Hello guys. For some reason my fire stick wont play EAC3 audio on videos and instead transcodes it which kills my PC lol. Iv tried restarting the server, updating it and the plex app on the firestick, and deleteing the codecs file but its still not sorted. Iv read that plex and the fire stick should support eac3, what can i do?
Server Version#: Version 1.18.1.1973
Player Version#: Latest
Transcoding audio requires very little CPU power. Sure you’re not transcoding the video?
In the Plex app on the Firestick, set Display Information = On.
Play a movie with EAC3 audio and subtitles off.
During playback, pull up the on-screen controls (press bottom of ring on remote, pause video, etc). Look in upper left corner. It will say if video/audio is direct playing, direct streaming, or transcoding. If the latter it will provide a reason.
What does it say on-screen?
ahh ok, so this is the weird part. If the subtitles are off, it says direct for video and audio, but still says Transcode reason : E-AC-3 audio is not supported by the device. Once i turn the subtitles on it then says video : transcode. Why would the subtitles make the video transcode as its .srt . Thanks for your reply btw i appreciate it 
It is a longstanding issue with Android TV. If the audio is transcoding and subtitles are enabled, then it forces a video transcode.
Which FireStick do you have? Amazon has shipped several models over the years.
What do you have for the FireStick audio setting (not the Plex app)?
Try setting the FireStick audio to Dolby Digital Only. Set the Plex app to Passthrough = HDMI.
1 Like
im using the Gen 2 firestick. Sadly the dolby digital only and passthrough didnt work 
Can you provide the XML for this video?
sure, this is it i think lol
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<MediaInfo
xmlns="https://mediaarea.net/mediainfo"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="https://mediaarea.net/mediainfo https://mediaarea.net/mediainfo/mediainfo_2_0.xsd"
version="2.0">
<creatingLibrary version="18.12" url="https://mediaarea.net/MediaInfo">MediaInfoLib</creatingLibrary>
<media ref="E:\Torrents\The.100.S06.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+5.1.H.264\The.100.S06E04.The.Face.Behind.the.Glass.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+5.1.H.264.mkv">
<track type="General">
<UniqueID>173040378819349031474952516312724405514</UniqueID>
<VideoCount>1</VideoCount>
<AudioCount>1</AudioCount>
<TextCount>2</TextCount>
<FileExtension>mkv</FileExtension>
<Format>Matroska</Format>
<Format_Version>4</Format_Version>
<FileSize>3267395558</FileSize>
<Duration>2530.048</Duration>
<OverallBitRate>10331490</OverallBitRate>
<FrameRate>23.976</FrameRate>
<FrameCount>60660</FrameCount>
<StreamSize>65042339</StreamSize>
<IsStreamable>Yes</IsStreamable>
<Title>The 100 06x04 (The Face Behind the Glass) - release by messafan for CasStudio</Title>
<Movie>The 100 06x04 (The Face Behind the Glass) - release by messafan for CasStudio</Movie>
<Encoded_Date>UTC 2019-05-23 13:36:37</Encoded_Date>
<File_Created_Date>UTC 2019-10-30 21:41:57.549</File_Created_Date>
<File_Created_Date_Local>2019-10-30 21:41:57.549</File_Created_Date_Local>
<File_Modified_Date>UTC 2019-10-30 22:08:41.697</File_Modified_Date>
<File_Modified_Date_Local>2019-10-30 22:08:41.697</File_Modified_Date_Local>
<Encoded_Application>mkvmerge v6.7.0 ('Back to the Ground') 64bit built on Jan 8 2014 15:10:52</Encoded_Application>
<Encoded_Library>libebml v1.3.0 + libmatroska v1.4.1</Encoded_Library>
</track>
