Ey Guys, I want to confirm that the modified chromecast.xml file + Android apk 5.9.1.758. + PMS Version 1.7.5.4035 video H.265 and H.264 in 4K are Direct Streaming to the CCU.
android Plex apk-> Settings / Direct play / Forced
I am still getting Audio ACC to AC3 transcoded though, which is annoying.
Having noticed this issue after test converting some files to h265 and plex wanting to transcode them when casting to a chromecast ultra I guess looking at this topic and the lack of action I should perhaps wait.
I have a CCU and experience the same issues explained in this thread regarding playback of HEVC content. Itās easy to pass the blame when two different camps of developers are involved (CCU vs plex). But how about this, I mainy consume plex content on my Samsung TV UE65KS8005. The plax app on the TV is developed by plex. So we have a Plex Media Server, and a Plex Client running native on my TV, it still has the same issue:
VIDEO: Transcoding HEVC to H264.
But not always. In the following cases I select play original quality in the plex app on the TV:
This first case results in successful 4k direct play:
VIDEO: Direct Stream
AUDIO: Transcoding AAC to EAC3
Codec HEVC
Bitrate 3849 kbps
Bit Depth 10
Chroma Subsampling 4:2:0
Color Range tv
Color Space bt2020nc
Frame Rate 23.976 fps
Height 2080
Level 5.0
Profile main 10
Ref Frames 1
Width 3840
Codec AAC
Channels 7.1
Bitrate 302 kbps
Audio Channel Layout 7.1
Profile he-aac
Sampling Rate 48000 Hz
Codec SRT
Language English
Title ENG
Codec SRT
Language English
Title ENG SDH
The second case results in transcoding:
VIDEO: Transcoding HEVC to H264
AUDIO: Transcoding AAC to AAC (yes really, what?)
Codec HEVC
Bitrate 2510 kbps
Language English
Bit Depth 10
Chroma Subsampling 4:2:0
Color Range tv
Frame Rate 23.976 fps
Height 1080
Level 4.0
Profile main 10
Ref Frames 1
Width 1920
Codec AAC
Channels 5.1
Bitrate 322 kbps
Language English
Audio Channel Layout 5.1
Profile lc
Sampling Rate 48000 Hz
Codec PGS
Bitrate 13 kbps
Language English
Header Compression 1
Codec PGS
Bitrate 11 kbps
Language EspaƱol
Header Compression 1
And a third example where video is transcoded but audio is not:
VIDEO: Transcoding HEVC to H264
AUDIO: Direct Stream
Codec HEVC
Bitrate 2372 kbps
Bit Depth 8
Chroma Subsampling 4:2:0
Color Range tv
Color Space bt709
Frame Rate 24 fps
Height 804
Level 4.0
Profile main
Ref Frames 1
Width 1920
Codec AAC
Channels Stereo
Language Norsk
Audio Channel Layout stereo
Profile lc
Sampling Rate 48000 Hz
Title Stereo
Codec PGS
Language Norsk
I struggle to understand why in some cases the content will Direct Stream while in other cases the content is transcoded.
Hello! I just wanted to post to thank everyone here that contributed to this awesome post.
I just recently got into this whole Plex world and this thread has been really useful.
My client is a Chromecast 2 and Iāve been trying to get rips that enable full Direct Play, since I donāt want to destroy my already-old CPU by making it reencode. Since Iāve seen that the scene seems to be currently shifting more and more towards x265 (really liking it btw, great quality and super small file size), and considering CC2 doesnāt support it natively, I thought about buying a CC Ultra just for this sole purpose.
Thanks to this thread, I now understand that Plex isnāt really making things easy for CCU users and itās not really working as smooth as it should so Iāll hold on for now and hope for a fix by the Plex team.
Do you guys recommend another device that supports h265 and plays well with Plex?
Thanks again!
@EchoPlexTv said:
Ey Guys, I want to confirm that the modified chromecast.xml file + Android apk 5.9.1.758. + PMS Version 1.7.5.4035 video H.265 and H.264 in 4K are Direct Streaming to the CCU.
android Plex apk-> Settings / Direct play / ForcedI am still getting Audio ACC to AC3 transcoded though, which is annoying.
