Files not playing correctly on AppleTV with latest PMS update (1.11.1.4730)

Plex Media Server Plex Pass Betas
1

Has anyone had issues with the latest PMS update and the AppleTV 4k? Subtitles seem to play now, but are all off by a couple of seconds when played on the apple tv. I know the media is fine though as they play correctly in VLC and other plex players like the MacOS Plex App. In addition, I am no longer able to play any of my 4k HEVC content on the apple tv, although 1080p content still plays. 4k content says it is “Direct Streaming”, but the Apple TV app just errors out with “Something went wrong playing your media”.

If I revert to the previous PMS (4666) or release I can play my 4k content fine (although subtitles don’t seem to work at all).

Also I’ve noticed that there is some bugginess in general with the Apple TV 4k Plex app with the new PMS update. Files which “Direct Play” correctly on my older Apple TVs (non 4k, previous generation) are now being remuxed. Instead of seeing Direct Play I now see “Converting” with Direct Stream listed under both audio and video. These are MP4 files with HEVC video and 2 channel AAC / 6 channel E-AC3 audio.

Any ideas why PMS is remuxing for Apple TV 4k but not on the older Apple TVs? The remuxing performance is also pretty bugging and the streaming stopped at least a couple of times an hour. In the logs I see a bunch of messages like:

Jan 28, 2018 15:19:43.243 [0x7f9088911700] ERROR - EventSource: Retrying in 15 seconds.
Jan 28, 2018 15:19:43.338 [0x7f9078623700] ERROR - Caught exception trying to stream file: /volume1/Plex/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Cache/Transcode/Sessions/plex-transcode-2E8DD02B-5FB6-4A19-8633-FED2E53C70F2-812a3df4-2af1-4879-b0a4-e40716c4ffc3/media-00163.ts: write: Broken pipe
Jan 28, 2018 15:19:43.338 [0x7f9080847700] ERROR - Caught exception trying to stream file: /volume1/Plex/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Cache/Transcode/Sessions/plex-transcode-2E8DD02B-5FB6-4A19-8633-FED2E53C70F2-812a3df4-2af1-4879-b0a4-e40716c4ffc3/media-00163.ts: write: Broken pipe
Jan 28, 2018 15:26:06.728 [0x7f90727ff700] WARN - NAT: PMP, got an error: Not Supported by gateway.
Jan 28, 2018 15:26:06.729 [0x7f9088911700] ERROR - EventSource: Retrying in 15 seconds.
Jan 28, 2018 15:32:27.499 [0x7f907ff7d700] WARN - Timed out waiting for segment.
Jan 28, 2018 15:32:30.854 [0x7f90872f9700] WARN - NAT: PMP, got an error: Not Supported by gateway.
Jan 28, 2018 15:32:30.855 [0x7f9088bff700] ERROR - EventSource: Retrying in 15 seconds.
Jan 28, 2018 15:32:30.928 [0x7f9084111700] ERROR - Caught exception trying to stream file: /volume1/Plex/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Cache/Transcode/Sessions/plex-transcode-2E8DD02B-5FB6-4A19-8633-FED2E53C70F2-812a3df4-2af1-4879-b0a4-e40716c4ffc3/media-00241.ts: write: Broken pipe
Jan 28, 2018 15:32:30.928 [0x7f9080e23700] ERROR - Caught exception trying to stream file: /volume1/Plex/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Cache/Transcode/Sessions/plex-transcode-2E8DD02B-5FB6-4A19-8633-FED2E53C70F2-812a3df4-2af1-4879-b0a4-e40716c4ffc3/media-00241.ts: write: Broken pipe
Jan 28, 2018 15:32:30.929 [0x7f9087fff700] ERROR - Caught exception trying to stream file: /volume1/Plex/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Cache/Transcode/Sessions/plex-transcode-2E8DD02B-5FB6-4A19-8633-FED2E53C70F2-812a3df4-2af1-4879-b0a4-e40716c4ffc3/media-00241.ts: write: Broken pipe
Jan 28, 2018 15:38:53.845 [0x7f90727ff700] WARN - NAT: PMP, got an error: Not Supported by gateway.
Jan 28, 2018 15:38:53.846 [0x7f9088bff700] ERROR - EventSource: Retrying in 15 seconds.
Jan 28, 2018 15:41:44.269 [0x7f9078623700] WARN - Transcode runner appears to have died.
Jan 28, 2018 15:41:44.299 [0x7f9081111700] WARN - Transcode runner appears to have died.
Jan 28, 2018 15:41:44.304 [0x7f907f9a1700] WARN - Transcode runner appears to have died.
…

I can provide logs if needed. Thanks!

2

Well I figured out what was happening… partly a stupid mistake on my part I guess. My tvOS.xml profile wasn’t updated to contain the directplay profile for h265/hevc, eg

The weird thing is Plex would happily DirectPlay on the 1080p AppleTVs without that, but not on the AppleTV 4k. Unfortunately without these lines the transcoder can’t seem to transcode 4k at all, and 1080p stuff that gets “DirectStream” transcoded works, but is extremely flaky and cuts out quite often. Also subtitles with any transcoded material are a couple of seconds off from where they should be.

So I guess my real question @ChuckPA is why is the hevc/h265 stuff not enabled by default for AppleTVs (and also why is there a restriction to 2 channel AAC at the bottom of that file when AppleTVs will happily play 8 channel AAC)? Any of the newer generation AppleTVs with updated software can direct play that material. Fixes for the transcoder stuff are less important, at least for me since I attempt to ensure all my files are in a format my Apple devices will accept (mp4+HEVC+ AAC&AC3) It’s pretty annoying to have to hack the xml files over and over every time there is a new release, plus I end up spamming you guys… :smiley:

Thanks!