[Chromecast Ultra] Augmented profiles need to be updated to support H264 5.1 and 5.2

Plex Players Streaming Devices
21

Does anyone know if there is a way to manually set Chromecast profiles?
From what I’m reading there, manually set profiles are being ignored?
I’ve been getting a strange issue where H264 MKV files don’t play with recent versions, I keep getting an Error code: h4 (Not Supported) error.

Is this related?

Content of the XML of one of the affected files:

<MediaContainer size="1" allowSync="1" identifier="com.plexapp.plugins.library" librarySectionID="7" librarySectionTitle="TV Shows" librarySectionUUID="9f617fa9-d060-4fc2-b2f9-2d404cba1ff2" mediaTagPrefix="/system/bundle/media/flags/" mediaTagVersion="1583877364">
<Video ratingKey="32777" key="/library/metadata/32777" parentRatingKey="32776" grandparentRatingKey="32775" guid="com.plexapp.agents.thetvdb://349358/1/1?lang=en" parentGuid="com.plexapp.agents.thetvdb://349358/1?lang=en" grandparentGuid="com.plexapp.agents.thetvdb://349358?lang=en" type="episode" title="Keep on Truckin'" grandparentKey="/library/metadata/32775" parentKey="/library/metadata/32776" librarySectionTitle="TV Shows" librarySectionID="7" librarySectionKey="/library/sections/7" grandparentTitle="The Conners" parentTitle="Season 1" contentRating="TV-PG" summary="A sudden turn of events forces the Conners to face the daily struggles of life in Lanford in a way they never have before." index="1" parentIndex="1" year="2018" thumb="/library/metadata/32777/thumb/1584369224" art="/library/metadata/32775/art/1584369224" parentThumb="/library/metadata/32776/thumb/1584369224" grandparentThumb="/library/metadata/32775/thumb/1584369224" grandparentArt="/library/metadata/32775/art/1584369224" grandparentTheme="/library/metadata/32775/theme/1584369224" duration="1321600" originallyAvailableAt="2018-10-16" addedAt="1584368202" updatedAt="1584369224">
<Media id="37941" duration="1321600" bitrate="8382" width="1920" height="1080" aspectRatio="1.78" audioChannels="6" audioCodec="eac3" videoCodec="h264" videoResolution="1080" container="mkv" videoFrameRate="24p" videoProfile="high">
<Part accessible="1" exists="1" id="37948" key="/library/parts/37948/1539734400/file.mkv" duration="1321600" file="/tv/SERIES/The Conners/Season 01/The Conners - S01E01 - Keep on Truckin' WEBDL-1080p.mkv" size="1384726029" container="mkv" videoProfile="high">
<Stream id="86566" streamType="1" default="1" codec="h264" index="0" bitrate="8382" bitDepth="8" chromaLocation="left" chromaSubsampling="4:2:0" codedHeight="1088" codedWidth="1920" colorPrimaries="bt709" colorRange="tv" colorSpace="bt709" colorTrc="bt709" frameRate="23.976" hasScalingMatrix="0" height="1080" level="40" profile="high" refFrames="4" scanType="progressive" width="1920" displayTitle="1080p (H.264)"/>
<Stream id="86567" streamType="2" selected="1" default="1" codec="eac3" index="1" channels="6" language="English" languageCode="eng" audioChannelLayout="5.1(side)" samplingRate="48000" displayTitle="English (EAC3 5.1)"/>
<Stream id="86568" streamType="3" codec="srt" index="2" language="English" languageCode="eng" title="SDH" displayTitle="English (SRT)"/>
</Part>
</Media>
<Writer id="43595" filter="writer=43595" tag="Bruce Helford"/>
<Writer id="34603" filter="writer=34603" tag="Bruce Rasmussen"/>
<Writer id="43596" filter="writer=43596" tag="Dave Caplan"/>
<Extras size="0"> </Extras>
</Video>
</MediaContainer>

Can anyone help?

22

@plonka2000 There is no way to set/change CC profiles as I noted in my original post.

That said, your problem isn’t related to this thread’s subject, your source material is H264 4.0@High and it seems to be something else. The error message you’re getting is also unrelated to the thread (we’re not getting any errors, we’re getting transcoding instead of direct play)

level="40" profile="high"

Hopefully you manage to get it sorted! You should post in a separate thread

Also, a casual bump

23

Ok thanks, appreciated.

