Deep analysis and direct play

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
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Server Version#: Version 1.14.1.5488
Player Version#: 7.9.0.8439

I’m curious if the deep analysis plays any part in the ability for app to direct play a particular media file.

I added a movie to the movies library this afternoon, and when I played it this evening on the Android TV app, it insisted on direct streaming it, instead of direct play. The movie is in an MKV container with x265/video, an eac3 audio track and a subtitle track. It’s only 1080p with an overall bitrate of about 1400kbps. Both the server and Android box are connected with ethernet, both assigned static IPs on the LAN, the Android is set to maximum or original quality – don’t remember the actual name of the setting.

At the same time, my daughter was streaming a different 1080p video, same format. but with a bitrate around 2400kbps. It was Direct playing to her Bravia TV (about 3 miles from me). using the Android player. I confirmed this in both Tautilli and the cool new Dashboard feature in the plex app. My grandkids were also direct playing some 720p videos.

Neither my daughter or I had subtitles enabled.

I know the file I was watching had not been deep analyzed yet, and the one my daughter was watching had been, since it has been on the server for quite awhile. The XML confirms this.

Why I am asking this question, is because the Android TV direct plays the same movie when I choose the 720p version. That movie has a higher overall bitrate (about 2300kbps) but is encoded with x264 and an AAC stero track and an AC3 surround track It was added several days ago, and has also been thru the deep analysis process. I can also direct play the movie that my daughter was playing on my system.

confused yet? :rofl:

Anyways, my question is, should I expect this to happen when the file hasn’t gone thru the deep analysis process, even though the average bitrate seems low enough to direct stream.

I understand that direct streaming isn’t affecting the quality of the video or audio, just remuxing. Just wondering why it’s happening, and the deep analysis is the only major difference I can see.

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Scratch most of everything above - some findings below:

Even after the deep analyses, the file was remuxed to HLS format (I think that’s what the logs are telling me) Also something about no suitable profile for MKV/h265/eac3. Also something about exceeding bandwidth.

Changed settings in the Plex app for android for Remote streaming to maximum from the default (whatever they were). The file now direct plays. This confuses me, because the file is being played over the local network., and I don’t understand why the changing the Remote quality would affect playback for local quality and the formats it can use for direct play.

I have two android TV devices both on the local area network, and changing the Remote quality setting gave both of them the ability to direct play instead of remux/transcode…

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Settings - Server - Network - ‘Show Advanced’ - “LAN Networks”
What is in there?

Is your server running in a “virtualization” container (Docker, ESXi, VMware etc pp)?

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Thanks for replying, No, it’s just a plain old Windows server.

I actually found what I think is the problem, and posted here: This thread can probably be closed if you want.

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I don’t think these are related.

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:grin:I’m just trying to get Direct play on the local network to work on the Android TV app, so I was wondering if the deep analyses had any bearing. I’m guessing it doesn’t.,

It annoys me remote users can direct play and I can’t. In any event, the work-around I posted in the other thread makes direct play work on the local network, for whatever reason. The Android TV app is the only one that I have ever had a problem getting direct play over the local network, so it’s been frustrating.

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If you answer me this question, we might find a solution that doesn’t require the workaround.

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Sorry, my bad. Didn’t see the first comment.

That section is blank.

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Then try this: put in the network address of your local network.
e.g. if your local IP addresses begin with 192.168.2.x, then put 192.168.2.0/24 into it.

Afterwards, restart plex server.

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Changed the settings as advised, and restarted the server.

On the Android box that I reset the Remote quality setting. to less than max, the video transcodes to Direct stream. The information on the overlay in the app says the reason for transcoding is bitrate or resolution exceeds maximum.allowed.

On the Android TV that I left the workaround, the app direct plays.

Same video file.used on both devices.

EDIT: still experiencing the “drop-outs” I saw in the other thread on the device that is direct playing. That is, the screen just goes black for a split second, and then returns to normal, as if it has lost connection to the server. I downloaded a fresh set of logs if they are of any assistance. and can add them here.

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Checking back into recent plays a few weeks back on the Android TV with Tautilli, I see that both devices direct played HEVC/eac3 video in MKV container. At that time I hadn’t adjusted any settings for quality, etc, basically the default, because it was working Same videos that I tried above in some cases.

