I just downloaded the Plex server and I’m using it with my PS3 and a Pioneer VSX-1124 receiver. The server is an iMac 21.5in 2.7GHz Core i5 running OS X El Capitan 10.11.1 (which I’ve regretted since the day I updated it.) The PS3 is wired into the network (not wifi). No matter what media I play, the PS3 always just reports “PCM” and all 8 channel indicator lights on the receiver turn on. Even if it’s just an MP4 with stereo audio. Now please note, I’ve been a post production recording engineer in Toronto for 20 years. I know my way around audio. I started watching an MKV with 5.1 DTS and I noticed right away that the dialog seemed to be getting lost under the music. In surround mixes, the on-screen dialog is almost always exclusively in the Center channel (easier to create foreign language versions among other reasons.) So I tried boosting that channel and the dialog didn’t budge, though the sfx and atmospheres did. Then I tried the L channel with the same result. The R channel level DID however change the level of the dialog. I’ve tried this with about 20 files now, both MP4 and MKV, both AC3 and DTS, and even with a couple of stereo audio files. It’s always the same. The Center channel is coming out of the right speaker, and the Right channel is coming out the center. I checked my AppleTV v3 and the configuration of amp and speakers is fine. In fact, even the Plex DLNA server (when I can get it to play Dolby Digital files) outputs the appropriate channels. Is anybody else having this problem? I know this is a pretty early release. And I know the problem could be something in the Mac OS. But I’m loving how Plex looks and how it works and I’d really like to get it working and installed on the other tv’s in the house.
OK, I think I can say the receiver isn’t the problem. I just tried my old 1st Gen PS3 plugged into my old Yamaha RX-V793, connected using the optical cable, and I’m getting the same problem. The Center channel is coming out the Right speaker and Right channel is coming out the Center.
I’m having a separate problem with the DLNA server. I haven’t spent much time on this because I don’t really plan on using it much (if the Media Server works). But it seems like DTS audio files don’t output audio at all. And I’m not sure about this yet, but my AC3 encoded movies (in a movies folder) play back just fine (even all the channels in the right place), but AC3 encoded TV shows (in a TV shows folder) seem to transcode to stereo. Something else to look at, but obviously not as important as the Center/Right audio output bug. It’s hard to say for certain what’s happening because the PS3 still reports everything as “PCM.”
DTS audio is not supported it would need to get transcoded by the server. https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/204377253-What-media-formats-are-supported-
Is it possible to get Media Info XML and maybe a sample file(s) that does this so we can test.
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/201998867-Investigate-Media-Information-and-Formats
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/201035968-Generating-Sample-Files-from-Media
OK, so I’ve solved the problem, and instead created a MUCH bigger problem. I searched my library and found four MP4 AAC files. They work great. Unfortunately, this is the first time I’ve ever had anything that knew what to do with a multi-channel AAC file, so every disc I’ve added to my library, every movie I’ve ever bought from iTunes, is encoded in either AC3 or DTS (and MKV is the only container that supports DTS). So I do have some MP4 files, but none of them are in the right audio format. I just can’t see myself transcoding 1000 movies and TV shows when PLEX is the only thing that will play them. I guess my question then, is when will PLEX support AC3 and DTS? Or even, why will none of these movies play correctly using either direct play or direct stream? Or even does PLEX for Apple TV have support for AC3 and DTS? I am so disappointed. I really thought I’d found a great solution. I’m also curious why lots of people aren’t having this problem. It’s not like there’s anything in my system that’s different or special. Yet ONLY MP4 AAC files play correctly. And I’m not even sure that’s true. My receiver is saying it’s playing 6 channels of audio but I haven’t heard anything in the surrounds yet.
Oh, just some information you may find handy. I tried to supply you with the Media Info XML. All I saw was a blank page. So I tried to right-click and View Source. That’s not an option, at least in the new Mac OS X. You have to control-click (or right-click) then Download Linked File. You can then open the downloaded .XML file in TextEdit. Unfortunately, now that I have that info, I know what the problem probably is. I work with Dolby Digital all the time, but never with AAC. AC3 maps channels L/R/C/LFE/Ls/Rs. I’m not sure, but it appears that AAC maps channels L/C/R/Ls/Rs/LFE. However, while it does answer the immediate question, it doesn’t explain why lots of people aren’t having this problem. Also, I’m still not sure why Direct Play or Direct Stream or even allow direct play of AC3 doesn’t make any difference. Or how about this? In advanced settings, just give me a button to change the channel mapping. I’m not a computer programmer, all I have to do is pull a few cables or change the settings on the output matrix. But how hard could it be? Meanwhile, I’ve been looking for details on media support for Apple TV, but I can’t find any. Obviously I don’t want to go out and buy two new Apple TV boxes just to find out they have the same problem. (I know this isn’t the place for this last question, but since we’re both already here.)
I think the unsupported DTS is because Sony didn’t give them access to the DTS decoder in the PS3, so I think its up to Sony to fix that.
It doesn’t really surprise me that PLEX has a problem with DTS files. I don’t know about the new Apple TV but my 3rd gen doesn’t support DTS either. So I’ve pretty much resigned myself to having to convert those files to Dolby Digital. But I can’t get PLEX to play AC3 either, and there’s no way I’m going to convert ALL those movies to AAC when virtually nothing supports AAC surround plus it sounds awful. As far as I can tell the only reason why anybody would use it is because the file size is smaller. Of course that also means there’s more compression. I guess at this point all I can do is wait and hope PLEX doesn’t take too long implementing AC3.