<track type="Video">
<StreamOrder>0</StreamOrder>
<ID>1</ID>
<UniqueID>14511859939944042151</UniqueID>
<Format>AVC</Format>
<Format_Profile>High</Format_Profile>
<Format_Level>4</Format_Level>
<Format_Settings_CABAC>Yes</Format_Settings_CABAC>
<Format_Settings_RefFrames>4</Format_Settings_RefFrames>
<CodecID>V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC</CodecID>
<Duration>2530.030</Duration>
<BitRate_Mode>CBR</BitRate_Mode>
<BitRate>9485893</BitRate>
<BitRate_Nominal>10000000</BitRate_Nominal>
<Width>1920</Width>
<Height>1080</Height>
<Stored_Height>1088</Stored_Height>
<Sampled_Width>1920</Sampled_Width>
<Sampled_Height>1080</Sampled_Height>
<PixelAspectRatio>1.000</PixelAspectRatio>
<DisplayAspectRatio>1.778</DisplayAspectRatio>
<FrameRate_Mode>CFR</FrameRate_Mode>
<FrameRate>23.976</FrameRate>
<FrameCount>60660</FrameCount>
<ColorSpace>YUV</ColorSpace>
<ChromaSubsampling>4:2:0</ChromaSubsampling>
<BitDepth>8</BitDepth>
<ScanType>Progressive</ScanType>
<Delay>0.000</Delay>
<StreamSize>2999949379</StreamSize>
<Default>Yes</Default>
<Forced>No</Forced>
<BufferSize>31250000</BufferSize>
<colour_description_present>Yes</colour_description_present>
<colour_description_present_Source>Stream</colour_description_present_Source>
<colour_range>Limited</colour_range>
<colour_range_Source>Stream</colour_range_Source>
<colour_primaries>BT.709</colour_primaries>
<colour_primaries_Source>Stream</colour_primaries_Source>
<transfer_characteristics>BT.709</transfer_characteristics>
<transfer_characteristics_Source>Stream</transfer_characteristics_Source>
<matrix_coefficients>BT.709</matrix_coefficients>
<matrix_coefficients_Source>Stream</matrix_coefficients_Source>
</track>
<track type="Audio">
<StreamOrder>1</StreamOrder>
<ID>2</ID>
<UniqueID>4533275600819551404</UniqueID>
<Format>E-AC-3</Format>
<Format_Commercial_IfAny>Dolby Digital Plus</Format_Commercial_IfAny>
<Format_Settings_Endianness>Big</Format_Settings_Endianness>
<CodecID>A_EAC3</CodecID>
<Duration>2530.048</Duration>
<BitRate_Mode>CBR</BitRate_Mode>
<BitRate>640000</BitRate>
<Channels>6</Channels>
<ChannelPositions>Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE</ChannelPositions>
<ChannelLayout>L R C LFE Ls Rs</ChannelLayout>
<SamplesPerFrame>1536</SamplesPerFrame>
<SamplingRate>48000</SamplingRate>
<SamplingCount>121442304</SamplingCount>
<FrameRate>31.250</FrameRate>
<Compression_Mode>Lossy</Compression_Mode>
<Delay>0.000</Delay>
<Delay_Source>Container</Delay_Source>
<StreamSize>202403840</StreamSize>
<StreamSize_Proportion>0.06195</StreamSize_Proportion>
<Language>en</Language>
<ServiceKind>CM</ServiceKind>
<Default>Yes</Default>
<Forced>No</Forced>
<extra>
<bsid>16</bsid>
<dialnorm>-31</dialnorm>
<compr>-0.28</compr>
<acmod>7</acmod>
<lfeon>1</lfeon>
<dialnorm_Average>-31</dialnorm_Average>
<dialnorm_Minimum>-31</dialnorm_Minimum>
<compr_Average>-4.19</compr_Average>
<compr_Minimum>-7.50</compr_Minimum>
<compr_Maximum>-0.56</compr_Maximum>
<compr_Count>1091</compr_Count>
</extra>
</track>
<track type="Text" typeorder="1">
<ID>3</ID>
<UniqueID>15124971140427193482</UniqueID>
<Format>UTF-8</Format>
<CodecID>S_TEXT/UTF8</CodecID>
<Language>en</Language>
<Default>No</Default>
<Forced>No</Forced>
</track>
<track type="Text" typeorder="2">
<ID>4</ID>
<UniqueID>6388839510850544825</UniqueID>
<Format>UTF-8</Format>
<CodecID>S_TEXT/UTF8</CodecID>
<Title>SDH</Title>
<Language>en</Language>
<Default>No</Default>
<Forced>No</Forced>
</track>
</media>
</MediaInfo>
Nope, not that. From Plex. https://support.plex.tv/articles/201998867-investigate-media-information-and-formats/
