EAC3 Audio prevents videoplayback on android tv (Black screen)

Plex Players Streaming Devices
1

Hello everyone,

First of all I would like to apologize if this is a duplicate issue that has already been answered, but I could not manage to find a thread with a solution that worked for me.

Lets start with the software and devices involved:
Server Version: 1.18.3.2129 (Running in docker on unRaid)
Player Version: 7.25.3.14365 (1a8c550e) (Android Tv)
Tv: Philips 40PFK5500

The issue is that I cannot play certain content on my Tv. The screen stays black, however the the audio does still play.

My media is mostly 1080p and mostly encoded using HEVC. However the HEVC does not seem to be the problem since I can play most of those files just fine.

I have confirmed that both audio and video are being streamed directly, so no transcoding should be required. Here comes the strange part. Even though both the Tv and Plex dashboard are reporting that no transcoding is required, the tv still reports (in the information overlay) the “Reason for transcoding: Dolby Digital Plus EAC3 (audio) is not supported by this device.” So it appears the EAC3 audio is causing the problem.

Now what I’m confused about is why it is that a presumably unsupported audio codec is interfering with the playback of the video without causing issues for the audio. This just doesn’t make sense to make.

Of course I cannot guarantee that the audio is actually the problem, but it looks to me that all signs point toward it being the root cause for this issue.

What I’ve tried so far:

  • Deleted the codecs folder on the server and let it redownload the required codecs.
  • Set audio-passthrough to off/optical/HDMI (none worked)
  • Changed the maximum h264 encoder level from 5.1 (recommended) to 5.2 and 4.0 (both didn’t work)
  • Switching to the new player (I use the old one since the newer player doesn’t play a lot of my media)

I have attachted the network logs (42.9 KB) (Attempted episode playback starts at 12-13 21:59:07.655 ) from the Android Tv to this post. Please let me know if any other information is required.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

9

Bump!

10

TV doesn’t support EAC3 so the audio is transcoded. Are you sure it is direct playing HEVC? Do you have https://tautulli.com/ to monitor the playback.

12-13 21:59:09.690  i: [FF] AudioStream[1-eac3] 6 channels over 1551 (5.1(side)), 48000 Hz, 0,0 padding. ATSC A/52B (AC-3, E-AC-3) - Unknown Profile (audio/eac3), 3,1 Mbps -54 seconden 0,00fps, No Title / Engels (eng), 0 bytes, .
12-13 21:59:09.691  i: [FF] Video decoder doesn't support eac3 (audio/eac3).
12-13 21:59:09.692  i: [FF] Audio decoder doesn't support eac3 (audio/eac3).
12-13 21:59:09.692  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] : Audio: eac3 ([135][0][0][0] / 0x0087), 48000 Hz, 5.1(side), s16p
12-13 21:59:09.693  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] 

12-13 21:59:09.693  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO]     Metadata:

12-13 21:59:09.694  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO]       variant_bitrate : 
12-13 21:59:09.694  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] 3105000
12-13 21:59:09.695  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] 

12-13 21:59:09.695  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] Container metadata entries found: 0.
12-13 21:59:09.696  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] Stream metadata entries found: 1.
12-13 21:59:09.697  i: [FFmpeg] [INFO] Stream metadata entries found: 2.
12-13 21:59:09.698  i: [FF] Video decoder doesn't support hevc (video/hevc).

TV Beta Client

11

Thanks for the reply. I will confirm for you tomorrow.

Also I just noticed that the option to use to old player has been removed, so now I can’t play any of my media anymore.

12

I have installed Tautulli and analyzed the playback stream details. I randomly selected a few movies and episodes. Most of them are H264 (One HEVC) with a variety of different audio codecs. Findings posted below.

https://puu.sh/F3YZ6/5c5c6127ff.png
https://puu.sh/F3YZB/4a7a6a3499.png
https://puu.sh/F3YZX/38f332b76c.png
https://puu.sh/F3YYI/7be2d06606.png
https://puu.sh/F3Z0e/a757fb5694.png
https://puu.sh/F3Z0E/3025b66696.png

13

Did you ever find the cause of this? I’m also getting black video with normal sound though with a Samsung TV. Also using Unraid server 6.8.2 with official PMS docker. Issue is only with HEVC files having EAC3 audio. Other HEVC files are fine. Disabling Direct Play is a work around but I don’t understand why it should be necessary…

14

Unfortunately no, still waiting for any suggestions.

Interesting, because for me it’s with alle media. Not just the H265. It might be that your TV does not support H265 with is why it needs transcoding for it to be able to play it, which you force by disabling direct play.

15

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