Cannot play 4k hevc mkv videos on AppleTV 4k 2nd generation

Plex Players
1

Server Version#: 1.28.0.5999
Player Version#: 8.7 (3452)

Hello, it seems this is an ongoing issue that hasn’t been resolved for several people. See the following posts:

https://forums.plex.tv/t/apple-tv-4k-2nd-gen-no-direct-play-video-profile-exists-for-protocol-http-with-container-mkv-and-video-codec-hevc/780346
https://forums.plex.tv/t/playback-fails-no-direct-play-profile-exists-for-protocol-http/302322

When trying to play a 4k MKV video with the HEVC codec, the app says, “something went wrong playing your media no direct play video profile exists for protocol http with container mkv and video codec is hevc”

I’ve tried turning on/off the “old media player” setting within the app, but this doesn’t help anything. I’ve tried turning off “direct play” but then the error says it cannot direct play because it’s disabled.

Since the post at https://forums.plex.tv/t/apple-tv-4k-2nd-gen-no-direct-play-video-profile-exists-for-protocol-http-with-container-mkv-and-video-codec-hevc/780346/6 seems to be quite similar, I’d like to continue where @BigWheel was requesting the xml media info for the video not playing.

Here is the xml:

<MediaContainer size="1" allowSync="1" identifier="com.plexapp.plugins.library" librarySectionID="1" librarySectionTitle="TV Shows" librarySectionUUID="595e2167-1197-4df8-a977-8a163592ecc8" mediaTagPrefix="/system/bundle/media/flags/" mediaTagVersion="1659102171">

<Video ratingKey="3470" key="/library/metadata/3470" parentRatingKey="3469" grandparentRatingKey="3468" guid="plex://episode/620976370c40b2dd48887349" parentGuid="plex://season/620976290c40b2dd48886f55" grandparentGuid="plex://show/61fe5844f9cdd3fe1c4d456b" type="episode" title="Make Your Bark" grandparentKey="/library/metadata/3468" parentKey="/library/metadata/3469" librarySectionTitle="TV Shows" librarySectionID="1" librarySectionKey="/library/sections/1" grandparentTitle="Pretzel and the Puppies" parentTitle="Season 1" contentRating="TV-Y" summary="Paxton makes his bark by painting a colorful city mural." index="1" parentIndex="1" viewOffset="224806" viewCount="4" lastViewedAt="1660736661" thumb="/library/metadata/3470/thumb/1656993089" art="/library/metadata/3468/art/1656993087" parentThumb="/library/metadata/3469/thumb/1656993087" grandparentThumb="/library/metadata/3468/thumb/1656993087" grandparentArt="/library/metadata/3468/art/1656993087" duration="1430432" originallyAvailableAt="2022-02-11" addedAt="1656993081" updatedAt="1656993089">

<Media id="8882" duration="1430432" bitrate="25511" width="3840" height="2160" aspectRatio="1.78" audioChannels="6" audioCodec="eac3" videoCodec="hevc" videoResolution="4k" container="mkv" videoFrameRate="24p" videoProfile="main 10">

<Part accessible="1" exists="1" id="8882" key="/library/parts/8882/1378270098/file.mkv" duration="1430432" file="/media/tv/Pretzel and the Puppies/Season 1/Pretzel.and.the.Puppies.S01E01.DV.2160p.WEB.h265-KOGi.mkv" size="4561911931" container="mkv" deepAnalysisVersion="6" requiredBandwidths="74174,51635,27387,25831,25747,25747,25747,25747" videoProfile="main 10">

<Stream id="32642" streamType="1" default="1" codec="hevc" index="0" bitrate="24743" language="English" languageTag="en" languageCode="eng" DOVIBLCompatID="0" DOVIBLPresent="1" DOVIELPresent="0" DOVILevel="6" DOVIPresent="1" DOVIProfile="5" DOVIRPUPresent="1" DOVIVersion="1.0" bitDepth="10" chromaLocation="left" chromaSubsampling="4:2:0" codedHeight="2160" codedWidth="3840" colorRange="tv" frameRate="23.976" height="2160" level="150" profile="main 10" refFrames="1" requiredBandwidths="73285,50866,26621,25063,25015,25015,25015,25015" width="3840" displayTitle="4K DoVi (HEVC Main 10)" extendedDisplayTitle="4K DoVi (HEVC Main 10)"> </Stream>

<Stream id="32643" streamType="2" selected="1" default="1" codec="eac3" index="1" channels="6" bitrate="768" language="English" languageTag="en" languageCode="eng" audioChannelLayout="5.1(side)" requiredBandwidths="766,766,766,766,766,766,766,766" samplingRate="48000" displayTitle="English (EAC3 5.1)" extendedDisplayTitle="English (EAC3 5.1)"> </Stream>