The transcoding from AAC to AC3 is due to Chromecast dropping support for multichannel AAC (and then Plex dropped it) as per this post http://forums.plex.tv/discussion/216688/plex-for-chromecast#latest . I remember reading a post here from Plex saying Chromecast removed it first. At least transcoding audio is no where near as taxing on the system as video.
Hi everyone,
First, thanks for all the useful information!
I wanna try to replace the chromecast.xml file, but a little bit afraid because Iām casting to the Xiaomi Mi Box Chromecast ==> should I use the same file youāre using ? (I have the exact same problem, canāt cast H265 movies on it with Plex (always transcodingā¦), but I can easily read them by using my Mi Box remote (DirectPlay).
Thanks for your help!
@Otana92 said:
Hi everyone,First, thanks for all the useful information!
I wanna try to replace the chromecast.xml file, but a little bit afraid because Iām casting to the Xiaomi Mi Box Chromecast ==> should I use the same file youāre using ? (I have the exact same problem, canāt cast H265 movies on it with Plex (always transcodingā¦), but I can easily read them by using my Mi Box remote (DirectPlay).
Thanks for your help!
I donāt know anything about Xiaomi Mi Box, but I guess it has some sort of Google Cast feature built-in? I would guess the Chromecast.xml would not be the profile used by Plex for that device, but might be wrong. If you enable logging in PMS I think you can see which .xml is called. Try Android.xml (likely), Generic.xml, Chromecast.xml.
In any case, the best thing to do is backup your Profiles folder before doing anything and then you can play around at will.
@only1hammy said:
@Otana92 said:
Hi everyone,First, thanks for all the useful information!
I wanna try to replace the chromecast.xml file, but a little bit afraid because Iām casting to the Xiaomi Mi Box Chromecast ==> should I use the same file youāre using ? (I have the exact same problem, canāt cast H265 movies on it with Plex (always transcodingā¦), but I can easily read them by using my Mi Box remote (DirectPlay).
Thanks for your help!
I donāt know anything about Xiaomi Mi Box, but I guess it has some sort of Google Cast feature built-in? I would guess the Chromecast.xml would not be the profile used by Plex for that device, but might be wrong. If you enable logging in PMS I think you can see which .xml is called. Try Android.xml (likely), Generic.xml, Chromecast.xml.
In any case, the best thing to do is backup your Profiles folder before doing anything and then you can play around at will.
Indeed, I think that this is the Android one :
Oct 03, 2017 19:29:00.134 [0xed735b40] DEBUG - [Now] Device is Android (Mi Box).
Oct 03, 2017 19:29:00.134 [0xed735b40] DEBUG - [Now] Profile is Android
Gonna try to modify it tomorrow. Thanks !!!
@Otana92 said:
@only1hammy said:
@Otana92 said:
Hi everyone,First, thanks for all the useful information!
I wanna try to replace the chromecast.xml file, but a little bit afraid because Iām casting to the Xiaomi Mi Box Chromecast ==> should I use the same file youāre using ? (I have the exact same problem, canāt cast H265 movies on it with Plex (always transcodingā¦), but I can easily read them by using my Mi Box remote (DirectPlay).
Thanks for your help!
I donāt know anything about Xiaomi Mi Box, but I guess it has some sort of Google Cast feature built-in? I would guess the Chromecast.xml would not be the profile used by Plex for that device, but might be wrong. If you enable logging in PMS I think you can see which .xml is called. Try Android.xml (likely), Generic.xml, Chromecast.xml.
In any case, the best thing to do is backup your Profiles folder before doing anything and then you can play around at will.
Indeed, I think that this is the Android one :
Oct 03, 2017 19:29:00.134 [0xed735b40] DEBUG - [Now] Device is Android (Mi Box).
Oct 03, 2017 19:29:00.134 [0xed735b40] DEBUG - [Now] Profile is AndroidGonna try to modify it tomorrow. Thanks !!!
Update : itās Chromecast.xml and not Android.xml when Iām trying to cast something.
It seems that itās not working for my hevc movies (still transcoding, I attached my new Chromecast.xml file & my server log file If anyone can help.
Thank you for your help!
@Otana92 said:
@Otana92 said:
@only1hammy said:
@Otana92 said:
Hi everyone,First, thanks for all the useful information!
