Server Version#: 4.141.0
Player Version#:
<If providing server logs please do NOT turn on verbose logging, only debug logging should be enabled>
When playing a movie or tv show, there is serious lag between the picture and the audio. It only happens on the Plex app, not on any other app. Apple TV+, Disney+, YouTube, etc all work fine with the audio sync.
My Apple TV is paired with two stereo HomePods as the default method, and I have my Apple TV set up for eARC through my tv.
My previous tv setup did not have this issue plaguing it. The differences are: different HDMI cord (already tried switching it out for another one, no fix), new TV, and new WiFi router.
Again, the only app doing this is Plex. So even with the other new variables, there seems to be an issue with the app. I’ve seen other threads on here about this, with the only possible suggestion to downgrade back to the old engine. I’d love to stay on the current one if possible (and hope that it’s the current one in development).
The other issue (also common on the same threads it seems), is that the episode or movie pretty much always hangs before playing. Looking at my iPhone, which shows the “now playing” widget from the nearby Apple TV, I can see that the ticker is counting up as if the movie is playing. But I can confirm that it is not. The only fix is to pause the movie, and then play it again. This then resets the play counter back to 0:00 and it plays fine. Not sure if these are related, but again I’ve seen a commonality between the two issues (and both seem to be fixed by switching back to the old player).
The only issue with saying it’s a known issue is that it wasn’t an issue with my last setup. I’ve been using my HomePods as the default speakers for years and there hasn’t been a lag in audio/video. There is at the new house.
Why is there no support for Plex? We have to post here and hope that the devs are still looking at these forums?
I actually changed to the old audio engine to see if that would fix it, as some other post mentioned that’s what they did. It could be a placebo, but I think it slightly made it less off-sync. It’s still literally about a second off though, it’s pretty bad.
It looks like the beta is full unfortunately. I did see that get announced a while back though, hopefully that gets fixed soon. TestFlight is a great way to submit feedback and bugs directly to the devs though.
The old Plex app won’t even start a video if the HomePods are involved.
Good news, the new beta app seems to be working properly with the HomePods. Audio is in sync. I’ll run it for a bit, there has been a couple bug releases since I first tried it. It was too buggy for a daily driver initially.
Hey I’ll take that. The biggest issue is the out of sync. Good to hear that it might be fixed with that! Do you have your Apple TV hooked up to your tv via the hdmi port that has ARC functionality? Or more specifically eARC? This new tv has that, that might be the biggest variable from the last tv. (That functionality isn’t working though strangely enough. I still hear the Xbox through the tv speakers and not my HomePods)
Thanks for being so active on this thread. Wish the plex devs would be this active… or at least have some sort of even ticket-based support system in place. Seems odd for paying customers to not have that.
I didn’t change anything in my Plex Server settings on my iMac.
I’m using an Apple 4K TV (3rd generation) over 5GHz WiFi and noticed the judder as well. Here’s how I fixed it:
Plex App Settings on Apple TV
1. Open the Plex app
2. Go to Settings (click your profile picture in the top left)
Video Quality:
• Auto Adjust Quality – Off
• Home Streaming – Maximum
• Internet Streaming – 8 Mbps
• Play Smaller Videos – Off
Audio Quality:
• Original
Advanced Settings (The Big One!):
• Allow Direct Play – On
• Multi-Channel Audio Boost – Off
• Display Type – Auto
• Use Old Video Player – Off
• Use Old Audio Engine – On
Everything else, leave as is.
As of writing, I’m running Plex version 8.45 (9684) on Apple TV 4K (3rd Gen), and I haven’t experienced any issues.
I have an LG CX 65 / Sonos Arc (which connects to my eARC port on HDMI 2 - Sonos Sub Gen 3 - Two Sonos One’s in the rear / Apple 4K TV in HDMI 1 - running Pass-Through (bitstream)
I was using one of the first Apple 4K TV’s using the exact same sound setup which included an Ethernet port so I had a straight shot from Router to it with about 500 Mbps going to it. No problems for years.
Recently though when I streamed a movie from iTunes I bought which contained Atmos the sound kept cutting in and out.
So I had a newer (non Ethernet Port capable Apple 4K tv in my bedroom) and I just swapped them out and the Atmos sound problem went away completely.
But then this happened with Plex the video stuttering.
No other content I play other than on Plex now stutters video.
After playing around with settings as mentioned above everything seems to be working fine now.
I have found one adjustment that needs to be made.
Please follow all the above steps BUT here is the adjustment in order to play Dolby Vision / HDR content - Including 1080p and 720p content.
Otherwise wise Dolby Vision / HDR will not play.
Advanced Settings (The Big One!):
• Allow Direct Play – Off switch this back to ON!
• Multi-Channel Audio Boost – Off
• Display Type – Auto
• Use Old Video Player – Off
• Use Old Audio Engine – ON
Now all formats are playing correctly with no Stutter.
Apologies. I also corrected (edited my first post) to match THIS POST.
Thank you so much! Life has been crazy lately and I haven’t gotten to your post’s recommendations but I’ll hopefully be able to get to that tonight or tomorrow and I’ll let you know.
In the meantime, it looks like the new version of the app comes with a slew of new features, any chance this will include the new player you all have been beta testing? I know it’s not rolling out to tvOS yet but still.
