Hi all, I was excited to see a Windows 8.1 Live Tile version of the awesome PLEX client. It was only after I purchased it did I find that almost all my content was being transcoded... I couldn't believe it. All my gorgeous 1080p / DTS being transcoded to LPCM. Shudder.
There was no mention on the Windows App store that it would basically reduce the quality of your content. Are we able to get a refund or will this severe limitation be resolved any time soon?
Yet with the FREE Plex Home Theatre version installed to the Win8.1 Desktop it play all my content directly without any transcoding. Although if I set via Preferences my HDMI to say I have a Dolby True and DTS HD AMP it then mutes EVERYTHING and I can't get sound back no matter what I do. This is so frustrating because PLEX is perhaps 95% perfect. Gutted.
Sadly, your issues are caused by Microsoft's platform limitations. We do our best to warn users about this, in the app's description and in this forums thread.
The VLC Windows 8.1 metro app purportedly supports mkvs natively (and DTS perhaps?) and will soon be submitted to the Windows Store for approval. Any chance Plex devs can adapt the source code to enable native mkv playback + HD audio passthrough?
The VLC Windows 8.1 metro app purportedly supports mkvs natively (and DTS perhaps?) and will soon be submitted to the Windows Store for approval. Any chance Plex devs can adapt the source code to enable native mkv playback + HD audio passthrough?
Indeed, and they are working on licensing the entire libVLC to LGPL, which Plex would be able to freely use. Let's hope that all the work VLC put into their product can be used for Plex on Win 8 to be improved.
I prefer the Win8 app over the PHT application always. However not supporting direct play for matroska is a big issue, as the transcoder pegs my CPU at 100% constant when watching locally (viewing via Plex app on the server).
I prefer the Win8 app over the PHT application always. However not supporting direct play for matroska is a big issue, as the transcoder pegs my CPU at 100% constant when watching locally (viewing via Plex app on the server).
Hopefully this isn't a dumb question, but i'm having a hard time understanding what I just tried. I just tried playing a 32GB BluRay mkv rip via plex. I have a Quadcore 3.4GHz i5 Samsung laptop with Win8, With Plex I see the same thing, 90% CPU usage.
But when I switch to SageTVClient, its a simple file pull, and SageTVClient plays fine, no impact at all to server CPU.
Is this just an architectural difference, in that the Plex server is transcoding the stream before sending to PlexClient (in which case why?)
I am pulling my hair out to get ANY Plex player to play wtv direct play. I purchased Plex for Windows 8 because I saw it had an MPEG-2 direct play option with WMC installed (I don't see that option in any other Plex player like Plex for Home Theater or the Web player). I am assuming that means if it says Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center that meets the requirements. The reason I need this is for TV recordings that we are only going to watch once and delete (which is most of the recordings). The ones I plan on keeping I encode to mp4 and they direct play great in Plex. Without being able to direct play wtv it takes forever to skip commercials because of buffers and transcoding. If it help I am recording HD content with Ceton and a cable card inside of WMC. I use mcebuddy to rename and move the files into a directory monitored by Plex Server for Windows. When I bring up Media Info on a wtv file (from inside Plex for Windows 8) I want to play it says both the audio(ac3) and video (mpeg-2) cannot be direct streamed.
Please, help me to figure out what I am doing wrong. BTW the Windows 8 player is really slick, so much better than tired WMC.
Yeah, it's unfortunate... But Microsoft Media Foundation does not support the wtv container at all. So those files will be transcoded to HLS, which only supports h264. So your video stream will be transcoded instead of remuxed.
Sorry.
If you were to remux your files from wtv to mpeg or mpegts, you would be able to Direct Play the resulting files, with the MCE pack installed.
I have just tried to play a movie and all is well unless i want subtitles. If i turn on subtitles, transcoding starts. Will there be some support for subtitles in metro app like on Roku for example (without transcoding)?
Basically, this leaves me with installing Plex Home Theater on my HTPC. I'd rather use Plex app, even though it's kinda skinny and limited, I prefer it visually...
I'm aware of it. AFAIK it's not a Media Foundation media source. It's a completely custom implementation that doesn't align with the Microsoft Media Foundation, Player Framework or MediaElement. So not all that useful to us.
How does it come I cannot select any audio track nor subtitle via Windows 8 Plex App? Whatever video file I tried, the Windows 8 App cant select those and always shows wrong information of it.
Any way to use WASAPI drivers instead of direct? Nvida direct driver has a bug in 7.1 systems where it outputs the left and right surround to the rear speakers for AAC 5.1 audio.
Your initial post indicates the the limitation on direct play for formats like MKV is a restriction placed on windows store apps (due to the lack of support for third party codecs/splitters). Others have noted that your home theater app (which is not offered through the windows store) has no problem with direct play for MKV. Could this issue be resolved by modifying your windows 8.1 app and offering it outside of the windows store? Is that something you would be willing to do?
I understand that certain formats are not supported because Microsoft has not provided libraries for them but it is almost worthless to have FLAC files transcoded to MP3 for playback. What is the point? Can we at least have FLAC transcoded into uncompressed PCM (wave) formart instead? This should be easier on the the server and not compromise the quality of the audio.
Now that VLC metro is up and running and finally stable AND playing MKV/SRT/DTS with no pb, are the limitations on the metro version of plex about to be overcome ?