I wanna try to replace the chromecast.xml file, but a little bit afraid because Iām casting to the Xiaomi Mi Box Chromecast ==> should I use the same file youāre using ? (I have the exact same problem, canāt cast H265 movies on it with Plex (always transcodingā¦), but I can easily read them by using my Mi Box remote (DirectPlay).
Thanks for your help!
I donāt know anything about Xiaomi Mi Box, but I guess it has some sort of Google Cast feature built-in? I would guess the Chromecast.xml would not be the profile used by Plex for that device, but might be wrong. If you enable logging in PMS I think you can see which .xml is called. Try Android.xml (likely), Generic.xml, Chromecast.xml.
In any case, the best thing to do is backup your Profiles folder before doing anything and then you can play around at will.
Indeed, I think that this is the Android one :
Oct 03, 2017 19:29:00.134 [0xed735b40] DEBUG - [Now] Device is Android (Mi Box).
Oct 03, 2017 19:29:00.134 [0xed735b40] DEBUG - [Now] Profile is AndroidGonna try to modify it tomorrow. Thanks !!!
Update : itās Chromecast.xml and not Android.xml when Iām trying to cast something.
It seems that itās not working for my hevc movies (still transcoding, I attached my new Chromecast.xml file & my server log file If anyone can help.
Thank you for your help!
Heyā¦ still not convinced itās using the Chromecast.xml. As far as I can tell from your logs itās using an āaugmented profileā which I believe is over-riding the serverās .xml. @JulioQc created this thread on the topic: https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/279824/augmented-profiles-breaks-hevc-playback-on-cromecast-ultra
For me a combination of Android app 5.9.1.758 (1f0448ce) and PMS 1.7.5.4035-313f93718 allows most HEVC content to be directly streamed to CCU. I think the important settings in the Android app are under Video (Quality over wifi, Quality over mobile network).
^^ Just to be clear, the modified .xml is also required in this scenario. Hereās my current working one.
Yes I confirm the augmented profile (which is grabbed from Plex.tv) somehow overrides the XML. Had some luck with certains videos but Iām not sure why it worked. Iām certain why it doesnāt work however and Plex needs to fix the whole CC vs CCU and their corresponding augmented profiles.
Thanks to both of you, Iāve switched to Kodi (with buffering modification) on my Mi Box 3 + Yabse for Android on my smartphone.
Now, Iām able to launch (without casting) my HEVC movies (located on my Synology) with my Mi Box 3 from Yabse on my Oneplus One 
Beginning to think CCU support not existing at plex is intentional. Looks at the Firetv and like products, they have 4k support, and hvec support fully working, as well as Alexa support. What does plex not yet support? 4k or hevc on any google product, and no google home support. It seems that after a full year of zero support that it is starting to become obvious plex cut a deal with Amazon and is simply trying to push itās users to their products by just outright not updating or supporting Google products. The cloud feature was made to work with Amazon primary, which later killed streaming when they killed unlimited as well. Everything just seems to point to this being intentional, even going so far as to block the ability for us to be able to overwrite our local profiles once we did the work for them and got it working.
Why is this still not fixed yet? 
Any Info from Plex Team when CCU Support will come or when it is planned?
Iām not an authority, but I wanted to share my guess that the reason Plex hasnāt prioritized 4k/HEVC on the CCU is bitrate limitations.
There are a lot of anecdotes about Plex limiting the bitrate to 12mbps when casting to Chromecast. Also Netflix on Chromecast never seems to go above 16mbps (my results from watching Netflixās āTest Patternsā).
The bitrate limit is controversial, but if these companies believe the CCU should be capped at 12-16mbps, then it makes sense that 4k HEVC isnāt a priority for Plex. 4k HEVC isnāt super common yet, but UHD blurays are 40-128mbps, so probably most 4k HEVC content will be >12mbps. The server would need to transcode it almost always to get under the limit, which is only going to be possible for fairly powerful servers.
The 12mbps seems super artificial of course. Someone posted earlier about getting 40mbps video onto a CCU with Emby. My guess about that is that 95%+ of users are using Chromecast over a poorly-configured wifi environment that canāt reliably sustain more than 12mbps (one good speed test result wonāt stop random interference, or another device downloading large background updates, from trashing your cinema experience). And 99.99%+ of users arenāt equipped to diagnose networking problems. If Plex buffers but Netflix doesnāt, that means Plex is broken.