<Stream id="32644" streamType="3" selected="1" codec="srt" index="2" bitrate="0" language="English" languageTag="en" languageCode="eng" requiredBandwidths="1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1" title="English" displayTitle="English (SRT)" extendedDisplayTitle="English (SRT)"> </Stream>

<Stream id="32645" streamType="3" codec="srt" index="3" bitrate="0" language="English" languageTag="en" languageCode="eng" requiredBandwidths="1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1" title="English (SDH)" displayTitle="English (SRT)" extendedDisplayTitle="English (SDH) (SRT)"> </Stream>

</Part>

</Media>

<Guid id="tmdb://3480366"/>

<Guid id="tvdb://8984801"/>

<Marker id="8524" type="intro" startTimeOffset="990" endTimeOffset="38220">

<Attributes id="8524"/>

</Marker>

<Extras size="0"> </Extras>

<Related> </Related>

</Video>

</MediaContainer>
2

Can you please provide both the server logs and the apple tv logs after you attempt playback

3

@BigWheel For Plex logs, do you need the entire zip file or just a specific log file? How do I obtain the apple tv logs?

4

the entire zip please. here is link for apple tv logs

you can message them to me instead of posting here if you want

5

Just sent via DM, replying here as well to keep the topic alive.

7

Hi @BigWheel , any luck with the logs? My father also notices it when he tries to play content from my server to his AppleTV with different media (still hevc 4k).

8

hey. would you mind getting the plex media info xml for one of the files. I suspect this has something do so with it being profile 5 Dobly Vision.

hav you updated to 1.28.1.6092? your logs show 1.28.0 and i know there were some HDR fixes in 1.28.1 but not sure if it would affect your situation

9

Absolutely, just sent. I can probably find some more too if you’d like. I just updated to 1.28.1.6104, I’ll report back soon to see if it solves it.

10

@BigWheel Just confirmed that it’s still happening on server v1.28.1.6104 :confused:

11

@BigWheel Any luck with the latest set of media info files?

12

Bumping this so it doesn’t get closed. @BigWheel any luck?

13

I’m also having this same problem. Happy to pull and share logs if more info is needed.

Feels like the same problem we were going back and forth on here that’s was fixed but has resurfaced for other files (my problem file I could reproduce before still works so it’s not exactly the same).

14

hey @mikeyn00 sorry i lost track of this one. it does look like the Dolby Vision profile 5 issue rearing its head.

@calebcall more logs can never hurt. please feel free to message them to me. The Plex media info xml for the file you reproduce with as well.

15

Sent some files your way. My file is definitely DV profile 5 so you’re probably right.

16

@calebcall thanks for helping out here too. @BigWheel I’m glad the problem is at least identified. Let me know how else I can help, if at all.

17

@BigWheel any news on this? These types of files make up probably about 30% of my library and I’d rather not use Infuse to play them :frowning: Not sure if it helps but I’m a Plex Pass subscriber.

18

We are not going to be able to transcode DV profile 5 ever afaik if that is what you are asking. We simply don’t have the license to and I don’t expect us ever to.

Afaik one of the other things we are currently looking at is folks having dvhe , rather than dvh1 for videos.

19

@BigWheel My Plex server is running in Docker on a Synology NAS. Because of this I deliberately disable transcoding and use an Apple TV 4k with Direct Play enabled to play the media. I’ve tried turning off Direct Play as some have suggested on the forums but this prevents most of my other videos from playing. I thought Direct Stream would take over if Direct Play was disabled but I get a similar error message about not being able to transcode the video and that it’s not in a playable format.

I took a look at the media info for another video that had the same error as the original one I posted about and it says the codec is hevc but it also has a “codec id” of hevc. This video doesn’t have a “DOVIProfile” field in the XML - which I suspect means it’s not a “DV profile 5” as you mentioned. I wonder if DV 5 is truly the problem or if there is a similar problem with another type of profile. Most of the videos that have the problem don’t list this “codec id”. A lot of them have a “video profile” of main 10. I’ve noticed a couple of the videos that experience the problem don’t have any “DOVI*” fields in the XML. I can send you more if it would help.

What I don’t understand is the Infuse player on Apple TV is able to play all of these videos just fine, despite whether they are HEVC/DV 5 etc. Infuse is configured to connect to Plex directly, not through DLNA. Transcoding aside, shouldn’t the Plex player be able to play these videos using DirectPlay/DirectStream as long as the client supports it?

20

@BigWheel Any luck with the progress with this? To clarify, I am not trying to transcode at all, only playback using DirectPlay/DirectStream.

21

DV profile 5 videos which is the type you messaged me about recently can only be direct played in an mp4 as far as I am aware.