Hi all,
I am new to Plex and have this very annoying problem. I run Plex server on Synology NAS and have 3 Mac stations at home all showing the same exact problem with both the plex media player and the web client (safari). The issue is that when playing a video (over the LAN - no transcoding) colors look very oversaturated. When using Kodi as a dlna client on the same stations colors are perfectly fine, I am playing the same exact file. I am including links to screen recordings from both Kodi and Plex on the same Mac (ignore stuttering), same file is playing. Any idea? (Btw - sound in Kodi also feel clearer and more open)
@trumpy81 this is correct, the Kodi colours are the correct once.
@MRBMedia said:
@trumpy81 this is correct (I mean your print screen reflect the correct colours) the Kodi colours are the correct once, note that VLC show identical colours to Kodi. Fact os plex oversaturated, Kodi is not showing dull colours, these in fact are the colours of this scene, unless you have the same series and can tell me otherwise.
I am leaving 2 more printscreens showing the difference I am expiriencing, the “dull” picture is Kodi, plex is the shocking vivid version as you can see from the clients.
It is the same file, same Macbook pro laptop, same time. I find it very weird to have such a massive difference. Any help?
@trumpy81 I ran some more tests and results are interesting, again these leads me to a point where Plex is showing wring colors. As I am using Macbook pro it is not as possible to calibrate the screen as a normal tv but this is not the point. I have notices this over saturated problem happen only when playing HEVC encoded movies, H264 are just fine (showing no over saturation and identical in both Kodi and Plex). I am assuming playing the same file on the same computer should give me an identical result. Is PMP have issues playing HEVC files? I also tested with a friend on a windows PC, he had the same issue.
Below Kodi and Plex colors, H264:
And 2 more from another HEVC encoded movie,
Again I am sorry to say and I know it’s hard to beleive but the dull Kodi colors are the correct once:
@trumpy81 tested both plex and Kodi on my calubrated tv using a Mac mini, same issue with hdr 4k movies, plex way over saturated and sound feels like smaller. Kodi was just fine. Plex using direct play no transcoding. No idea what is wrong but I think I will let plex rest until a better version comes out.
Btw - playing the files directly using vlc gives the same results as Kodi. Might be plex is using a different decoder on the client.
I have this exact same issue. I dont use Kodi but the comparison of Plex Media Player and VLC is the same.
HEVC 10-bit HDR 4k - Windows 10
@trumpy81
I tried multiple 4k 10-bit HDR HEVC samples and I am yet to find one that causes the same issues to the colours as the Planet Earth II videos… I guess my issue is specific just for that? But why? This makes no sense to me.
BTW, my system:
i7 4770k (iGPU disabled in BIOS and no Intel GPU drivers installed)
NVIDIA GTX 1080ti
27" AH-IPS 1440p monitor (8-bit, no HDR)
24" IPS 1080p monior (8-bit, no HDR)
Tried also on different Broadwell based PC and TV, same issue with the Planet Earth II.
I am using Direct3D11 for Hardware Acceleration in VLC, looks the same as if I used DXVA 2.0 but with less CPU impact.
jellyfish-400-mbps-4k-uhd-hevc-10bit.mkv 400 Mbps 3840x2160 HEVC Main10 6.1 High 1.4 GB
@trumpy81
I use v. 1.9.6.4429 and according to PMS it is the most recent version.
I have this exact problem as well @MRBMedia.
I’m playing HEVC clips via my Xbox One X, and they look over-saturated or too vivid. A normal h264 file plays perfectly fine with correct colours on my TV.
To test, I used a HEVC file in 4k which has an audio format unsupported by the Xbox. This means Plex transcodes it to h264 and downscales to 1080p at the same time. I then used ffmpeg to convert the audio on this file to AC3 so that the Xbox could play it and therefore allow Plex to direct play the HEVC video.
In the original file, HEVC transcoding to h264 1080p, the colours are perfect.
In the updated file, with HEVC direct playing, the colours look exactly like yours do in the screenshots above. Over-saturated.
Ffmpeg definitely only copied the video stream. The difference in colours is down to the way Plex is playing HEVC streams under some circumstances.
A friend of mine with a near identical TV, also playing via an Xbox One X has normal colours when direct playing HEVC. I can’t for the life of me work out why this is happening. Plex is fully up to date.
i’m having the same problem with PMP showing over saturated color when playing HEVC 4k files, in kodi the hevc files are washed out no color, but i at least i managed to fix it buy using RGB color profile in the system settings.
It seems unlikely to me that it’s the files as they’re common files that others have.
To be certain, I’ve sent my friend the same media files I referred to above (one which will transcode and the identical one with converted audio that will direct play) for him to try. He’ll come back to me later this week hopefully and I’ll reply here with an update.
I have to say I very much doubt it’s the files though. I tested with a range of HEVC files, and the ones with unsupported audio that forcibly transcoded all looked fine, only the direct playing ones looked bad.