oh sorry, heres the xml from plex
<MediaContainer size="1" allowSync="1" identifier="com.plexapp.plugins.library" librarySectionID="6" librarySectionTitle="All videos" librarySectionUUID="16cd9a24-51dc-4ba5-a75d-107fe86dd785" mediaTagPrefix="/system/bundle/media/flags/" mediaTagVersion="1571279776">
<Video ratingKey="4473" key="/library/metadata/4473" guid="com.plexapp.agents.none://88e754327dada9b4b64bc842208bd895f79ad0ab?lang=xn" type="movie" title="The.100.S06E05.The.Gospel.of.Josephine.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+5.1.H.264" librarySectionTitle="All videos" librarySectionID="6" librarySectionKey="/library/sections/6" summary="" viewOffset="222831" viewCount="1" lastViewedAt="1572619904" year="2019" thumb="/library/metadata/4473/thumb/1572638199" art="/library/metadata/4473/art/1572638199" duration="2443104" originallyAvailableAt="2019-10-30" addedAt="1572476805" updatedAt="1572638199" createdAtAccuracy="epoch,local" createdAtTZOffset="0">
<Media id="5095" duration="2443104" bitrate="13119" width="1920" height="1080" aspectRatio="1.78" audioChannels="6" audioCodec="eac3" videoCodec="h264" videoResolution="1080" container="mkv" videoFrameRate="24p" videoProfile="high">
<Part accessible="1" exists="1" id="5095" key="/library/parts/5095/1572475385/file.mkv" duration="2443104" file="E:\Torrents\The.100.S06.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+5.1.H.264\The.100.S06E05.The.Gospel.of.Josephine.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+5.1.H.264.mkv" size="4007199153" container="mkv" deepAnalysisVersion="4" requiredBandwidths="14698,14333,13807,13552,13552,13552,13552,13552" videoProfile="high">
<Stream id="10972" streamType="1" default="1" codec="h264" index="0" bitrate="12479" bitDepth="8" chromaLocation="left" chromaSubsampling="4:2:0" colorPrimaries="bt709" colorRange="tv" colorSpace="bt709" colorTrc="bt709" frameRate="23.976" hasScalingMatrix="0" height="1080" level="40" profile="high" refFrames="4" requiredBandwidths="14058,13693,13167,12915,12915,12915,12915,12915" scanType="progressive" width="1920" displayTitle="1080p (H.264)"/>
<Stream id="10973" streamType="2" selected="1" default="1" codec="eac3" index="1" channels="6" bitrate="640" language="English" languageCode="eng" audioChannelLayout="5.1(side)" requiredBandwidths="639,639,639,639,639,639,639,639" samplingRate="48000" displayTitle="English (EAC3 5.1)"/>
<Stream id="10974" streamType="3" selected="1" codec="srt" index="2" bitrate="0" language="English" languageCode="eng" requiredBandwidths="1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1" displayTitle="English (SRT)"/>
<Stream id="10975" streamType="3" codec="srt" index="3" bitrate="0" language="English" languageCode="eng" requiredBandwidths="1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1" title="SDH" displayTitle="English (SRT)"/>
</Part>
</Media>
<Extras size="0"> </Extras>
</Video>
</MediaContainer>
Hmm. You should be able to direct play that file. Check your subtitle settings and make sure it’s not set to “always”. Try using “image only”.
i just checked and yeh its image only. It seems that the subtitles trigger it to transcode, i dont get it
I’ll need the log from the FireTV after you replay that video. https://support.plex.tv/articles/201573117-android-android-tv-fire-tv-logs/
Ok iv added the network logging info, hoping iv done it right lol, thanks for helping btw
plexlog.txt (125.9 KB)
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