex content in Atmos, I presume. I just bought the Apple TV. I’s returnable and I dont love it . Should I get the nvidia shield? Does it play nicer with Plex and Atmos?

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there are 2 kinds of ‘atmos’. (atmos is just spacial metadata)

there is

  • truehd+atmos - this comes from blurays (4k/1080). truehd is a high quality/high bitrate multi channel compressed audio stream

appletv cannot pass through (to receiver) or decode truehd natively (infuse can decode it to pcm no atmos, but through their own decoding routine and I assume applicable licensing from dolby)

  • dolbydigital+atmos - this generally comes from streaming providers such as netflix etc. any non-atmos devices will simply see it as dolby digital

I don’t know about non-4k apple tv, but the 4k apple tv should handle any DD+atmos audio.

as far as whether you should return the atv4k and get shield, is completely dependent on how important truehd+atmos is to you, and whether or not you hate android tv.

shield is not perfect by any means, but it is the only mainstream streaming device that is plex compatible with dolby atmos pass through.

if you get a shield, get the pro model (not the tube), there are some known issues with the tube, and not publicly known if/when they will be resolved.

shield alone will not get you atmos, you still need an atmos receiver or soundbar, the shield must be plugged directly into the avr/soundbar, not through the tv.

you can search these forums for nvidia shield to see thousand of posts regarding the good/bad points of them.

1 Like
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I’ve never really tried Android TV. My only real concern for whatever streaming box I land on is how it handles Plex, Netflix, and Prime (in that order)
I dont love the UI of Apple TV in my limited experience. We do have several Roku’s at work and they seem just as good.

I have a Yamaha cx-a5100 7.2.4 Atmos processor

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roku are generally great, but still don’t pass through truehd/atmos.

i have a shield 2017 plugged into my yamaha V583 5.1.2

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So just to clear it up, for passing atmos (from Plex) shield is superior to Apple TV?

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yes if you want to play atmos from 4k bluray remuxes.

1 Like
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Many thanks! I was just reading that the 2017v is virtually the same as the 2019. (minus dolby vision)
Is that also true for atmos?

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yes the 2015/2017 models all support atmos.

the 2019 model supports (limited) dolby vision (not dolby vision from 4k blurays though).

1 Like
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Awesome. I’ll make the switch. Thanks for your help!

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