Server Version: Version 1.23.1.4571
Player Version: Version 4.57.4
I added some .m4a files (Armin van Buuren with Balance (Dolby Atmos Version)) – according to Tidal, these are Dolby Atmos files. When I start a music scan, Plex ignores this files – other songs with .flac are imported correctly in the same scan.
May 28, 2021 12:16:52.053 [0x30f1ae000] Fehler — Error parsing content.
May 28, 2021 12:16:52.053 [0x30dc30000] Fehlersuche — Jobs: '/Applications/Plex Media Server.app/Contents/MacOS/Plex Media Scanner' exit code for process 5695 is 1 (failure)
May 28, 2021 12:16:52.053 [0x30f1ae000] Fehler — Error parsing XML: Error parsing file.
May 28, 2021 12:16:52.053 [0x30f1ae000] Fehler — Music Scanner: Error reading match results.
May 28, 2021 12:16:52.053 [0x30f1ae000] Fehlersuche — Music Scanner: Matched 14 files in 0.5 sec (/Volumes/Media/Media/Music/A/Armin van Buuren/Balance (Dolby Atmos Version) [153130967] [2019] [A]/CD1)
May 28, 2021 12:16:52.053 [0x30f1ae000] Fehlersuche — Native Scanner: Executed Match stage in 0.51 sec.
May 28, 2021 12:16:52.053 [0x30f1ae000] Fehlersuche — Native Scanner: Executed Cloud Match stage in 0.00 sec.
May 28, 2021 12:16:52.053 [0x30f1ae000] Fehlersuche — Native Scanner: Executed Add to Database stage in 0.00 sec.
May 28, 2021 12:16:52.053 [0x30f1ae000] Fehlersuche — Native Scanner: Executed Media Analysis stage in 0.00 sec.
May 28, 2021 12:16:52.079 [0x30d77c000] Fehlersuche — Skipping over directory 'Armin van Buuren/A State Of Trance, Ibiza 2017 (Mixed by Armin van Buuren) [77371870] [2017]/CD2', as nothing has changed; removing 21 media items from map.
1 - Dolby Atmos is a licensed codec so it’s unlikely any player is going to be able to support it, even if Plex was able to scan and include it in your library.
2 - I have no idea, but probably not due to the same reason for 1 above. Plex doesn’t support Tidal’s MQA format either.
Songs output as Dolby Digital + (I don’t have an Atmos Receiver but would be interested if it works for those who do).
My file is:
Format: E-AC-3 JOC
Format/Info: Enhanced AC-3 with Joint Object Coding
Commercial name: Dolby Digital Plus with Dolby Atmos
Codec ID: ec-3
Duration: 3 min 39 s
Bit rate mode: Constant
Bit rate : 768 kb/s
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel layout : L R C LFE Ls Rs
Sampling rate: 48.0 kHz
Frame rate: 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF)
Compression mode: Lossy
Stream size: 20.1 MiB (100%)
Service kind: Complete Main
Complexity index: 16
Number of dynamic objects: 15
Bed channel count: 1 channel
Bed channel configuration: LFE
I Agree with @triks_melb. The comments @anon18523487 made and the marking of this as solved doesn’t make sense.
Plex already supports playback/passthrough of Atmos audio from movies.
As mentioned, Atmos music files not DRM protected.
I have a 2019 shield. All my content / server are on a NAS. I added several Atmos music files (.m4a) to a dedicated library and and they all scanned and showed up correctly. When I tried to play them back, they flagged my Marantz receiver as stereo tracks. I get the same result when I try to play back Atmos file from the Tidal music library.
I tried changing them to .mp4 and creating a new video library with them. In this scenario, they trigger the Atmos flag and play back correctly.
Plex can clearly read the file data and send it correctly when the extension is mp4. Why can’t it when it’s .m4a?
Note: on the same shield, If I use the Tidal or Kodi Ap (not plex) atmos music plays correctly.
Dolby Atmos needs to be licensed in order to be decodable by a device. I don’t know of any device capable of/licensed to decode Dolby Atmos music. There may be some special music player that can do this. This is not the same as Dolby Atmos audio for video playback.
Exactly, video is not the same as music.
Tidal has probably licensed the codec for their player. I don’t know what Kodi does, but it can decode lots of codecs that Plex can’t.
