FireTV Stick 4K won't play some videos with eac3 5.1 audio

Plex Players Streaming Devices
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1

Server Version#: 1.31.2.6810
Player Version#: 9.17.0.38861(d37d0eb2)

On my FireTV Stick 4K some videos using eac3 audio will not play. When attempting to play one of these files the plex app just shows a black screen and nothing plays.

I have tried playing the same video on an iPhone X and iPad Air 4 via the iOS plex app and they both played fine. They both “Direct Played”.

I also tried to trouble shoot by installing VLC on the FireTV Stick 4K and attempting to play the same file which played fine in VLC.

From googling around I’ve found posts complaining of eac3 playback not working due to linux’s file watcher running out of watchers with the solution to turn off automatically updating library inside plex settings or raising the number of inotify max user watches. I have tried both(one after the other when one failed to fix the issue) and neither fixed this issue. So I don’t believe this is related to inotify.

I’ve also tried the suggestion of removing the Codec folder from plexs app folder which I guess forces plex to redownload a(hopefully newer working) codec pack. This also did not fix the issue.

I’ve seen some suggestions that this is related to high bitrate eac3 audio streams but the post I read that mentioned the bitrate was about 7.1 audio if I recall so I’m unsure if that would apply here. The post mentioned something about issues when the bitrate was over something like 1200kb/s but I really don’t know much about this stuff…but I do notice the file not playing has a bitrate of 1536kb/s(see mediainfo output at end of this post).

I really want to get this issue figured out so if I can provide any additional information please let me know.

Here is the output of mediainfo:

General
Unique ID : XXX (XXX)
Complete name : /tv/Brooklyn Nine-Nine/Season 1/Brooklyn.Nine-Nine.S01E02.The.Tagger.Bluray-1080p.EAC35.1.x264.mkv
Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 4
File size : 2.15 GiB
Duration : 20 min 59 s
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 14.6 Mb/s
Writing application : mkvmerge v65.0.0 (‘Too Much’) 64-bit
Writing library : libebml v1.4.2 + libmatroska v1.6.4 / Lavf58.45.100

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.1
Format settings : CABAC / 4 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames : 4 frames
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 20 min 59 s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 13.0 Mb/s
Maximum bit rate : 40.0 Mb/s
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Standard : Component
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.262
Stream size : 1.91 GiB (89%)
Writing library : x264 core 155
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=4 / deblock=1:-3:-3 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=umh / subme=10 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=32 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=1 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=0 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=34 / lookahead_threads=5 / sliced_threads=0 / slices=4 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / minigop=1 / stitchable=1 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=9 / b_pyramid=0 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=1 / weightp=0 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=1 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=60 / rc=crf / mbtree=0 / crf=18.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=3 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / vbv_maxrate=40000 / vbv_bufsize=40000 / crf_max=51.0 / nal_hrd=vbr / filler=0 / ip_ratio=1.40 / pb_ratio=1.30 / aq=3:0.80
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Color range : Limited
Color primaries : BT.709
Transfer characteristics : BT.709
Matrix coefficients : BT.709

Audio
ID : 2
Format : E-AC-3
Format/Info : Enhanced AC-3
Commercial name : Dolby Digital Plus
Codec ID : A_EAC3
Duration : 20 min 59 s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 1 536 kb/s
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel layout : L R C LFE Ls Rs
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate : 62.500 FPS (768 SPF)
Bit depth : 24 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Delay relative to video : 12 ms
Stream size : 231 MiB (10%)
Title : Surround 5.1
Writing library : Lavc58.91.100 eac3
Language : English
Service kind : Complete Main
Default : Yes
Forced : No

Text #1
ID : 3
Format : PGS
Codec ID : S_HDMV/PGS
Codec ID/Info : Picture based subtitle format used on BDs/HD-DVDs
Duration : 20 min 46 s
Bit rate : 77.3 kb/s
Count of elements : 1028
Stream size : 11.5 MiB (1%)
Title : English PGS SDH
Language : English
Default : No
Forced : No

Text #2
ID : 4
Format : UTF-8
Codec ID : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info : UTF-8 Plain Text
Duration : 20 min 46 s
Bit rate : 118 b/s
Count of elements : 514
Stream size : 18.1 KiB (0%)
Title : English Text SDH
Language : English
Default : No
Forced : No

Menu
00:00:00.000 : 00:00:00.000
00:07:56.976 : 00:07:56.976
00:12:05.307 : 00:12:05.307
00:17:24.710 : 00:17:24.710
00:20:21.345 : 00:20:21.345

2

Need server logs

Screenshot from 2023-03-22 16-56-48

3

As the issue is for E-AC-3 7.1, it’s the same as existing topics:

4

plex-server-log-eacs3-error-snippet.zip (11.7 KB)

Here’s the log from when I try to play the file.

5

Thanks for the links to those threads, they seem like the ones I was referring to earlier.

I also tried playing around with the FireTV plex app’s audio settings. Changing passthrough to off resulted in choppy audio, same with changing hdmi → optical.

Not sure if it makes any difference but I’m using the FireTV Stick 4K on a old Samsung tv with the FireTV Stick directly plugged into one of the tv’s hdmi ports. I don’t have any fancy audio or receiver equipment.

6

Thanks for clarifying. I’ll take one of my files and spin to EAC-3 7.1 and test.
I do know the FireStick dropped native codec support for several things. I’ll check that too.

(doing a hardware install atm)

7

Thanks for taking a look. If you’re unable to reproduce with you’re own file I can share with you the trouble file I have.

8

It must be the file.

My app version is 9.17.0.38861 (public production release)

Here is EAC-3 5.1 in DirectdPlay to the FireTV 4K Max through Onkyo to LG OLED.

Screenshot from 2023-03-22 23-31-09
Screenshot from 2023-03-22 23-31-09746×670 49.9 KB

9

may I have a sample of EAC-3 7.1 ?

I can’t find my sample file

10

Is the eac3 audio high bitrate? One of the posts suggested that it was due to high bitrate eac3.

11

I can upload the problem file I have to somewhere online. I can’t share it via public forum, can I private message a link to you?

12

Would everyone please check this file with your various tools & players ?

Tell me what you find?

I think is should be a MKA not MKV

13

I created a sample file from the problem file I have.
eac35.1-problem-file.mkv

14

7-pt-1.mkv fails to play on my FireTV Stick 4K just like my problem file. It just shows a black screen.

15

I have a Fire Cube (2nd Gen)

Chuck, your file doesn’t play. It sounds like it’s trying to blow my speakers out. Just a random pattern of heavy thumps

rOOb85’s file won’t play at all. It just says “an error occurred while trying to play this file”

Tried both files on HTPC and they both play fine

16

If you play it in any other player, you hear the dolby test.

I’m trying to figure out what the real name should be.

17

I forgot to add, 7-pt-1.mkv plays fine with VLC on my FireTV Stock 4K. It only fails to play with the plex app.

18

What does VLC tell you it is? What do you see and hear?

( Requesting a second opinion )

19

VLC plays both files properly on the same Fire TV

20

When I play 7-pt-1.mkv on VLC on the FireTV Stick, it plays the audio calibration thing i.e. “This is the left channel,…”

VLC doesn’t seem to show what type of file it is. I don’t see any option to display file info within the VLC ui either.