My apologies for not answering your question. Here’s my answer: First of all, I do not have a Smart Device linked to my TV. As for your actual question in regards to my tv… When the sound cuts out, changing the volume of the TV (up or down) does not fix the problem. Furthermore, changing the volume (up or down) before the cut out happens does not prevent it from happening either.
Is it a sound overload? Unfortunately, I would not know how to check for that.
I do not know how to “reset the Samsung Smart Hub” without factory resetting the entire TV.
As for sending you the file (As you requested), I will PM (Message) you a privately shared link.
For my report, I will now refer to these files as File 1, File 2, and File 3 as referenced in the list above.
My report:
I tested all 3 files as you asked.
First, I tested File 1. To my complete shock, it played flawlessly without issues of any kind.
Second, I tested File 2. This file showed to have the same audio error as my original file. Right down to the 15 second mark.
Third, I tested File 3. This file did not show any audio problems at all. However, it did show a bit of frame stuttering. I now believe this is possibly due to the fact that this file (File 3) was re-encoded.
To answer the networking question, you asked in the readme file…
My QN90A was originally physically connected to the internet via LAN cable. It is now connected via Wi-Fi since I discovered that my QN90A only has a 10/100 Mbps LAN port.
My Wi-Fi signal gets me about 150-180 Mbps download on my QN90A. Currently there is no repeaters in the house at all. It is just the one Wi-Fi 7 router. My current internet is Gigabit Fiber 1000 Mbps Download and 1000 Mbps Upload from AT&T.
Also, it was while on Wi-Fi that I tested those 3 files.
I hope that answers your networking questions.
I look forward to hearing your overview on my findings.
First of all, I apologize for my incorrect statement about the audio bitrate of your video file being 160 kbps. It’s actually 331 kbps. According to Google’s AI, the maximum bitrate for AAC LC encoded audio is 320 kbps!
According to your test results, the problem should be the audio track. Multiplexing doesn’t help (file 2). For file 1, only the audio track was loaded with “Audacity,” encoded into the same format, and multiplexed with the original video track using “MKV-Toolnix.” File 3 was re-encoded entirely (video and audio) with “Handbrake 1.9.2.”, so the audio track was new encoded to.
Your problem seems to be that either the audio is out of its specification, the audio codec in the QN90A is more sensitive, or that it’s actually the Samsung Plex app.
You could test this further by playing these files with the QN90A’s DLNA client. To do this, you would need to set up a DLNA server. If the DLNA client of your QN90A plays it without errors, then it’s the Samsung-TV Plex app.
Note: I wouldn’t use the TV with a 150 Mbps Wi-Fi signal! The Wi-Fi protocol has a huge (40-50%) overhead, so it may be worse for you than a 100 Mbps LAN connection. Just make sure you’re actually getting 100 Mbps and not just 10 Mbps.
If you can tell me what bitrate I should use for my audio tracks going forward, I would be perfectly happy to go back to all my shows and movies and re-rip them from scratch with the new specifications.
I use MakeMKV for the ripping process and then Handbrake for slimming down the file from the raw ripped file to get the final product.
I wasn’t ok with redoing all of my files if I had to go with a trial and error approach. However, I am perfectly happy with rediong my files if I know what I need to do to fix them the right way in one go.
In that regard, what bitrate should I aim for when it comes to encoding the audio portion of the files in Handbrake? Since you said it was the audio bitrate that was most likely causing the problem.
Also, is there any special settings for the audio portion in Handbrake that you could recommend beyond the bitrate that you would suggest?
I look forward to your response.
(Stealthbat)
P.S. - The reason I switched from LAN to Wi-Fi on my TV was because the LAN connection was giving me many problems with YouTube, FandangoNow(VUDU) and many other services. All of which were fixed by switching to Wi-Fi.
Ich kodiere meine stereo Tracks mit 192kbps. Mehrkanal audios (Ac3 5.1) mit 640kbps sofern die Quelldatei die Qualität liefert. DTS Mehrkanalton konvertiere ich zu EAC3 (720kbps). Lautstärke Korrekturen kann man gut mit Audacity durchführen.
Viel Erfolg bei der Neukodierung deiner Audio Tracks.
PS: Ich benutze Handbrake eigentlich nur für die Video Transkodierung.
Thanks to your test with the DLNA client, we now know, that it can’t be the Plex client in the QN90A that’s causing the error. We also know, that recoding the audio track to 192kbps fixes the error. So find a program that can recode audio WITHOUT re-encoding the video track. This way, you’ll retain the quality of the video. You won’t notice the newly encoded sound negatively. I use XMedia Recode to do this. If, for example, the sound in a video is too quiet, I use Audacity. Here I can set the peak amplitude to -3dB, for example. Then I use MKV-Toolnix to multiplex this audio file into the video file, removing the old audio track in the process.
So you have to do this with all your videos, that produce this error.
It seems the bitrate of the audio tracks in your videos exceeds the bitrate allowed for AAC LC codecs. At least the audio codec in your QN90A doesn’t like this, but I can’t answer why newer Samsung TVs can play it.
I have now tested (from a fresh Blu-ray rip using MakeMKV) encoding the file fresh all over again, with the new specifications you suggested using Handbrake with a consistant quality setting of 23 and an audio bitrate of 160 kbps.
Using those settings, I was able to produce a file that was nearly identical in file size to the your File 1 test file. When I threw it in plex, it worked flawlessly.
I will say though, in order to get it that small, I had to encode the audio at 160 kbps bitrate instead of the suggested 192 kbps. But it works.
So, that being said, I am now going to go back to all of those shows and movies, and rip them all over again and just do a fresh encode (using Handbrake) for all of them. Tall order I know. However, I am happy to do it now that I know what settings to use to fix the problem.
I greatly appreciate and thank you for all your efforts and hard work in helping me with this. You are literally my savior/hero. Thank you very much.
Hi, Stealthbart
I’m glad I could help you. Your decision to encode the audio at 160 kbps is perfectly fine. I don’t need to worry too much about my storage space for my RIPS. My NAS has 21 TB.
I wish you the best of luck with recoding your videos!
