When Using Plex on FireTV with Home Theater mode to stream audio to the Echo Studio, the sound will stutter and drop for a split second or 2 every1-5 minutes. This happens particularly with videos that have multichannel audio. It also seems to make no difference whether audio passthrough is enabled/disabled.
I would say this is purely an Amazon problem, but videos play flawlessly in Prime Video, Netflix, Roku channel, Disney+. Furthermore, if I stream my own content through Kodi (with plex plugin) or Jellyfish, the audio stutters / drops a lot less frequently. Maybe a couple times over the course of an hour.
So it is at least possible for multichannel audio to be streamed with Amazon’s Home Theater mode without breaking up. But the native Plex app appears to be particularly bad at it. Is there any chance Plex is aware of this issue? Or even working on a fix?
Server Version#: 1.20.4.3517
Player Version#: 8.8.1.21332
Fire TV Cube 2nd gen (2019) with Echo Studio speaker
I’m not even using 2 Studios, just one. But the Studio is an Atmos capable unit comprised of 1.0" tweeter, three 2.0" mid-range speakers, and a 5.3" woofer. There definitely is a big difference in the sound when I’m listening to something with a stereo source vs EAC3 source (eg Netflix 5.1 vs stereo audio)
All that being said, the only sound option I have in the FireTV settings is Dolby Digital Plus. Stereo and Dolby Digital are greyed out. I suspect that since both the Cube and Studio are Amazon devices, they are forcing me to go with the optimal configuration. If I did have 2 Studios in pair, I have heard the stereo mode is a selectable option.
AFAIK, Home Theater mode only supports up to 2.1 audio channels. It’s also all controlled by the Fire TV device. Plex has no input on this except to provide the audio and then the device does everything else. If this feature doesn’t allow you to lower the quality of the audio it could be trying to send more data than can be handled. Netflix 5.1 audio is around 640 kbps at most. Have you noticed if there are specific audio formats that is causing this and what it’s bitrate is?
It depends on the Amazon device(s) you are using. You can use Home Theater mode to pair a FireTV to 2 Echos and the Echo Subwoofer, which will give you the 2.1 audio you mentioned. Amazon currently has two devices, the Echo 4th gen (2020) that supports Dolby and the Echo Studio (2019) that supports Dolby Atmos. With these two devices Home Theater mode can stream multichannel audio.
Because the Echo 4th gen is brand new, I haven’t seen anyone post about it’s performance with Plex yet. The Studio is Amazon’s most expensive Echo so the user pool may be small for now. This does appear to be the direction Amazon is heading, so it may be something to keep in mind for future Plex development with Fire TV.
I’m trying a couple different videos looking at the audio bitrate. I have one with EAC 768kbps, and another with EAC 384kbps. Both are particularly choppy at the start (video keeps playing smoothly though). I use Plex primarily with multichannel audio, so I’d been focusing on that. But I just tried a stereo source with AAC 123kps and it’s also choppy. I’d need to watch for a bit and take notes to see if the audio stutters are happening more frequently with the 768kbps source over the 123kps source.
I think you are right that this is in part an Amazon issue. BUT I can play those same three videos through Jellyfin, running on the same server, and they play with much less frequent stutters. it’s once every 10-20min vs once every 1-3min with Plex. It’s odd because both Plex and Jellyfin use exoplayer. I don’t know if Jellyfin is using a new version that is able to play more smoothly?
ps Audio is also much smoother on Kodi with the Plex pugin, maybe comparable to Jellyfin.
Hi
i also have a similar issue - home cinema works fine with a full echo using mono bit rate tracks - it doesnt like DTS, AC-3 nor PCM - which i dont expect native support for - but i would expect to get a stereo out put that it would play (as it does with netflix, prime and other apps i try). I have to assume there is something plex specific here that needs to be done when this setting is in the fire tv (like you suggest a bit rate limit). Happy to help de-bug this. is there a way we can override the audio bit rate - like if it was an HLS stream - push the audio to a lower bps?
Just to add some data, FireTV Cube in a Home Theatre configuration with an Echo Studio works fine for audio here, no stuttering (though I did have to replace my ISP’s modem with a new Ubiquiti switch to get the Cube on Ethernet and Studio on Wifi to see each other).
Looking to add a second Studio and the Sub when the sub comes back in stock.
I wouldn’t say it compares to my old 7.1 Sony Amp and Onkyo speakers, but there’s some depth of sound even with just the 1 Echo Studio, under the TV and about 50cm from wall.
A follow up, I think this post explains the problem:
That problem being that the Amazon ethernet adapter which is only 10/100 capable, was suffering from link saturation every time Plex buffered the video stream. I think it might be particularly pronounced with Plex, because it has such a large buffer (~90sec).
Simply switching to WiFi cleared up the issue immediately. I’m ordering the gigabit ethernet adapter so that I can use the Cube on ethernet instead.
I am having the same issue, What I have found over time is it is occurring when my local cable company is injecting local commercials into the data stream. This issue does not occur on HD Homerun player or Emby, only on Plex. The client I use is Chrome (windows 10) or Amazon FireTV Cubes.
For the last year, I have had to install EMBY to record off of cable, and use Plex to record off of Antenna. even in live mode on Plex (I have a second box with plex for cable, and it does not share HDHomerun Prime boxes with Emby), I have to hit the Fast forward button to get the audio and video to sync back after local commercial breaks Everytime, not an issue after Plex has removed the commercial and I watch the program, Previously recorded after Plex processes the file (it works fine). and in most cases watching Live TV from Plex, would cause the show to completely lockup, or reset to the beginning of the show when it hits these hurdles. Can plex find a way around these issues with timing when the cable provider will not correct the time coding (I have ask them to help, Useless, they just tell me they are working on the issue, and they are aware). a way to bump (self correct) through these timing issues. I hope I have provided examples that will assist in what I am seeing.
I would appreciate any suggestions that could help me out in these issues, I’ve been dealing with them for a year.