There were still the occasional (maybe) loss of connections then, I remember them irritating me. :expressionless:

I think the android app has updated recently, and for sure I have updated the server since those times. Something appears to have changed.

ANOTHER NOTE: I’m sure it’s in one of the logs I saved, but I don’t know what to look for. At some point in time, when I changed the local quality from maximum to about 12mbps, it transcoded the HEVC video to h264 at 4000mbps. Coincidentally, that was the setting the remote quality was at. My guess is there’s some sort of mis-communication between the Android and the server that’s causing the problem. It only happens on the local network, because remote users don’t experience any of the problems.

1 Like
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just a bump for possible assistance

Changing the setting didn’t work. Mine would be 172.16.1.0/24 . As mentioned above, the device that had the quality for remote set to max direct played, the other re-muxed to direct stream.

any other suggestions? Its making me crazy.

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Please prevent any other activity on your Plex server during the following:

  1. activate debug logging (not ‘verbose’!)
  2. quit Plex Server
  3. wait 1 minute
  4. start Plex Server
  5. wait 2 minutes
  6. Play the movie on the affected client for ~ 1 minute
  7. wait 1 minute (not longer, please)
  8. fetch log files and attach them here

Bonus points for mentioning the time when you pressed Playback.

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Thank you. Logs attached. Started playback at approx. 10:45

Plex Media Server Logs_2018-12-22_10-48-12.zip (4.7 MB)

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Just thought I’d add that after I sent the logs, I changed the Remote quality to Maximum, and the video direct played. I would have went thru the same procedure for that, but my grandkids started watching christmas videos, so if you want more logs where direct play works, we’ll have to wait. I don’t want them cluttered up with multiple streams happening.

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  1. What is “maxTV Stream”? What kind of Plex app does it use? Android?
  2. Settings - Server - Network - ‘Show Advanced’ -
    “Treat WAN IP As LAN Bandwidth” <-- Is this checked?
    It should be.
  3. Does the Plex app on that device have an advanced preference ‘Allow insecure connections’. And if so, is it ‘On’ or at least ‘if in the same network as the server’?

Side note: your pre-roll is invalid
ERROR - Extras: Preroll file didn't exist or couldn't be read: ''.

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Somehow your client device is of the opinion that it lives on the WAN, although the server accepts it as being situated on the LAN.
Dec 22, 2018 10:45:06.015 [5096] DEBUG - Request: [172.16.1.65:51291 (Subnet)] GET /video/:/transcode/universal/decision?audioBoost=100&autoAdjustQuality=0&directPlay=0&directStream=1&directStreamAudio=1&fastSeek=1&hasMDE=1&location=wan&maxVideoBitrate=4000&mediaBufferSize=74944&mediaIndex=0&partIndex=0&path=%2Flibrary%2Fmetadata%2F678434&protocol=*&session=a24877c4069822b6-com-plexapp-android&subtitleSize=100&videoBitrate=4000&videoQuality=100&videoResolution=1920x1080 (9 live) TLS GZIP

Additionally to the question in my previous post, please do also provide client log files. https://support.plex.tv/articles/201869908-log-files/

Please repeat the playback test, then fetch both client log and server log at the same time and post them both.

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I’ve got some pre-Christmas errands to take care of, so I’ll get that info later today or tomorrow.

In answer to your previous questions:

It’s an Android TV box I can buy from my internet/cable TV provider. I believe the actual manufacturer is Arcadyan.

Yes

It does. It was set to never. I changed it to same network. I have never touched those settings, odd that it used to direct stream. The app was updated recently, though.

It shouldn’t exist, because I have never even considered applying a pre-roll. The server confirms that under Settings → Extras → Cinema Trailers pre-roll video. It’s empty…

While trying to find the problem and a way to correct, I found several post indicating that. That’s why the work-around was applied. :wink:

Thanks for your time, I really appreciate it.

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I know I shouldn’t even attempt to read or interpret the logs, but that is the remote quality I had it set the device to. In other logs I have capured, I had the remote quality set to different rates, and that was reflected with a change in the number there.

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Precisely. And the location=wan is also coming from the device. So the device is of the opinion that it is situated on a different subnet than the server.

Why that is, can only be found by inspecting log files from the client.
That’s why I requested them.