I thought the EAC3 might be related.

I opened a thread to try and duscuss, but seems like this CC profiles issue us common.

Good luck getting this fixed.

24

Bumpitty bump

25

Another update, with this not been fixed.

I understand the current situation with Corona etc. but this has been well documented and bumped for a very long time now. Come on guys please, even an update telling us you’re actually trying to fix it or intend to.

26

Funny thing is: I own a chromecast ultra and an magentatv stick (tonline germany).
When using the chromecast ultra the “augmented” profile is set to h.264 4.2 max…
When using the magentatv stick (build in chromecast ultra) the augmented profile is set to 5.1…

Mar 31, 2020 11:55:24.914 [0x7fb5be7fc700] INFO - [Chromecast] [MDE] Augmented profile: { “directPlay”: { “mp4”: { “mimeType”: “video/mp4; codecs=“avc1.42E01E””, “video”: { “codecs”: { “h264”: { “maxLevel”: 51 }, “hevc”: { “maxBitDepth”: 10, “maxFrameRate”: 60 }, “vp9”: { “maxBitDepth”: 10, “maxFrameRate”: 60 } }, “maxWidth”: 4096, “maxHeight”: 2160, “maxBitDepth”: 8, “maxFrameRate”: 60 }, “audio”: { “codecs”: { “aac”: { “maxSamplingRate”: 48000, “maxChannels”: 2 }, “mp3”: {}, “ac3”: {}, “eac3”: {} } } }, “mkv”: { “mimeType”: “video/webm”, “video”: { “codecs”: { “h264”: { “maxLevel”: 51 }, “vp8”: {}, “hevc”: { “maxBitDepth”: 10, “maxFrameRate”: 60 }, “vp9”: { “maxBitDepth”: 10, “maxFrameRate”: 60 } }, “maxWidth”: 4096, “maxHeight”: 2160, “maxBitDepth”: 8, “maxFrameRate”: 60 }, “audio”: { “codecs”: { “aac”: { “maxSamplingRate”: 48000, “maxChannels”: 2 }, “mp3”: {}, “vorbis”: {}, “ac3”: {}, “eac3”: {} } } }, “mpegts”: { “protocol”: “hls”, “video”: { “maxWidth”: 4096, “maxHeight”: 2160, “maxBitDepth”: 8, “maxFrameRate”: 60 }, “audio”: { “codecs”: { “ac3”: {}, “eac3”: {} } } } }, “directStream”: { “video”: { “maxWidth”: 4096, “maxHeight”: 2160, “maxBitDepth”: 8, “maxFrameRate”: 60, “codecs”: { “h264”: { “maxLevel”: 51 }, “hevc”: { “maxBitDepth”: 10, “maxFrameRate”: 60 }, “vp9”: { “maxBitDepth”: 10, “maxFrameRate”: 60 } } }, “audio”: { “codecs”: { “aac”: { “maxSamplingRate”: 48000, “maxChannels”: 2 }, “mp3”: {}, “opus”: {}, “vorbis”: {} }, “maxChannels”: 6 } } }

Is there any possibility to just fully disable these “augmented” profiles?

3 Likes
27

Bump.

28

bump. having the same issue for a while now and been waiting for a fix.

29

Hi @duncanbeevers it’s been multiple Plex Server updates and 3 and a half months now. I understand you guys are usually busy but we’re all still waiting here

Just got some more content offloaded to my box recently which still incorrectly forces a transcode and isn’t possible to be transcoded on the fly (NAS ain’t powerful enough, not even with subsitles burning disabled and HW encoding turned ON). I’d really appreciate if we could get any kind of action here

Current version: 1.19.2.2737

Format                      : AVC
Format/Info                 : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile              : High@L5.1
Format settings             : CABAC / 6 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC      : Yes
Format settings, Reference  : 6 frames
Codec ID                    : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration                    : 51 min 18 s
Bit rate                    : 41.0 Mb/s
Width                       : 3 840 pixels
Height                      : 1 920 pixels

