Hi,
I have a few MKV files that are 4k 10bit (HDR) h265, through my tv when playing 4k bluray disks and HDR is detected, the tv will pop a message up saying its playing HDR content. But through PMP when playing the 4k rips i have my TV does not detect HDR content. Is plex not able to handle HDR content?
Iām having a similar issue. I can play some HDR10 x265 10bit demos (i.e. Samsung, Sony, LG) in Plex that trigger the HDR on my Sony Android TV, but playing some movies in the same formats, in either MP4 or MKV containers do not. These same movies play HDR just fine through VLC or the built in player. Whatās the difference? What am I missing? Whatās the format that Plex supports HDR10? What does Plex need to support Direct Play of these files/formats?
Hoping someone from Plex can answer this.
Same issue for me. 
I didnāt think AACS 2.0 (UHD Blu Ray encryption) had been cracked yet so HDR rips are largely non existent as I understand. This is not to be confused with 10 Bit colour space as itās possible to have 10 Bit colour space without HDR.
In PMS view the āinfoā of some files and check what they list for colour space? It will need to be ābt2020ncā to activate HDR. If it lists ābt709ā or āsmpte170mā then itās not HDR, at least this is how my sample files appear.
In short, there are many 4k 10 bit rips but I donāt think many (any?) are HDR. Only sample files are in the wild with the HDR metadata intact. As far an i know that is!
@georgejolliffe: There are free HDR demos that you can download from this site. http://demo-uhd3d.com/. Note there are many HDR HEVC 10bit demos that work perfect on our PMS and Android TV Plex. Itās my own 4K HDR videos Iām running through HandBrake that are giving me problems.
@Rowge1 said:
@georgejolliffe: There are free HDR demos that you can download from this site. http://demo-uhd3d.com/. Note there are many HDR HEVC 10bit demos that work perfect on our PMS and Android TV Plex. Itās my own 4K HDR videos Iām running through HandBrake that are giving me problems.
Understood!
Yes I realise there are many sample files around which play fine but it felt likely that many would assume 10-Bit and Rec2020 (HDR) would mean the same thing (including myself previously).
FWIW, iām using the nVidia Shield client and āsamplesā play fine (not necessarily directing this at you @Rowge1).
Trying to get Plex to direct play my 4K and HDR videos has been a pita. PMS would always transcode my 4K videos, but still play without much, if any buffering, so it was tolerable. But, because of the trancoding it wouldnāt pass HDR metadata. So I had to play HDR videos in VLC, pain in the butt and I donāt want to leave the Plex screen.
Just tonight, after several weeks of research and trial & error, I discovered that if I simply convert AC3 or DTS x.1 audio to either AAC or AC3 384 Kb 5.1, everything direct plays perfectly, including MKV x265 10bit 4K HDR files. I have no idea why changing the audio has this effect on the transcoder, whoād a thunk it. But Iāve tried it with several videos of differing rezās and codec types, and they all worked perfectly, no transcoding, even with the subtitles on. Weird. I know itās a workaround and a downgrade in the audio, but to my old ears, as long as I have surround sound and 4K HDR Iāll live with it, lol
Sony 4K HDR android TV XBR x850c w Plex client, Win 7 i7 PMS, cat 6, Onkyo 5.1 AVR, Handbrake, MKVToolNix
The current rips you are finding in āpublicā places are shady at best, atleast do a mediainfo check before assuming anything. I got a quality source, and those work without a hitch - played from a Nvidia Shield. 4K HDR H265 w/Dolby Atmos in .mkv container.
So to answer: Donāt know about PMP, but Plex for Nvidia Shield (AndroidTV) does play UltraHD files just fine.
Evidently Nvidia Shield PMS does something different than my Windows PC PMS. My videos are taken from UHD BluRays I own. Iāve converted to/tried several format types ie MP4, MKV h264 h265 etc with different audio types ie. DTS, AC3 640 Kbps, True HD, DTS HD MA etc. none of them would direct play until I converted the audio to AAC or AC3 384 Kbps. I ended up using AC3 384 Kbps because my Plex client would not pass AAC multi-channel to my AVR.
I just read, in another thread, that the transcoding may be caused by audio limitations of my Sony TV and not Plex. ie any audio format with a bit-rate higher than 384 Kbpsā¦ My Sony will cause Plex to transcode every video regardless of the codec or container. Bummer.
@Rowge1 said:
Just tonight, after several weeks of research and trial & error, I discovered that if I simply convert AC3 or DTS x.1 audio to either AAC or AC3 384 Kb 5.1, everything direct plays perfectly, including MKV x265 10bit 4K HDR files. I have no idea why changing the audio has this effect on the transcoder, whoād a thunk it.
Thatās known and I read something about this issue here in the forum, basically if the PMS has to transcode audio it canāt direct stream h265 4K. I think this is a limitation of HLS streaming container, you need to have both audio and video in direct play, otherwise it will have to transcode both. No option for direct streaming video and transcoding audio like with h264 video.
@Rowge1 said:
direct plays perfectly, including MKV x265 10bit 4K HDR files.
what program you use to convert audio while keeping hdr?
I have a Samsung 7000 series HDR1000 TV. What I have found is that there is no way of knowing if HDR is being displayed as the TV only shows HDR active when the source port is selected. As Plex is an app you donāt get the display type displayed when you switch to the app.
Iāve also found that if the bitrate is above 55k the TV buffers like crazy even though the file is direct play. I re-encode to 50k average and the file plays fine.
So when I read that MKV x265 10bit 4K HDR plays fine on Plex it totally depends on the TV being used and what codecs/bit rates they support. You need to test some files and work out what works best for you.
I use MediaInfo to get the file properties and Handbrake Nightly to re-encode x265.
Hope that helps
@nex0r said:
I have a Samsung 7000 series HDR1000 TV. What I have found is that there is no way of knowing if HDR is being displayed as the TV only shows HDR active when the source port is selected. As Plex is an app you donāt get the display type displayed when you switch to the app.
I have a KS8000 and and since they got rid of most every HDR detected type message, what I do, to check if HDR is active is open the TV settings window to see what setting profile is active. When it detects HDR, it will use the HDR specific display profile, which is different for non-HDR.
Use Handbrake with MKVtoolNix couvert de audio with Handbrake and mixe the booth files with MKVtoolNix
Iāve tried playing HDR files it works great BUT! I donāt think itās HDR. Rather I believe they use some sort of filter like Kodi 18 does to ācorrectā the colours because my KS8005 (same as KS8000) does not kick in in HDR mode nor does it make any difference (raither is looks bad) enabling HDR in Windows 10.
Then thereās this in the PlexMediaPlayer.conf āallowHDRā: true, (default is false) however, it had zero effect changing it. The only player Iāve mange to run HDR in is PowerDVD 18, itās expensive and there interface is real bad, limited like Plex.
Kodi with Plexās mpv and the refresh rate method they use with the auto detect device and channels, that would be a media center made by two gods 
