Audio issues Plex on Amazon FireTV Stick

Plex Players Streaming Devices
1

Server Version#: 1.18.4.2171

Player Version#: 7.25.2.14287

Tried to play a movie recently on Plex using our Amazon Fire TV Stick and noticed that there was no Dialogue coming through in the Audio. Background noises and everything else came through just no Dialogue when people talked. Noticed it when playing a file that has AC3/Dolby Digital 5.1 Audio. So tried to play another file that has E-AC3/Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 Audio. Same result no Dialogue but everything else plays fine on the file. Thing is it worked fine just a few weeks ago. So then I tried to play a file that has DTS 5.1. Same result no Dialogue.

Decide to try and look into what could be causing the problem. Found an article that talks about how to Downgrade to an older version of the Plex app. Been getting mixed results. Decide to try a few different versions of the Plex App on FireTV… Playing the same 3 files. one AC3/Dolby Digital 5.1, one E-AC3/Dolby Digital Plus 5.1, and one DTS 5.1. Got mixed results. I used the same Server Version on my PC for all of them. Tried playing all 3 through Plex app on my Galaxy S7 Edge phone. And all 3 play perfectly fine. Thinking it might be something wrong with the Plex FireTV App.

Player Version#: 6.4.1.1644

  • File with AC3/Dolby Digital 5.1
  1. Original Quality = Plays fine
  2. Convert Automatically = Plays fine
  • File with E-AC3/Dolby Digital Plus 5.1
  1. Original Quality = it stutters.
  2. Convert Automatically = plays fine
  • File with DTS 5.1
  1. Original Quality = plays fine
  2. Convert Automatically = plays fine

Player Version#: 6.12.0.3239

  • File with AC3/Dolby Digital 5.1
  1. Original Quality = plays fine
  2. Convert Automatically = Error Playback has stopped because the connection to the Plex Media Server has been lost. Please ensure the server is available and retry.
  • File with E-AC3/Dolby Digital Plus 5.1
  1. Original Quality = it stutters.
  2. Convert Automatically = Error Playback has stopped because the connection to the Plex Media Server has been lost. Please ensure the server is available and retry.
  • File with DTS 5.1
  1. Original Quality = plays fine
  2. Convert Automatically = plays fine

Player Version#: 7.10.0.8875

  • File with AC3/Dolby Digital 5.1
  1. Original Quality = plays fine
  2. Convert Automatically = plays fine
  • File with E-AC3/Dolby Digital Plus 5.1
  1. Original Quality = it stutters.
  2. Convert Automatically = plays fine
  • File with DTS 5.1
  1. Original Quality = no Dialogue
  2. Convert Automatically = plays fine

Player Version#: 7.15.0.10215

  • File with AC3/Dolby Digital 5.1
  1. Original Quality = no Dialogue
  2. Convert Automatically = no Dialogue
  • File with E-AC3/Dolby Digital Plus 5.1
  1. Original Quality = it stutters.
  2. Convert Automatically = plays fine
  • File with DTS 5.1
  1. Original Quality = no Dialogue
  2. Convert Automatically = no Dialogue

Player Version#: 7.25.2.14287 (latest version)

  • File with AC3/Dolby Digital 5.1
  1. Original Quality = no Dialogue
  2. Convert Automatically = no Dialogue
  • File with E-AC3/Dolby Digital Plus 5.1
  1. Original Quality = no Dialogue
  2. Convert Automatically = no Dialogue
  • File with DTS 5.1
  1. Original Quality = no Dialogue
  2. Convert Automatically = no Dialogue
2 Likes
2

I ran into a similar issue with one of my Fire TVs. Go into the Fire TV audio settings and turn off Dolby Digital Plus and see if that fixes your problem.

3

Oddly though I am now getting slightly different results. With file with E-AC3/Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 playing fine now

Server Version#: 1.18.4.2171

Player Version#: 7.25.2.14287

  • File with AC3/Dolby Digital 5.1
  1. Original Quality = no Dialogue
  2. Convert Automatically = no Dialogue
  • File with E-AC3/Dolby Digital Plus 5.1
  1. Original Quality = Plays fine
  2. Convert Automatically = Plays fine
  • File with DTS 5.1
  1. Original Quality = no Dialogue
  2. Convert Automatically = no Dialogue

Went to Settings > Displays & Sounds > Audio > Dolby Digital Output. The options are as following:

  • Dolby Digital Plus Automatic
  • Dolby Digital Plus OFF
  • Dolby Digital Plus over HDMI
  • Dolby Digital over HDMI

The default setting is on Dolby Digital Plus Automatic.
Tried to change it to other options. Only thing that changed was when I did Dolby Digital Plus over HDMI that the file that has E-AC3/Dolby Digital had no audio at all. Otherwise same results no matter which setting I picked.

I did try the same files in Emby. Emby came back with the wrong metadata for them. But I was able to fix the mismatch within Emby. But the files played just fine in Emby.

4

After messing around some more with it. I was able to get it to work.
On the Plex App on the FireTV Stick went to Settings > Advanced > Passthrough
Changed Passthrough from Disabled to Optical. Tried HDMI and that didn’t work. But changing to Optical worked.

5

Firestick users are having this problem all over, but the Plex team doesn’t seem interested in fixing the problem. Enabling optical passthrough causes its own set of issues, so I recommend downgrading to v6.12 of Plex. If the Plex team doesn’t fix the issue, I recommend switching to Jellyfin.

6

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