The topic of DRM is germane to the discussion of functioning AC-4 passthrough/decoding, inasmuch as it relates to a solution for Plex Live TV & DVR which can leverage ATSC3.0 going forward. Unless Plex intends to work with the A3SA to certify Plex Media Server/clients for support of encumbered broadcasts (Hint: they don’t), everything else is moot (though AC-4 support in Plex would be a good idea, in general).
In that vein, Lon Seidman has started a Change.org petition to bring awareness to the detriments DRM encumbrance brings to the table regarding ATSC 3.0. I’ll leave the link here (which itself contains a link to his video on the subject). Two (out of five) ATSC 3.0 channels in my market are already unwatchable on SiliconDust’s tuners (regardless of the client) already due to DRM encryption. I fully expect that to expand if things continue as they are.
This has gotten more out of reach for Plex since this thread started. If LG can’t justify the licensing of NextGen in their TVs, asking it of Plex is completely unreasonable.
HDHomeRun Flex 4k is certified for NextGenTV while not actually supporting ATSC 3.0 streams (because of DRM).
The fact that LG bailed and the FCC leadership just flipped from Republican majority seems like it could be a window of hope for change.
ATSC 3.0 as a standard doesn’t need proprietary codecs (HEVC and AC-4) now that we have open-soruce codecs like AV1 and Opus. It’s completely corrupt and there is no excuse I can think of other than Dolby having their hands in the FCC. Try to name a single streaming service that uses AC-4.
TV on public airwaves should not be encrypted. It will not stop piracy since pirates can always copy a stream after being decrypted and Hearst knows that well. It only serves as a way to monetize public airwaves with piracy being the excuse for doing something unethical.
These are two different aspects of the licensing though. LG is making TV’s with tuners and they are wanting to stop because one of the companies behind the broadcast tech wanted to get their own royalties outside the regular patent pool. LG pulled out because allowing companies to be separate from the pool makes licensing unpredictable. If anything this will affect Silicon Dust more than Plex.
That’s not to say the software side won’t become similarly unpredictable, but getting a license for AC-4 isn’t the same issue that LG was dealing with.
We keep coming back to this in this thread, there is more involved for Plex than AC-4. They also have to get certificates for decrypting DRM, no? I don’t think it’s reasonable to believe that Plex will ever support NextGen unless we get the standard changed, so we can just agree to disagree and see what happens.
Not to derail with arguments that are beside my point though, the rejection of the standard by LG and the changing of the majority in the FCC are both potential for our cause. Major manufacturers rejecting the standard for any reason is logical cause for the FCC to reconsider the standard, in my opinion.
I’m an advocate for letting us consumers determine the fate of ATSC 3.0. Average folks wont initially understand at first but as soon as more and more get educated about the nuances there are with the ATSC 3.0 platform, the more they’ll continue to purchase ATSC 1.0 manufactured televisions. The problem though is that the industry leaders will then PURPOSELY stop making both “dumb” and smart ATSC 1.0 TVs that consumers will have absolutely NO CHOICE in that matter anymore. All I know is that I’m extremely pessimistic and I hope ATSC 3.0 costs EVERY darn broadcaster a GAZILLION dollars to implement but falls so hard that they have no one to blame but themselves for this disaster.
And the FCC, quite frankly should be driven through hot coals for NOT being on consumers side from the very start.
Plex (or the FCC) will have to figure out the DRM issue eventually, but that isn’t related to AC-4 decoding. There are still unencrypted channels on ATSC 3.0 and Plex won’t work with them because of the lack of AC-4 support.
I don’t think we will see Plex add AC-4 support when the axe is already falling. Just because some of the channels aren’t encrypted today, doesn’t mean they won’t be tomorrow. If there’s a demand for AC-4 outside of ATSC 3.0, I wasn’t aware. Maybe I’m wrong to assume. People who want this feature might be better served by spending their time commenting to the FCC.
I’m pessimistic too, but the party that was against net neutrality did just lose the majority.
Wow - that’s nuts with the 3.0 DRM. I recently bought a tuner and was on the fence for 1.0 vs 3.0. I view mostly through Plex so I’m glad I went 1.0. I guess I have 4 more years of it.
Sucks tho - I use it for football. I’m in Canada but use it to watch the American feeds without all the bad Canadian ads, especially the non stop gambling ads!
That’s an excellent workaround actually.
I will just add that this currently uses Emby’s ffmpeg build. That may not be a legal issue but it seems like they employ or contract someone who customizes and builds ffmpeg for Emby. So I think, ethically speaking, I would probably buy something from them to justify borrowing the work. It seems that the official ffmpeg build supports ac-4 pass-through now but still not decoding.
Edit: I don’t mean to direct the part about Emby to you directly, just generally. It’s the best solution I’ve seen. Saying the solution to watching ATSC 3.0 on Plex is by using Emby’s build of ffmpeg feels bad.
Channels most likely didn’t figure it out in the way that Plex would if they add support. Most likely they added AC4 without Dolby’s licensing and not bothering to decode DRM channels. In fact, there’s a DRM thread with discussion related to this one on their forum:
This is a really good option if it works well though. It probably disregards Dolby’s licensing like Channels or Emby have, the difference would be the user makes the choice rather than Plex. And as stations switch on DRM you will still lose them.
DRM and AC4 are separate issues, not sure why folks keep conflating them. I assume there aren’t enough PlexPass users who actually use Live TV to make it worth their while yet. But they’ll have to support it eventually.
I don’t have time for work arounds and Docker is not an option currently but thanks. Just want to know if/when Plex will support AC4 so I can make a decision on the best options for me going forward.
An employee made a statement that said it will be when they work out licensing with Dolby, earlier in this thread. That statement was made before stations started adding DRM which will be the bigger hurdle to support ATSC 3.0. That’s why it’s naturally conflated now. AC4 isn’t being requested independently from ATSC 3.0, so they are tied together. If decrypting the channels will never be a possibility for Plex, us ‘folks’ assume they may not want to pay for AC4. If they pay Dolby and then all the stations continue going to DRM, then what? If you are new to ATSC3 you may not realize that the DRM stations were not always DRM protected. One day they are open and the next they are gone.
Until someone is requesting AC4 for purposes other than ASTC3, I’m not sure why folks are pretending that and DRM aren’t conflated.
