Server Version#: 1.18.7.2457
Player Version#: 7.28.0.15501
I’m new to Plex, trying to use it mainly as a means of viewing my library of mostly home videos on my TV via my Fire stick. My videos are in a variety of formats, ranging from older WMV and AVI files, to more recent recordings in MOV and MP4 format. I also have a few downloads at 480p, 720p, 1080p, and a couple at 4k.
Most of these files play fine in my Plex web client (version 4.22.2), both in my home wifi network and over the internet, with minimal tweaking. I just select them and they play.
On my TV using the Plex app for Fire stick, however, nearly all of them look like crap. Massively pixelated, sometimes skipping and jumping, never a clear picture. This is particularly annoying because, though viewing on my laptop is nice, that is not why I’m using Plex. I want to be able to show my videos to my family on my living room TV and have them look nice. The recent ones were recorded in 1080p, so I’d like them to look that way.
Though the interface is a little different between web and Fire stick Plex viewers, I don’t see any obvious setting differences. Why does one viewer work so well, and the other so poorly, on the exact same wi-fi network?
Go to the Plex App Settings:
Enable Display Information
Disable The New Player
Set the Max 264 level to 4.1 (for now)
Set the Local Quality to Original
Play the file - if not improved - bring up the OSD and read what ‘The Information’ says about the stream.
Wow, thanks Juice! That made a HUGE improvement! Nearly everything I have plays fine now on Plex+Fire. The only exceptions I am seeing are pretty much the same as what I see in the browser player:
Old WMV files look pretty bad. But I don’t have that many and could easily convert them.
Very high-resolution MP4s (4K) play well but seem to freeze every few seconds. I’ve tweaked the settings, but nothing seems to fix this.
And the quality is set to ‘Original’, ‘Maximum’ or ‘Wide Open’, in other words?
You’re probably just now into the standard reign of terror by the giant bug eating cattle and generally making a nuisance of itself in the FireTV ranks - and all of Android.
We may have done all the damage we can do right now.
If the thing is recording ‘interlaced material’ (for no earthly reason - BTW) a whole suite of problems set up shop. If not I think we’re now into ‘The Bug’.
Just for fun - set the max 264 level to ‘Disabled’ - or wide open.
Try again, but if nothing changes don’t leave it there.
4.1 is safe for now.
One (which I did not record) says “Unable to Direct Play as source media has higher h.264 level (51) than supported (41).” But that one plays fine.
The 4K video says “4K playback is not supported on this device”. Video looks good but stops every 15 secs or so.
The ones I recorded myself (1080p on a Canon T7i camera) say “Direct Play” now, but freeze every 10 seconds. What’s odd is I could swear they were working fine when I first made the changes you initially recommended.
Yea… well… you may have to play around with it.
We’ve pushed a lot of buttons.
More fun:
Go to Server/Settings/Transcoder
Make sure the transcoder is NOT disabled.
Go the Plex App Settings on the FireTV and enable the New Player again.
You can get ‘Information’ - but you have to Drill for it in ‘Playback Info’.
Let’s see if the New Player does anything for us.
‘Adjust Automatically’ - Off. <—that requires the transcoder - the transcoder has had it’s head bitten off by the bug, so we won’t be needing that for a while.
Yea, here’s the bug - or part of it.
That video has a level of 5.1 - in the very recent past (before the bug came to town) you would have gotten a transcode with the level set at 4.1, but if you changed it to 5.1 it would Direct Play.
So - let’s assume your unit is fine with 5.1 material.
Make the setting 5.1 and leave it there.
Play around with it for a while, see what you can do armed with what you now know. Fiddle a bit. Report anything new…lol
It seems that for my recent videos that I have recorded in 1080p, better results seem to come when I set it to “Convert to 20 Mbps 1080p” instead of “Play Original Quality”. It’s transcoding, but my computer seems to be able to handle it. I don’t own a 4K device, so I don’t know why I would want that high a resolution anyway.
So what exactly is the difference between the “New Player” and “Old Player” anyway? Do people just like the old one because it’s easier to figure out what’s going on? Or does one physically work better than the other?
it’s not your server, it’s not your settings it’s the version of the player you have installed on the firestick. it’s bugged and “supposedly” in the process of being fixed. in the mean time install this version instead…
Interesting you say that. My Fire stick is pretty old and I got it cheap anyway. I was thinking of upgrading to the 4K version, since we are using it more and more with our “non-smart” TV. Would you recommend Roku instead?