May 04, 2020 16:21:42.710 [0x7f8838b43700] INFO - [Chromecast]   X-Plex-Client-Profile-Extra: add-limitation(scope=videoCodec&scopeName=*&type=upperBound&name=video.width&value=4096&replace=true)+add-limitation(scope=videoCodec&scopeName=*&type=upperBound&name=video.height&value=2160&replace=true)+add-limitation(scope=videoCodec&scopeName=h264&type=upperBound&name=video.level&value=42&replace=true)+add-transcode-target-audio-codec(type=videoProfile&context=streaming&protocol=http&audioCodec=ac3)+add-limitation(scope=videoAudioCodec&scopeName=ac3&type=upperBound&name=audio.channel&value=6)+add-transcode-target-audio-codec(type=videoProfile&context=streaming&protocol=http&audioCodec=eac3)+add-limitation(scope=videoAudioCodec&scopeName=eac3&type=upperBound&name=audio.channel&value=6)+add-limitation(scope=videoAudioCodec&scopeName=aac&type=upperBound&name=audio.channel&value=2)+add-limitation(scope=videoTranscodeTarget&scopeName=hevc&scopeType=videoCodec&context=streaming&protocol=http&type=match&name=video.colorTrc&list=bt709|bt470m|bt470bg|smpte170m|smpte240m|bt2020-10|smpte2084&isRequired=false)
May 04, 2020 16:21:42.711 [0x7f8838b43700] INFO - [Chromecast] [Transcoder] Video (start) options
May 04, 2020 16:21:42.711 [0x7f8838b43700] INFO - [Chromecast]   Direct Play: false
May 04, 2020 16:21:42.711 [0x7f8838b43700] INFO - [Chromecast]   Protocol: http
May 04, 2020 16:21:42.711 [0x7f8838b43700] INFO - [Chromecast]   Player: html
May 04, 2020 16:21:42.711 [0x7f8838b43700] INFO - [Chromecast] [PDE] Player decision
May 04, 2020 16:21:42.711 [0x7f8838b43700] INFO - [Chromecast]   videoResolution: 2560
May 04, 2020 16:21:42.711 [0x7f8838b43700] INFO - [Chromecast]   bitrate: 41677
May 04, 2020 16:21:42.711 [0x7f8838b43700] INFO - [Chromecast]   canDirectStreamAudio: false
May 04, 2020 16:21:42.711 [0x7f8838b43700] INFO - [Chromecast]   canDirectStreamVideo: false
May 04, 2020 16:21:42.711 [0x7f8838b43700] INFO - [Chromecast]   canDirectPlay: false
May 04, 2020 16:21:42.711 [0x7f8838b43700] INFO - [Chromecast]   canPlay: true
May 04, 2020 16:03:59.254 [0x7f88b15b7700] WARN - [Chromecast] [MDE] Invalid profile property; level: 51 > 42
May 04, 2020 16:03:59.254 [0x7f88b15b7700] WARN - [Chromecast] [MDE] Invalid profile property; level: 51 > 42
May 04, 2020 16:03:59.254 [0x7f88b15b7700] INFO - [Chromecast] [MDE] Starting analysis of 4k (mkv, h264, eac3, 51, high)
May 04, 2020 16:04:23.649 [0x7f889288f700] INFO - [Chromecast] [MDE] Augmented profile: { "directPlay": { "mp4": { "mimeType": "video/mp4; codecs=\"avc1.42E01E\"", "video": { "codecs": { "h264": { "maxLevel": 42 }, "hevc": { "maxBitDepth": 10, "maxFrameRate": 60 }, "vp9": { "maxBitDepth": 10, "maxFrameRate": 60 } }, "maxWidth": 4096, "maxHeight": 2160, "maxBitDepth": 8, "maxFrameRate": 60 }, "audio": { "codecs": { "aac": { "maxSamplingRate": 48000, "maxChannels": 2 }, "mp3": {}, "ac3": {}, "eac3": {} } } }, "mkv": { "mimeType": "video/webm", "video": { "codecs": { "h264": { "maxLevel": 42 }, "vp8": {}, "hevc": { "maxBitDepth": 10, "maxFrameRate": 60 }, "vp9": { "maxBitDepth": 10, "maxFrameRate": 60 } }, "maxWidth": 4096, "maxHeight": 2160, "maxBitDepth": 8, "maxFrameRate": 60 }, "audio": { "codecs": { "aac": { "maxSamplingRate": 48000, "maxChannels": 2 }, "mp3": {}, "vorbis": {}, "ac3": {}, "eac3": {} } } }, "mpegts": { "protocol": "hls", "video": { "maxWidth": 4096, "maxHeight": 2160, "maxBitDepth": 8, "maxFrameRate": 60 }, "audio": { "codecs": { "ac3": {}, "eac3": {} } } } }, "directStream": { "video": { "maxWidth": 4096, "maxHeight": 2160, "maxBitDepth": 8, "maxFrameRate": 60, "codecs": { "h264": { "maxLevel": 42 }, "hevc": { "maxBitDepth": 10, "maxFrameRate": 60 }, "vp9": { "maxBitDepth": 10, "maxFrameRate": 60 } } }, "audio": { "codecs": { "aac": { "maxSamplingRate": 48000, "maxChannels": 2 }, "mp3": {}, "opus": {}, "vorbis": {} }, "maxChannels": 6 } } }

