Downloads not transcoding to compatible codec

Plex Players Mobile Devices
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Server Version#: 1.25.6.5545
Player Version#: 8.29.1.30697 (420a2e38)

Downloading HEVC encoded video to an Android device that is not capable of decoding it causes incompatible files to be downloaded / synced.

When streaming these videos from the server it, correctly, transcodes them from HEVC to H264, allowing playback.

When downloading, I would expect the server to transcode the file before sending it to the client, allowing offline playback.

Additionally, the error messages are very misleading - for example, when trying to playback some HEVC encoded videos that I had downloaded / synced I got the following two errors
“An error occurred while attempting to play this video. Please check your connection and try again”
“Failed to play downloaded file, external storage not found”
neither of which describe the actual problem that the file is incompatible with my device.

I’d appreciate any suggestions you have.

Richard

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What device do you have? The app checks what your device supports and something told it that hevc was supported. It’s possible your device reports it wrong. When streaming, it may be trying the hevc first, then if it fails, the server can fallback to transcoding to h264. Downloads does not have this fallback since it doesn’t know it fails.

Can you provide the logs from the Android app after reproducing this error?

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