Or maybe the CCUās cooling is bad and itās in danger of lighting on fire if the bitrate is too high?
Despite all that, Iād certainly like an āIām a big boyā mode so I can use my hardware the way I want. Right now the best option I can see for a āhigh-bitrate Chromecast with Plex supportā is a NUC7i3-or-so with PMP, at 5-10x the cost of a CCU. That sucks.
@Woanaz said:
Any Info from Plex Team when CCU Support will come or when it is planned?
Plex deliberately avoid giving information regarding supporting new devices. For CCU, itāll either never happen or weāll get support one day out of the blue.
@sbrudenell said:
Iām not an authority, but I wanted to share my guess that the reason Plex hasnāt prioritized 4k/HEVC on the CCU is bitrate limitations.There are a lot of anecdotes about Plex limiting the bitrate to 12mbps when casting to Chromecast. Also Netflix on Chromecast never seems to go above 16mbps (my results from watching Netflixās āTest Patternsā).
The bitrate limit is controversial, but if these companies believe the CCU should be capped at 12-16mbps, then it makes sense that 4k HEVC isnāt a priority for Plex. 4k HEVC isnāt super common yet, but UHD blurays are 40-128mbps, so probably most 4k HEVC content will be >12mbps. The server would need to transcode it almost always to get under the limit, which is only going to be possible for fairly powerful servers.
The 12mbps seems super artificial of course. Someone posted earlier about getting 40mbps video onto a CCU with Emby. My guess about that is that 95%+ of users are using Chromecast over a poorly-configured wifi environment that canāt reliably sustain more than 12mbps (one good speed test result wonāt stop random interference, or another device downloading large background updates, from trashing your cinema experience). And 99.99%+ of users arenāt equipped to diagnose networking problems. If Plex buffers but Netflix doesnāt, that means Plex is broken.
Or maybe the CCUās cooling is bad and itās in danger of lighting on fire if the bitrate is too high?
Despite all that, Iād certainly like an āIām a big boyā mode so I can use my hardware the way I want. Right now the best option I can see for a āhigh-bitrate Chromecast with Plex supportā is a NUC7i3-or-so with PMP, at 5-10x the cost of a CCU. That sucks.
If what youāre saying is true, and Plex arenāt supporting the CCU because of bitrate limitation, why not simply specify that artificial limitation in a seperate .xml file and allow other HEVC content to passthrough without transcoding? Simply not supporting the technical capabilites of the device is not acceptable.
As I type this I have a 47GB 58mbps HEVC HDR file being direct streamed to the CCU using our hacky method mentioned in my previous post. The device is warm to the touch, nothing out of the ordinary regarding temperature.
I still prefer to either watch the content directly from the HTPC or streamed via Plex DLNA server to the TV (no transcodingā¦), but it would be nice for Plex to finally support this now one year-old device.
Yeah, Emby completely works with CCU for 4k and HEVC, so it is not a technical issue with the device itself.
This just got fixed!!!
https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/comment/1553972/#Comment_1553972
3.25.0
NEW:
Improve 4k support on the Chromecast Ultra
FIXES:
High-bitrate videos cast from Android use original quality
I confirm HEVC 4k HDR playback works too, on my LG C7P.
I also confirm the device has enough receive buffer to stream at high bitrates from remote servers (at least 75mbps from a remote plex server with RTT 20-25ms; hard to tell the maximum right now because Comcast is having some trouble).
@sbrudenell said:
This just got fixed!!!https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/comment/1553972/#Comment_1553972
3.25.0
NEW:
Improve 4k support on the Chromecast Ultra
FIXES:
High-bitrate videos cast from Android use original qualityI confirm HEVC 4k HDR playback works too, on my LG C7P.
I also confirm the device has enough receive buffer to stream at high bitrates from remote servers (at least 75mbps from a remote plex server with RTT 20-25ms; hard to tell the maximum right now because Comcast is having some trouble).
Sweet. It works on the few clips I tested. Had to force reboot the CCU from the Home app before it picked up the new version.