And if I “Disable video stream transcoding” in Settings/Transcoder, I get the following and it completely fails

May 04, 2020 16:21:42.711 [0x7f8838b43700] INFO - [Chromecast] [MDE] Starting analysis of 4k (mkv, h264, eac3, 51, high)
May 04, 2020 16:21:42.921 [0x7f8838b43700] WARN - Failed to obtain a streaming resource for transcode of key /library/metadata/12232
May 04, 2020 16:21:42.946 [0x7f883ae6b700] WARN - [Chromecast] [Player] A critical HTML media error occurred: 4 (Not Supported); the player cannot recover
May 04, 2020 16:21:43.029 [0x7f8838b43700] WARN - [Chromecast] NotSupportedError: Failed to load because no supported source was found.

And yep it plays 100% fine if I just cast the video directly from my NAS using the VLC app on my Android phone

1 Like
30

Yep, think its still quite ridiculous really that this is just been flatout ignored. It’s literally the main purpose of plex, to play our content on our devices. I cant help but feel a lot of your attention these days goes on features that most of the core userbase isn’t actually that assed about, yet something like this, which is something most of the core userbase bought into plex for, is lacking.

We want to play our content. Stop ignoring us, the amount of times this has been bumped with not even a reply is ridiculous frankly, Pandemic or no. We should not have to practically spam you guys to get a fix for this.

You know, I’m surprised this isn’t something you see as a big red flag but maybe again, it just highlights where your actual thought process is with your service. I know quite a few people with servers and literally all they want is to play their content on as many devices as possible, not check news, or web shows or whatever else. Why is this not a red flag for the team? that we have content here, that SHOULD play on our devices, that does play perfectly fine with VLC and other software yet yours is unable to.

1 Like
31

Having the exact same issue here, bump.

1 Like
32

The fact I can’t just over ride all detected chromecasts with a profile is annoying.

Delete it every time I update, that’s fine.

Just don’t ignore it if i put it there.

1 Like
33

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand bump

34

6 months already huh (bump)

35

Day 183 of this thread existing with no real answers from the Plex team

36

Obligatory monthly bump

37

Same problem here, this is a joke!
WARN - [Chromecast] NotSupportedError: Failed to load because no supported source was found.

38

I gave up and spent money on a Nvidia SHieldTV.
I thought maybe with the rumoured new CHromecast and stadia push they would sort this out from googles end, but no.

Plex don’t seem to want to deal with the profile over ride issue. I almost started bugging senior Plex people via linkdin but stopped my self. Slightly more important things going on in the world at the moment.

39

When I read that link I draw a different conclusion. I see this:

  • H.264 High Profile up to level 4.2 (1080p/60fps)

I don’t see anything about the CCU supporting AVC/H.264 above level 4.2. The higher levels for HEVC/H.265 aren’t relevant to AVC/H.264.

Back in the day we would regularly mis-tag files, hoping that the player could choke down a file even if the stream was labeled as a higher level. It often worked, because many files weren’t really higher level at all.

In this case I wouldn’t expect that to work; the CCU doesn’t claim support for any 4K video in AVC/H.264. Your files also were encoded with 6 reference frames, which is genuinely difficult to decode.

I think @olly230 has the right idea: If you want to Direct Play these files, you need a player device that supports them.

40

2 years ago the cc ultra played everything fine.

Regardless of what they say they support. These devices were brilliant then Google unifies the firmware and Plex didn’t adapt