Choppy Video (Judder?) using Direct Play

Plex Players Desktop Players
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I’ve been on a bit of an odyssey building a silent PC that I hoped to use both as a Plex media server and as the direct playback interface with either the Plex Windows app or Plex HTPC. I recently tried a Dune HD 8K media player for my movie library but returned it because it could not properly handle the VC-1 codec on Bluray, which makes up almost ¼ of my movie library. Plex on my old Windows 10 PC via an Nvidia graphics card and using the Plex for Windows app played VC-1 perfectly fine in direct play. It actually played everything fine on the Windows 10 PC, including 4K/UHD movies, except it would play DV movies as HDR10. I believe this is a failing of Nvidia graphics cards, not Plex itself.

I did a little research and found Intel claims that their new integrated graphics can play back DV. So that’s when I decided to sell my 10-year old Win10 PC and build a more modern Win11 PC around the Intel UHD 770 graphics using an Intel i5-14500 cpu. I’ve probably invested 50 hours or more so far playing with Plex settings, Intel graphics settings, and Windows settings but I have been unable to get the clean video play back I had with my Win10 machine. Whether using Plex for Windows or Plex HTPC, the video is “choppy”. I’ve checked the Dashboard during playback and it does show “direct play” and almost no effort by the hardware.

I have set up Plex with all the highest quality settings, direct play, and also enabled “refresh rate switching”. The odd thing is that my TV (Sony A80J) and processor (Marantz AV10) reports 24 Hz when using Plex HTPC but 60 Hz when using the Plex for Windows app even though “refresh rate switching” is enabled on both. The “choppiness” is worse (as expected) on Plex for Windows but is still very noticeable with Plex HTPC perhaps because the movie is actually 23.97 Hz. I am using Alita (4K DV) as my test. I am getting HDR10 with both Plex interfaces, no DV. Audio is fine and my processor is reporting Dolby Atmos. And another oddity is that the video is not choppy if I use the Plex media server interface directly with MS Edge but, on the other hand, the media server does not appear capable of audio passthrough. And one last oddity, I do not get choppy video if I play back Alita on another PC using the Plex for Windows app or if I use my Roku Ultra. The Roku Ultra is not a great solution though as I get Dolby TrueHD, not Dolby Atmos, and HDR10 instead of DV.

So just wondering if anyone can offer suggestions to fix the “choppy” video problem with direct play on the same PC that is hosting the server? I’ve tried just about every Plex setting and I am afraid it may be a failing of the Intel graphics not properly communicating the capabilities of my Sony TV via HDMI. I’ve tried various graphics settings too but nothing has fixed the choppy video problem. I’m starting to think that the integrated graphics is designed to work with monitors but not so much with TV’s.

Also wondering if I should be focusing on the Plex for Windows app or Plex HTPC as the direct play solution? I’m thinking both should be capable of complete and proper audio and video pass through but Plex HTPC may be the better option just in terms of interfacing with the PC and controlling playback.

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There is no way to play DV from a PC with Plex.

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I went into it with some skepticism that DV would work with Intel integrated graphics when it does not work using a modern graphics card. I also read that Dolby will not license DV to the graphics card manufacturers, so it would be odd for Intel to have a license on their integrated offerings.

That said I would have been happy to get back to where I was with my 10-year old Win10 PC running Plex media server with an Nvidia RTX 4060. I can deal with HDR10 for DV, but the choppy video is unwatchable. I had nice smooth video output with the old Win10 machine running similar Plex settings on the Plex for Windows app.

I may try a low power and low profile Nvidia card but it would be helpful to know if the choppy video is due to the Intel graphics or something else. I’m using an HDplex H3 silent case, so not a lot of room for a graphics card especially given that I am already using one pcie slot for a TV tuner card.

Any suggestions for troubleshooting and solving the choppy video?

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I tried an Nvidia RTX 3050 yesterday and set Plex to use the 3050 for hardware decoding. Tried a couple of videos using Plex for Windows on the new silent PC (in direct play) and the movies played back nice and smooth. Removed the card and went back to the integrated Intel graphics (UHD 770) and the choppy playback was back again.
I’m at a loss. I can’t use the Nvidia card because that would defeat the whole purpose of a “silent” PC and the fans on that RTX 3050 are incredibly noisy even under light load. I did remove the fans from the 3050 but the gpu temperatures quickly got out of control when just playing back a single 1080p movie.
So now I am considering trying to set up a dual boot with Linux Mint to see if Win11 is the problem. I’ve been thinking about trying Linux for a while now, so this may be a good excuse to finally give it a try.
Lastly, just wondering if Plex is aware of any issues with Intel integrated graphics on Win11? Is there some diagnostic that I can run and then send to Plex for technical support?

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