Consistent video frames dropping on Chromecast w/ Google TV app on select 1080p direct-play content

Plex Players Streaming Devices
1

Server Version#: 1.32.8.7639
Player Version#: 10.6.0.5141 (3aa3109)

  1. I can’t seem to isolate anything shared between these files in terms of encoding (at least to my untrained eye, examples provided)
  2. Forcibly transcoding these files down to 720p fixes the problem
  3. Client can play files with 50x higher bitrate without issue
  4. Client can automatically transcode 4k content down to 1080p without issue
  5. Audio plays without stutters
  6. No buffering icon, just appears to be dropping frames (maybe 75% of them)
  7. No active subtitles being used
  8. Issue is not TV manufacturer specific

Server side:

  1. Running on headless Debian using Coffee Lake CPU
  2. CPU & RAM on server running at well under 10% load
  3. HW transcoding enabled through Plex Pass, iGPU detected inside Plex interface
  4. On latest stable PMS version
  5. No issues with the files when tested with two other clients running native desktop and mobile apps

Two issue files:

Screenshot 2023-12-26 at 1.58.33 AM
Screenshot 2023-12-26 at 1.58.33 AM1370×802 58.7 KB

Screenshot 2023-12-26 at 1.59.12 AM
Screenshot 2023-12-26 at 1.59.12 AM944×530 52.5 KB

2

I’ve been seeing dropped frames and have been doing some testing. My test media is a 1080p 24fps TV show with a panning scene in the first 60 seconds.

Framerate matching is always turned on in Chromecast settings. It can be turned on and off individually in Plex/Emby/VLC.

The latest Chromecast 4K will drop frames in Plex and Emby when set to an output of 4K, whether refresh rate matching is enabled in their respective clients or not. VLC via DLNA is perfectly smooth, but as a DLNA client it’s sorely lacking in organization.

With the Chromecast set to 1080p output, Plex and Emby will still drop frames when refresh rate matching is not enabled. With refresh rate matching enabled in the clients, Emby finally becomes smooth, but Plex still drops frames.

Refresh rate matching is obvious when you have it in non-seamless mode. Not only can you see the screen flashing to the lower refresh rate, but the video loading circle is clearly running at 24fps.

It seems to be that Plex and Emby are not properly hardware accelerating playback. 4K at 24fps is too much for the device to handle, and it drops frames. Meanwhile VLC via DLNA is smooth as glass, so the hardware CAN handle it if utilized correctly. At 1080p 60fps, we’re still throttling in both clients. Drop framerate to 24fps and now Emby can squeak by, at least on my sample video, while Plex must have more overhead and is still choppy.

I’ve moved to an Apple TV 4K on my main television and it has none of these problems. Perfectly smooth at 4K and audio is always in sync. I’d rather the Chromecast work than buy two more Apple TVs for my bedroom and den, but this issue is super frustrating. I will probably switch to Emby at 1080p and 24fps until this is fixed.

3

I just found a solution that resolved the issue for my test file. Disable HW Overlays in developer options. 4K with Framerate matching enabled in Plex is smooth now.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Chromecast/comments/18kxc76/plex_suddenly_not_playing_back_smoothly/kdvngbo/?share_id=R8pUPrwDSJjPzCDYKbUTd

4

I did happen to see that fix before creating my post.

For those experiencing that specific problem (which may be unique to the Chromecast 4k), there is already an ongoing thread about it here:

Unfortunately, that solution has not fixed my issue.

5

Have you got any updates? I have the same issue.

6

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